“Quick! Hide in the trees,” Kestrel ordered, her hand falling to her sword.

Instead of following Kestrel’s orders, Seraiah turned toward the sound. A lone rider had appeared on the horizon. From here, she couldn’t make out any details, but something in her gut told her she didn’t have to be concerned. Apparently, Kestrel felt the same way because she dropped her hand from her weapon, and together, they waited.

Kestrel launched herself at the rider as soon as he stopped and dismounted.

“Whoa.” Kai attempted to dodge her. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m trying to hug you, you idiot. Now stand still.”

“I thought you were going to murder me,” Kai said, gazing over Kestrel’s shoulder to Seraiah.

“I wasn’t sure what was happening either.” Seraiah tried and failed to suppress a smile. “We were worried about you, though.”

“You were worried about me?”

He was definitely staring at her now.

Before Seraiah could amend her statement, Kestrel ended her hug and punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow! What was that for?” he asked.

Seraiah was grateful for the distraction.

“That was for being stupid and making me worry,” Kestrel said, folding her arms over her chest. “Also, where is my horse?”

Kai backed away from her. “I may have lost him.”

“What do you mean, you may have lost him?”

“I mean, I definitely lost him, and you will have to walk back to Nyrene.”

“Seraiah?” Kestrel looked back at her.

“Yes?”

“He is not on my list today. You have my blessing.”

Kai swung onto his horse. “I’m not sure I want to know what that means, but I promise I’ll send someone back to fetch you. Seraiah, you’re welcome to ride with me or wait here with Kestrel.”

She looked back and forth between the two of them. As much as she’d like to be in a city again with all of its comforts, she felt bad leaving Kestrel by herself. “I think I’ll stay.”

For a second, Seraiah thought she saw a flash of disappointment, but Kai’s expression quickly returned to neutral.

“Suit yourself,” he said. “Expect someone to find you in two days.”

Then he disappeared into the trees, leaving them alone again.

Seraiah sat back down, making herself comfortable.

“What are you doing?” Kestrel asked, hands on her hips.

“Waiting.”

“Since when do you wait?” Kestrel gave her a meaningful look.

“It was one time you told me to wait, and I didn’t listen.”

Kestrel narrowed her eyes.

“What? What are we going to do? Start walking?”

Please, no, Seraiah thought. She wasn’t sure her feet could take any more.

“That’s exactly what we are going to do,” Kestrel said to Seraiah’s horror. “Put your boots on and let’s get moving.”

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As Kai rode away from Seraiah and Kestrel, he couldn’t help but wonder why Seraiah had turned him down and chosen to stay with Kestrel. It couldn’t be that she enjoyed being in the woods with no shelter. He would have thought she’d want to rest in a room of her own in the castle.

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Was it him?

He knew what Kestrel would say.

Yes. You could stand to be nicer.

He would work on it in Nyrene. Not that it mattered if Seraiah liked him or not. As long as she continued working with him to get Sterling back, that was all that mattered.

When he reached Nyrene, the gates of the city stood wide open, and guards patrolled the entrance as they always did.

When they caught sight of him, they did a double-take and then quickly bowed. Kai saluted them but didn’t stop. He took the fastest route to the castle, dreading who might greet him there. With any luck, he could put off speaking to any of the council until he had at least bathed.

His horse clattered into the stable yard, where Kai was immediately surrounded by stable elves and more members of the guard. They talked over each other as they bowed and greeted him and asked after his travels.

There was one voice, however, who cut through all of them and sent them scattering.

“Where is she?” he demanded, grabbing hold of Kai’s reins.

“Good to see you too, Eryx,” Kai said, dismounting.

Eryx inclined his head in an approximation of a bow. “Tell me nothing happened to her.”

“Kestrel is fine, of course. A little angry with me, perhaps, but perfectly fine. She does, however, require a horse.”

“What did you do?”

“I’m sure she will tell you all the details herself when you see her. Oh, and there is a surprise with her. Do try not to draw attention when you return. I’ll be here with someone to show our guest to her rooms.”

Kai turned to remove his saddle bag and discovered he’d forgotten to return Seraiah’s satchel. If she didn’t like him now, that certainly wasn’t going to change if he didn’t give it back to her.

He hefted her bag and his own over his shoulder before some servant could try to take it from him. When he turned back again, Eryx was still standing there.

“A word of warning before I leave,” Eryx said, keeping his voice low. “I’ve tried to hold them off as best I could, but the council has questions and they want answers.”

Kai sighed. “Don’t they always,” he muttered.

He squared his shoulders and then set off for the castle and all the duties of ruling a kingdom that awaited him.

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Thanks to Kestrel forcing them to walk, it took a bit less than two days for someone to reach them.

“Heard there was a lady in these woods who needed a ride. Think you could point me in her direction?” an unfamiliar voice addressed them.

Seraiah looked up to find a dark-haired young elf mounted on a silver horse, holding the lead of a second black and white one.

“Very funny, Eryx.” Kestrel scowled. “Took you long enough to get here.”

Seraiah couldn’t help but notice the way Kestrel’s eyes had lit up when she looked at this newcomer. Whoever this was, was clearly on her list of people she liked.

“Prince Kaimana said I should go at a leisurely pace. No rush,” Eryx teased.

“I’m sure he did.”

Eryx looked away from Kestrel, his eyes landing on her. “And who is your new companion?”

“This is Seraiah. Seraiah meet Eryx. He is my second in command.”

“What she means to say is I do all her work while she is out gallivanting with the prince.” He grinned at Kestrel, who rolled her eyes.

When his gaze returned to Seraiah, his face became serious. His smile fading as he studied her. “You brought a human back with you?” Eryx asked, eyebrows raised. “Kaimana mentioned you had a surprise with you, but I wasn’t expecting it to be a human.”

He said human, the way Seraiah might say insect.

“Don’t go spreading this around, but Seraiah is a seer.” Kestrel held up her finger when he opened his mouth to ask another question. “I can’t tell you anything else. If Kai decides it’s necessary for you to know, then you will.”

“He told me you would tell me everything,” Eryx said.

Kestrel snorted. “We’ll see about that when we get back.”

Eryx didn’t push for any more details. Instead, he said, “Can’t wait to see how the court reacts to this. Our prince has certainly gotten himself wrapped up in something, hasn’t he?”

“Nothing new. Now can we please hurry? I would kill for a hot bath right now,” Kestrel declared, taking the lead of the second horse from Eryx and motioning Seraiah over.

“You sure need one,” Eryx commented as he waited for them to mount their horse.

“You try traveling for weeks on end and see how good you smell,” Kestrel retorted, wheeling the horse around and kicking him forward.

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They were much faster on horseback. In only a few hours, they emerged from the forest to be greeted by steep hills with a well-trodden road winding through them. It was this road that they now followed.

As they made their way up and over a second large hill, Seraiah started to faintly detect a salty tang in the air, mixing with another scent that she couldn’t quite name. It was vaguely familiar, but it took her a minute to figure out why—it reminded her of Kai.

She asked Kestrel about it.

“We are close to the sea. That’s what you’re smelling. An hour or two ride that way,” Kestrel pointed slightly east of the direction they were headed, “and you will reach it. Nyrene sits on a cliff overlooking it.”

“Sounds beautiful,” Seraiah said. “I’ve never seen the sea.”

“You will love it,” Kestrel assured her. “It is truly a sight to behold.”

They crested the last hill, and the city came into view.

“Oh, my,” Seraiah said in awe. “It’s so . . . shiny.” It was the only word she could think of to describe it.

The city started at the base of the cliff, winding all the way up to the top where a castle was perched, its spires reaching for the sky. With the sun high overhead, those spires seemed to glow red, orange, yellow—almost like they had been set aflame. It was nothing like the cold gray stone of Ratha’s castle.

The scent of salty sea air grew stronger the closer they drew to the base of the cliff. Finally, Kestrel brought their horse to a stop at the massive gates leading into the city.

She swept a hand out in a grand gesture and announced, “Welcome to Nyrene.”