Page 83 of Bound

I start to run toward Liadan’s cottage. My brother falls instep beside me.

We will do whatever it takes to get our wife back.

Chapter Forty

Meg

“Get moving, you bum.”

It’s the first thing I hear as my head starts to pound and Itry to figure out where the hell I am.

I’m underneath something. Not a blanket. Newspaper. Someonecovered me with an old-school newspaper. What happened? We don’t havenewspapers in our village. I blink, forcing my eyes into focus as I stare up.It’s night, but I can barely see the stars. There’s too much smog and too muchlight. The stars are so bright outside the cottage. Where am I? Only a fewnights ago, I laid out on the grass with Cian, watching the stars and talking.Cian told me his people’s stories for the constellations, and we made love onan old quilt beneath the nighttime sky.

I can’t see the stars now.

“Cian.” His name is on my lips as I sit up. Everythinghurts, but nothing worse than the fact that they aren’t here with me. “Beck.”

His name comes out as a whisper because I know he won’tanswer. I can’t feel them. It’s like someone cut the connection, and I’m leftwith nothing.

“Miss, is there something we can help you with?” Thequestion comes from a middle-aged woman who stands at the end of an alleybeside a well-dressed man. They stare down the short street where I’m lyingagainst a huge metal dumpster. The smell is making me sick.

“Where am I?” I’m not home anymore. That’s one thing I knowfor sure, but where did the demon leave me? Could this be the Vampire plane? Ican work with that.

“How much have you had to drink?” the man asks. The womanelbows him and sends him a dirty look. He sighs. “You’re in Fort Worth, Texas.You’re not far from Sundance Square. Did you get lost?”

Oh, boy, did I get lost. The trouble is I need to get lostagain.

“Did you see a big guy walk by? You couldn’t miss him. He’sreally tall.” I struggle to my feet, stretching stiff limbs and wondering howlong I was out.

“I haven’t seen anyone really tall,” the woman replies,shaking her head. “Do you need a homeless shelter? There’s a very nice one onCypress Street. It’s not far.”

“I don’t need a homeless shelter.” The full revelation ofwhat that asshole has done to me hits home. This isn’t the Vampire plane. Thisis Earth. He brought me back, and I have no idea how to get to my husbands. “Ineed a Planeswalker demon.”

The man takes the woman by the hand and forces her away.I’ll have to watch my mouth on this plane. I walk out of the alley and realizewhere I am. Down the block I can see the lights of a restaurant I’ve been to acouple of times. Top. They have the best tortilla soup, and I often got it togo. It’s one of the few things I miss about this place. My stomach grumbles atthe thought, but the freaking demon wasn’t nice enough to leave me with somecash.

Top is my touchstone in reorienting myself on the plane.It’s half a block to Sundance Square. It feels like moving through a dream.It’s all familiar, but no longer mine.

Or is it? I catch sight of my reflection in thewindow of a darkened storefront. I’m wearing brown pants, a white shirt, and ablack vest. I have on boots. It’s what I put on to go see the miller’s wife.I’m not crazy. I really did go to another plane and married two beautiful men.They need me. Tears spark in my eyes.

What will happen to them? What happens when the bond isformed and then shut off? And the demon said a hag is after them.

How am I going to get home? I have to get home. I can’t stayhere. They need me and I need them.

I’m pulled from my panic as a group of people walk by,jostling me. The sidewalks are crowded. I find myself pulled along with thethrong. It’s a mix of teens going to the movies, adults out on dates, familiesseeing the sights, and singles looking for the clubs and bars that dot thesquare. They all have one thing in common. Not a one of them will believe I’mthe queen of another plane of existence with two husbands who recently cameinto their legendary powers and are now at risk because a fucking demon cartedme off the plane—again.

Yeah, I start talking like that and I’ll be on a psych hold.

I walk for what feels like an hour in a complete daze. Ihave nothing. I have no way to get home. I don’t even have a coat, and while Iwas gone, it got cold on the Earth plane. I don’t have a phone or any way tocall someone who might know me. The apartment I lived in is miles away fromhere.

So I walk. I’m not sure why. Perhaps some instinct sparks meor maybe I simply can think of nothing else to do.

I walk until the crowds are gone. I walk through the quietstreets of downtown in abject misery. How can I accept the fact that there isno way to get home? I’ll never be able to find the door to the Faery plane.Even if I can, how will I open it? From what I understand the only creatureswho know where the doors are located are the Planeswalkers, and they require myeternal soul in exchange for passage.

Even if I’m willing to sell it, how do I call one? It isn’tlike the last demon left a card.

Are there witches on this plane? Can they help me? How do Ieven go about finding one?

A great wave of sorrow rolls over me as I finally have toface the fact that Beck and Cian are gone. They’re separated from me by thatdoor as surely as death could ever force us apart.