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A general.With her sharp mind, Ayla would have been a force to reckon with, but I couldn’t imagine her living in the mountains. The main pass was mostly a trade route, moving fae goods farther south. Mapmakers marked it “difficult to travel in winter.”

“Sounds snowy,” I replied.

“Snowy and isolated.” She huffed a short laugh. “I think that was the point. It would give me prestige and limited power. It would take me away from the limelight of the palace without making it obvious I was being sent away. A perfect solution for a bastard princess.”

I cringed at the moniker, the way she always named herself cruelly yet casually.

She quickly added, “It would have been a terrible place for me. The Southern Watch is far from the cities, and few fae or part-fae are there. Certainly no fae fiddle bars. I think I would have suffocated.”

“Is that why you left?”

“Not exactly.” Her gaze cut away. “Rhett and I had everything ready a year ago. I’d planned to leave soon, but not the night of Mariana’s coronation ball…” She froze and stopped talking completely.

Whatever she had left unsaid gnawed at her. Before I could gather the courage to ask, she stood. “My leg’s better. I’m going to face the earth trial next.”

“Okay,” I agreed. This was her challenge, not mine.

The earth door was now covered with green moss.Ayla frowned, considering it. “What do you think is behind here? For fire, I fought a drake, so maybe this is a troll.”

She pushed the door open, and we stepped into a vibrant garden. Plants covered every surface, every wall. Blooming flowers accented with bright colors, while the trickle of water sounded from a fountain. The sky was clear, and it was a pleasant day.

However, throughout the garden, the next challenge surrounded us, hidden in camouflage, only recognizable because I knew what to look for.

Gnomes. Bounding and bouncing gnomes. Humorous, stubborn, and deeply irritating. They hid amongst the foliage.

Honestly, I would have preferred a troll.

18 | Taproot

Ayla

The garden was walled in. The door disappeared, my escape with it. Yet I didn’t feel trapped, not with the breeze scented with flowers. The fresh air was a relief after the stagnant cave.

The central fountain was encircled by flowers of all hues—bright blue, shades of sunset, somber black, and tender periwinkle. They grew from luscious green stems, and several had thorns.

Short grasses formed pathways, traversing between flower beds. Hedges and vines disguised the stony outer walls with more greenery.

“Fascinating, fascinating,” a high-pitched voice said somewhere near my feet. I looked, but nobody was there.

Another voice spoke, this one deeper and annoyed, “Too strange. I recommend rejection. Send her back!”

A third voice, thin with age, disagreed. “We must complete the test before making judgment.”

“What—” I spun about, running through the garden. The voices seemed nearby, but I couldn’t see the speakers.

Finally, I caught movement from the corner of my eye. It hid behind a bush. It vanished, but if I squinted… something wasoff.The light warbled strangely.

Wandering in that direction, looking at everything except the bush, I tried to keep my target unsuspecting. I waited for it to make its next move. And then—

I lunged.

“You got me! You got me!” the first, lighter voice cried out.

Silky white hair framed her enormous brown eyes. Her green face was smooth and young. She was as tall as my knees and chubby, wearing a purple dress.

She squirmed. “She caught me. The game is over.”

Another stepped out from a hedge. He had the same white hair and green skin. He wore trousers with green suspenders.