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He shrugged. “I get around just fine without them.” The lick of fire rising from his brow danced as he looked at Corvus. “As you know, I travel fast. Ezabell might have to wander the kingdom from the Covenant to the Iron Sea, but I can dip back to Lum Laras and check in any time.”

Wait, was Helios threatening Corvus? I drew a deep breath. “I don’t think?—”

“I expect nothing less,” Corvus said, inclining his head.

He smiled as he held Helios’s gaze. “Ezabell created you. I can’t imagine anyone better prepared to guard her back and look out for her best interests.

I’ll have reports ready so you can ferry information back to Ezabell as she searches for the sunstone. ”

Relief coursed through me. Maybe it was best to travel with Helios.

As a sunsprite, he moved faster than any horse.

Yes, I had to wander the land until I found the stone, but Helios would help me maintain my connection to Lum Laras.

I’d find the sunstone, return to the capital, and wed Corvus. Everything was going to be all right.

“Everything is going to be all right,” Corvus said, turning back to me. He cupped my cheek, his palm warm against my skin. Heat glimmered in his eyes, and he dipped his gaze to my mouth. “And when you return…” He trailed off, but his meaning hung in the air.

The sunlight streaming through the windows flickered. The temperature dropped several degrees.

Goosebumps lifted on my arms, and I shivered, my sleeveless gown offering little protection against the sudden cold.

Helios met my gaze, his eyes wide behind his spectacles. “We shouldn’t delay.”

I swallowed the knot that threatened to choke me. “I know.”

“Do you have everything you need?”

I went to the pack I’d leaned against one of the Solarium’s pillars. Slinging it over my shoulder, I nodded. “I’m ready.”

Maybe. Wait, no, I was definitely ready. It wasn’t like I had a choice. Every heir to the Summer Court went through the Dokimasi. The sunstone was mine . All I had to do was find it.

Corvus came to me. “Come, Your Highness.” Taking me in his arms, he kissed me, his tongue stroking boldly over mine. When we were both breathless, he met my gaze with a carnal promise in his blue eyes. “The sooner you leave, the sooner you can return to me.”

Moments later, my heart knocked against my ribs as I moved down a gauntlet of nobles and servants lining the palace’s corridors. The straps of my pack dug into my shoulders. Helios bobbed at my side, his hair crackling as he waved at the crowd.

The anchor in my chest tugged harder, drawing me away from the Solarium.

I resisted the impulse to glance back at the golden doors.

To look for Corvus. Undoubtedly, he observed my progress.

But he couldn’t follow, and it would only hurt us both if I lingered too long.

So I plastered a smile on my face and kept walking.

Men and women bowed as Helios and I passed. Several called out encouragement.

“Safe journey, Your Highness!”

“The gods go with you, Princess!”

“Hurry home!”

If only. The Dokimasi was different for everyone. According to the histories I’d grown up reading, several princes of the Summer Court had wandered for years, walking from one end of the kingdom to the other in search of the sunstone. I’d packed extra boots.

Maybe I should have packed another pair.

“Be so very careful, Your Highness!” a man called from my right. Tears streaked his cheeks, and he dabbed at his eyes with a bright yellow handkerchief.

“Walk faster,” Helios said under his breath.

“Why?” I murmured, letting him hustle me forward.

Helios slanted me a look. “That’s Lord Timos. You probably don’t recognize him because he followed your father from tournament to tournament. In case it’s not obvious, he has a flair for the dramatic.”

As we moved farther down the line of well-wishers, Lord Timos released a loud wail. “The princess is as becoming as our beloved King Thessador, may the gods rest him. Our hearts will be sundered if she fails to deliver the sunstone!”

Helios huffed.

Nerves prickled through me. My cheeks ached from smiling.

“It’s too horrific to contemplate!” Timos cried, keeping pace with us at the edge of the crowd. He elbowed courtiers out of the way as he raised his voice. “Aimless wandering! Her beauty ravaged by years of fruitless searching!”

“Ignore him,” Helios said, waving to a woman with dark blond braids. She blushed as she returned the gesture.

I pitched my voice low as I looked at Helios. “Do you know her?”

“I know everyone,” Helios said, winking at the woman. Her blush deepened, and she ducked her head.

Lord Timos moved faster, his handkerchief fluttering as he gestured wildly to a cluster of courtiers. “Our poor princess all alone and defenseless. With every year of her absence, the sun will continue to dim. Our crops will fail!”

“For fuck’s sake,” Helios hissed. He flicked his hand—a subtle gesture I might have missed if I hadn’t been right next to him. A single ember streaked through the air and landed on Timos’s handkerchief. The fabric burst into flames.

With a shriek, Timos flung the flaming handkerchief to the ground. The courtiers around him darted away. Men cursed. Women snatched their skirts from the flames. A nobleman shoved Timos aside and stomped on the fire.

A smile tugged at my lips as Helios and I left the commotion behind. “I don’t recall you being this violent,” I said quietly.

Helios snorted. “ You made me. Besides, I did Timos a favor. He’ll talk about this for weeks, claiming the sun sent an omen or something equally stupid.”

More nerves twisted through me. “Do you think I should be worried?” The histories said the Dokimasi was different for everyone.

The sunstone hid itself to ensure only the worthy could find it.

Some princes had an easier time of it than others.

What if I was really unworthy, and my trials were life-threatening?

Helios dismissed my concern with a wave of his hand, the movement sending sparks dancing through the air. “The Dokimasi isn’t anything to worry about. It’s like a…treasure hunt.”

I met his gaze. “That’s not what the histories say.”

“Sure, but historians always try to make things sound more interesting. What’s the fun in reading about some prince who walked a few miles, picked up a rock, and poof earned his crown?”

“Have you read the histories?” I asked, suspicion stirring.

Helios pointed ahead of us. “Oh, look, there’s the Grove.” He took off, his body blurring as he raced down the corridor.

Courtiers shot me curious looks as I followed, taking a sharp right and heading down a narrow passageway with flowers and curling vines painted on the walls.

The murals were faded and peeling. Birdsong greeted me as I ducked through a small arch and stepped into an overgrown garden dappled with sunlight.

But there were just as many shadows.

My heart squeezed. The Grove had belonged to my mother, who had reportedly spent the early years of her marriage tending the flowers.

The servants said she’d painted the murals when she was pregnant with me.

The paintings stopped abruptly, the vines cut off halfway down the wall.

She’d intended to finish the mural after my birth.

But, of course, she never got the chance.

The Grove was one of my favorite places—or had been.

As a child, I’d played among the rows of flowers, inventing games and imagining a handsome knight asking for my favor.

I’d practiced my magic, conjuring Helios from the sunlight that danced over the walls.

But in the last few years, my duties at court had demanded more of my attention.

My relationship with Corvus had deepened, and I spent more time with him.

Now, the Grove was largely forgotten. Few courtiers ventured into the secluded space.

The flowers were untended. A bench in the corner needed a coat of paint.

“This place could use some work,” Helios said, weaving between tangled rose bushes. Sunflowers swayed in a soft breeze, their blossoms the size of my head. Weeds sprouted from the beds. Other flowers drooped, their heads bent and their leaves wilted.

Guilt gripped me. Like most of Lum Laras, the Grove needed more sun. Closing my eyes, I summoned my magic. Heat built under my skin. The sun rose under my lids, light filling my mind. I pushed it down, letting it settle in the center of my chest. Then I opened my eyes.

My sigils glowed, the flames and suns on my arms glittering like liquid gold.

Thrusting my hands out, I sent heat rushing toward the wilted flowers in a sparkling wave.

It struck the blooms, which shivered as the magic engulfed them.

As one, the flowers straightened, petals brightening.

The blooms stretched, and a sigh gusted around the Grove.

Weeds shriveled. The shadows receded. Shimmering magic settled over the garden, gilding the flowers in pale gold.

Helios darted from the rose bushes, his wisp of fiery hair dancing in the breeze. “You’ve still got it!” he announced, beaming at me. “Just like old times, eh?”

Smiling, I shook my head. “If this were like old times, we’d play until I exhausted my magic. Then you’d disappear.”

He shrugged. “I haven’t done the vanishing act in over ten years. I guess that means you either got stronger or I grew more stubborn?—”

“I’m guessing it’s the latter.”

“—either way, you’re stuck with me, Princess. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

Affection bubbled in my chest. “Oh, Helios, who wouldn’t want to be stuck with you?”

“I’ve asked myself the same question.”

The clearing of a throat made us both turn. A knight stood at the Grove’s entrance with a hesitant look on his face.

“Uh… Everyone is waiting, Your Highness.” The knight hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “They’re all wondering where you went.”