Virelai picked at the pieces of fruit on her plate. She hadn’t recognized most of the varieties she’d selected and now she regretted taking them. They were too sweet for her taste.

  “Are you going to eat that?” Wisteria asked, eyeing Virelai’s plate, her fork poised for stabbing.

  Virelai pushed the plate toward her. The two of them had developed a habit of eating their morning meal together before Wisteria went off to sit with Seraiah for the day and Virelai—well, what had she done over the last two days?

  She was avoiding Kai, which was fairly easy to do since he was either asleep or with Seraiah, and Ren seemed to be avoiding her. Her only contact with anyone who was not a member of the Seelie Court were these meals with Wisteria. The rest of the time she spent alone, wondering if anyone would notice if she asked for a horse and disappeared.

  Wisteria nudged her in the ribs with her elbow. “Look,” she said around a mouthful of fruit.

  “What? It better not be that faery with the tusks again, or the one with the giant bat wings. I’ve seen them all. They aren’t that interesting anymore.”

  Wisteria swallowed her fruit and then pointed with her fork toward the open doorway. “No. Look.”

  A group of giggling faeries with a variety of horn types sprouting from their hair had just walked in, but they couldn’t be what Wisteria wanted her to look at.

  “He’s here,” Wisteria whispered.

  Behind the giggling faeries was Ren.

  Virelai hadn’t spoken to him since the night of the feast. Every time she’d stopped by his room, he was never there. Wisteria said she hadn’t seen him either. Virelai might have suspected he’d left the Court entirely if she hadn’t asked Maescia about him and been informed that no, unfortunately, he was still a guest.

  “Are you going to talk to him?” Wisteria asked before shoving another piece of fruit into her mouth. Red juice dribbled down her chin.

  Virelai handed her a napkin. “What would I talk to him about?”

  “Going to visit the dragons with you,” Wisteria said.

  “We are not—”

  Wisteria stood from her chair and waved her hand in the air. “Ren! Ren, over here!”

  “What are you doing?” Virelai hissed, trying to tug her back down.

  If Ren hadn’t noticed them before, he certainly did now—along with all the faeries in the room. Ren stared at Wisteria without a flicker of recognition. Then his eyes slid to her, and he changed directions.

  “Good morning,” Wisteria said when he reached their table.

  He nodded to her. “Did you need something?”

  “She just wanted—”

  Wisteria cut her off. “I just wanted to know when you and Virelai are going to see the dragons together.”

  “Wisteria, I told you—” Virelai started to say at the same time Ren said, “We haven’t made—”

  They both stopped speaking.

  “Yes, yes,” Wisteria said, flapping her hand at them. “You haven’t made any plans, but now would be an excellent time to do that.” She climbed to her feet again. “I’m going to go get one of those little cakes they have over there. Can I get either of you anything?”

  “No, thank you,” Virelai said. Ren just shook his head.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Wisteria skipped off, leaving them to stare at each other.

  Ren cleared his throat and glanced around. He obviously did not want to be here.

  “You don’t have to stay,” Virelai said, trying to put him out of his misery. “You can go back to avoiding me again if you want.”

  “I—what?” Ren’s brow furrowed. “I haven’t been avoiding you.” He pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. “I’ve been busy.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Researching.”

  “The shadows?”

  Wisteria returned with a pink confection that had a yellow glaze dribbled over the top. “Did I miss anything?”

  They both ignored her.

  “I’ve been looking for information on the dragons,” Ren said. “I don’t know much about them, so I thought I’d look into it after our discussion.”

  “And did you learn anything?”

  “Not much,” he admitted. “The faeries have an extensive library, but there is little they allow me to touch. Something about how I smell like corpses and might make the books smell like them too.”

  “I don’t think you smell,” Wisteria said. “What about you, Virelai? You’ve been close. What do you think he smells like?”

  Sometimes Virelai considered stealing the breath from Wisteria’s lungs so she could no longer speak.

  A small smile played on the corners of Ren’s lips as he watched her.

  “If you wanted to know more about the dragons, you could have asked,” she said, deciding to ignore Wisteria entirely.

  “Except the person who has met them is currently unresponsive. I’d hope to learn something sooner.”

  “I meant you could have asked me. In case you have forgotten, I live in this world and know a thing or two about it’s inhabitants.”

  “I am all ears,” Ren said, leaning toward her.

  Beside her, Wisteria was grinning as though she were watching the most entertaining thing in the world.

  “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Virelai asked her.

  “Not yet, but if you’d rather I leave you two alone . . . ”

  She shouldn’t have said anything. “There are two dragons, Isaour and Skrivdyr,” she began. “Their last known location was the top of Mount Tybort. That’s likely where Seraiah met them. As you know, they are said to be immortal and not of our world. According to the stories, there used to be more dragons here. They came through the portals from other worlds, but now only Isaour and Skrivdyr remain.”

  “Does that mean the others died?” Ren asked. “But if they’re immortal . . .”

  “Immortality does not mean impervious to death. They are harder to kill, certainly, but like the inhabitants of this court, they can die. We don’t know, however, what happened to the others. They may have gone back to where they came from or traveled on to other worlds. There are stories dating back hundreds of years where they make an appearance. No one knows how old they are. Perhaps the Summer King might or you can ask the dragons yourself.”

  “These other portals,” Ren said slowly. “Do you know where they are?”

  “Gone. The only ones that remain are the ones to your world that the elves control.”

  “Are you sure they’re gone and someone else doesn’t have control of them?”

  “I suppose it’s possible someone else could control them. What are you thinking?”

  “Seraiah mentioned, or maybe it was in the journal she has I can’t remember which now, that the shadow creature has destroyed other worlds or plans to destroy other worlds.”

  “Which means it could find the other portals,” Virelai said.

  Ren nodded. “Or create them. Is that something Sterling’s magic would be capable of?”

  “I don’t think so, but I don’t think we can rule it out.”

  “Is that why the Winter Queen is interested in Sterling? Do you think she wants to go to another world like the dragons came to ours?” Wisteria asked.

  Virelai looked to her and then back to Ren again. “That could be a possibility,” Ren said. “Would your father have an interest in the other worlds?”

  Virelai ran through everything she knew about her father. Power-hungry, manipulative, no interest in her except to be used as a tool. He hadn’t always been that way, but it was hard to remember. He’d only changed after her mother died, or maybe he’d only shown her who he’d always been after her mother was no longer there to shield her.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m not sure what he might want with the other worlds. As far as I knew, he only wanted to rule the elves.” She recalled the day after her father had taken over Nyrene. What was it he had said?

  “The elves will rule both worlds as it was meant to be,” she whispered.

  “What?” Ren leaned closer, like he was trying to hear her better.

  “Something my father said right after taking Nyrene. He said the elves will rule both worlds as it was meant to be.”

  “Both worlds, as in mine and yours?”

  Virelai met his eyes and nodded. “I don’t think he is after any others. We could be wrong about what the Winter Queen wants with the shadows or maybe my father doesn’t know.”

  “It could have also been part of their agreement,” Ren said. “He gets these worlds, and she gets those ones.”

  “A possibility,” she agreed.

  “I need to speak with Seraiah about those visions,” Ren said, “and what she knows of other worlds.”

  “Well, good news,” Wisteria said. “You should be able to ask her soon. I think today might be the day she wakes up or maybe tomorrow, but definitely not long.”

  Virelai sat back. “And what then?”

  “Then we leave,” Ren said.

  Virelai raised one brow. “We?”

  “Yes. I have a visit to pay to some dragons, and since it was your idea and you know so much about the inhabitants of this world, you are going with me.”

  “Oh, would you look at that. Perfect timing!” Wisteria pointed to the same doorway Ren had walked through earlier. Now, it framed Kai and Seraiah.