Read Online Blood of Half Gods: Kallen's Tale by Bonnie Lamer - Free Book Online Page B

too tired to give her anything more.  I will be so glad when this day finally comes to an end. 
     
    Like a funeral procession, the four of us walk single file down the spiral staircase, coming to a halt at Dagda’s door.  Sindri steps ahead of us and after a light knock, he opens the door.  Dagda is sitting behind his desk and he looks exactly how I feel.  He has dark circles under his eyes and a grim expression on his face. 
     
    “Thank you, Sindri,” Dagda says, as he rises from his chair.  “Please stop at the kitchen and let the chef know we are ready for dinner.  That will be all for the evening.  We will be back on the road in the morning, and as soon as we start moving, meet me back here.”  Sindri nods and backs out of the room, closing the door behind him.
     
    “Shall we?” Dagda says, sweeping his arm towards a door that leads to his private quarters.
     
    I start to walk but find Xandra resistant.  I tug on her hand slightly.  The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can finally relax. 
     
    We walk into a sitting room with a gold leather couch and a brown reclining chair. The floor is carpeted in a light brown and the walls are a soft tan.  The room has always seemed comfortable to me.  There is a mahogany table against the back wall that has a decanter full of scotch and several glasses.  Dagda heads there and pours himself a very stiff drink. 
     
    Turning to Xandra, he says, “You certainly do keep life interesting.”
     
    “Must be my heritage,” she says defensively.
     
    He sits down in the brown recliner and leans back.  “Yes, I suppose it is.”  Waving his glass towards the couch, he says, “Have a seat.”  It’s a tight squeeze for all four of us, but we manage.
     
    Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, Dagda asks, “What were you dreaming?”
     
    Xandra is surprised by his interest.  “I was dreaming of my parents.  My real parents,” she adds quickly.  I roll my eyes.  Must she continue to antagonize him when he is being so calm and rational about all of this?
     
    “And,” he prompts.
     
    Xandra sighs.  “I dreamt that I woke up in my bed back in my own realm and my parents weren’t ghosts.  They were real.  And I tried explaining to them that it couldn’t be real… They thought I was crazy, or sick, or something.  They tried to convince me that I had a bad dream, and that they were reality.” 
     
    “Xandra woke believing she had only been asleep for five minutes or so.  She was completely surprised that it had been six hours,” I add.
     
    Xandra nods.  “I swear I was only in my realm in my dream for five minutes.  The rest of the time, I must not have been dreaming.”
     
    Dagda looks thoughtful.  “During this dream, did you use any type of magic?”
     
    She shakes her head.  “No.  None.”
     
    Dagda is deep in thought again.  Finally, he asks, “Your home in your realm, it would be west of here?”
     
    She thinks about it for a moment and then says, “Northwest, but yes, west of here in general.”
     
    Dumbfounded, I ask, “Do you think she was trying to go home?”
     
    Dagda shrugs.  “That seems to be a plausible explanation.”
     
    Xandra is not convinced this is the reason either.  “But, I chose to stay in this realm.  Why would I try to go home?”
     
    Dagda nods and says, “True, but in your dream, you had parents who were not spirits.  Would you choose to go back to the Cowan realm if that was the case?”
     
    She takes far too long to answer his question in my opinion.  Does she truly want to go home?  Finally answering him, she says, “Even in my dream, I knew that my parents weren’t really corporeal.  I kept trying to wake up so I could come back to reality.”
     
    A light knock on the door keeps Dagda from responding.  “Come,” he says gruffly.
     
    A tall, skinny Fairy with a receding hairline and mostly gray hair, wheels in a trolley full of covered dishes.  He