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“Does this mean you can set a permanent portal to your cabin so I can visit your library whenever?” Zeva gasped.

Rowan narrowed her eyes and reinforced her chokehold. “You mean visit me, right?”

Zeva laughed nervously, “Of course I did!”

“Absolutely not, it’s already hard enough to get you out on the few occasions that you go.” Annabelle’s annoyance shone in the hint of a Spanish accent.

“It will be easier to get me out if I know I can return whenever I want. Please, ma?” Zeva clasped her hands together.

When Annabelle didn’t seem to want to budge, Zeva turned watery eyes to her sisters.

“Well...” Axel began, “We could use the portal as an auxiliary escape route in case there’s ever an attack on the castle.”

“And imagine how easy it will be to visit anytime you want!” Lexine grinned.

Rowan glared at her sister and only got a laugh in response.

Annabelle seemed terribly tempted by the offer.

“Are you sure the Coven isn’t employing an underhanded attempt to capture you?” Kyron asked, clearly concerned.

Rowan had considered this before even leaving the office, but shook her head. “I don’t think so. They gave me the Elder’s Grimoire as collateral.”

Finally releasing her sister, Rowan slid into the chair between her mother and Zeva.

Blank faces stared back at her, and Rowan had to remember that her family didn’t live in her world or have a common understanding of magic. With elves being so limited in their abilities with the stuff, they naturally were ignorant of one of the most treasured magical artifacts in the world.

“It’s a really important book to the Coven, only passed between the previous Elder and the next. It’s got loads of magical secrets etched into its pages.”

“Ooh, do you think it has a recipe for how to find you a proper partner so I can finally have an army of grandchildren?” Annabelle’s eyes shimmered at the prospect.

Rowan sighed, “Ama, I think there are a few more interesting entries.”

“Well, I will just remind you that you have given me full permission to go to war with the witches if they decide to rescind their offer.” King Kyron grinned. “I’m excited to see where your freedom takes you, little one.”

There was something about his voice that sealed the deal as real to Rowan, and she grinned back. “Thanks, Dad.”

The rest of dinner passed by as they caught up on each other’s lives. Work stress mostly, and Zeva’s divulgence of where she planned to head for her next expedition.

There were a few castle intrigues thrown in here and there.

Rowan was keen to keep up on Miasma, the phoenix medical healer who was Lexine’s counterpart in the medical wing. While Lexine was the surgical and mundane wound expert, Miasma’s focus was on magical maladies.

Lexine had brought Miasma on board after the first year Rowan went into business. While at that point, Rowan had already been living in her inherited cabin, she’d made several trips home to see Lexine for wounds that were out of her older sister’s depth. As she and Atlas traveled for several diplomatic trips, she ran into the healer during a festival in Incindria.

She’d been homeless and so anxious that she began crying when Lexine approached her.

Rowan couldn’t blame anyone for being anxious when Lexine first approached them. There was an otherworldly beauty to her eldest sister that took time to get used to. Even five months pregnant with twins, she was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman in the Eastern Elven Kingdom.

The rainbow-haired woman had caught the princess’ eye. She’d been healing a cat, and her magic called to Lexine, who’d been on a float during the festival.

Her departure had caused the eyes of hundreds to follow her and doubled the shaking of the phoenix.

Axel had nearly imploded with rage when she realized her sister had dragged the girl from the streets of their neighboring kingdom.

Lexine ordered her to figure out how to make it okay while she worked on getting the phoenix settled.

It had been Axel’s first day in charge.