By the time Eris woke up the sun was high in the sky. He wasn’t the type to oversleep but the past few restless nights must have finally caught up to him. He dressed and checked the mounting pile of work on his desk. With Vel here, his escort duty had taken priority, but today he’d catch up on his responsibilities as General of the Autumn Court. It would be good to take a break from her. She could entertain herself with his brothers. A muscle feathered in his jaw and Eris pulled at a scroll from underneath the pile, slightly too forcefully. The paper tore in half.

Many hours later, the mountain of paperwork had barely shrunk. Leaning back in his chair, Eris sighed in resignation. He’d half expected she would have knocked on his door by now. He stretched out his arm and stared at it in the faded sunlight. The tattoo moved and warped as he tensed his forearm muscles, clenching and unclenching his fist. It had been strangely quiet – no itch, no whisper of power, nothing special about it at all.

Eris felt childish, he was avoiding her because his pride had been wounded. Was it pride though? His actions were merely an attempt to secure an alliance. He played with the ring on his finger as his thoughts swirled – a complex tapestry of emotions and intentions that left him questioning the authenticity of his motives. When she walked away the previous night, his stomach had sunk. It was as if a thread connecting them had frayed, and the weight of unspoken words hung in the air, creating a palpable distance between them. Even now, so many hours later his heart seemed to hang heavily.

It didn’t matter; what was done was done. He was starving, and it was almost time for dinner. Perhaps he would go fetch her and they could walk together. Perhaps it would help him get his mind in order.

He was standing in front of her door. His feet must have carried him there subconsciously. He knocked once, twice. There was no sound from behind the door – no whispered conversation with Nyoka, no giggling, no rustling from that horrendously cumbersome robe. He waited a few breaths before opening the heavy doors. The room was perfectly clean. The trunks of clothes were gone. The windows had been open to air the room. The fireplace was cold and barren. He could tell there had been no fire the previous night, no echo of a flame. The only trace of Vel was a wolf pelt – his pelt that he’d given to her, neatly folded and placed on the desk.

Footsteps approached and Eris’s hand automatically went to the hilt of the dagger at his side. His posture relaxed as he recognized the distinctive tapping of Nyoka’s hooved feet. The faerie followed his gaze to the bundle of furs. “I found it here this morning. Apologies my lord, you ordered not to be disturbed so I didn’t think it was urgent enough to inform you immediately.”

“When did she leave?” The question came out with a touch more intensity than he’d intended.

“At some point during the night … or early in the morning, I am not sure. She was not in her room after dinner or when I came to bring her breakfast this morning.”

“Did she say anything to you about leaving?” Did she say goodbye, he’d wanted to ask. But would Vel have gotten close enough to Nyoka or to any of them to feel compelled to say goodbye?

Eris was already halfway out the door but Nyoka’s nose wrinkled and he knew her well enough to recognize that she was lying. He hated that tell because it made her a terrible spy. He’d had to teach her to always weave truth and lie together to not give herself away. “No, my lord.”

Eris apparently had his own tells, because when his eyes narrowed at her, Nyoka quickly continued. “I’m sorry. She said she would tell you herself and I promised I would keep her secret. I wanted her to trust me.” The forest nymph looked down at the floor and Eris left without another word.

Her chair at the dinner table was empty. Beron was in an even better mood than yesterday and Eris realized he much preferred the brooding version of his father – the one that was always one idiotic remark away from flaying all of them alive, than whatever this was.

“I am sure you all noticed by now, that the Oracle decided to leave us last night.” He said as Eris took his place on his right side. Eris did not feel particularly hungry even though it was his first proper meal for the day.

“Just like that, without a word?” Lysander asked, snapping his fingers to mimic a winnow.

“She is an insolent old crone who, more often than not, comes and goes as she pleases. The Autumn Court will remember the disrespect. She will not be welcome back. I expect you all to enforce that.” A pointed look towards Eris, who frowned. He found it a strange amount of posturing just for a show of bad manners but he gave his father the response he wanted to hear.

“I will instruct the guards to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.” A realization hit Eris and he had to make an effort to school his expression into neutrality. “And I will go on border patrol over the next few days, just in case.”

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“I’d like to join, I haven’t been on border patrol in a while.” Lucien chimed from the other end of the table and Beron seemed pleased enough with their enthusiasm.

After dinner, Eris excused himself and headed to his room. It took all of his self-control to not start running, lest he raise the suspicion of passing guards and servants. The hallways of the Forest House felt longer than ever. He knew his theory was right without even checking, but he had to see it with his own eyes. He slammed the door behind him, slightly breathless and disheveled. The fires in the room lit up with half a thought. He yanked the sleeve of his shirt up, the metal buttons clattering on the floor. In the dim firelight, the tattoo seemed to stare back at him, silent and pristine. Vel was still in the Autumn Court.

—-

As they galloped away from the Forest House, Eris looked over his shoulder to make sure they were far enough, outside the range of any scrutinizing eyes or prying ears.

“You’re looking peaky brother, anything you’d like to share?” Lucien smirked, completely unbothered and Eris felt a tinge of jealousy at his youngest brother’s seemingly carefree attitude.

They both slowed their horses to a canter. The hounds followed closely behind. Eris ignored his question and got closer to Lucien, close enough to push him off the horse if needed. He grabbed the reins of the other horse in one hand.

“Why did you offer to join me, Lucien? What do you know?” Eris’s voice was dangerously low.

“Woah, hold on for a moment.” His mare panicked at the proximity of Eris's much larger steed, and Lucien struggled to calm her down. “All I know is that our father has been acting especially bizarre ever since Vel got here. I only wanted to find out what he was hiding from us. I was hoping you would know, that’s why I joined.” Eris mulled over his thoughts. He still seemed to have half a mind to yank the reins and leave Lucien in the mud. The younger male went on. “Look, Eris, I didn’t particularly buy his story from yesterday. I don’t know about you but I think Vel would have said goodbye. I swear, that’s all there is to it.” Lucien’s words were enough of a mirror of his own thoughts to know that he was telling the truth. Eris looked over his shoulder again.

“You’re the only one I can come close to trusting in this poisonous court so you better keep this to yourself, understood? And we can’t talk about this in the House. The walls have ears.” Lucien nodded earnestly. He knew Eris was right but he sounded exactly as paranoid as their father. “Vel is still in the Autumn Court.”

“I assume you don’t know where, otherwise we wouldn’t be hanging out in the middle of nowhere?” Eris shook his head. “So what do you know?”

“I only know she’s still here somewhere, nothing else.”

“Will you tell me how you can be so sure?” Lucien prodded. “I can’t help if I don’t have all the information.” At that, Eris seemed to relax slightly and Lucien wondered how he could even ride while being so tense. Eris shrugged his right arm out of the coat he was wearing and pulled his sleeve up to reveal the elegant lines of the tattoo snaking around his forearm.

“We made a bargain. It was supposed to be fulfilled once she left the Autumn Court. The markings would have disappeared … but they have not.” Lucien stared at the intricately woven vines and had to refrain from pushing for more details. It didn’t look like Eris would entertain him any further.

They spent five days patrolling the borders from one end to the other. They hunted and camped and watched the sky for a large brown owl with white markings and green eyes. They used every hour of light to cover more distance and took turns keeping watch during the night for any sign of her. As they approached the sea, Eris grew increasingly irate.

“What happens now?” Lucien asked as they made their way back to the Forest House.

“I don’t know.” Eris watched the mountain and the house perched on its side grow in the distance. They rode in silence for a few moments before he turned to his brother and pinned him with his stare. “Don’t go looking for trouble.” An order. Eris was not his High Lord but Lucien still felt a wave of power flow over him, leaving goosebumps in its wake. The way he looked at Lucien made it clear that his brother planned to seek trouble alone and wanted to keep him out of harm's way.

“Just let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. You know I’m up for anything that goes against father’s wishes.” Lucien gave him a reassuring smile and, while Eris didn’t return it, he could read the gratitude in his eyes. The smile turned into a grin. “Race you to the House?”

—

Eris spent dinner giving a boringly detailed report of the border patrol. Lysander looked slightly guilty as he sat across from Eris, in her spot.

Night found him alternating between pacing in his sitting room and staring out of the window at the starry sky. He wondered if she could see the sky from wherever she was. There was only one thing left to do and his skin itched in anticipation of the right moment. He was waiting for the guard change; it would give him enough time to wander the hallways undisturbed. The hounds were in his drawing room – a rare treat for them to lounge on the plush carpets in front of the fireplace instead of sleeping in the kennels.

Eris held his dagger carefully in both hands, the moonlight bouncing off the silver blade. He’d done a good job cleaning it after he’d cut Vel with it, but now he’d have to pray he was sloppier than he thought. If there was any trace of her scent at all Ruby would find it, would find her.

He called the ghost hound and she sauntered over, stretching and yawning. Ruby was his favorite, she was no Daemati but she always knew what he wanted before he even commanded her. She was always the first to snuff out prey, the first to give chase in every hunt and she could track anything. He lovingly scratched her behind the ears. Ruby had her own brand of magic and she had never let him down but this was a steep ask. Would she be able to sniff out someone who’d masked their scent? He offered her the wolf pelt first.

“You need to find Vel, Ruby.” He whispered to the hound. She sniffed for a long time as if separating and categorizing the scents and when she looked back up at him, waiting, he offered the dagger as well, to let her confirm the scent. “Please Ruby, I don’t know what else to do.” He noted the hint of desperation in his own voice. Eris couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment Vel became more than a coveted political alliance, but he realized that this was now about more than just antagonizing his father or his brothers.

Ruby scratched at the door to be let out and Eris followed her into the dimly lit hallways. The hound walked with the confidence only a creature following its sixth sense could. As they approached the hidden garden, dread started building in his chest, what if the trail ran cold after their meeting? Or worse, what if she had just turned into a bird and flew off the ledge? But Ruby only sniffed in the direction of the garden once and then turned back and rounded a corner. There was no hesitation in her step as she led Eris away from their rendezvous spot. It was only when Ruby passed the dining halls and the council chamber door came into view that Eris realized where they were heading. He called the hound back as she reached the base of the stairs that led to Beron’s study. So the old bastard had lied. Nothing new under the sun. But if Vel had not returned to her chamber and gone directly to the study, how did the wolf pelt end up in her room?