know I’m right. They need their pack, and I need… my pack too. And Brooks. I really need Brooks.”
“Brooks? You are connected to a water creature?”
“Hmm?” Toby blinked in confusion. “Oh no. Not a brook, like a babbling little stream of water brook. Brooks, like the wolf shifter who is a member of the Jerrick pack and my mate.”
“Mate,” the prince said.
“Yep. So I’m sure you know all about the broken magic in the human realm, right?”
Kavalan’s cold smile revealed nothing.
“I mean, the blue-winged guy was probably from the fae realm, right?”
“Yes,” Kavalan replied. “Loch was the captain of my guard before he mated with the Chosen One.”
“Captain… oh, wow. That’s kinda… hmm. I have questions, because I have a feeling that’s why Puteri got banished, and I don’t know all the details, but I know I asked her to come with me to keep the kids safe, but she couldn’t. You wouldn’t have, like, hurt her or something… would you?”
“Puteri was banished on the order of the queen for her actions in the attempted murder of the Chosen One.”
Toby gasped and almost drowned again. “Attempted what now?”
Kavalan sighed. “This isn’t why we are here, human.”
“No, no. I get it. I just like knowing things because the more pieces you have, the easier it is to solve the puzzle, you know.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me you don’t have spies everywhere, Prince Kavalan. That’s what princes do, right? You know what’s going on, and it helps you rule.”
Sometimes Toby wished he could keep his big mouth shut. From the look the prince shot him, this was definitely one of those times.
“But I digress. The question now is twofold. One, how do we get home? And two, how do we stop the attacks from fae creatures who are trying to steal the Lady’s magic that she has oh so generously given to us?”
The prince’s expression turned stony again. “Do you denounce the Lady’s gifts?”
Toby sighed. “No. And she knows that. We talked. Earlier. Before you came. Um. Right. But see the problem, as I discussed with her earlier, is that with magic being wonky in the human realm and this sudden influx of power from the fae realm, we’ve now got issues.”
“Wonky?”
“You know. Wonky. Out of whack. Messed up.”
“Out of balance.”
Toby scowled. “Well, sure. That’s actually a much better way to put it. I’ve been hanging around Nick too long.”
Finally the ice cracked and the prince laughed. “Yes, Toby. I’m sure you have. You sound as if you’ve been spending time with his brother.”
“Oh! You know his brother? Which one? He has two, I think.”
The prince shook his head. “Do not get distracted again. Lady, what service is it that you wish from us?”
The lake flowed around them, her embrace still warm and steady. Prince Kavalan closed his eyes.
“Yes, my Lady,” he said after a long moment. The prince opened his eyes and stared at Toby. “Come, Toby. It’s time for you—”
“Oh, thank you. Thank you. I want to go home, you know. I just… I mean, I figured out I love him, and I haven’t even told him. And my hang-ups have hang-ups, and I need to figure that part out still, but I really need a hug.”
“—to meet my mother.”
“Wait. What?”
Prince Kavalan swam back to shore, and Toby hurried to follow. When they emerged from the water, the prince was immediately dry again and his hair remained in its previous immaculate state.
Toby, on the other hand, drip-dried uncomfortably. He had sand in places that he really didn’t want to think about.
“Yes, Toby. You must make a formal request of the queen.”
“Uh, no. Probably not a good idea. I don’t speak for—”
“Silence. Guards!”
The satyrs moved forward as a unit, the barrier that had held them back before clearly no longer in effect. They stopped in formation in front of the prince, but before he could speak, another voice echoed over the beach.
“Tree!” Gus toddled over to one of the satyrs and… climbed. Up the satyr. Using his… impressive amount of leg hair as…
“Oh my God,” Toby screeched. “Gus, no!”
The guard stared down at Gus before shooting a very confused glance toward the prince.
“Big! Tree!”
The guard plucked Gus off his leg with a grip on the back of his tiny little T-shirt, but that only lasted a second before the little escape artist wiggled free, swing up and over the guard’s arm, and then he somehow managed to sit on