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Since selling their lands on the Twin Isles and moving to the human realm, House Arendryl had made its fortune several times over distilling brandy and other luxury alcohols. Their champagne cognac was her favorite. She could pick it out of a line up blindfolded.

After all the years of searching, of wondering where she came from, he’d expected relief or even excitement to finally have answers to some of those questions. But mostly, she just seemed… tired.

“Sorry,” he said. “I would’ve said something. It just didn’t seem like my story to tell.”

“No. No, it’s not that.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Taly shook her head.

“Do you want to bury it in a deep hole, never to be seen again?”

That got him a nod. And a smile at his supernatural powers of deduction.

“That’s not the healthiest coping mechanism, but you’ve had a long day, so I’ll let you have it,” he said, closing the gap between them.

Her mouth quirked. “How generous of you.”

Leaning down, he stole a kiss. “I thought so too.” Then hitching his hands beneath her knees, he lifted a grinning Taly into his arms so that her legs wrapped around his waist. “We have a problem.”

“Oh?”

“You’ve completely destroyed this room.” He turned them in a circle so she could get a complete picture of the carnage. “Does that mean we’re sleeping in mine?”

“We?” Her cheeks flushed slightly. “Who said anything about a ‘we’ in this sleeping arrangement?”

They’d spent every night since the palace together, and Skye had no intention of going back to sleeping alone. So, he laid his cards on the table.

“I like starting and ending my day with you beside me. From now on, we’ll be sharing a room.”

Surprise sparked in those molten gray eyes. Straightforward sincerity wasn’t usually their thing. “Was that a command or a question?”

He sighed. “Taly…”

“I’m serious. Just because you’re a prince doesn’t mean you get to order me around.”

He gave her another pinch on the hip, and she gave him another squeal. And another when he leaned her forward far enough that her hair brushed the floor, holding her there until—

“Okay! Fine.” She was laughing and flushed when he raised her back up and into a kiss. “My room,” she conceded, and he kissed her again, delighting in the sounds of her trailing laughter and soft, panted breathing. “It’s bigger. And I have access to the roof.”

“Are we going to have todigto find the bed?”

In answer, there was a softwhoosh, as if a gust of wind suddenly swept through the room. Or maybe that was the sound of air rushing in to fill the empty space left behind after the books, the clothes, the weapons, and the mountain of everything else vanished.

As in disappeared. As in suddenly gone.

Skye blinked. “Pocket universe,” he murmured.

It didn’t matter how often he saw it—Taly using magic would always feel a little unreal.

He resisted the urge to point out that she probably shouldn’t have wasted the aether, even as her breaths came shorter and faster. She’d just burn twice as much to prove a point. Taly had always been stubborn, even when they were children, pushing through broken bones and bloody knees. The Queen’s training had only seemed to sharpen that edge, turning her persistence into a weapon she wielded against her own limits.

He’d seen it in the woods—how she pushed through pain like it didn’t matter. Clearly, he had his work cut out for him. Because if she wouldn’t look out for herself, then he would. It was a role he was used to filling.

And he knew exactly where he needed to start.

He turned them towards the bed, where Calcifer sprawled to take up even more of it.