Damnit, damnit, damnit—

  Squirt sprinted through the back alleys as she cursed herself. No. She refused. She wasn’t doing this again.

  It just hurt so much more to run this time.

  Could she even keep the Guard job? If they found her, would they hand her over to—

  Stupid question. They always did what she wanted. Always.

  Always.

  She choked on the grief and despair threatening to overwhelm her, grinding her teeth. She knew this was a possibility once titled fey started showing an interest in her. It had only been a matter of time before she came looking. The only person more stubborn than her was Squirt herself, and she had the damn scars to prove it.

  She couldn’t risk saying goodbye. Couldn’t risk anyone knowing she was gone before she was long gone.

  Where could she go?

  Didn’t matter. She’d leave herself to the Hunt again and pray her goddess led her through to safety.

  She didn’t bother with the guardhouses, knowing they would report back to the lord. Instead, she scrambled over the wall in a back corner of the castle while everyone was distracted setting up the festival, waiting between guard sweeps before darting over the other side, and crawling down into the few sparse bushes. Some careful use of the landscape later and she made it to the safety of the forest.

  She took three steps forward before stopping, realizing, really, truly, that her body had automatically tried to go where she could never return.

  Her clearing.

  Goddess, her heart ached. All of the people she’d met. The bonds she’d formed. She’d… she’d actually made friends here.

  Choking a bit, she admonished herself quietly. “This is why we don’t bother, Squirt. This is your own damn fault.”

  Leaning back against a tree trunk, her lower lip trembled before she clenched her jaw in determination.

  Not even Siabith would risk the north mountains. In that, she’d have a chance.

  She’d just have to get there. And luckily enough, she was fully stocked on supplies.

  Her smile at the acknowledgement was as empty as her heart.

  Damnit. This was why she hated titled fey.

  The instant Tobias’s eyes landed on Bartos’s door, he knew something was very wrong. Fractals of frost were curling around the door frame, the chill actually strong enough for him to feel from several paces away.

  He swallowed, then opened the door.

  Every inch of the office was covered in ice as Bartos struggled to control his aura. Amber eyes and extended teeth of his wolf turned and snarled at Tobias in rage.

  Tobias shut the door behind him, swallowing his fear. Instead, he did something that could either be considered very brave, or very stupid.

  Probably both.

  He marched up to Bartos’s half-wild fey self and threw his arms around him, baring his neck in the same move.

  Bartos stiffened against his hold, making his heart ache. He leaned against the other man harder, wondering not for the first time if he would ever be the one Bartos leaned on for comfort.

  Just this once. Just this once, he wanted the larger man to lean on him.

  For several long, tense moments, nothing happened but the creep of frost over his clothes and skin. Then, abruptly, all of the tension drained from his friend. Tobias’s heart ached when strong arms wrapped around him, Bartos burying his nose in Tobias’s neck.

  Slowly, with each breath, the frost receded. The air remained cold, but anger was replaced by grief when Bartos rasped, “I made a mistake, and she’s gone.”

  Tobias pulled back, swallowing his anxieties to cup the cheek of the larger man, his heart breaking at the despair in his face. “Who? Who is gone?”

  He grimaced, tense with emotion as he choked out, “Athereon.”

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  Tobias’s heart sank right through his gut. Both realizations were a physical blow to his fragile heart.

  The first being that Bartos cared more for the feisty pixie than he had ever thought, meaning his one-sided love might just be doomed.

  The second being that the man who had his heart had hurt her enough to make her leave.

  Pulling back, Tobias put his hands on Bartos’s shoulders, his eyes flashing with the dark color of his wolf, his voice gravelly with a growl.

  “What did you do?”

  Squirt didn’t have much time, not with as late as it had gotten. The path ahead had been cleared by the company of soldiers and hunters over the last few weeks, but it was late enough that the sun was starting to descend already.

  Without wasting another second on regrets or grief, she raced north. If she hurried, she could get to the jewelbird a few hours away for the night.

  She just had to race.

  Bartos’s office door opened soon after he finished reciting the tale to a now fuming Tobias. Kenna breezily entered, shutting the door behind her with a huff as she said, “That damn woman. I swear to the gods, when she’s gone I can’t stand her, but when she’s in the room—”

  Tobias said darkly, “Let me guess—you can’t help but hang onto every word she says?”

  Kenna stopped, her hand automatically going towards the hilt of her favorite sword as she finally took in the scene before her. Bartos slumped and dejected against the desk, Tobias furiously standing over him with his arms crossed.

  She raised a brow. “Kinky. Role play?”

  Tobias, normally one to blush and get flustered, snapped, “Not now, Kenna.”

  Bartos, if were possible, only looked more defeated as he rasped out, “Athereon is gone.”

  Tobias growled, then turned with eyes filled with fury to Kenna. “That damn woman you were just complaining about? Apparently, she heard the woman’s voice and fucking disappeared.”

  Kenna cursed. “Gods damnit, I knew she was trouble—she had way too much emotional investment to…” she blinked a few times. “… to…”

  Tobias leaned forward before prompting, “To?”

  Kenna blinked a few times, her eyes hazy as she struggled to remember. “She… she kept bringing up Athereon.”

  It was Bartos who growled as he stood, the command slipping from his lips as his control over his magic fell away. “What did you say?”

  Kenna frowned, her eyes blinking rapidly, her voice answering with knowledge she didn’t have in answer to the command. “She asked for descriptions of earth trees. Seemed eager for it, actually.”

  Bartos turned, roared, “Fuck!” as he punched his desk, breaking it in half. Breathing heavily, he then turned and snapped, “Apprehend that woman, now.”

  Both wolves scampered off to do as their alpha commanded.

  Exhausted but satisfied with her progress, Squirt tiredly stirred the portions of her stew for dinner. She’d have to hunt for pheasants soon. A deer would be too big for her, but a few rabbits or pheasants would make do.

  The jewelcrane, the evolution between a jewelbird and a diamond crane, patrolled the edge of the clearing, disappearing into the brush with an aggravated squawk of warning.

  Squirt didn’t think anything of it as she stirred. It happened often enough during the night as the jewelcrane defended its home from other feybeasts.

  Then a shape appeared from the edge of the clearing, and Squirt froze as her eyes landed on the smiling face of Fenry.

  The smile was tired and tense, and Squirt prepared herself to abandon everything here to take her chances with the beasts.

  Fenry held up her hand in greeting. “Relax.” Then she sighed. “… you’re leaving, aren’t you?”

  Warily, Squirt didn’t respond beyond a jerky nod of her head.

  Fenry sighed in relief as she laid out a bedroll in the clearing. “… wish I could say I was a better, more noble fey to be sad to see you go, but maybe now he’ll finally look at me.”

  Squirt bit her tongue.

  Fenry shrugged, pulling out a package. “I got this for you, at the feast. Consider it a going away present, though it was supposed to be a peace offering.” She unwrapped the package enough for the sweet scent of cinnamon sugar and butter to waft over, making drool pool in Squirt’s mouth. “Ogre ear. A fried treat.”

  She placed it down halfway between them, then curled up in her bedroll and turned away from Squirt.

  Accusingly, Squirt muttered, “You followed me.”

  Fenry sighed, sounding tired of the conversation already. “No, huntress. Tobias mentioned you had left suddenly, and I offered to go look for you. I figured you’d go north since south or east involves crossing the river, and west would mean facing Skye Kingdom.” She let out a big yawn. “I checked all the earth tree spots along the way. I found you. I gave you the peace offering. In the morning you’ll disappear, and I’ll go back to trying to earn Tobias’s affections.”

  “By telling him you lost me?”

  “By telling him that you begged to leave without him knowing where you went.”

  Squirt’s lips pursed at the bitter taste in her mouth. “… that will make him angry.”

  “Probably. But that’s for me to deal with. I’ll just tell him that you wanted to be closer to your goddess.”

  That was the moment that caught her off guard, and she froze in place. Fenry, like most hunters, worshiped the Hunt.

  The jewelbird had not returned.

  Fenry had never bowed to it.

  That wasn’t Fenry.

  “What do you mean she’s gone?”

  The guards assigned to watch the Lady Scholar exchanged a look before they winced at the fury evident in their lord’s face. He’d always been such a calm, steady presence. Him infuriated was a terrifying sight to behold.

  “Sh-she went back to her rooms, sir, and when you called for her, we went in, and she was gone.”

  The guard shook, able to see her breath as the temperature dropped rapidly, frost starting to cover the walls and her armor. The power radiating off the fey in front of her was enough to end her life with a single thought, her body reacting with uncontrollable shivers of fear.

  He growled as he barked out, “Search the castle grounds. Find her. She’s a traitor to the crown.”

  Both guards ran to obey and Bartos glared down at the emblem they had brought him, found in her room.

  The Righteous Ones.

  All the pieces fell into place in his mind. Athereon’s strict adherence to ancient fey laws. Siabith’s failure to come up with new breakthroughs in the last fifteen years. Athereon’s suspicion of everyone with a title.

  Gods. It had been right there. She had done everything she could to prevent her name from spreading, just as he had done everything he could to immortalize her exploits.

  He’d been a fool.

  With no other options, he leaned back against a wall and prayed.

  Goddess of the Hunt, please lead Athereon to safety. Lead her allies to her and her enemies astray. Let her escape as the white stag to live another day in the freedom of the forest.