Munro (Immortals After Dark #18) by Kresley Cole

            “One way to find out. So how do we reestablish contact with the Dacians if your phone won’t work? Have you scented any nearby towns?”

            “Nay. The one in the nymphs’ valley is the only one for hundreds of miles. I could steal back there and get a call out, but dragging you along would be too dangerous, and I will never willingly leave you here alone.”

            “Then what are our options?”

            Earlier as Munro had been running from the fire demons, his Lykae sense of smell—unequaled in all the Lore—had picked up unusual threads. Ancient ones.

            Blood. Cold stone. An elusive mist.

            The Realm of Blood and Mist? His Instinct had said —Go there.—

            So he would. “I plan to find Dacia. And since I’ve nowhere safe to leave you, you’ll be coming with me.” He’d promised his king that he would undertake a mission there. Munro had debated telling Kereny about his task, but decided he wanted her to have plausible deniability if things went sideways.

            “Find a hidden vampire realm?” She raised her brows. “Though no one has before?”

            “No Lykae has ever looked for Dacia.” Lachlain had nearly found Helvita, the royal seat of the vampire Horde, but had been waylaid outside its borders. The thought gave Munro pause. A search for Dacia would expose Kereny to tremendous risk, and not just from vampires or a forest of threats.

            Munro’s beast was still trying to slip the leash, and the full moon neared. I’m a bomb on a countdown.

            But he had no choice.

            Without missing a beat, she said, “I’m in. We just have to make one stop first.”





            Braided brooks and stone pines surrounded a field of wildflowers at the old fairgrounds. The oaks on either side of the heart-shaped boulder still stood.

            The slow-growing trees weren’t much taller, would never reach each other. Which was fitting.

            As Ren investigated the area with her new conjured bag over her shoulder, Munro had stayed by her side, his gaze ever watchful for more demons. He’d been opposed to coming here until she’d explained that she needed this closure. He’d finally relented, running with her in his arms the entire way.

            They’d found no signs of the caravan or circus equipment, which led Ren to believe her hunters had cleaned up the site and decamped—yet more evidence that they’d defeated the newlings.

            In the center of the wildflower field, she told Munro, “This is where the battle would’ve taken place.” Though this land had once been marked by violence, it’d also known laughter and unity. “It doesn’t feel like a battleground. Time healed those wounds.” Leaving only blooms, breezes, and birdsong.

            “Aye, because the earth is immortal.”

            “I never thought of it that way.” Not everything undying was evil.

            He gestured to a spot nearby. “And that was where Jacob surrendered you to me. His actions struck me as brave and selfless then. Now that I know you better, they strike me as bloody miraculous.” The possessiveness in his gaze punctuated his statement.

            “Jake was a good man. Always looking out for me, always supportive.”

            “I owed him my thanks. No’ my contempt.”

            “I don’t think this is a past-tense situation.”

            He frowned. “What do you mean?”

            “The warlocks could have gone back in time for someone over and over, right? So the past is alive. It might be unchangeable, but it lives. Our loved ones still live back then. Think about it—we are in the past right now.” She bent to pick a bloom, placing it in her hair. “And then the people we love live on in the afterlife too. Munro, they’re alive all around us.” She gazed over the field and murmured in Romanian, “Mi-e dor de tine, dar nu te pot plânge, pentru că trăiești mai departe.”

            “What did you say?”

            “I miss you, but I cannot grieve you because you live on.”

            Munro fell silent. Was his mind tumbling back over his long life, remembering everyone he’d loved?