Luin

Breakfast Saturday morning was tense.

Fen was quiet and nervous, worrying about his interview at Ashen Oak Academy in the afternoon. He kept fretting about his outfit and what talents he could sell to land a job. Then he would get quiet and guilty about worrying about such things considering the risks Arrowan and I were taking this afternoon.

Arrowan kept staring at me with a little furrow between his brows. I'd snap at him to stop worrying – snapping because I wasn't handling the tension well either – and he would look down at the table for a couple of minutes before starting up the staring again. He was worried about me being there today, I got that. I was worried about him, too. Both of us, really.

We were relying on Roderick to pull this off and we barely knew him. I knew he spent yesterday practicing the scene he was going to play out with his magic and he said he had the hang of it – juggling a simulacrum that looked like Arrowan and illusions to make it look like Arrowan was getting chased and killed. Still, practicing when there was no pressure was not nearly the same as actually doing it and knowing what a single mistake could cost us.

Also – things never went the same in reality as they did in practice. Roderick wouldn't have been able to practice responding to what the Unseelie were going to do.

And if they saw through Roderick's magic, we'd have to go back home and abandon the plan altogether. That might not sound so bad, but this might be our best chance to get the Unseelie to stop hunting us, and I didn't know what else we could do if it failed.

So yes, it was a tense breakfast.

When it was over, Fen gave us both huge hugs and retreated to his room – probably both so he could obsess over his outfit and hair and so he wouldn't have to watch us go. He was too much of a worrier for that.

I held out my hand for Arrowan, but he cupped my face in his hands instead and looked into my eyes. "You need to stay safe," he said. "I'll hold my own. If something happens, I want you to get out of there and let me handle myself."

I tried to shake my head "no," but Arrowan's hands held firm and wouldn't allow the motion.

"I mean it, Luin. Please."

"I can't abandon you," I told him. "You can't seriously ask me to. Would you promise to leave me behind if I asked?"

Arrowan looked irritated, but he didn't respond right away. I could practically see the thoughts churning in his mind as he searched for a way to turn the conversation back in his favor. His lips pressed into a thin line and he shook his head, looking defeated.

"We're going to stick together, you and I. We're stronger together – I really believe that," I told him. "Okay?"

He swallowed and gave a small nod. "But please be careful."

"You too."

He pulled me closer and kissed me gently, then pulled away far too soon. "We should go."

I hated that he was right. This time when I held out my hand, he took it, and I teleported us to Glenna and Safiya's living room. They were already there waiting for us, along with Roderick. Glenna was waving her wand over his body while Safiya twirled her wand between anxious fingers. As soon as she noticed us, she launched herself at us in a tight three-way hug.

I patted her back and waited her out. She finally pulled away and said, "Let's get you warded."

Soon, I had three witches plus Arrowan surrounding me as each of them wove wards over my whole body. These were just anti-tracking wards – as long as I wasn't seen, I couldn't be detected. We weren't able to do the same for Arrowan, since the plan depended on him being tracked to that cave. We did have a cloak for him that had been warded in advance. He'd be able to put it on and turn off the tracking sense – important for when the Unseelie saw his "death" and tried tracking him to make sure he was really dead. The cloak wasn't foolproof. Any damage would leave holes in the shielding, so it wasn't as good as the wards cast all over my body. I hated that he was less protected than me.

"Are you ready?" I asked Roderick once everyone was done casting magic on me.

"I'm good to go now," he said. "Just give me a five-minute lead to get into position." He kissed Safiya until Glenna blushed and Arrowan kicked his leg as a reminder they weren't alone. Neither seemed particularly embarrassed when they separated, and in fact, Safiya rolled her eyes at the lot of us.

"Kick some butt," she said to her soul mate. He winked at her and disappeared.

I studied Safiya for some sign of fear on his behalf, but she leaned calmly against the side of a couch looking completely unbothered. Of course, the plan didn't really put Roderick in any danger. He would be hidden and even if things went sideways, he could get himself out with the Unseelie none the wiser. The Unseelie wouldn't be motivated to spend much time going after him.

Time passed strangely. It seemed like every minute was an eternity, since I just wanted to get this over with, but when Glenna announced our five minutes was up, I felt a jolt of shock that the time to go to the cave had come so soon. Arrowan offered his hand and I took it, but I hesitated to actually transport us.

"Stay safe," Glenna said.

"They'll be fine," Safiya told her, then looked to us. "Kick some butt."

It was a funny sentiment to choose when we weren't planning on physically confronting the Unseelie at all, but it somehow made me feel better. I squeezed Arrowan's hand in silent warning and teleported us.

It was blustery where we landed, and I thought I could already feel the sea spray coating my skin in salt. The wind whipped at my hair and Arrowan pulled a hairband off his wrist and passed it over to me.

"I noticed you didn't have one," he said, smiling a little.

My heart ached with tenderness and I focused on the view instead of on the sudden urge to throw myself at my bond mate. I couldn't think of any gesture he could make that would be so thoughtful. I pulled back my hair quickly and looked to Arrowan for instructions.

"We're going to be hiding here," he said, leading me to a pile of massive rocks, bracken, and overgrowth that would make a good hiding place. Arrowan helped me tuck myself into it, then stepped back to make sure I couldn't be seen even as I peered out through a crack between the rocks. Bugs crawled over my shoes, which prematurely made this into an ordeal, but Arrowan assured me I was hidden, so I shut my eyes and ignored the phantom feeling of bugs on my skin.

My eyes snapped open in seconds – the amount of time it took for me to realize seeing the bugs was less creepy than not seeing them. In that time, Arrowan had already made it to the cave and was stepping inside. Roderick had set it up for us last night so it looked like a little campsite inside, with a firepit, driftwood log seating, and a bag full of supplies and clothes an awful lot like the one Arrowan still had packed and ready to go in our bedroom. I had the trench coat for Arrowan with me – he wouldn't be safe until he made it to my hiding place.

Now it was just a waiting game.

I had wondered, over the past weeks of hyper-vigilance and never setting a foot out of unwarded territory, whether we were being overly cautious. At some point, you start feeling paranoid even if you have good reasons for acting they way you are. Because of that, it was oddly reassuring when three Unseelie appeared after just a couple of minutes.

They crept up on Arrowan's cave, two coming from one side and one from the other. I watched as they inspected it carefully – probably looking for traps or wards. I absolutely panicked when I realized that, and squinted at the cave to check for wards, too. I thought we'd forgotten them, but no – Roderick must have put them up, and they were spotty at best. The Unseelie made quick work of dismantling them and advanced on Arrowan.

This was probably the riskiest part of our plan. Arrowan had to get out of the cave on his own. The three Unseelie crept into the cave and I held my breath while I waited for Arrowan to get away. It was eerily silent and I was starting to get lightheaded, and still nothing.

Had they snatched him? If they got him, they'd take him back to Alterra and I would never see him again. He had to get out of that cave.

My lungs demanded air and I gasped desperately, clutching my aching chest. Still no Arrowan.

I clapped my hands over my face and peeked through my fingers. I couldn't bear to watch, but I wasn't capable of looking away.

And finally, there was movement.

Arrowan came tearing out of the cave, careening toward the cliff. One Unseelie was chasing after him. A few seconds later, a second emerged from the cave. This one limped as he chased after them, but I didn't dismiss him as a threat since he was pulling something out of the holster at his waist. He stepped into the shadows cast by my rocky hiding place and disappeared at the same time there was a huge sound like an explosion from the cave. The two Unseelie looked away toward the cave – which one of their own still hadn't emerged from – and by the time they looked back, Arrowan had been replaced by Roderick's simulacrum and the real Arrowan had joined me.

I jumped when his hands landed on my waist from behind, but quickly relaxed against him. There wasn't a lot of room in our hiding place, so we were wedged together and parts of my body were pressed against the rocks around us. I didn't care. I was just glad he'd made it here. Together, Arrowan and I managed to get the warded cloak wrapped around him. Once that was accomplished, I was able to heave a true sigh of relief.

We watched through the cracks between rocks as the simulacrum – which looked disturbingly like Arrowan, except with twitchy, jerky movements – fled from the Unseelie. The closer pursuer flung a little metal ball at it and I thought I saw it pass through the simulacrum's arm. The whole thing seemed to shimmer before stabilizing again, and the whole time, it kept running. I held my breath while I waited for the Unseelie to realize something was wrong, but they just kept chasing.

The one farther back flung out a little black ball, and I watched in horror as it approached the simulacrum. Roderick made the simulacrum dodge to the side, and the ball changed its course to follow. I reached out with my magic to try and stop the orb, but this one had no metal in it, so there was nothing I could do.

As soon as the orb was over the simulacrum, it burst into a huge net. I reached blindly back and grabbed the first part of Arrowan I could find, his thigh. He laid his hand over mine and squeezed, but I didn't know if he was trying to convey his own anxiety or if he was trying to comfort me.

The net fell and wrapped around the simulacrum, tangling its feet together so it sprawled on the ground. It rolled as momentum carried it toward the cliffside, not slowing for a second even though there was a bit of an upward slope. The faster Unseelie was almost upon it when it went careening over the edge.

From there, I couldn't see what happened., but I heard a sickening crack and water splashing – or was that just the waves breaking on the rocks below?

The Unseelie looked down at the water and flinched away. His companion caught up and looked, too. This one started retching.

"I'm going to check on Mina. We're done here," the first said, though he looked pale and like he might be sick, too. He hurried back to the cave and disappeared. Mina must be their third team member, the one who had gone into the cave and not come out. When the other Unseelie was done retching and gagging, he cast a final grimace in the cliff's direction, then staggered off after his companion.

Was it over?

And what had happened to their third team member?

I badly wished – not for the first time – that I could share thoughts with Arrowan. He could have answered some of my questions, or he could have at least helped me pass the time as I waited to see what the Unseelie would do.

I heard voices coming from the cave after an almost unbearable wait. "No point in retrieving the body," one of them said.

"The boss won't be happy," another answered.

"Well, we didn't know he was going to roll off a bloody cliff!" the first said. "Let's just get home. I don't like this realm."

They emerged from the cave with their third member draped limply between them. Her arms were around their shoulders and she looked like she was struggling for consciousness.

"I should take a photo for our records," the leader said.

"C'mon. No one wants to see that," the other complained.

"Just lay me down and get on with it," the woman grumbled. The two gently laid her down and the one took several pictures over the cliffside. When he was done, he looked much paler, and the three made quick work of leaving by disappearing into the long shadows cast by the cave.

I waited in silence for something to happen. This felt too simple. All I had done was teleport here and wait. Arrowan probably had a bit of a fight and had gotten chased, but when you came down to it, that only took a few minutes and he didn't seem to struggle too much. And Roderick's bit had gone off almost without a hitch.

After weeks of cowering behind our wards, surely this couldn't be so easy.

Right?

Roderick appeared in the field. "Time to go home?" he asked.

Arrowan started standing and I pushed his shoulders back down. If the Unseelie came back for some reason and saw him, it would ruin everything that had just gone so right. "Yes. We'll see you there," I called.

Roderick vanished and I held my hands out for Arrowan to take. A minute later, we were back in Glenna and Safiya's living room. Roderick was already there and we arrived just in time to watch Safiya tugging him onto her lap. I pointedly spun around toward Glenna, who said, "How did it go?"

"As far as the Unseelie know, I'm dead," Arrowan said.

It didn't feel real yet, and somehow even Arrowan saying that didn't help at all. Maybe it would just take a while to sink in, I thought. Or maybe it really had been too easy.