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Which was why I stepped back into my own time with tears on my face.

Chapter Forty

Iwoke up in a gorgeous suite that was more like a round pavilion perched on a mountainside overlooking the sea.Half of the walls were just columns draped with diaphanous white curtains, and sunlight glistened on the water far below.It reminded me of the triskelion spell so much that, for a minute, I was back there, in a soot-filled ruin of a library, staring death in the face.

And then Pritkin rolled over and pulled me close, mumbling something in his sleep.

I lay there for a while, feeling dizzy and trying to sort out what I was seeing from my memories.It didn’t help that my recall of the previous day was hazy, especially the period shortly after we’d returned from that other time.Separating from Father’s spell had been rough, and then our landing had been… disorienting.

We’d popped back into our time in the middle of a huge crowd of yelling and cheering people, half of whom were already drunk, and the rest were working on it.Maybe because we’d shown up just in time for the final challenge in the contest for the throne that the Alorestri were holding.Which, judging by the bets being placed, was about to begin.

It had been too much, too fast, fearing for our lives one minute, and being caught up in a happy, boisterous crowd the next, full of laughing people in colorful silks, with no scars on their bodies or trauma in their eyes.And no idea just how fast everything could fall apart.

It was like watching them dancing on the edge of a knife without even knowing it was there.

It was obscene.

I saw Mircea through the throng, staring around with something almost like horror on his face, while the witches huddled together and looked as weirded out as they had been by the murderous group of gods.Maybe more so, as they’d seen gods.I didn’t think they’d seen anything like this.

None of us knew what to do, and I’d been too exhausted to figure it out.The scene had been spinning around me to the point that it was all I could do to find a seat on the rugged cliffside we were standing on before I passed out.And stare stupidly down at the perilous obstacle course set up on a long stretch of beach.

I’d assumed we were all going to do that, just find a place to observe, since we couldn’t afford to win.But then I’d noticed Æsubrand and Pritkin having an intense-looking conversation off to the side while the crowd gave them the stink eye.And I started to get worried.

Not about the crowd’s reaction, as our whole party was getting the same looks from those close enough to notice us.We were all dressed worse than servants, in dirty, blood-stained tunics that had definitely seen better days, and in Æsubrand’s case, a few filthy pieces of armor that he’d concealed under a shawl.To say that we stood out in the sleek and perfectly coiffed crowd was an understatement.

But then I was back on my feet, bone-weary though I was, because—

“What are theydoing?”

“It’s alright,” Enid moved to my side.

“How is it alright?They’re going down there!”

And they were.Pritkin and Æsubrand, instead of coming over and finding a seat, were jumping down the cliffside like two mountain goats and then running across the beach.Within seconds, I almost couldn’t see them anymore; just two stubborn heads, one bright gold in the sunlight and one a shining silver banner, joining the other contestants and getting booed by the crowd, who had probably thought we had dropped out, having missed the last two trials.

“Yes,” Enid agreed.“Mage Pritkin has offered to join Prince Æsubrand’s cohort; therefore, both of his wins now belong to him.”

“Æsubrandis going to be king?”I said, understanding nothing.

“Well, he has to win first.”

I rolled my eyes.Because traversing a death-defying obstacle course that wound in and out of the water, featured beasts of sea and land, and doorways that were spelled to be fiendishly hard to open, might intimidate most people.But after what those two had been through?

This was a walk in the park.

But there was still a problem.

“What if the Alorestri won’t accept him, either?What if the same thing happens when he tries to lead them into battle?”

“It won’t.”Her lips quirked.“If I know anything about these fey, they are loyal to blood above all, and he has ancestors from all three royal houses.It is one reason Lady Bodil chose to back him.She knew that, of all people in Faerie, his right to rule could not be questioned.”

She looked teary-eyed when she said it, which I hadn’t understood at the time, but there had been no moment to ask before a row of massive conch shells sounded and the race began.And tired or not, traumatized or not, limping badly in Æsubrand’s case or not, the two tore through the competition like a hot knife through butter.And Enid and I had screamed ourselves hoarse in support, because it was all either of us had had the strength left for.

It was only after the fact, when the fickle crowd was going mad and chanting Æsubrand’s name, and fluttering bits of silk were raining down everywhere, because the Alorestri had to be extra even about their confetti, and horns were blaring and music was playing from five different orchestral setups, and I was wondering if this was finally going to be what deafened me, that I realized what Enid’s problem was.

She thought this was the end for them.

She thought this was where they became prince and scullery maid again, and it was to her credit that she was still applauding him even through her tears, as confetti showered her bright red hair and stuck to her wet cheeks.