Page 51 of Darkening Truth

He sends me the image of years again.

“Revel,” I warn. “I need a serious answer.”

Huffing again like the sassy shit he is, he gallops through a bush that has me spluttering and spitting out leaves, as he lets out what can only be described as a snort of amusement.

“Seriously, Revel, it’s important. How long have I been gone for this time?”

He slows down a bit and sends me an image. What’s surprising is that he’s got the length of time exactly right. The time that we have actually been gone for, and not the time that everyone else seems to think that we’ve been gone for.

“Thanks, buddy,” I say, patting his neck as he finally slows down to a walk. “I’m really sorry I left you for so long. I didn’t mean to, and I would have taken you with me if I could have. Although on second thoughts, with the shit thathappened, I am glad that you weren’t with me, and were safe here instead. I missed you.”

He snickers quietly in agreement, sending the same feeling back to me. He then sends a picture of me doing the whistle for him.

“I would have if I could, but you know there are places that you wouldn’t have been able to get to me.”

He stomps his foot angrily and then rears up. His thoughts becoming insistent that the next time I call him. I shrug, it really won’t make much of a difference to me.

“Okay, okay. Chill out. I promise that if I go again, I will call for you if it’s appropriate, okay?”

He huffs and settles back down.

I steer him back toward the guys who are all grinning. Even the stablemaster has a smile on his face.

When we get within hearing distance, Kill points to his hair and smirks as he says, “You’ve got a bit of bush in your hair.”

I flip him off, “Thanks, Kill. As helpful as always.”

“He’s calmed down a lot already,” the stablemaster says, and then his eyes widen as the rest of the horses, who were running wild, head back into the barn and to their stables. “Well, I’ll be, I had better go and supervise that.”

Once he’s gone, and I’ve checked that no one else is in earshot, I turn back to the guys, “Revel knows how long we were really gone for.”

“Well, that would explain why he was so pissed,” Storm replies immediately.

“It’s interesting that he knows though,” Rival mutters thoughtfully, his brain clearly going a mile a minute.

“Do you think you could convince him to put the fires out?” Mayhem asks, as the blazes roar and start to take over more of the paddock.

I roll my eyes, “He doesn’t know how, and the usual way that I put them out, he’s learnt about and has somehow managed to block.”

“Damn,” Loki mutters, sounding impressed. “He is definitely not a normal Fae Horse.”

It is pretty impressive, but it’s going to become a big problem if we don’t manage to do something about it soon.

Reaper’s eyebrows rise slightly as he smirks and says, “Clever horse.”

Without saying anything else, his eyes shift to Ryu’s.

“Hello, Little Mate. Ryu help,”his voice rumbles through my mind for the first time in what feels like forever, and I grin.

“Ryu, I missed you,”I mutter back.

“Good,”he replies gruffly.

Reaper chuckles, “He’s definitely got a way with words.”

“Ryu’s talking to you, I presume?” Storm asks with a pleased smile.

I nod, “Yeah, it’s the first time I’ve heard him since before I got kidnapped.”