The stables turned out to be the size of a small mansion. It had to be to house the creatures inside it. There were horses, unicorns, kelpies, and the giant lizards Calix and his cohorts had ridden the day they captured me.

"Hello," I said when I spied the buckskin mare who had taken me for a wild ride through the woods. She whinnied softly and nuzzled my palm as I cupped her nose.

Smith cleared his throat and jutted his chin toward the end of the aisle. I gave the mare one last scratch before turning to see what awaited me, holding a sliver of hope that Jones might be hidden among the hay.

"Flora!" I shouted when I spied the moss covered pixie. Her different colored eyes glimmered with amusement as I threw my arms around her neck, careful to not crush her wings as I hugged her.

"It's good to see you, Fierig Slayer."

I stepped back, my smile dimming as I took in the state of her. Once glossy brown skin was dull and gray tinged. Torn clothes. Dead flowers in her moss. She was nothing like the vibrant creature I had met so many months ago.

"Where is Fawn?"

Flora's voice was thick with emotion when she answered. "She's with family. Safe and warm on such a dismal day. When I heard you were back, I begged...your friend here to see you. I feel as though I never had the opportunity to properly thank you for what you did."

"No, thanks were ever needed."

Now that the pleasant shock of seeing her here was wearing off, her presence only served to remind me of how much things had changed since then. How was the male who threw himself in the way of death to save the village, the same male who sat on a throne and let them waste away to nothing?

"It is the way of the Fae. Come with me."

Smith nodded when I glanced at him for permission. The squelch of wet earth beneath his boots let me know he followed as we walked out of the stables and into the thicket behind it. Water dripped from tree branches and splashed into the large puddles that had formed between the many roots crisscrossing over and under the earth. I stepped over each one carefully, often taking Smith's outstretched hand to steady myself on the slick bark.

"Where are we going, Flora?" I asked in a whisper.

A sliver of fear pierced through my heart. The last time I'd followed someone without knowing where I was going, I'd been offered as a sacrifice. Was this what they were doing? Had it all been a ruse?

"Calm yourself," Smith said against my ear, his arms going around me. He pressed his hand over my heart, and almost at once, the rapid thudding slowed. "You're safe."

Filling my chest with air, I released it in a long exhale and nodded. Only then did he let me go, and we quickened our pace to catch up with Flora. She waited on the edge of a clearing, and there in the center stood Jones.

Alive. Whole. Unharmed.

Shrieking, I bolted into his arms. Laughter tumbled out as he spun me around, slinging the muck off the bottom of my boots.

"You're really free?"

"I'm really free."

"How?" I gripped his arm and looked between Smith and Flora. "I thought this couldn't be done."

"They assigned my mate to the prisoners, and when Smith came to him, he agreed at once. It's easy to escape when you hold the key."

"But..." I licked my lips and swallowed, fighting off a surge of uneasiness. "Won't Calix punish him?"

"He certainly will."

The four of us moved toward one another. Smith drew his sword and stepped in front of me. It was a display of outright defiance. There was no going back. If this ended badly, I would be alone in this world.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to show your true colors," Calix purred.

He leaned against a tree, not at all concerned that he wore no weapons. There was no need. He was the weapon.

"The other soldiers claimed you were always reluctant to follow through on my orders, and more than once, a few suspected you muddied trails during human hunts. But there was no proof."

Smith's only reply was a grunt, and his feet shifting into a more defensive stance.

"And then you found Luna. I might have been convinced of your loyalty if you'd turned her over and left her alone. But you couldn't. You begged to be at her side, and don't think I couldn't smell your desire for her when you spanked her."

The sky flashed purple as lightning whipped across it. Flora's tiny wings beat so fast they were almost invisible, and Jones trembled against me. I wanted to tell Calix to stop toying with us like mice and do his worst. It would be a small mercy to go quickly.

"It would be wise to let us go," Smith said finally. There was no hint of fear in his voice. He might as well have been talking to a child as to the most powerful Fae in Faerie.

I wasn't the only one surprised by the nonchalance. Calix reeled back, his eyes going wide, and there on his brow, I spied a sprinkling of sweat. Almost as if he was the one who was nervous.

"Send Luna over, and the rest of you can go free," Calix said with a wave of his hand.

Smith laughed and drove the tip of his sword into the soft earth. "You are not in a place to negotiate."

Calix sneered. "You're far too confident for a lesser Fae. I carry more power in the tips of my finger than you do in your entire body."

A twig snapped to the left, and we all followed the sound. A hooded figure stepped out. The earth rumbled beneath his feet, and bright green leaves sprouted from every barren branch in the forest.

"I would not oversell yourself like that," he said, pulling back his hood.

"My king," Flora said, dropping into a curtsey.

"Lorcan."

I drank in the sight of him, tracing every sharp line of his beautiful face. He had not perished that day in the cave. Smith had said he was gone, but the soldier did not seem surprised by his arrival.

Lorcan smiled at me, then motioned for Flora to rise. "I am no longer your king, child."

"That's right," Calix shouted, his panicked expression morphing into triumph. "I—"

"I am," Smith declared, ripping his mask off his head.

"What the fuck?" Jones gasped, catching me as my knees buckled.