Wisteria was dressed and ready well before the appointed time. While the others struggled to pull themselves from sleep, she bounced on her toes in anticipation.

  It had taken all of her nerve to ask for what she wanted when Kai had told them of their plans yesterday evening, but she was glad to have done it. She was not going to miss out on this next adventure.

  “Good morning, Wisteria,” Seraiah greeted her, joining her outside the cabin. “Did you sleep well?”

  They’d had a choice of sleeping on the floor of the cabin or outside in the clearing. Wisteria had chosen to stay inside with a roof over her head. Most of the others had gone outside, preferring more space.

  “It was fine,” she said. “Have you seen Virelai?”

  Wisteria couldn’t remember seeing her last night and had assumed she’d gone outside, but when Wisteria had come out here this morning, Virelai had been nowhere to be found.

  “I haven’t. Did you need something?”

  Wisteria shook her head. “Nothing important.”

  Kai rounded the side of the cabin, leading two horses behind him. Kestrel came behind him, leading a third one.

  “Since there are five of us going, we’ll have to double up,” he said when he reached them. “Luckily, the Seelie Court isn’t too far, so it shouldn’t be too taxing for the horses.”

  Wisteria held out her hand to the grayish brown horse closest to her. It snuffled at her fingers before losing interest.

  “I’ll take this one,” Wisteria said. “It’s the smallest one, so I’ll ride by myself.” She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from adding an honorific or turning it into a question. She had to remember, she was not a servant here. She was an important part of this group, and she was well within her right to say what she wanted.

  “Fine by me,” Kai said, passing the reins over to her.

  Seraiah and Kestrel talked quietly near the black horse with the white patch on its forehead while Kai helped Wisteria secure her belongings to the back of her chosen horse. She didn’t have much besides a spare dress and a blanket she’d taken from Virelai’s house.

  “Now you know about the rules of the fae court, yes?” Kai asked her when he finished securing the last strap.

  “Don’t eat or drink anything they offer unless you say it is all right and speak with them as little as possible.”

  “Good. And remember, they may not be able to tell an outright lie, but they are excellent at manipulating their words to get around it. Whatever you do, never agree to play a game with them. No matter what they promise you. You will not win.”

  Wisteria had heard all of this before. It was well known in Nyrene that the fae were to be avoided. They were not friends of the elves and not above taking advantage of them where they could.

  “Oh, look who finally joined us,” Kai muttered under his breath. Wisteria doubted he’d meant for her to hear, but she followed his gaze to see Ren striding across the clearing to them, with Virelai following at a much more leisurely pace.

  Ren exchanged words with Kestrel and Seraiah, and Kestrel handed over the reins to the black horse. Wisteria giggled to herself when she noticed he matched his horse. She didn’t know what to think of the necromancer. He had saved them from certain death in Virelai’s house, but she got the impression none of the others liked him very much. Then there was his magic that allowed him to raise corpses from the dead. She had yet to see him do it with her own eyes, but it sounded revolting.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Am I to walk to the Seelie Court?” Virelai asked as she joined the group. Wisteria noted she’d pulled her hair back in a messy braid and wore the same dress she’d left Nyrene in. The pretty princess must be miserable out here with no servants to wait on her. Wisteria had expected Virelai to start ordering her around like her personal servant, but so far she hadn’t asked her to do anything.

  “No. That would take too long,” Kai said. “We’ll be riding double. Seraiah will be with me, and you will be with Ren.”

  “Why does Wisteria get her own horse?”

  “Because she asked,” Kai said, “and she was here on time and didn’t require me to fetch her from bed.”

  A flush rose on Virelai’s cheeks, and it took a moment for Wisteria to put it together.

  When she did, her brows shot up. So that’s where Virelai had been last night, but that meant—she looked at Ren, who appeared mildly annoyed by the whole conversation—Virelai must have shared with him.

  Interesting. Very interesting.

  She filed the information away to use for later.

  Seraiah was fully prepared for a miserable journey. Wisteria chattered away, keeping everyone’s focus on her and allowing Seraiah to think over how she was going to tell Kai about the madness.

  Kestrel had reminded her before they’d left, and Seraiah promised she would tell him before they reached the Court. Now she just had to figure out a way to do it. She’d thought she might have her chance when they rested the horses at their mid-day meal, but she’d been unable to get Kai alone.

  Now they were closing in on the Court, so it was tell him or risk the Summer King letting something slip.

  Seraiah peeked around Kai’s shoulder. Wisteria and Ren’s horse were side by side in front of them, and no one was paying any attention to them.

  “I need to tell you something,” Seraiah said, “but I’d rather the others not hear just yet.”

  Kai slowed their horse, so they dropped back a short distance, but not enough for the others to notice.

  “What is it? Is something wrong?”

  Seraiah was glad he couldn’t look at her, because even the concern in his voice almost made her change her mind.

  “It’s about my visions. You remember the journal you gave me?” She didn’t wait for him to answer before plunging ahead. “There is a side effect to using my visions. The more I bring them on, the more of my mind I will lose.”

  “But . . . are you sure?”

  “Yes. That’s originally why I wanted to come back to this world. I wanted to find a way to avoid it or cure it. That’s how I found out about my mother from the Summer King. She was looking for the same thing, and it does not exist. She’s lost to the madness most days, and that’s why she didn’t want to leave the Unseelie Court.”

  Kai was silent. Ahead of them, Wisteria chattered on about the moss growing on the trees.

  The silence stretched until she couldn’t stand it anymore. “Kai? Say something.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I know I can’t ask you not to use your visions after I already suggested it to you. If you want to do something, there’s no stopping you, but I also can’t bear to see you harm yourself. Have you already seen . . .”

  “No, I don’t think so. For a while, I thought the shadows I saw in Sterling’s eyes might be the first sign of it, but now I think those were real. I still want to carry out our plan of getting the potion from the Summer King and contacting Sterling, and I’ll be careful. If there is any sign of the madness, I’ll stop.”

  Kai slipped a hand over hers where she gripped his waist. “I don’t like it ,but I trust you to know your limits,” he said, giving her fingers a squeeze. He nudged their horse, and they easily caught up with the others.

  Seraiah was relieved to have the conversation behind her, and glad it had gone much better than she’d thought it would. She should have known Kai wouldn’t try to stop her from doing something she wanted to do. He’d never done so before, even if he thought she was making a mistake. It was one of the many things she appreciated about him.

  “Did you know Darling Dew flowers are carnivorous?” Wisteria asked, pointing to the large red flowers growing along their path. They were the same ones Seraiah had admired on her first visit to the Seelie Court.

  No one responded, but she kept talking. “They are known mostly for eating small rodents, but there is the occasional story of them eating larger meals . . . if you know what I mean.”

  “How delightful,” a new voice said.

  And for possibly the first time since leaving Ren’s cabin, Wisteria fell silent.