Something was wrong. I couldn’t see straight, the world was swimming, and my muscles felt way too heavy. “What the hell did Elaith give me?” I asked no one.

  Sooner or later, you’ll crash.

  That’s what Elaith had said. Was this it? I had barely been in here a few minutes—had I burned through the positive effects of their concoction so quickly? I tried to pick myself up, but my arms felt like jelly. It took everything I had just so I could pull myself up to the base of the tree I was on. From here, I thought I could see the glint of warm, golden light. It wasn’t far, but I could barely move.

  “Oh no,” I heard someone say.

  Slowly turning my head, I saw Petal approach, her slender form carefully picking its way toward me. “Petal…” I groaned.

  “Are you alright, sweetie?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” I grimaced, “I can’t move.”

  Petal came a little closer, knelt beside me, and examined me. “You’re covered in dirt.”

  “I know that.”

  “Did you take a break to eat some dirt?”

  I frowned. “What? No, I didn’t take a break to eat some dirt.”

  “Then why are you covered in it?”

  “Because I fell. I can’t move, can you help me up?”

  Petal turned her eyes up and suddenly seemed to lose herself in her own thoughts. I caught another flash of light in the sky above the trees, watched the light dance across her face and sparkle against her eyes. Though my nostrils were probably still packed with soil, I could smell Petal’s light, sweet, fragrant perfume. It was distracting, powerful, and difficult to ignore, but it would’ve been a lot worse if I hadn’t just landed face-first in dirt.

  “No,” she said, turning her eyes down on me.

  “No?”

  “We are in a competition, aren’t we? It would be silly of me to help you.”

  “Wait, you can’t just leave me here.”

  Petal stood, then beamed a sunny smile down at me. “Don’t worry, whatever’s happening to you probably isn’t fatal. Probably. Then again, what do I know?”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Over there,” she said, turning around and starting to skip across the thick, gnarly roots of the tree we were both on. “I think I see something sparkly and pretty.”

  “Wait!” I yelled, but my voice was hoarse and croaky. I tried to reach for her, but my hand felt like it weighed a ton. I had to dig deep if I wanted to move, but every inch I was able to crawl was like running a marathon.

  It was as if I’d been drugged.

  Elaith.

  Their face flashed in front of my eyes, golden locks bouncing, vibrant blue eyes watching me from a cold distance. I didn’t want it to be true, but what else could’ve been affecting me if not the drink I had just taken? And after that speech about not accepting drinks from strangers, as if they were rubbing it in my face.

  I felt like an idiot.

  I was straining to see Petal, now. She had moved far from me, and it looked like she was pretty close to what I thought was the crown of Spring. I had lost this one. There was no way I would be able to close the distance between us. At any moment, I thought, I was going to pass out and collapse, and then what?

  Another flash of light from above burst through the trees, only this time, it wasn’t just light. Petal fell as if she’d been struck. I saw her put her hands up to shield herself from the golden rays falling from above, but she hadn’t been able to stop one from striking her in the chest and knocking her off the branch she was balancing on.

  The light didn’t fade, either—not for a while. It was bright, and warm, and it felt strangely… like home; and it was moving. Though I was only barely holding onto consciousness, I could see the shafts of light shift, and move, and change, as if the source of the glow was on the move.

  A ball of brilliant, buzzing, golden light suddenly shot into the forest from above and came barreling towards me, stopping just shy of my face. I shut my eyes and buried my head into my hands to protect myself from the intensity of the light, but I still thought I could see it coming through. I could feel the light’s vibrations in my chest, rattling my ribs and pressing against my muscles.

  Slowly, I thought, my strength was starting to come back. The daze I was in started to clear, my arms felt like they had strength in them again, and the threat of sudden unconsciousness was fading into the back of my mind.

  “Are you going to get up?” Rell asked, “Or am I going to have to pull you up, too?”

  I still had my hands clasped around my eyes. Now, I didn’t want to remove them. I had just heard Rell’s voice, I was sure of it, but Rell was dead. Was this another Fae trick? Had I really passed out on the tree and drifted off into a dream from which I wouldn’t wake up?

  “You’re not Rell,” I said into the roots under my face. “Rell is dead.”

  “You know how you humans say cats have nine lives? It’s because they’re part Sprite, too—on their father’s sides. We had to kick them out of Arcadia because they kept chewing up our furniture.”

  Shaking, I let my hands fall and slowly opened my eyes. The intense brightness from a moment ago had dimmed, but it wasn’t gone. From that brightness came a small, reptilian snout, two striking blue eyes… and a golden horn. Rell grinned from ear to ear, flashing his sharp, dragon-like teeth.

  “You look like shit,” he said.

  “And you’re… not dead,” I said.

  “Nope.”

  “And your skin is… gold.”

  “New paint job.”

  “And you have a horn. Why do you have a horn?”

  “I had to use up all my afterlife credits to get that, but it’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” Rell pulled back a little so I could see him fully, then he spun around and shook his scaly, golden wings. Golden. He wasn’t red anymore. Something had happened to him, something I couldn’t hope to understand. “Dazzling, aren’t I?”

  “I… mean, yeah, but why? How?”

  “Too many questions, not enough time. You need to get your ass up and get that crown, otherwise you’re gonna lose this thing.”

  “But you’re here, you’re alive! Am I supposed to ignore that?”

  “Right now, yes, because I’d like for you to be alive long enough for us to talk about it. Now, let’s go and get that thing.”

  Clenching my hands into fists, I thought I could feel the strength returning to my muscles. I pulled myself up, and as I stood to my feet, Rell jumped onto my shoulder and curled his tail around my neck. He pointed a long, clawed finger ahead, and sent a beam of light blazing through the woods to touch the shiny, metal object Petal had been going for a moment ago.

  “Hi-yo Silver, away!” Rell yelled.

  I frowned at him. “Hi-yo Silver?” I asked. “I’m not a horse, you know.”

  “Right now, you are. Move!”

  Nodding, I back tracked a couple of paces, then I threw myself ahead, tapping into some of the same instincts I had used to get me this far into the forest. I wasn’t feeling sluggish anymore, but I also wasn’t nearly as fast, or as agile as I had been. But Petal was down for the count, and Violet and Isolde were still fighting amongst each other.

  That meant the crown was all mine to take, and when I found it sitting in a nook on a bed of gorgeous flowers, I did just that. All thanks to the overgrown iguana-slash-unicorn thing sitting on my shoulder.

  That little bastard.

  CHAPTER 9

  I waded out of the forest covered in dirt and mud but holding the crown. Rell had insisted on parting ways with me before we returned to the Fae, just in case they got a little funny about him having helped me in the competition. It was a good idea. I didn’t want them knowing he was back. More importantly, I didn’t want Invidia knowing.

  Lucky for me, she was so happy I had won, I doubted if she would’ve cared one way or the other.

  Trumpet blasts were waiting for me as soon as I made it through the trees. I had Petal with me, having decided to wake her up and pull her out of the forest with me. She had left me alone to pass out and maybe die, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that to her. Compassion was the one thing that separated me from these people, and I was going to hold onto it if I could.

  Healers rushed up to us at once, separating Petal and I as soon as they reached us. She was bleeding from a wound to her head, and she seemed even more out of it now than she had been before she’d entered the forest. I had been bashed around a bit, no thanks to Elaith, who I couldn’t help but notice was missing from the welcoming party, but I was mostly okay.

  So, I spent the next little while being force fed food and wine and congratulated on my success. And despite having been told that no one had ever seen it happen, I could’ve sworn I saw Emerald Hall add an extra window to its back façade while the festivities were taking place. Maybe it was because all the Fae’s backs were turned, and I wasn’t Fae. Either way, it felt like the building and I had shared a moment, a little secret.

  Violet and Isolde eventually made it out of the woods, too. They were both covered in cuts and bruises and dirt, having spent most of their time in there fighting amongst each other. I had never met a pair of girls more competitive than the two of them. Each fought tooth and nail, like they had everything to prove, and yet both had lost this contest.

  There was probably a lesson for them in that, and I knew they would learn it before the next trial.

  The next one was going to be much harder than this one, but I didn’t get more than a moment or two to even consider it. There was too much going on, too much dancing, and drinking, and eating. Once Invidia had gotten over the high of my win, and remembered just how much she despised me, she sent me back to my room with a guard at my back.

  I left her with the crown, and the revels, and the attention—it was what she wanted, anyway. Me? I didn’t want any of it. I just wanted a bath, and to be left alone so I could talk to Rell. Rell. He was still alive. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to know how he had done it, why he looked different, and why in the hell he had waited this long to show up.

  So many questions… but they would all have to wait.

  I had no idea I was being stalked until I passed a dark hallway and noticed a man standing there, cloaked in shadows, ready to spring out at a moment’s notice. I laid eyes on him, on Silvan, and he pressed his finger to his lips. I swallowed hard, eyes wide, heart pumping, but I made like I hadn’t seen him and continued walking.

  I had barely taken a few steps when I heard a thud and a groan from behind me, somewhere. Turning around, I saw Silvan had the guard in a sleeper hold. It didn’t take long for the guard to pass out, and as soon as his eyes rolled into his skull, Silvan stuffed him into a closet, dusted his hands off, and came up to join me.

  “Good evening,” he said, running a hand through his chestnut hair.

  I arched an eyebrow. “Figures,” I said.

  “What does?”

  “That you’d decide to show up when I look like I’ve been dragged through the mud by pigs.”

  “You don’t look… bad.”

  “Thanks. What do you want, Silvan? Aren’t you supposed to be under arrest?”

  “I need to speak with you.”

  “And I need to get this muck off me.”

  “I understand the timing of my visit isn’t right, but most of the house is busy celebrating—I won’t get another chance.”

  “Isn’t someone going to notice you’re gone?”

  “When the guards wake up, they’ll find me back in my room. It will be as though I never left.”

  Emotions started bubbling up inside of me. Nasty ones. The last time Silvan and I had spoken, it hadn’t gone well. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a fight, because that implied there was more between us than just… well, whatever the hell there was. But it hadn’t been pleasant, that much I knew.

  Silvan had the power to send me home. He hadn’t been able to do it from the forest, but we were here now, in Emerald Hall—the place he said he could open portals from. And yet, I knew the moment I asked him, he would just hit me with the same line he had hit me with last time.

  I have to complete the Favoring, or fate itself will strike me down.

  Lame.

  I decided not to waste my breath with it. “Say your piece, then,” I said.

  Silvan took a deep breath, making his chest rise. “You’re in danger, Avery,” he said.

  “Tell me something new.”

  “Serious, imminent danger. That was why I had to come and see you. I needed to know you were still alive.”

  “I’m alive, and I just won the second trial since I came back, so I think I’m doing okay.”

  “The second trial?” Silvan asked, frowning.

  “Yeah. What, you didn’t know?”

  “I didn’t. I also didn’t expect…” he trailed off.

  “What?”

  “Well, I didn’t expect that you would—”

  “—win?” I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t think I’d win these trials.”

  “That is… yes, that is what I am trying to say. You’re human.”

  “So?”

  “Humans don’t,” he paused, “You’re soft, and… hurt very easily.”

  “Right.”

  “Very easily. It’s almost not even a challenge.”

  “We are getting off track.”

  “Yes,” he shook his head. “You are in grave danger, Avery; I’ve sensed it. Not from the trials, but from someone else.”

  “Elaith,” I said. “It’s Elaith.”

  “Your au pair?”

  “It was them, Silvan. They stole your cure from the stores, and they’re one who’s been sabotaging my chances at winning this competition.”

  “You have proof?”

  “They gave me a potion earlier, to help me win the trial. It made me shoot into the forest like a bullet, I felt like I was flying, but the power faded fast and when it did, I hit the ground like a rock. I could barely move after that. Petal would’ve won if…”

  Silvan frowned. “If what?”

  “If Rell hadn’t helped.”

  A pause. “Rell is dead.”

  “He was. He’s not anymore.”

  “That Sprite truly does have nine lives.”

  I scratched my chin. “Yeah, about that. Is that a thing you people say about Sprites around here? Because we say that about cats, and—”—Silvan wrapped a hand around my mouth and pulled me into the darkness of the corridor we were speaking in.

  He pressed me close to him, and kept his hand wrapped around my lips. He must’ve heard the footsteps before I had, because after a moment, two guards came dangerously close to discovering us. They walked aimlessly past the mouth of the hallway we were in, their metal boots and bits of armor clanking lightly as they went.

  When they were gone, the Viscount released my mouth, but held me in his arms a moment longer.

  I felt him. The heat of him, his energy. It was strong, and dangerous, and it easily wrapped me up inside of it. I wanted to wriggle free, but at the same time, I wanted to turn around and go deeper into it, to explore it, to figure out what made it so dangerous.

  I knew that was a path that led only to ruin, though.

  “You should probably let go of me now,” I whispered.

  “Right…” Silvan said, but he didn’t move. “Avery… I know we did not see eye-to-eye in the forest, and I regret the way I spoke to you.”

  “Is that an apology?”

  “It is. It’s become clear to me there are enemies all around us both. If you suspect your au pair, then the threat is much closer to you than I feared. I might not get another chance to express how I feel about you.”

  He was whispering against my ear, his warm breath tickling the delicate flesh at the back of my neck. He had an arm wrapped around my midsection, and another resting on my cheek. I had never been this close to him—not physically close, but intimately close. I didn’t know how to handle it, so I just froze.

  “What… I mean how do you feel?” I asked.

  “Few would’ve done for me what you did,” he said, “I would not be alive right now if not for your help. But beyond the fact that you saved my life, I feel… something powerful toward you. I have been trying to fight it, to resist its pull, but ever since the first time we met, it has been present.”

  “What are you talking about? The first time we met was at a bar, and I kissed you and stole your wallet.”

  “Tried to steal my wallet.”

  “Didn’t I steal it? I forget. Feels like I’ve lived three lifetimes since that night.”

  “You also insisted on calling me Haircut.”

  “I’m sorry, but you came to a dive bar in the middle of Seattle looking like you’d given some guy a whole bunch of money and put them in charge of making sure you blend in with the humans.”

  “That’s exactly what happened.”

  A smirk crossed my lips. “It didn’t work. If I hadn’t tried to mug you, someone else would’ve.”

  “They would’ve also failed.”

  “Again, I’m not sure that I did.” I pulled away from him. “Look, you wanted to tell me I’m in danger, and you’ve told me. I think Elaith is involved somehow, but Invidia also has a part to play, I just don’t know what. She stands everything to gain if I win this favoring, so why would she be trying to tell Elaith to sabotage my progress? And why would Elaith have kept your cure from you?”

  “I don’t know. Elaith is an au pair, and one I admire. They have dedication to their craft, and respect for this house and its people.”

  “How easy is it for au pairs to get into the stores? Do they have keys?”

  “Physical and magical keys. Both are needed to get in. I want to try to narrow down my list of suspects, but I will not get another chance to leave my room.”

  “Alright, I’ll try to figure something out.”

  “You cannot leave your room either, except for your trials.”

  “I know, but with Rell’s help… there may be something I can do.”