son. I’m not a fool. I started with next to nothing.”
Dante’s eyes glazed over. His mouth moved in time with his
father’s. He had obviously heard the tale about a million times, but
then, so had Beck.
“Just a hundred head of cattle and a dream,” Alex was saying as
he poured himself a Scotch, too. “A dream to refine their blood into
an easy-to-swallow nutritional pill that made storage problems a thing
of the past.”
Susie was mouthing the familiar conversation as well. Alex
continued his story of building Dellacorp into a giant of the industry.
Alana slid her arm around Beck’s shoulders as her husband lectured
their children about how easy they had it. “Come along. He’ll be at it
for hours now.” She led him onto the balcony. The air was cool and
the night calm, though in a city as large as this, it was never quiet.
“Tell me about your bride. How did she make it out of Tir na nÒg?”
“She didn’t.” Beck looked out over the city, feeling the distance
between himself and his wife. It weighed heavily on him. Had he
done the right thing? Should he have brought her with him? “She’s
from the Earth plane.”
Bound
157
Alana stepped up to the railing. She didn’t seem to have the same
problem with heights that Beck had. “I had heard the Planeswalkers
were taking advantage of Torin closing Tir na nÒg. Human females
are close to the Fae. Some historians believe we originated on their
plane, after all. It follows that some would be suitable as bondmates.
She must have been terrified.”
“To say the least.” A vision of tears running down her pretty face
when he left her at the cottage haunted him. She would never
understand all the reasons he left. He could have put off this business