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“No, you’re not doing that.” She snapped her fingers in front of my face, forcing me to reopen my eyes and look at her. “They took Nellie the same day they took you. Hours later, if that. Your mother was distraught and talked about breaking into the castle to go after you. I don’t know how I managed to talk her out of it, but I convinced her to go with me to find the rebels in Endir, hoping they could help. Oberon’s soldiers caught us before we even reached the bridge.”

“So, that note Morgan gave me. The one you wrote to me. It was real.”

“Very real. I thought I might go find your captain.” Her lips quirked. “Turns out he was the fucking Mist King the whole time. I told you there was more to that mysterious cloaked fae than he let on.”

I gave her a flat stare. “Go on then. Rub it in. You were right, and I was wrong.”

Her lips split into a grin, and a sheen of tears covered her eyes. “For the love of light, Tessa. I’ve never been happier to see anyone in my entire life. I thought you might be dead.”

“Likewise,” I whispered, a deep, heart-splitting emotion swelling in my chest.

For a long time, neither of us said a word. We drank our ale and breathed in the musty air. A companionable silence settled around me like a gentle hug, only broken by the occasional trail of mist creeping through the cracks in the door. The others eventually fell asleep, even my mother. She looked frail, curled up against the table, shocks of white around her hairline. There were lines around her eyes that hadn’t been there before, too. Already, she showed signs of Oberon’s missing protection. Humans had still aged in Teine, but very few got grey hairs, and wrinkles only came near the end.

“Do you think Oberon is dead?” Val asked me, as if reading my mind.

I turned back. “He’s gone, but he’s not dead.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Flames can’t kill him, and I didn’t see a body. The barrier is gone, and so is he, but he’s still out there somewhere. And as long as he’s alive, he’ll try to bring back the gods.”

Val looked alarmed. “The gods?”

I filled her in on everything I’d learned from Kalen. It was a lot to go through. I’d seen and heard so much during my short time spent out in the mists that it felt like hours passed before I finished my story. Val looked suitably gobsmacked by the information.

“Maybe it’s time for another drink,” she muttered. When she lifted the cask, I placed a hand on her arm to stop her.

“Let’s not. Just in case.”

She lowered the ale and reached for the golden chain around her neck. “You think the shadowfiends might try to come in here.”

“If they get hungry enough, yes.”

“Fuck.”

I hopped off the stool and took in our surroundings, though I’d been in here often enough over the years to know what I’d find. Plenty of cobwebs in the corners. Old, worn circular tables and mismatched chairs. Plain floorboards. A handful of candles dripped wax onto their metal holders.

I crossed the room, removed a candle from a table, and added the metal holder to the stick I’d brought in from outside.

“That’s not going to kill a shadowfiend,” Val said dryly.

“Do you have any better ideas? All my wooden daggers are back in my house.”

“Allyour wooden daggers? You had more than just that one?”

“Oh yes.” I smiled. “I have a whole stash of them in the cupboard.”

Val shook her head and laughed. “That’s deranged.”

“One of these days, those daggers are going to be useful.” I frowned as an animalistic shriek echoed nearby. “But I agree that’s not today. We need something a little bigger.”

“There’s a hatch back here.” Val kicked her boot against something behind the bar. “Maybe someone, such as my parents, hid some weapons inside. Like an axe.”

Our gazes locked across the bar. “Val.”

“It’s all right. I’m all right.” She brushed her ginger hair out of her face and tried on a smile. But she did not sound all right.

“I’ll look.” I rounded the bar and spotted the hatch she’d mentioned. A large rectangular door had been cut into the floor. Several casks of ale were stacked on top of it, almost as though someone had tried to hide it.