Squirt trotted silently along the edge of the treebed in the grey morning light, ignoring the self-appointed protectors this morning. With the number of guards his lordship had brought with him for this venture, while she’d never admit it, she was actually glad for their presence. For some gods-forsaken reason, his lordship had brought those that were staunchly anti-her.

  “Be as you are, Athereon. Teach your hunters. I’ll manage the knights.”

  She didn’t appreciate that he was clearly forcing the issue, but she did appreciate the simple fact that he was giving her a chance to prove herself.

  Reaching the first point on the loop, she set the first staff into the ground, standing it upright and facing the crystal towards the bed. Ala’ole then stepped forward, her hand touching the staff and glamouring it as a small tree.

  One down, four to go.

  This time, any feybeasts she encountered, Squirt didn’t attack. Instead, she used small feystones to bait them back into the treebed and continued on her merry way. Not all of them would stay once they found the snacks they were looking for, but most of them would.

  The knights were waiting a thirty-minute ride away so as to not scare the feybeasts from the treebed before the enchantments took effect, so once four of the staffs were placed, she returned to where she had left Telos at the start. Together, they dug the last one into the ground, turning it to face the treebed, and Telos engaged the enchantment. Squirt pulled out a hypnostone, tucking it on top of the back of her hand inside her glove so the required skin contact was stable and out of the way. She counted herself down before darting into the treebed alone.

  This was part of the plan. If these didn’t work for some reason, it would be easiest for her to go and check quickly because she would know better how to escape.

  Well, Zhadin would technically escape better, but Zhadin didn’t know what to check for.

  Whatever.

  Ten minutes later, she re-emerged to the visible relief of everyone present.

  Rolling her eyes, she started directing the different hunters to set up the stations. The enchantment itself would likely last a year if needed, so they weren’t planning on moving very quickly at first, using it as a teaching exercise while the knights did the heavy lifting of bringing the beasts out one by one. They were using it as their own training exercise—making the knights and guards do the heavy lifting for muscle growth as well as learning to obey orders they didn’t like.

  The shadowfell Zhadin sped off to give his lordship and the knights their cue to stomp their way forward. Satisfied at the arrangement as the others began setting up, Squirt waited until they were all distracted and disappeared.

  She’d never been in a treebed before, and damnit, she wanted another look before the knights ruined it. It would take them thirty minutes to arrive even once Zhadin gave them the message, and no one needed her right now. They were self-sufficient.

  When they later glanced around and realized she was missing, they, naturally, panicked.

  But that would be later.

  Squirt scrambled over the twisted tangled knots of the interwoven tree trunks, her eyes glinting at each discovery. There were nests where different groups of chameleon cats and leopards were curled up together, hinting at more social interactions than she’d ever thought possible. Groups with multiple levels of their evolutions.

  Most shockingly, of course, was that the center of the treebed had not one, but three specimens of the prismatic chimera, four evolutions higher than a chameleon leopard.

  And they were guarding what she was pretty sure was an unopened dungeon door.

  It would make sense—after all, magic was quite potent here. She could tell by the drippings of gold dust on the trees and small chunks of gold in pools of water. Gold was abundant as it was created by magic itself when it condensed, almost like condensation with water. The existence of the dungeon wasn’t unexpected.

  But three extremely powerful feybeasts guarding it together?

  She darted around them, sketching out the scene in her notebook, her eyes gleaming.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Then there was an earthquake as a shockwave of power radiated out from where she’d left the hunters. Jolting in surprise, she almost screamed as a plant wrapped around her waist and yanked her backward. She curled into a ball, aghast at the speed at which it was pulling her and more than a little terrified at what the fuck was happening when she was flung out of the treebed and into the pest’s waiting arms.

  “My goddess, are you unharmed?”

  The genuine panic on his face stilled her for a moment as she put the pieces together.

  She was going to stab him. “You idiot!”

  He reared back from her anger in surprise. “But, Zhadin said you’d been taken—”

  “Taken, what do you mean taken?”

  “Well, you were there, and then you weren’t—”

  “Gods damnit, I don’t need a babysitter! I still have ten minutes, let me go—” She struggled harder, wriggling with every ounce of strength to get out of his hold even knowing that he was a good fifteen feet in the air and flying with his wings. Surprised as she’d been, she’d dropped her notebook, and she’d be damned if she lost it now.

  “But—wait, just—you have the stones, yes?”

  Ah. Right. She did.

  She blushed. “… oh.” Right. She’d forgotten she was supposed to hand those off. Pulling the bag out of her pouch, she sheepishly held it out to him.

  Instead, a branch reached out to grab it, holding it open for him to grab one. He tossed it up as he grew a crown with the stone set into it that then landed perfectly on his head. Wiggling his eyebrows he said, “Now, we go.” With a snap of his fingers, the branch turned and handed the bag to the next branch. Then the next. Then the next until it was out of sight.

  Her eyes narrowed on his. “I hate you.”

  “You like the crown.”

  “It’s impractical, gaudy, and ostentatious.”

  He grinned. “Just like me. See, I knew you liked me.”

  Unable to come up with a response to that, she wiggled again to get out of his arms. He moved until he was right over the edge of the treebed before he let her scramble out of his hold, following along as she darted through the forest with a speed he hadn’t expected.

  Within a minute or two, he was completely lost. Yet she never faltered in her direction as she scrambled quickly enough that he needed to work to keep up with her. Without his wings? He would have been left in her dust.

  Under her breath, she continued to cuss him out until they got to where she had been with the three prismatic chimeras. He stopped, stunned at the scene before him while she nonchalantly started crawling around the edges of the twisted trunks and bramble until she hissed out a triumphant, “Found it!”

  Her notebook was found. The pen was lost, but charcoal was cheap, and she had multiples of those pens in her bag.

  Quickly, she finished sketching out the scene, darting between the three giant chimeras without a care in the world, sketching them with one hand as she ducked under them to write up estimated measurements.

  “My goddess… have you seen this door?”

  She snorted. “I’m not blind. I see the dungeon door.”

  “… you know there are gifts for those who discover a dungeon, yes?”

  “Piss off, pest.”

  “But it is your discovery—”

  “It belongs to Lord Everwinter, dumbass. As the highest-ranking fey present, he gets to choose to distribute the rewards, and that includes dungeon ownership.” Instead of even glancing towards the dungeon, she trotted around the creatures. They didn’t have a sex, being feybeasts that did not sexually reproduce, but she checked just in case. They’d certainly strayed far enough from what she understood of their behavior to check for any abnormalities.

  His voice turned dangerous. “And you think he would not give it to you?”

  She snorted. “The problem is that he would, which is why you’re not going to say shit. I don’t want it.”

  Turning on her heel to trot away, she stilled when he asked, “What do you want?”

  “To be left the fuck alone,” she grumbled before taking a step forward and disappeared into the bramble.

  He had to quickstep to not lose her, and even then, he almost lost sight of her entirely as she easily navigated her way through the many tunnels and pathways the trees had ended up creating, popping out just as Telos began instructing the knights on proper hypnostone usage—namely, keep it touching skin or they would fall asleep just like beasts.

  A shadow fell over her, drawing her eyes up to the furious gaze of Tobias, his hands on his hips and lips pressed in a firm line.

  She dropped her eyes down in deference, and abruptly all the wind left his sails.

  “Uncle!” came a desperate cry. Paloka slammed into her uncle who grunted at the impact before chuckling and speaking to her in their language. She calmed down enough to glare up at him, and although Squirt did not understand the words she then said, the chastisement was obvious enough that she had to hide a proud smile.

  On that note, she ducked away from the rest, weaving through the crowd until she could stand behind Lord Everwinter. She didn’t think it was her imagination that he shifted his long, draping cloak to hide her a little better.

  Lady Evense, a beast of an orc, was his Captain of the Guard. Once Telos finished her explanation, she took over, barking out orders as she organized the Guard into groups, each headed by a knight, and they began trying to climb into the treebed.

  It was easier for some than others, the more powerful ones simply quickstepping or jumping up high enough to find purchase on the smooth trunks. The rest were a lot more entertaining as they huffed and puffed their way up. Eventually, those at the top took pity and lowered down ropes to make the way up easier, the Lady Evense barking at them the whole way for not considering every member of their team.

  Squirt had to bite her lip to prevent the smirk.

  Once the majority of them had left to start carrying the feybeasts out, Lord Everwinter turned to face her, his eyes sharp and brows furrowed.

  She winced, dropping her head and murmuring, “My apologies, Lord Everwinter.”

  He let out a sharp breath. “Next time, inform someone that you are going of your own free will.”

  She bowed low to hide her scowl as she intoned, “As you wish, my lord.”

  Damn it.