Greyson and Allen stared dumbly at Ximena as she held their gazes unflinchingly and a sardonic smile slowly crept across her lips.
"I suppose this is quite a shock…" She began before trailing off, and hugging her knees tighter to her chest.
"We... Lexi and her father... they thought you were dead…" Allen murmured in disbelief as Ximena's eyes softened slightly.
"I know," She murmured weakly, "Are they okay? I mean, Lexi…you're her mates after all. You would know. Goddess…how cruel fate is."
"Lexi is perfect," Greyson answered her without hesitation, a rueful smile playing at the edges of his mouth, "Why else would we have thrown ourselves through a magickal portal to face Goddess knows what just to stand a chance at bringing her home."
"You wolves aren't known for your rational thinking when it comes to your mates," Ximena snorted, "Lycans too. Although from what I remember their King was on a downward spiral last I heard."
"You're not wrong. He's sunk well past the point of redemption at this point I think." Greyson nodded solemnly.
"Lord Brarthroroz is…coping." Allen said carefully, "As soon as he realized that there might be a possibility that you were alive, he used every resource that he has access to, to try and track his brother down in the hopes that you were still alive."
Ximena sighed heavily before her mouth flattened into a grim line.
"Even Brartroroz is going to struggle finding us here. It's not going to be just a case of finding Eromaugs realm. This place that they've stashed us in is what's known as a pocket realm…sort of like a realm within a realm. The major problem they're going to have is finding the pocket realm that we're in, that's inside another pocket realm hidden somewhere in Eromaug's native realm."
Allen and Greyson blinked at her with a bewildered expression.
"My head hurts just trying to wrap my head around that." Greyson commented with a dour expression.
"It's quite simple really. Magick lives on different planes of existence to ours, but all of these planes are sort of sandwiched together…like the layers in a club sandwich."
"I'd fucking kill for a club sandwich right now.." Allen groaned as she pointedly ignored him and continued her explanation.
"Okay, bad analogy. For simplicity's sake then, try and think of it as a block of high rise flats but with no way to access each floor. There are tons of layers all with different inhabitants but ordinarily inhabitants of those floors can't move between levels. It requires that the individual be either dead and living in a state of limbo or, alternatively, the skilled use of magick, a latent ability that you're born with. There are no taught magick users that can access portals or the magick required to traverse realms. They might be able to pull a denizen from a random layer into their own world, sort of like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, but they can't move through the levels at will."
"Magick sounds a lot more complex than we gave it credit for to be honest." Allen murmured.
"And to think the humans call their little tricks and illusions magic as well.." Greyson snorted but stopped in his tracks when Ximena shook her finger at him with a sly smirk.
"That is the distinct difference, Greyson. The humans have their parlor tricks and fun times with their imitation of magic, but only the ancient races and descendents of ancient bloodlines carry the inherent ability to use real magick." She grinned triumphantly, "All of us are divided into subclasses and elements and different tiers of ability but it's all very complex and I won't go into that right now." she added, waving her hand dismissively.
"Yeah...I don't think that I can cope with any more detail right now. When we're out of this goddess forsaken place, perhaps, you can sit down with us all over a nice family meal and explain it all." Allen grinned impishly.
Xiamen laughed loudly, the sound seeming very out of place in the somber surroundings and her face seemed to light up for the first time since they had arrived.
"I might have to take you up on that offer," She grinned brightly before sighing wistfully. "Ah it's a nice change to have company that still holds out hope for our rescue. If we do manage to get out of here, I want to take this one with us." she said, her voice fading into sadness as she gestured with her chin to where the forlorn and bedraggled woman huddled in the corner of her cage.
"Do you know who she is? Or why she's down here?" Greyson asked as his eyes flicked over the pathetic figure.
"No, she hasn't spoken a word since she woke up. She was in a terrible state when she came and quite honestly, I didn't think that she was going to make it." she paused and stepped aside so the two men could get a better look, "It's quite sad really. She can't be much older than Lexi must be now. When they brought her..for an awful minute I thought that it was her."
"Lexi said that you were quite a proficient witch," Greyson began curiously as he refocused back on Ximena, leaving Allen to peer into the darkness at the huddled figure, "Is there no way that you can access your magick to…"
"Whip us out of here?" Ximena snorted, "If there was, I would have done it already. Unfortunately, that undead bitch keeps me drained of my reserves. It's my magick essence that is contributing towards Narcissa's success with fleshcrafting and powering that fucking contraption that keeps the realm cloaked," she spat furiously.
"What?" Greyson exclaimed, "How is that even possible?"
"She has a fancy little machine her brother built that I fully intend to strap her into if I ever get the chance to. I do wonder what would happen to a wraith if all of it's magick was sucked out of it and bottled like a fucking energy drink." Ximena mused half heartedly.
Greyson frowned as he glanced across at Allen, who hadn't been paying the slightest bit of attention to the conversation. His chin was tilted upwards as he tried to scent the air around them and focused intently on the woman in the corner.
"It's pointless trying to pick out any familiar smells, Allen. There's too much old blood in here." he advised as he moved a little closer to him.
"No...that's not…wait…Ximena, can you lift her head?" Allen asked carefully as every muscle in his body became tense.
"And why would I do that?" Ximena asked, "She's as likely to bite me as she is to stare into space. If you leave her alone, she leaves you alone as well. I don't want to poke the bear…so to speak."
Allen's wolf rumbled in his chest in displeasure and Ximena raised an eyebrow at him.
"You can tell your little fleabag to settle the fuck down as well, boy. Lexi's mate or not, I don't take any of that shit kindly."
"Like mother like daughter," Greyson snorted in amusement a little louder than he intended and in a second he froze, the smile sliding off his face in an instant with the look that Ximena sent his way.
"Please," Allen pleaded, "I think we know her."
Ximena looked between them both warily before sighing and inching herself closer towards the figure of the woman in the corner.
"Why do I feel like that twisted fucker just want's to collect people that my daughter would miss? He might as well get a fucking shelf to sit us on display," she muttered under her breath as she grudgingly made her way over and gently lifted the girls head from her knees and turned it slightly towards them.
Both Allen and Greyson's eyes widened in shock as they instantly recognised the pixie-like features of the woman before them.
"Fuck. That's Aoife!"