Kestrel released Seraiah and took her hand, pulling her off the dais into the dancing faeries. Lonan followed silently behind them, his eyes wide as he took in the scene. Seraiah couldn’t remember if she’d warned him about talking to the faeries or accepting anything from them. Hopefully, he knew the rules and wouldn’t do anything to get himself in trouble when they were so close to getting out of there.

“Where are the others?” Seraiah had to shout to be heard over the music.

Kestrel waved her hand in response and kept pushing onward to the edge of the crowd. It wasn’t until they reached the buildings that Kestrel finally stopped.

“They were in the crowd of dancers,” she said. “They’ll have seen the exchange and know to find us here.”

A few minutes passed with no sign of them, and Seraiah was beginning to worry when they appeared out of the shadows, holding their belongings. They, like Kestrel, looked a little worse for the wear, but at least they were still alive.

“All right. Let’s go,” Kestrel said, accepting her saddlebag from one of the elves. “Our horses will be waiting for us, and we have a long journey ahead.”

They made their way out of the main city and into the area with the strange houses.

Maescia and her group of faeries stood in the middle of the path, waiting for them. As when Maescia had found Seraiah returning to the Court with the golden scale, she didn’t say anything. She gestured to the other fairies, and they handed over the horses. Once the exchange was complete, the faeries melted back into the shadows of the houses.

“Who’s your new friend, Seraiah?” Kestrel asked, when they were alone again. She eyed the gnome, who was eyeing her right back.

“This is Lonan. Without his help, I wouldn’t have been able to complete the quest,” Seraiah explained as she secured her satchel to her horse.

Lonan puffed up at her praise.

“You have my thanks, Lonan of—” Kestrel waited for him to fill in the blank.

“Metrius,” he supplied. “I am from Metrius.”

“A gnome, then?” Kestrel raised an eyebrow. “I thought you and your kin didn’t leave the underground.”

He shrugged. “Some of us still have a sense of adventure.”

Kestrel smiled. “And do you intend to take that sense of adventure to Nyrene? We must return there as soon as possible.”

Seraiah bit her lip. If Lonan didn’t want to go with them, he would be on his own to find his way back to Metrius.

“I would be honored to join the group if you’ll have me,” he said, bowing his head.

“Then on behalf of Prince Kaimana, I’ll extend an invitation for as long as you’d like, and when you wish to return home, we can have it arranged,” Kestrel said.

Lonan thanked her, and Kestrel went back to readying her horse. The other elves had already mounted and were waiting to leave.

“You’ll have to share a horse with someone,” Seraiah said to Lonan. “You can ride with me if you want.”

He agreed and, with some help, was able to get the horse.

Once everyone was situated, they set out for Nyrene.

“This is my first time on a horse, you know,” Lonan said as they followed behind Kestrel.

“And how are you liking it?” Seraiah asked. “You seem to be taking it much better than I did.”

He chuckled. “I think I like it just fine. Not as exciting as riding a dragon, mind you, but it’s much better than walking everywhere with these short legs.” He patted his left leg good-naturedly.

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“We’ll ride through the night and as much as the horses can handle,” Kestrel told them over her shoulder. “I’d like to reach Nyrene before Kai has a complete meltdown, if he hasn’t already.”

“How long has it been?” Seraiah asked. She was afraid of the answer, but she had to know.

“We should have returned this morning.”

“Oh.” It was better than she’d expected.

“If we ride fast and through the night, we can cut our time in half and only be two days late,” Kestrel said.

“Kai won’t do anything drastic in that time, right?”

“Depends on your definition of drastic.” Kestrel gave Seraiah a look and then pressed her horse to go faster.

By the time they rode into the stable yard of the castle two days later, the entire group was exhausted, including the horses.

Kai was waiting for them with Eryx by his side, and neither one looked particularly happy.

On the way to Nyrene, they’d run into a group of scouts who’d been sent to search for them with orders to report back if they weren’t found outside the Seelie Court.

Kestrel had grumbled under her breath about it only being two days and sent them off. Then she’d pushed them even faster.

Seraiah wanted nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep for days, but one look at Kai told her she was unlikely to get her wish.

“What happened?” he demanded as they dismounted. His voice may have been quiet, but it was cold enough to freeze dragon fire.

This was not a side of Kai she had ever seen before.

She knew he was only mad because of the scare they’d put him through. He was already missing one sister, and losing Kestrel would be like losing another. Seraiah didn’t flatter herself to think that he cared whether she returned or not. She was here purely as a means to an end, but she still couldn’t shut off the part of her brain that wished he would be a little happy to see her.

Kestrel ignored Kai’s question as she pulled her bag off her horse and handed over the reins to a stable attendant. Seraiah couldn’t help but notice the other two elves in their group had disappeared, leaving them to face Kai’s wrath on their own.

“Did you not stick to the plan?” Kai asked. His eyes met hers for an instant and then darted away. That was when he spotted Lonan, who was trying to hide behind her.

Kai’s expression immediately became guarded.

“Perhaps we should have this conversation in private,” Kestrel said in a low voice, gesturing with her chin at the onlookers that had gathered.

“Fine. My study. Half an hour. All of you.” He swept his gaze over them before turning on his heel and striding inside.

“He had a meltdown, didn’t he?” Kestrel mock-whispered to Eryx.

“You could say that,” Eryx replied with a small smile. “He was worried about you, and it killed him to not send anyone after you—it killed me.”

Kestrel snorted. “We met the scouts and sent them back.”

Eryx’s brow furrowed like he was confused, but Kestrel didn’t seem to notice. “Anyway, we were hardly late. Things happened, and it couldn’t be helped, but I think it will be worth it.”

“I suppose we will find out,” Eryx said.

Seraiah followed the two of them as they disappeared into the castle. She hoped Kestrel was right.

----------------------------------------

When Eryx had brought him news that Kestrel and Seraiah had been sighted, Kai had been relieved. Then the anger had set in.

What had they been thinking? They could have sent a message if they knew they weren’t going to return on time. The timeline he’d given Kestrel should have been more than enough to make a deal. He’d made it very clear to her it wasn’t worth agreeing to something that would put them in danger, so what exactly had kept them for so long?

“Everything all right?” Eryx asked when he’d arrived in the stable yard.

“That remains to be seen, I think,” Kai said. He could feel Eryx looking at him, but if Eryx had an opinion, he kept it to himself.

By the time the group arrived, his stress and fear over what had happened to them came to a boiling point, and he let his anger get the better of him.

When Kestrel suggested they meet in private, he’d come back to himself and realized the audience they were drawing. It was exactly what he didn’t want.

Now he paced the length of his study, waiting for them to appear and explain exactly what had happened, and why they’d returned with a gnome in tow. To his knowledge, gnomes didn’t leave their underground home, so how had they come across one while at the Seelie Court, and what did it mean that he was here now?

Eryx was the first to arrive.

“Seraiah and the gnome went up to her rooms, and Kestrel went to hers for a change of clothes,” he said before Kai could ask.

“And did Kestrel tell you anything?”

Eryx shook his head. “She wouldn’t say anything about what they’d learned. Although,” he paused, “there was one strange thing she mentioned.”

Kai dropped into the chair behind his desk with a sigh. “What is it?”

Eryx remained close to the door. “She said something about sending scouts back.”

“But I didn’t send any scouts. Did you?”

“No, you said we would wait.”

They stared at each other in silence for a moment.

Then a knock sounded on the door. With a nod from Kai, Eryx opened it.

A messenger stood there.

“Pardon me, Your Highness,” the young boy said. “I’m to deliver this to you.” He held out a cream-colored envelope.

Kai accepted it and dismissed him. He turned it over and stared at the wax seal on the back. He now had a fairly good idea who had sent those scouts Kestrel had run into.

“Who is it from?” Eryx asked after the boy had left.

“Gavaran.”