Two days had passed since Seraiah had taken the potion, which Kai hoped meant she would wake soon.

  He shrugged into the new clothing the faeries had provided for him and left his room to relieve Wisteria. When she’d first proposed taking turns with him to watch over Seraiah, he’d been opposed to the idea. As kind as the offer was, Wisteria would not be able to provide the same protection he would. She may have had her magic, but she had no training for fighting. Now two days in, he was glad she’d offered. If he’d attempted to stay awake the entire time, he’d be exhausted by now or worse, have accidentally fallen asleep.

  Wisteria looked up when he entered, tucking the vine she’d been fiddling with into her pocket.

  “Anything?”

  “Not yet,” Wisteria said, standing from the chair and stretching her arms over her head. “Are you sure this was how long it took last time?”

  “Yes, it was three days.” Three long days that had felt like a lifetime because he had no idea if she would ever wake again. The only thing he could do was keep vigil at her bedside. This time was only marginally better because at least he had an idea of how it would go. Still, the waiting was enough to drive him mad.

  Wisteria dropped her arms and arched her back, rubbing her knuckles along the lower part of her spine. “I hope it is sooner,” she said, eyeing the wooden chair. “I’d like to speak with her about something.”

  “Is it something I might be able to help with?” he asked, running his eyes over Seraiah’s sleeping form. It was as Wisteria said. She appeared exactly as she had the last time he’d seen her.

  “No, I don’t think so.” Wisteria was already moving to leave the room.

  Kai tore his eyes away from Seraiah. “One moment, Wisteria. Before you go, I wanted to ask if you have spoken to Virelai recently.” He wanted to apologize to her for what he had said that first night and ask about what she had learned, but he hadn’t seen her in the brief time he’d been away from Seraiah’s side. Then again, he hadn’t seen the necromancer either, so maybe it wasn’t that she was avoiding him.

  “I have,” Wisteria said. “Would you like me to deliver a message for you, Prince Kaimana?”

  Kai narrowed his eyes. The way she said his name and title made him think Wisteria knew exactly what he’d said to Virelai that night. Or maybe that was his guilty conscience pointing out meanings where there weren’t any. Wisteria had always been more formal with him than the others so her address wasn’t out of the ordinary.

  “No, that’s all right.”

  “As you wish. Have a good day. I’ll hope for good news,” Wisteria said, before slipping out the door and leaving him to the silence.

  Kai settled onto the chair and rested his elbows on his knees. He didn’t mind the silence with only his own thoughts for company. Mostly. It was certainly better than having to participate in whatever faery revelries went on every night. There was always faint music to be heard, and it made him wonder how anything functioned in this kingdom if they spent their nights dancing. He couldn’t imagine doing the same and then having to complete all the paperwork that was his responsibility, along with attending council meetings. Of course, if he was tired, then the council members would be tired too and less likely to be scheming and fighting. Perhaps the Summer King was on to something.

  Seraiah’s eyelids fluttered. It was not an unusual occurrence. He only hoped it didn’t mean something bad was happening in her vision, where he could not help.

  As he watched, they continued to flutter and then slowly open.

  Seraiah blinked once. Twice. Then focused on him.

  “You’re awake earlier than I expected,” he said.

  “Not another vision,” she said, voice raspy from disuse.

  “No, I’m afraid not.”

  “How long?”

  “A little over two days now,” he said. “Would you like me to get you something? It’s late, but I’m not sure the faeries ever sleep.”

  She shook her head, eyes going distant, like she was reliving whatever she had seen.

  “Seraiah? Is everything all right?”

  Her eyes focused on him again. “I’m not sure.”

  “Your Highness, is everything all right?” Iris stepped cautiously into the room like she feared she might be the next target.

  Sterling watched Iris take in the shattered vase of flowers she’d procured for her. Rhododendron, Iris had called them, like the ones embroidered on the scarf Sterling had worn in her hair. Now they were nothing but water, glass, and pieces of flowers scattered over the floor.

  “Everything is fine,” Sterling said.

  Iris pulled her gaze away from the mess and instead stared at her own feet. “Is there anything I can get you?”

  She didn’t move to clean it up or ask how it had happened. She was learning.

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  “Yes, actually. Please have a horse saddled for me.”

  Iris’s head jerked up, blinking at her in confusion. “Now? So late?”

  Sterling stared back at her, not saying a word. Whatever Iris saw in Sterling’s expression had her curtsying and leaving the room.

  After Iris was gone, Sterling rose from her seat. The glass crunched beneath her feet as she crossed to the window. On her way, she bent to pick up one of the flowers. Its stem was broken, but the blossom was perfectly intact.

  She lifted the bloom to her nose, inhaling its sweet scent as she stared out into the dark. Her body still thrummed with energy from her power expenditure. It had been the first time she’d used this much magic since the incident with Cylan. She hadn’t meant for it to happen, but she’d been so angry and wanted the voices to go away.

  Sterling lowered the bloom and plucked off one of its petals. She smashed it between her fingers, staining her skin red, before letting the petal fall to the floor and picking off another one.

  One by one, the rest of the petals joined the first.

  She heard the door open and close, but she didn’t bother to turn from the window. It was likely only Iris.

  “Your horse is ready, Your Highness,” Iris announced. Her voice still held an uncertain note, but she didn’t question Sterling again.

  Sterling twirled the broken stem in her fingers before letting it fall too.

  A full moon hung in the sky, banishing the shadows to their corners, where they clung stubbornly like barnacles. The breeze coming off the water raised goosebumps on Sterling’s arms, but she didn’t care. It was peaceful, walking along the beach with nothing but the moonlight to keep her company.

  Sterling strolled to the edge of the water, letting it brush her toes and tug at her hem. The silky material of the dress would likely be ruined from the saltwater, but there were plenty of other dresses available to her. Besides, pink wasn’t exactly her color.

  She watched the waves roll gently in before pulling back out, and she wondered what it would be like to go with them. What would happen if she walked out there and let the water carry her away?

  She stepped a little further into the water.

  The numbness in her toes spread up to her ankles. If she submerged herself, would the numbness take over completely? The idea was appealing.

  The water pulled at her, beckoning her forward.

  What would it be like to feel weightless?

  Sterling took a step back, retreating out of reach of the waves. No, she could never be weightless, not if she wanted to keep her crown.

  Her thoughts wandered back to the voices. They had sounded different today, almost like her sister. That’s what had frightened her the most. They were trying to trick her by imitating Seraiah. But why? What did they want this time? Was it because she’d ignored them earlier during her meeting with Gavaran, and then during her visit to the city?

  Then again, what if it really was her sister?

  It wouldn’t be the first time she’d heard Seraiah calling to her.

  In that dark underground prison, Sterling had thought she’d felt Seraiah with her—had heard her call out. At the time, she’d brushed it off as her imagination. She was broken and terrified, and her mind was trying to comfort her. Her sister couldn’t have been there. It simply wasn’t possible.

  But Seraiah herself had confirmed it was true. Somehow, through her dream, she’d been there.

  The second time she’d heard Seraiah, in the Cave of Faces, it had also been real. Ren had told her it was only the whispering of the skulls—people long gone from this world, trying to find a way back in. She’d believed him until Seraiah had told her the truth.

  Maybe this time, it had also been real. Maybe Seraiah was trying to speak with her in the only way she could.

  Sterling considered the idea a moment before discarding it. No, she decided. It wasn’t Seraiah. It was only the voices trying to play a trick on her, and she wouldn’t fall for it again.

  Seraiah stared at her lap while Kai watched her. He waited, patient as ever, while she gathered her thoughts.

  “I saw Sterling,” she said, “but I was unable to make contact with her.” Seraiah described the vision from the meeting with the other elf up to the moment Sterling had flung her power at her.

  “Did she hurt you?” Kai asked, worry furrowing his brow.

  Seraiah shook her head. “I’m not sure the magic touched me. I think the vision might have dissolved before that—like a defense mechanism.”

  “So you were in danger?”

  “I—” she started and then stopped. Her immediate reaction was to say no, but she couldn’t be certain. “I’m not sure,” she finally said. “I do think that she confused me for the shadows. I think they’re whispering to her and when she heard me, she thought it was them.”

  “But you are sure it was Sterling you spoke to? It wasn’t like the other times?”

  He didn’t need to elaborate on what he meant by other times. She knew he meant when the shadows had taken control of Sterling to get the two of them out of the king’s prison and then again, to hold them off outside of Nyrene. Both times, it hadn’t been Sterling acting, or at least that’s what they suspected. The alternative that it had been Sterling doing those things was not something she would like to think about.

  “Yes, I think so,” Seraiah said. She took a deep breath and then added, “There’s one more thing I saw.” She’d been debating if she wanted to him because she still wasn’t sure it had been real.

  Kai reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “What is it?”

  “I saw something else before I saw Sterling, but I’m not sure it was real.” She relayed the encounter with Lonan and how it had ended with the Winter Queen’s voice coming out of the gnome’s mouth.

  Silence fell when she finished. Kai stared at their entwined hands, but said nothing.

  “Well?” she asked when she could stand it no longer. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know what to think. On one hand, Lonan is dead, but you’ve said this isn’t the first time you’ve seen him.”

  “Yes, he warned me about the going to the Unseelie Court or at least he tried to, but I didn’t understand.”

  “And he was right. That’s not something I would expect from a person gone mad.”

  “Then you think this is another warning?”

  “Possibly, or some trick of the Winter Queen’s.”

  “I’ll tell the Summer King about it and see what he thinks. I have to tell him something about his sister if I want another potion.”

  Kai’s grip on her hand tightened. “You’re going to do this again?”

  “I have to try. There has to be a way to get through to Sterling, and maybe I could learn about whatever meeting she was whispering about with Cylan.” Kai had been able to name the other elf based on her description. “I know you don’t like it, but this is all we have at the moment.”

  “Maybe not all we have,” Kai said. He told her how Virelai had said she’d learned something. “I may have insulted her and now she is avoiding me.”

  “Then apologize and find out what she knows. I’d wait until morning if I were you, though.” Seraiah untangled her fingers from Kai’s and pushed aside the blanket, moving to the edge of the bed. The floor was cold against her bare feet, and she still wore her dress from the faery feast.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I am going to go take a bath,” Seraiah said.

  “Are you able to do that by yourself?”

  “I wasn’t ill. I’m perfectly capable of bathing myself . . .” She paused in the doorway of the bathing chamber and looked back over her shoulder. “Unless you are offering to assist.”

  Kai's cheeks flushed pink. “I—well, I—” he stammered.

  Seraiah giggled, enjoying the power she had to make him flustered, and went to turn on the water.