Page 92 of Sent To A Fantasy World and Now All the Men Want Me 7

Once again, I felt a tickle in my throat and sting behind my eyes. The first time he’d brought me there had been for the same reason: he’d sensed my restlessness and worry over not having my men with me in the Shadow Realm and wanted to help ease my mind. To give me the same peace he felt while being there.

“Thank you,” I said, voice thick. “See? You’re sweet. Exactly as I told you the other day.”

He gave me a look. “I’m not sweet.”

“You are.” I smiled and lightly bumped against his arm. “You brought me here to make me feel better. The definition of caring and sweet. Like the Grinch before his heart grew three sizes.”

“The… who?” Onyx asked, leading me closer to the stream.

“A character from a book.” I focused on our joined hands, loving how long and slender his fingers were compared to my short and stubby ones. “Instead of a dark tower, like you, he hid away inside a mountain.”

“I feel as though I need to read this book,” he responded, glancing at our hands too. A tenderness touched his eyes as he gently squeezed my palm. “What is the title?”

“Not sure you can find it around here.” I rubbed my lips together, debating on whether this was a good time to slip in the whole ‘from another world’ thing. He had opened up to me about him being half dragon. I needed to be honest with him too. “Wanna know something?”

“Do tell.” Onyx guided us over to a stone bench, pulling me close to his side as we sat. “Your mind is quite the source of entertainment.”

Now it was my turn to give him a look. He smirked.

“You asked me once how I stayed hidden from Nocturne for all these years,” I started, dropping my gaze to his hand again. A gold ring sat on his index finger with a ruby in the center that matched his eyes. “It’s also why your scouts couldn’t find any information on where I lived before Bremloc. It’s because I’m… not exactly from this world. Well, I guess I am from here. I was born in this world. But after my parents were attacked, my mom took me to someone who… sent me far away.”

My insides jumbled, just like they’d done the other times I’d told my men the truth. It never got easy no matter how many times I told the story.

“I see.” A mask slid over his features. I didn’t get the impression he was hiding intentionally. Out of habit, probably, for when situations took a surprising turn. Anything out of his control made him uneasy—a thing I’d learned about him in our time together. “This place that you’re from… it’s where you learned that strange dance?”

Strange dance? I cocked my head, unsure what he meant.

But then realization slammed into me and, with it, a sudden swarm of heat to my cheeks.

“The twerk, yes,” I responded, then cleared my throat. “It’s a mundane world. Not like this one at all. There’s no magic, demons, demi-humans, or creatures like Ghost and Pumpkin.”

I explained how I’d stumbled upon Lupin’s shop the evening of my birthday, made a wish on the stone, and woke up in Bremloc.

“But I’ve since learned it was actually a heart stone, not a wishing one,” I continued. “Lupin said the stone joined me with the missing pieces of my heart. It had all sorts of colors in it. Blue, purple, topaz, and a green-brown. And ruby red.”

“The eye colors of your fated mates,” he said, brow heavy. He was deep in thought.

I nodded. “I was told you’d all play a pivotal role in my destiny. I’ll need all of you to face what lies ahead.” I nibbled my bottom lip. “And, if Lupin was right and not just pulling my leg, I still have one more to find.”

“A seventh mate?” His frown slipped as surprise took its place. “Who?”

“Don’t know,” I answered. “Guess I’ll figure it out once I smell him. Nothing gets past my nose, you know.”

He smiled. “That it doesn’t.”

We sat in a comfortable silence for several moments, listening to the soft rush of the small waterfall and the chitters from Pumpkin as he leapt between trees, as though searching for the one he liked best.

“You’re taking this a lot better than I expected,” I said, noting his smooth features and lack of apprehension or any of the other emotions you’d think someone would experience when being told about different worlds. In fact, his biggest surprise had been the info about my number of fated mates. “Aren’t you a little freaked out?”

“Not at all,” he responded, staring up as Pumpkin slowly moved along the branch above us. “In the centuries I’ve lived, I’ve witnessed many extraordinary things and learned about all sorts of magic. Traveling between worlds is not an unfamiliar concept.”

“It’s not?” I turned more toward him on the bench.

Onyx shook his head. “While I’ve not met anyone, apart from you, who’s done so, I’ve read about individuals who have. People who have come from other worlds and brought knowledge with them. Just as I’m sure there are people who traveled to the mundane world you speak of who brought ideas from this one.”

I was speechless. I had mulled over the possibility of there being other people like me, ones who’d traveled to this world and vice versa. And Onyx had confirmed my theory.

“I’m far more interested in this mage you mention,” he added with a curious tilt of his head. “He owns a shop that appears to those in need?”