a backward glance at the king.
“So you’ll consider what we discussed?” he called after me, his voice nothing if not amused.
Like hell I would. Did he seriously think I would help him now? I had half a mind to tell his queen what he wanted, but I could feel the curse he’d set and I didn’t want toads falling from my tongue. That sounded . . . slimy and distinctly unpleasant.
The mushroom ring didn’t stop me now. Either the king or perhaps the queen had removed the enchantment in it that had kept me inside, so when I stepped over it, I stepped back into the noise of the fae celebrating in the field.
I made it less than a yard into the field before Falin spotted me. Dugan, who had split from Falin at some point, saw me a moment later. Both men reached me at the same time.
“Are you all right?” Falin asked, his eyes searching for damage.
“Angry, but unharmed. Lunabella isn’t here.”
Both men frowned, but it was Dugan who said, “I don’t suppose you were told where she is?”
The look I shot him was probably enough of an answer. I could all but feel the venom in my gaze. Of course, that wasn’t fair to Dugan. It wasn’t his fault Lunabella had left the summer court. And while I would have liked to say that he, being the oldest and the Faerie prince among us, should have caught the duplicity in the king’s phrasing, I knew he was on a limited timeline and doubted he would have intentionally let us waste time in the investigation.
“Now what?” I asked, looking around. I didn’t even know which way the door out of this field was located, let alone where we should go next.
“We still have permission to speak to any of the summer fae we like, as decreed by the king, correct?” Dugan motioned toward the long table where we’d been earlier. Now that the king had left, many of the minglers had as well, but there were still knots of fae left. “Perhaps she has friends who know which court or region she went to after leaving summer.”
“If she has friends, they will surely tell her we are looking for her,” Falin said.
“I’m sure she will find out soon enough. But if we don’t know where to look for her, our only other option is to call upon fall, spring, and light and fish for information on whether she is in their courts or lands.”
He had a point, and the afternoon was dwindling away quickly. We didn’t have any other leads and it was unlikely we would get anything else done before dusk and the start of the longest night festival in the winter court.
“I guess it is time to start questioning random fae,” I said with a sigh. I just hoped it went better than my conversation with their king had.
Chapter 10
Just because the king had guaranteed we could speak to his fae, that didn’t mean he’d promised they would answer us, as I quickly learned. Many of them wouldn’t even commit to whether they had known Lunabella when she’d been part of the summer court, requesting promises or favors for so much as acknowledging that she’d once been here. As I wasn’t about to start offering up boons to likely not learn more than that she’d left, I moved on. Not everyone wanted to bargain; the nobles in particular seemed fond of informing me that while their king might have agreed that I could speak to them, they were under no obligation to listen. It was not going well.
I walked away from a cluster of fae to the tinkling sound of their giggles. This group of dancers appeared to be as much flower as person, and all I’d gotten for my efforts to talk to them was a purple flower tucked behind my ear and lots of giggles. Falin met me after I’d walked a few yards, his features tight and a frown peeking out of the corner of his lips.
“You look like you’ve had about as much success as I have,” I said, shoving my hands in my back pockets.
“No one here wants to get near me, let alone talk.” Apparently his reputation preceded him. He glanced at the slanting angle of the sun. “We need to head back to the winter court. The queen requires me to be at these events. She will likely want to show you off as well.”
Great. Just what I