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"What direction are we going in?" she asked Teoran in a hushed whisper.

He grimaced. "It's harder to tell in the night. I want to say southeast. We're getting a little off course."

She glared at Reina's back. What was her endgame?

"Do you want to talk about the mother thing?" he asked.

"Do you want to talk about the Khal thing?" she shot back, certain Teoran would back down.

He laughed. "What can I say? Adrenaline makes you do stupid things. Besides, it was cold."

"That's all there is to it?" Too bad. She liked the idea of these two together.

Teoran shrugged. "He's certainly handsome enough, and he knows what he's doing, but I'm thirty-one."

She hadn't asked for his age. Thirty-one was six years after the age of majority, but still very young, for a fae. Rissa nodded, understanding him perfectly. He was playing around, not seeking anything serious. The only folk who paired up this early did so because of antiquated betrothals. There were also these who'd found their fated mates, but they were rare.

"Now circling back to your mother. What's the tension about?"

Rissa could feel her shoulders tightening. "This is our first meeting."

Teoran blinked. "Ever?"

She blew a breath out. "I mean, I must have met her vagina at some point, I suppose. She gave me to Titus when I was days old. He always said nightmares aren't naturally motherly. I never questioned it." If this meeting was anything to go by, her father had been right.

"Do you trust her?" Teoran whispered.

"No," she replied automatically. "But I asked her if we'll be safe tonight, and she replied clearly. I want us gone by dawn."

Teoran nodded, sliding to the rear with Khal.

They trekked through mud in the rain, until they reached the flank of a peculiar chain of hills. As they drew closer, Rissa noticed openings in the darkness.

"Caves?" She regretted speaking the moment the word crossed her lip.

"That's the haven," Reina said without further explanation.

They reached one of the openings, and walked into what appeared to be a well-sculpted network of caves, filled to the brim.

Stunned, she watched the gathering before her eyes. There were all sorts of creatures; a family of felines sleeping in a pile, wraiths sliding in the air, imps, goblins, trolls, and worse.

She watched an imp trade a goblin a knife for a haunch of meat . Great spiders the size of horses were weaving, and those who dared approach left them offerings, in exchange for which they received skeins of precious spider silk.

Rissa had never seen a place quite like this. Prey and predators, monsters and saviors coexisted in a strange symbiosis. Out there, there were no rules, but within the confines of these caves, their community worked, somehow. Courtless, these folk were free, but not quite as wild as she would have expected.

"How does this place even work?" Khal mused.

"The rules are simple. No one draws blood here. If anyone breaks this rule, they're fair game." Reina's grin was downright terrifying.

Rissa needed to practice that smile. It'd give Rydekar a fright.

"A smile!" Teoran grinned at her. That's the first for some hours."

Shewassmiling, to her embarrassment. Despite the events of the day, thinking about the unseelie king was enough for the corners of her lips to lift.

He'd dug his claws deep inside her, in their short acquaintance. Rissa was going to have to do her best to rid herself of the infatuation. He'd take pleasure in playing with her heart strings if she let him.

"It's dry and warm in here." Great fires were burning in each cavernous hall. "Of course I'm smiling."