House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(28)

That seemed to knock some sense into him. His arm loosened and I wobbled, my knees still weak. He did keep a hand on me for an extra moment, making sure I was stable, before he stepped back. “I don’t do complicated,” he said, a tinge of surprise in his voice. “I can’t.” He shook his head then. “We should go, the others will be waiting for us.”

No more words were spoken as we hurried to follow the path to the transporter, but something had shifted between us. Things felt … different. Charged. Intense.

I could not wait to get to the sex part. Holy hell.





10





A transporter, it turned out, was literally a ball of light. It also turned out that Xander was able to reach out and grab hold of one of those strands, after which we were jerked into a weird, soundless wormhole. It felt like the sort of situation that would cause me to freak out again—there was probably no place further removed from my ocean—but instead I was fascinated.

This was a once in a lifetime experience.

Xander kept a tight hold on me, and at no point was I worried that I would slip out of his hand. When the light got brighter at the end, I did close my eyes, stumbling forward. Xander used his strength to keep me standing. The moment I felt reality and gravity return, I opened my eyes and pulled my hands from his. I wanted to see everything at once.

“Oh my God,” I gasped, turning in a circle to take it all in. “This is Overworld?”

Xander chuckled. “Well, this is one part of Overworld. There are lots of sectors, but we don’t interact with each other.”

That was interesting. Everyone on Earth traveled between countries. “Why don’t you interact?” I decided to ask.

He shrugged. “There’s no easy way to travel to other sectors. It’s actually easier and less dangerous for us to travel to Earth. Some of the other lands have creatures that are not compatible to us. Very dangerous creatures. The Draygo people are thought to be originally from another land.”

It was all so fascinating. I wanted to know everything. Hopefully I’d have years to learn it all.

The large disc we had landed on had a light transporter right in the center, and there were three lands surrounding it. “What is that place called?” I pointed to the section that was packed full of trees.

“House of Leights,” Chase said, wandering over to us. “That’s Maya’s and my land.”

House of Leights … tree people. I remembered from their explanations, but it was still hard to imagine what it all truly meant. How did a tree and a person combine? Like … how?

“And that one?” I moved on to the land of mountains and green valleys.

“House of Darken,” Lexen told me, staring out across his land.

I’d saved the best for last of course, turning my eyes to the vast stretch of water. There were no waves like in Hawaii, but it still called to me in a way that made it difficult not to just run over and throw myself at it. “House of Royale,” I whispered.

Xander made a low rumbling noise at my side. It sounded like it came from deep in his chest. “Yes, that’s our home.”

He said our so causally. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Our home.

To stop myself from crying all the happy tears, I quickly searched for a distraction. “Where is House of Imperial? Has anyone heard from Daniel and Callie?”

“She’s fine,” Emma said immediately. “Daniel contacted Lexen a minute ago. Callie just needs a few more hours of rest—they’ll meet us at Lexen’s soon.”

Relief hit me hard. I’d been stressing about her health the entire time. “That’s such good news, but … you still didn’t tell me where their land is?”

Xander answered this time. “They’re the underworld, so it’s…” He trailed off and pointed down to the disc. “Under the main land.”

Right. Okay. Really hoping I didn’t end up going there for any reason.

“How are we getting to House of Darken?” Emma asked Lexen.

“Transporter,” he replied immediately. “It will save us time. Father wants me to hurry back. He said he has something important to discuss with us all.”

Emma lurched forward. “It’s not about Jero or Star, right? Or Ambra?”

I didn’t know who these people were, but they were clearly important to Emma. Which then, for some stupid reason, made them feel important to me.

“Or my parents?” Maya added, her voice rising in pitch.

Lexen shook his head, hands reaching out to steady Emma and Maya. “No, it’s not about my siblings or Mother. Or your parents, Maya. I’m almost certain nothing is wrong. Father said not to panic, but he might have some information to help us.”

Emma and Maya both relaxed. As did I.

“Okay, well, we should hurry, then,” Emma added. “It’s not like Roland to call us back unless it’s something important.”

Lexen didn’t say anything more.

The next transporter was shorter, taking us directly into Lexen’s home. Or … a small dark room in his home. When we entered the main part of the house, I got the whole “prince” thing. Everything was light and open, with lots of very expensive, handmade-looking furnishings. We passed so many rooms, I knew I’d be completely lost if I had to navigate this place on my own.