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Kate wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the dungeons, but her body was stiff from sitting on the floor.

She forced herself to get up and wipe her tears.

Despite the desperate nature of her situation, crying had released some knot of tension deep inside her that she hadn’t known was there.

She could breathe easier now and focus on what mattered.

Caden needs me. I can’t give up.

She tried to approach the problem logically.

Caden wasn’t in the dungeons, but she had to believe Roan wouldn’t hurt him.

She had a month to solve the labyrinth, so he would not have returned Caden to the human world.

That would be outside the scope of the deal they’d struck.

Keeping him in this world would keep the pressure on her, and having him in this castle would keep him safe.

Ergo, he was still in the palace somewhere.

And if Roan had moved him, someone in the palace would have noticed.

Babbitt had said that the kobolds and the trolls liked her. Perhaps they could help her. It was a small chance, but one she had to take.

She was halfway back up the stairs when a fluffy white cat appeared in front of her. The cat’s blue eyes were large and luminous, and its long hair looked as soft as angora. The cat twitched its plumelike tail as it watched her.

A white cat... Something about that stirred her memory, but she couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

The cat turned away with a meow, keeping its gaze on Kate over its shoulder, its tail twitching.

In a place where everything was magical, why not the cats as well? Kate nibbled her bottom lip and took a chance. “Do you know how to find someone in the palace?”

The cat nodded.

“Great. So you’re some kind of magic cat, huh?”

The cat hopped up the steps ahead of her and meowed in the affirmative.

“I’m looking for a boy, a human one, eleven years old. He has blond hair...”

The cat was already moving. Kate followed it out of the stairwell and back into the palace corridor. The cat glanced around, then started to trot away.

“Wait!” Kate whispered, running after the cat. “Will you help me?”

“Mreow—mreow.” The cat paused long enough to make sure Kate was following.

They hurried down a series of halls together, pausing only a few times to hide in alcoves as other Fae passed by them.

Kate pressed herself flat against the wall each time, praying that no one would see her.

She wasn’t exactly sure what kind of trouble she’d be in if she was spotted and would prefer not to find out.

The brownies didn’t seem to be dangerous, but the others like Roan.

.. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be good to be caught by them.

When the most recent batch of guards had moved on, the cat darted forward, and Kate chased after her.

The feline ducked through an open doorway and leapt onto a lavish bed.

Kate glanced around the room to get her bearings.

It was a bedchamber, much like Roan’s, but decidedly more feminine.

The bed was made of the same type of white wood, but more slender in build.

The coverlet and sheets were awash with gold and purple hues.

“I don’t think we should be here.” Kate moved to pick up the cat, but in a flash of blinding light, the cat vanished and the most beautiful brunette woman she’d ever seen sat on the edge of the bed. Her features were unmistakably familiar, especially her blue eyes, which were so like Roan’s.

It was a trap! Kate scrambled for the door, but it shut and bolted before she reached it.

Kate turned and gaped at the woman. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and the gown she wore was made of silver-and-gold satin.

Pearls were threaded into her hair, and a diadem of silver stars and moonflowers adorned her brow.

The woman chuckled. “Kate of the Winslows. We meet again.”

“We’ve met before?” Kate asked.

The Fae’s blue eyes sparkled with mischief. “We certainly have. Not that you would remember. I’m afraid you were unconscious at the time. Traveling through the realms can be overwhelming to mortals. My brother landed in the middle of his throne room with you in his arms.”

Kate let that sink in and then she gasped. “So Roan is your brother?”

“Yes, my elder brother. I’m Eudora Moondove.”

“Not Eudora Arun?” Kate asked curiously.

“Among the Fae, females have equal standing. We female Fae keep our matrilineal names, and the males take patrilineal names. My mother was Thalia Moondove, and my father was Bahden Arun.”

“Men and women are equals here?” The irony didn’t escape her that she’d had to travel to a land of myth to finally find more equality between the sexes.

“Oh yes.” Eudora smiled softly. “Now about my brother... He can be so delightfully broody. He said very little of his plans for you and simply shooed me out of his bedchamber. And then the next thing I heard is that he’d put you in the labyrinth, and he gave me charge of your little brother.”

“Caden is here?” Kate spun around, hoping she’d find her brother in some corner of the room waiting to shout surprise , but deep down she knew he wouldn’t be there.

“He is with Rath, who is Roan’s dearest friend. You can be assured that he will see to Caden’s care.”

“Oh please, can’t I see him? I’ve been so worried?—”

The Fae princess tutted and waved Kate over to sit beside her on the plush bed. Kate sat down, and the woman grasped one of Kate’s hands, gently squeezing it.

“You mortals. Always in such a hurry. He’s all right, my dear Kate. I swear it.”

Kate’s chest tightened as her panic flared again. “But Roan left him in the dungeons...”

“No, he didn’t. My beast of a brother only wanted you to think that so he could make you do what he wished. He would never have left the poor boy down there.”

“But I did do what he wanted...sort of.” She didn’t want to tell Roan’s sister about how foolish she’d been to fall for him and sleep with him. That he somehow captivated her so completely when she was with him that it was impossible to think of anything or anyone else.

“Well, you wouldn’t be the first female to bend to his wishes, just the first human one who made it far more difficult for him to get what he wanted.

I imagine it must be an unsettling thing to have to obey my brother’s whims. I can quite understand why you resisted.

Males always believe they have a right to us, don’t they?

And always, they are quite wrong and try to force us to do as they wish. ”

Kate hadn’t really thought about it like that, but Roan had just thrown her into the labyrinth on a whim because he wasn’t pleased she didn’t want to stay and be his little human pet forever.

It almost made her laugh to think of Roan throwing a Fae king–level tantrum when she’d refused his order to wait naked in his bed.

Kate wasn’t someone who felt smug very often, but she did in that moment.

She’d rejected Roan’s demands and had made love with him on her terms.

“Now... Please do not be offended, but I wish to fix your clothes,” said Eudora. ”All that mud is bothering me and... Is that blood?”

Kate glanced down at herself. Her jeans were torn at the knees, and she had wiped her bloody hands on them during her climb, which left reddish-brown stains in places. Her sweater and part of her jeans had mud streaks.

Eudora marveled at her appearance. “Good gracious, what on earth have you been up to, little mortal?”

“I... um... climbed the rocks by the sea to get into the palace.”

Eudora gasped. “You what ?”

Maybe Kate shouldn’t have said anything, but she wanted to trust Eudora. “I climbed,” she repeated.

“I hadn’t actually given any thought to how you got inside the palace, but climbing? You could have died, Kate. Even in our land, death is quite permanent.”

“I had to make sure my brother was safe.” Kate realized what she’d done had been very risky, but making sure Caden was okay, seeing that he was safe and well cared for with her own eyes? That was worth it.

Eudora lifted Kate’s hands, turning them over and frowning when she saw the cuts and abrasions.

“Well, that won’t do, will it?” She closed her eyes, and a warm tingling moved through Kate’s body. The cuts healed and the scrapes vanished.

Eudora nodded in satisfaction. “Much better. Now, what do you think of attending a ball with me? You would be the first human in centuries to see an Unseelie ball in the Twilight Court.”

“I really just want to see my brother. And I don’t want Roan to find me here, since technically, I didn’t find the center of the labyrinth yet. I found a cave that led here instead.”

Eudora’s brows rose. “He would be displeased that you found a rather clever way to defy him, I’m sure. Then again, you are where he originally wished you to be, aren’t you? Here in the palace? Maybe he would not be as angry as you think.”

Kate blushed as she remembered exactly where Roan wanted her to be. In his bed, naked and waiting for him. “We sort of made a bargain, or an agreement. I’m not sure what to call it. He said if I could solve the labyrinth, he would send Caden and me home.”

“You made a bargain with Roan? That is quite binding in our world.”

“I know that... now,” Kate sighed. “My plan was to see Caden and go home if I could find a way. If not, my second plan was to climb back down the way I came in and go to the cave and find my way into the labyrinth again. I don’t think that cave is meant to be part of the labyrinth, and just because I made it to the castle doesn’t mean I solved the labyrinth. I’d lose on a technicality.”

“Yes, Fae bargains are nothing if not riddled with such things. In your world there are humans who also revel in technicalities. I believe they’re called... lawyers?”

Kate chuckled. She had briefly considered going to law school after college but had decided she liked business way more than she liked arguing with people.