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While Kendra was off to her meeting with Dalgorel, Seth tidied up his few belongings. When the Sphinx had been attacking Fablehaven, Seth had been instructed to only grab his most important belongings—which really included only his map and his explorer's notebook.

Painstakingly detailed mountains and rivers collected over the past few years of exploration carved the paper—Seth wasn't about to leave that.

As for the notebook, it really didn't belong to him. Detailing adventures that he had already lived through bored him. Patton, however, relished in it.

When they would pause to break camp around a fire, Seth would update his map with a new mountain pass, river, or a warning for the future. Patton would use a quill to translate fear and intrigue into words that clung to every second of the adrenaline.

Seth's fingers ghosted over the notebook's second page.

"This is a written recollection of one two esteemed adventurers: Patton Burgess & Prince Seth of Fablehaven."

When Seth couldn't sleep, he'd often read old entries. A laugh would escape when he would come across an uncharacteristically undetailed passage obscuring an embarrassment. Patton conveniently forgot about a lot of his mishaps.

Seth's second favorite entries to read were Patton's gripes about losing Seth and finding him with "that damn Ronodin, again."

Scrrrch.

The door scratching open pulled him from his mirth. Seth snapped the book shut at the sight of Kendra.

A few hairs floated out of place, but she smiled. "The king has granted us indefinite stay."

After that, everything passed in a blur. Kendra and Warren became antsy waiting for news of their grandparents, and Seth realized their stay could end whenever that news arrived. It was time to cash in on a favor.

Over the past few weeks, the time Seth spent with Eve grew until it was almost every waking second. He had spent a good portion of that time cajoling her to let him in the tunnels.

And it worked. Seth could scarcely believe he had broken down the personification of stubbornness.With the long hours he had spent with her, he had crucially learned that she adamantly refused to trust.

It made his job a lot harder.

He wished he had Garreth to sugar up. That prince was head-over-heels, spilling every little secret, for Kendra. Eve, however, kept her mouth shut.

Seth knew she had to know a lot of secrets—the girl was practically always sneaking around. Originally, Kendra had told Seth that Eve was rarely spotted outside her room. He now knew she was just too sneaky for any guards or common folk to notice.

So, of course he was happy that Eve had let him in some of the tunnels. However, she had avoided the tunnels he really wanted to explore. The ones that lead to the dragon.

Considering he had risked his good-standing with the king to sneak Eve out the night that Garreth and Kendra had wound up in the woods, he felt it was a pretty good trade-off—introducing Seth to a secret dragon for Seth sneaking her out of the citadel. Anxiety for anxiety.

"But you promised."

"The only way I've hidden him for so long is secrecy." Eve pushed the jewelry drawer in harder than she had to.

"Yeah, but we agreed." Seth lounged on Eve's couch. "A favor for a favor. Besides, I'll take the secret with me when I leave."

"When are you leaving?"

"Soon."

Eve frowned. "Soon?"

"Maybe. Eve, come on. Are you not a lady of your word?"

"I most certainly am."

Seth played with the tassels on her couch. "Doesn't seem like it."

"You're oversimplifying it." Eve spun on her vanity's stool to face him. Her gloves twisted in fists before releasing them. "Besides, it's not like we could go right at this moment anyway. The castle is crowded midday."

Seth crossed his legs and mentally counted the seconds until he would be kicked out of her room for insolence. "We wouldn't be in the hallways. We'd be in the tunnels."

"You're too noisy in the tunnels. Besides, my dress would be ruined after a romp in them. Someone would be sure to notice." She spread the blue skirts, showing off the lace detailing.

"Nice dress."

"Thanks. We're not going into the tunnels."

"Well, if we can't go right now, what about tonight?"

Eve scowled. "Fine. But leave and don't come back until the demon's hour."

As Eve turned back to her vanity, she muttered some choice words about him. Seth took that as a sign they were becoming closer friends.

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Seth had never understood calling the time the demons' hour. He had seen more demons at a bar than the ones he'd seen at three AM. Or at least the bars that Ronodin took him to. Those were always interesting.

Seth rapped on Eve's door.

"Eve. It's me."

She appeared in front of the door. He looked down to see her tight curls pulled into a bun. A new get-up of grimy peasant's wear and a blue shawl adorned her.

"I see you've changed."

"I told you I wasn't going to ruin my dress. Shut the door behind you and lock it."

He did as he was told and turned to survey the room. The couch was already set aside and the wood panel had been pushed to the floor.

"Why do you always wear blue?'

"I like it." Eve shrugged and busied herself pulling on her boots. "My mom always said it looked good on me."

Seth perked up at the mention of Eve's mother. It was practically in the same category as the dragon with how much Eve avoided it. Hints to the passed woman always caused Eve to avert her eyes.

Eve flicked his chest. "You're going to get your clothes dirty."

"It's kind of expected of me at this point." Seth put his hands in his pockets and grinned. "So, what's the dragon's name?"

"You can ask him yourself."

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Mildew furnished the cramped tunnels along with spiderwebs that kept catching on Seth's clothes. He never shied away from less-than-ideal situations, but these subterranean tunnels were gross and boring. He kept having to remind himself that he was doing this to see a dragon. "Now I see why you didn't want to go down here."

"Don't whine. Do you have the feed?"

"Yeah, I still got it." Seth grabbed the bag and pulled it ahead of him. "You know dragons aren't horses, right?"

"Oh, shut up." Eve half-heartedly kicked behind her. The crampedness had them on their knees. "It's the closest I got."

"Any longer of this and I'm going to get bruises."

"You're fine. The dragon's around the corner."

The shadows slowly widened in the tunnel until Seth could see the torches casting it. The tunnel opened into crossroads. Openings perforated the cavern, pickaxes and crates next to tunnel openings.

Eve slid over the edge of their awful tunnel before dangling and dropping to the ground. He copied her and coughed, their footfalls blowing smog clouds up around them.

Black clouds swirled around his face. "Are we in a coal shaft?"

"Yeah. Breathe through the scarf I gave you." Eve's voice was muffled through her own covering.

Seth took out the scarf and looped it behind his ears. The cloth made breathing harder, but at least he wouldn't die of lung disease. That would be an anticlimactic way to go. "Why would a dragon stay down here?"

"He doesn't choose to—he's stuck. Coal dust keeps him weak and the shaft is entirely unstable. Any big escape would cause such a big avalanche that it'd immediately alert Terrabelle to his presence and Raxtus would just be captured. Being in here is better than being under my father."

"When was this shaft closed off?

"After an avalanche."

"He caused that," Seth not-quite-asked.

"Yeah. Forced him even lower in the tunnels. It's how I found him. Put down the feed."

Seth laid the sack at his feet and squinted down the passageways. "Do you have to call him or something? Oh, dragon?"

"You're embarrassing." Eve covered her face at his singing tone.

"I am not embarrassing. I happen to be a very respected explorer."

"Oh, really? I heard that Burgess carries your explorations."

"Patton? He's my valet. If anything, I carry him."

A silvery dragon rippled into existence, inches from his face. Seth yelped. He would not include that detail in the journal.

"Patton Burgess?" The dragon's head tilted in anticipation. Torchlight ripples across his scales.

"Oh, hey, Raxtus." Eve set down her lantern. It illuminated the sharp claws and coal dusted ground even more. "I brought some food."

"Thank you, Eve." The dragon's eyes didn't wander from Seth's face. He knew he was a sight to behold, but this felt a bit much. "You're acquainted with Patton Burgess?"

"Yeah, he's my friend." Seth smiled as his heart beat out of his chest. He had not seen a dragon before. Now he understood why Patton had told him that was a good thing.

It blew his mind that Dalgorel had been able to kill so many of these beasts. The teeth protruding from Raxtus's maw were easily the size of his hand.

"I figured that I had been in here so long that Patton would be in the ground."

"No, he's still alive and kicking. A few gray hairs. I'm Seth." He stuck his hand out before retracting it—he couldn't shake a paw. How embarrassing. Best to pretend he was just going to fix his hair.

"Raxtus. What are you?"

Seth narrowed his eyes. Most people ask who are you, but not this dragon apparently. "A prince."

"That's it?"

The frigid air nipped at his nose but the back of his neck sweated. A prick of annoyance traveled to Seth's attitude. "Yes, that's it."

Eve studied the interaction, her scarf shielding half her expression. He wasn't dumb enough to believe she wouldn't store this curiosity until she could nitpick it later. "Don't be weird, Raxtus. He's the Prince of Fablehaven."

The dragons' scales rippled with excitement as he nosed closer. "Fablehaven? Do you know Shiara?"

Seth knit his eyebrows together and turned his head slightly away from the dragon's breath. "Shiara?"

"She's a fairy. Silver wings. Blue hair."

Seth instinctively glanced at Eve and shook his head. "I wouldn't know any fairies."

"Seth, I literally hid a dragon. I'm not going to report you for knowing a fairy."

His mind's alarm bells frustrated him. He could trust Eve with this bit of information. That's logical. She was guilty of treason too.

She did have the familial padding, though...and trust held a lot of weight. Especially when the recipient was the daughter of the man who would and could kill Seth if he knew what he was.

Well, to be fair, Dalgorel might already want to kill Seth. He didn't seem too fond of him or his closeness with Eve.

"I still don't know any Shiara."

Raxtus sank back. "Aw, man. Shiara practically raised me."

Seth raised an eyebrow. "Fairies raise dragons?"

"Not usually. So, Seth, how did you hear of me? Anyone with a penchant for darkness tell you?"

Seth sent Raxtus an exasperated look. "Eve. Eve told me."

The dragon turned his massive snout to the princess with his eyes wide. Serves her right. "Eve!"

"I didn't mean to!" Eve pointed at Seth in defense. "He manipulated me."

"I did not." Seth watched Raxtus shift towards him and held up his hands. What a funny, funny joke, Eve. Please stop before your friend eats me. "You gave up the information willingly."

"Because you lied."

"I wouldn't call it lying." Seth moved one of his hands to his heart. "I would never lie to a princess."

At Eve's chuckle, the dragon stepped back. "You trust him, Eve?"

Eve glanced between Seth and the dragon. "Yeah, he's cool. Broke me out of the castle the first night I knew him."

"That's some guy."

"Yeah."

"So." Seth rubbed his hands together. "Are we going to break you out too?"

Eve narrowed her eyes. "Didn't I just tell you why we can't do that?"

"Okay, but. Raxtus is a dragon. It doesn't matter what arrows your dad throws, he can just turn invisible and dodge."

"It's not that simple," Raxtus said.

Seth screwed his mouth shut. Simple or not, this place stinks. Raxtus would've been in an iron lung by now if he had a human respiratory system.

Eve dug a pocket watch out of her pants. "It's time to go. Sunrise will be soon."

"It was nice to meet you, Raxtus."

"Same here. You're very charming."

Seth concealed his annoyance in a flat smile. "You too."

Eve hooked her hand on the edge of the tunnel and pushed herself up. "Bye, Raxtus!"

With her back turned, Seth sent the dragon a very specific gesture for his goodbye. Raxtus snorted.

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Eve strutted out of the bathroom in a blue dress, free of the grimy pants and jacket she had used for the tunnels.

They had just visited Raxtus for the second time, and Seth had to admit that the dragon was growing on him. But due to Raxtus's thinly veiled questions of his "charming nature," Seth knew Raxtus was itching to get him alone and interrogate him.

He paused the chess piece in his hand when he realized Eve was sending him a pointed look. Her hands sat on her hips and she was tapping her foot. Oh boy.

"What are you still doing here?"

"I don't have anything else to do." Seth maneuvered his legs into a criss-cross seat and sat the chess table to the side.

"Get your feet off the upholstery."

"What are you, my grandma?"

Eve rolled her eyes. "You're so rude."

"Does it really bother you?"

"Yes."

Seth unfolded his legs and put them on the floor. "Can I stay now?"

"I just spent all morning with you. I'm tired. Besides, a correspondent is coming in a couple days to see my dad, and that'll be so tiring. I need to rest."

"Go ahead and sleep. I need to finish my chess game." Seth grabbed his chest board again and moved a pawn.

Eve reached for air as if she was strangling him. "You're literally playing yourself. That has to bore you."

"Not really. I'm so unpredictable—I don't even know what moves I'll use next."

Eve sighed and motioned to the door. "You can take it with you if you leave."

"I wouldn't take your chessboard. I'm not a thief. Just a squatter."

"Seth," she groaned. "Why are you so clingy?"

"Hey, hey. That is a heavy accusation." Seth pointed the chess piece at her. "I am not clingy."

"We spent yesterday and all of today together and you're still whining about leaving." Eve fell back on her bed. "You're like Garreth talking about Kendra. Oh, Father, please stop bringing her to meetings. I was going to take her to the theater. Oh, Father dearest, please."

Seth laughed. "I am not like that. We," he gestured between them, "are not like that. I would never hold your hand."

"What, am I that gross?"

"Repulsing."

Eve laughed into the comforter and waved a hand toward Seth. "Fine, you can stay."

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After a long tour of the upper town, the two youngest royals of the castle lounged on its shingle roof. Sunset light painted the turrets and towers orange and pink.

With every shift of their position, rocks skittered down the incline. It was a sharp drop to the courtyard below yet they sat on the roof's precipice.

He hadn't stayed for this long in one place in forever. Repetition had hammered Terrabelle's routine into his head. Wake up, hang out with Eve, meet with Kendra and the others, and sleep. It was really nice.

He knew all the merchants' names in the citadel—and with all the drama they spilled, Seth knew all of Terrabelle like the back of his hand. Almost all of Terrabelle. Eve, however, still maintained her enigmatic self.

She had been quiet since they climbed up here. With anyone else, he would attribute the silence to a fear of heights, but with Eve, he doubted that.

"Would Raxtus be safe in Fablehaven?"

Seth tore his gaze from the few stragglers in the courtyard. "What?"

Her lips struggled to form words. "Would—would he be safe? I've heard the rumors."

Seth knew that to answer such a heavy question would be to condemn Fablehaven. On the other hand, Eve was kind. She had cared for a dragon despite the milieu in which she grew up. Seth paused—he had grown attached. Whatever.

Deflection. "Why would a dragon go to a citadel when Wyrmroost exists?"

"Wyrmroost is so far. Besides, Raxtus has some...history there as well. Fablehaven seems like the best choice."

Seth pulled one of his knees to his chest and rested his chin. "I don't know what rumors you've heard."

"Then am I a traitor?"

He was too tired for this. "Eve, you're not making sense."

"If every good kingdom hates magic, kills it, burns it—am I a traitor for helping Raxtus? Would it be better for me to tell my father about him?"

"I guess it depends on if you'd rather be a traitor or a murderer," Seth muttered.

Eve's glare sharpened. "It's not that clear cut. My mother died to a sorceress. My father had always said that magic corrupted. That getting it out of our kingdom will protect our people. That—that it will save other little girls from losing their mother."

Seth held his tongue. He knew he didn't hold the tact to deliver his beliefs gently. Kendra could, but he couldn't.

Eve sighed. "Is that what she would've wanted?"

The sun began to disappear from the horizon. In the pursuit of being comforting, Seth clasped his hand over hers and gave a squeeze. Maybe a little too hard. Hey, she was talking about magic's corruption. It wasn't easy to listen to.

"I didn't even know her. Garreth prattles on about her honor and sacrifice, but he never relays any true memories." Bitterness tinged her tone. "Would she hate me?"

"No—of course not. You're like the only good person in this whole castle." Seth felt his energy dip with the setting sun. "Kindness is your strength. If she hated you, she'd be insane."

When Eve didn't say anything, Seth continued. "My mother died when I was eleven. Still, to this day, I wonder what she would think of me now. I think it's something you'll always want an answer to, but it's just—it's just not an answer you'll ever get."

"It doesn't matter." Eve removed her hand and hugged herself. "I'm a traitor either way now. It's not like I can just forget about Raxtus."

"Yeah." Seth couldn't forget about Raxtus either. He also hadn't told Kendra yet. It just...hadn't come up. He knew she wouldn't leave a dragon behind—her magical kin. A goddess' blessing of magic was rare and Kendra felt it was her duty to help the magical world. Which was all well and good, it was just...no matter. He'd tell her tomorrow night.

And besides, Kendra would be right in saving Raxtus. Seth watched the sun disappear behind one of the turrets. "He can't stay here forever."

"No, he can't. Neither can I." Eve turned her gaze to him. "I'm leaving with you."

Nope, he did not like that proposition. Definitely illegal. Definitely impossible. "Eve—"

"You're going to be leaving soon anyway. Stuff me in your saddle bag." The humor thinly coated the desperate words.

"I can't take you, Eve." Seth avoided her eyes. "My sister would kill me if I kidnapped a Dalgorel. We're trying not to anger your father."

Eve kicked a pebble across the roof, the shingles paving its path to the roof's edge. Her gloves twisted before she released the tension with an exhale. "It would be nice though, wouldn't it?"

Seth watched the pebble fall and sink into the blurry ground below. Leaving Terrabelle was going to be like that—sinking back into the muddy reality, one that he couldn't quite see from here.

"Yeah...it would."

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thank you for reading!

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