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“So, not really advanced at all,” Daethie commented dryly.

“It’s hard to explain.” And honestly, I didn’t feel like going to the effort. “We do things differently. Society isn’t built around magic where I come from.”

“It sounds intriguing,” Lu proclaimed. “I’d love to hear more about your city sometime.”

“Well, it’s not a—” I started before realizing the futility of trying to explain that it was a whole different world. Giving up, I settled for a defeated “Yeah. Whatever.”

When the sun hit its highest point in the sky, we stopped under the shade of a weeping tree for a quick meal of nuts, fruit, and flatbread from Vee.

Huddling together on seats of moss-covered roots, we scarfed down our food in relative silence.

Lu turned down offers of food and disappeared toward the end of the meal, telling us to go on ahead.

Assuming he was taking a bathroom break, we continued down the road, but minutes became hours with no sign of him.

“Where did he disappear to?” I muttered to myself, surveying the line of trees and thick undergrowth.

They offered no answer besides rustling in the breeze.

Invisible insects chattered to either side of us, and something large trumpeted in the distance.

Had something bad happened to him? An encounter with a wild beast, or an injury?

Was he a bandit after all, gathering his buddies for an ambush? We should be prepared for anything.

“Leave it,” Hohem said before his brother could comment.

“He probably figured this wasn’t worth his time after all.” Vyrain shrugged, not one to miss the opportunity. He lowered his voice to sensual tones. “That gives us some time to ourselves, blossom. While we’re at it, I thought of a few more questions for you?—”

“Oi. You’re not alone,” Hohem reminded him, reaching out to smack the back of his head. “For Valuen’s sake, save the flirting for someone who’s receptive. Maybe we’ll come across a nice nykse for you to practice your skills of seduction on.”

“Ow!” Vyrain fixed his brother with a scowl.

“See, this is why you’ll never be as popular with the ladies as I am.

The whole point of flirting is to use your skills to attract someone who’s not yet receptive.

And you know as well as I do that a nykse would sooner drown a man and eat his flesh than sleep with him. ”

“Maybe they’re onto something,” I muttered under my breath.

Something rustled to my left. Everyone tensed.

“There you are!” a voice called moments before Luthri appeared from between the trees. The uneasy feeling ebbed. He was out of breath but otherwise no worse for wear, I was glad to see. Only because I felt a degree of responsibility for everyone here .

“Welcome back,” Daethie greeted him, eyeing him up and down. “Someone ruffle your feathers? Had to give them a good, hard preening, did you?”

Luthri took the teasing in stride. “You know it,” he replied with a saucy wink. “But no, I was finding something more substantial to eat. Alas, nuts and fruit aren’t my sustenance of choice. I’m a man in my prime, and being on the road whets the appetite like nothing else.”

That ego could use some deflating . But where best to poke?

A man like him tended to be caught up in shallow things, like one’s pride and appearance.

I went for it. “In your prime? I don’t know about that.

I’m pretty sure I saw a few gray hairs. Not to mention a little pudge around the middle.

No shame in that, though—time takes its toll on everyone. ”

“Gray hairs? Pudge?” Lu put on an affronted air. “Tell me where you see pudge.”

With practiced ease, he slid a hand underneath the hem of his shirt and lifted it to reveal the sculpted terrain of his torso.

His abdominal muscles flexed under my gaze, transforming his flat stomach into a beautiful landscape of peaks and valleys no doubt best traversed by tongue.

The afternoon sun gave his skin a golden glow that called to mind a statue cast in bronze.

My mouth went strangely dry.

Vyrain made a disgusted noise beside me. “Muscle weighs you down,” was his input. “Makes you burn more energy. Limits your speed and flexibility. It’s a liability.”

“Trust me, I’m plenty flexible.” Lu drew out the last word with great satisfaction.

“I’ve got it!” Hohem punched his palm with a resounding smack . “You two lechers go ahead and sleep with each other, and the rest of us don’t have to listen to this anymore.”

I snorted with laughter, not even bothering to disguise it as a cough. Daethie straight up chortled, and even Yrra cracked a smile. Vyrain was not amused.

The curve of Lu’s lips bordered on an outright smirk. “I’ve had more than my share of Alfen already, or I would be happy to show you a good time. My offer of a three-way stands, however, should Mar ever change her mind.”

Vyrain gritted his teeth, and his hands balled into fists. That was my signal that the fun had gone too far; it was time to intervene before things got ugly.

I stepped between them, putting a hand out to stop Vyrain.

“It’s okay; I’ll handle it,” I told him gently. Turning back to Lu, I hardened my tone. “What did I say about riling each other up? Good Goddess, don’t make me gag you.”

I realized my mistake as soon as the words left my mouth. For someone like Luthri, a gag probably counted as foreplay. His responding grin was positively devilish, and his eyes twinkled with mischief. But to my surprise and relief, he didn’t take it where I expected.

“I’ll be good,” he promised instead, miming silence by putting a finger to his full lips.

He stayed true to his word. We traveled in peaceful silence for the rest of the afternoon.

Darkness had fallen by the time we came across a suitable place to spend the night: a small but welcoming two-story inn just off the main road with a swinging sign that read “Fill Your Bellies, Rest Your Heads” in the Ishameti language.

Through the thick cover of trees behind it lay a collection of wood cabins belonging to the establishment.

We weren’t about to spend our meager funds on private rooms when we had perfectly good tents, but everyone was keen on taking advantage of a hot meal.

A part of me still doubted the authenticity of our quest. Little but widespread rumors to go off of?

A tempting reward? People leaving and not coming back?

Anyone with a brain would be suspicious.

With the group settled at one of the tavern’s tables, I strolled up to the bar and took the opportunity to ask the proprietor about it along with my request for a map.

“Ah, right, Miss Kereti.” The big man behind the bar—likely part giant, like Ked—scratched his stubbled chin.

“Yeah, a few of those groups have come through here. It’s legit, as far as I know.

Got a cousin farther up north, and he’s been complaining about that island for a while now.

They’re weird folks, the ones that live there.

Keep to themselves, mostly, but when they do come to the mainland, there’s something off about them. ”

“Something off? Like what?” With the way everyone socialized with different fae races, it took a lot for someone to consider a certain group “weird.” Did they act strangely because they were threatened into hiding something they knew?

Were they all in on whatever or whoever was making people who went out that way disappear?

The barkeep shrugged. “How did he describe it,” he muttered to himself. “Like, uh… like they’re all weirdly pleasant, coming right up to ya, inviting ya to their home. Sometimes unrelated folks be having the same mannerisms and similar speech. It’s spooky.”

“I can imagine.” Strange. What could that mean? Is it cause for concern?

“Anyway, let me grab that map for you. It’ll be two jinni .”

“Yes, thank you. Do you have change?” I passed along the money.

Moments later, I joined the others at their table, nudging Hohem aside so that I had room to sit on the bench. Hohem slid closer to his brother, and I unrolled the map and spread it out.

“No trouble?” Yrra asked.

“No, no trouble,” I told him. Holding down one side of the paper, I moved my plate to the opposite corner to keep it from folding up. Vyrain extended a free hand to hold the other corner. “Thanks! Okay, let’s see.”

I found the line that marked the main road.

Following it to the coast, I made a mental note of key points along the way.

“All right. The trains won’t be useful for us, unfortunately.

We can go by foot northeast until the coastal city, Solfarin, and then we’ll need to find a ship to get us to the island.

If we land over here”—I pointed to a spot on the south side of the island for anyone paying attention—“we can get a feel for the terrain and think about how we’ll approach the city.

“I feel like we made pretty good time today, but we can only go so fast on foot. Given the distance we’ve come so far, and if we’re about here…

” I gauged the remaining stretch of road, and my heart sank.

Looking at it on paper, it seemed so far.

“All in all, accounting for setbacks along the way, we’re looking at almost a full cycle. Easily one and a half there and back.”

“Well, it’s a good time for this,” Luthri commented from his side of the table. “Even if it takes us a little longer than expected, we’ll be back before the snow starts.”

“Yeah, that’s true—” I looked up and frowned. “What… what is that?”

Everyone at the table had a plate, including Daethie, with hers the size of a bottle cap.

Where most of them were loaded with cooked, salted meat with fat drippings and crusty bread to dip, Lu’s bore nothing but red meat—neat bite-sized slices of muscle and organs, as raw as it got.

As I watched, he picked up a piece between taloned fingers and swallowed it in one gulp.

My stomach churned.