hadn’t scuttled off to converse with any winter fae. Discovering her contacts inside the court would have been helpful in narrowing down how she’d gotten inside—if she was involved with the murders. We still didn’t have any proof of her guilt. Just a possible identification of her voice by one of the victims.
“Also, if we hoped to surprise her, that has certainly passed,” Dugan said. “The fact that we traveled to the summer court looking for her has been frequent gossip.”
Both Falin and I nodded. We’d overheard some of those whispers as well.
I yawned again. My head felt too heavy, and a deep ache was forming in my body. “Would it be horrible if I yell ‘not me’ on the whole spying thing at this point? I think I’m going home. I’m exhausted.”
Dugan raised an eyebrow. “You’ll lose not only the day but also the hours you then sleep that could otherwise be useful. Would it not be smarter to rest here?”
I shook my head. “Yeah, you see, I’m not really into bedding down in snow forts.”
“You could use one of the tents.”
I’d been looking around, trying to find the hawthorn path that would lead me to the door, but I stopped at his words. “Wait, what?” I turned toward Falin. “There are tents?” And he hadn’t thought to mention that before?
Falin scowled Dugan. “Yes, but they are for the monarchs.”
“Technically, they are for all royalty,” he said. And as a prince, he apparently counted. It was good to be a prince. He bowed to me. “I would be honored to allow my lady betrothed use of my tent. Rest, and if Lunabella does not leave the revelry early, perhaps we will have time to corner her after sunset when the truce ends.”
That sounded like a good plan to me. Falin’s scowl could have frozen the sun, but I wasn’t about to look a gift fae in the mouth. I turned to indicate that Dugan should lead the way. Then everything seemed to tilt. I thought I caught an echo of the red flash of magic I’d seen in the yellow stone. Then darkness swooped over the world, taking me with it.
Chapter 14
I woke in a bed filled with satin-covered pillows. Had Ms. B acquired new bedding? The castle didn’t typically have satin, and certainly not black satin.
I blinked.
It also didn’t have dark fabric walls.
I sat up, and immediately regretted it as my brain ricocheted in my aching skull. I lifted a hand to my head, trying to make the room stop spinning. There were faces in the spinning kaleidoscope that whirled in my vision, but I couldn’t focus on them.
Everything went red and then black. Again.
* * *
• • •
I woke for the second time, still on the black satin sheets.
I didn’t try to sit up this time. My head was pounding, but at least the room wasn’t spinning. Yet. Magic hummed around me, pressing into my skin. I opened my senses to decipher it, and a wave of dizziness washed over me. I snapped my shields back in place and was glad I was already lying down.
Somewhere I could hear voices talking in a low murmur. I turned slightly, and my vision didn’t cloud over. That was a good sign. What the hell was going on?
“Hello?” My voice cracked, coming out barely louder than a whisper, as if I hadn’t spoken in a long time. I needed water. And to figure out what was going on.
The hushed voices fell silent. Snow crunched under feet. A lot more feet than I expected. I had a moment of uncertainty, wondering if I shouldn’t have called out, and then the tent flap opened, revealing a cluster of worried, but welcome, faces.
“Al! How do you feel?” Rianna asked as she hurried into the tent.
“You had us scared,” Caleb said, a few steps behind her. Holly rushed in at his side and crossed quickly to the edge of the bed, taking my hand.
Falin said nothing as he entered and crossed to the foot of the bed. There was tension in his shoulders, in the way he stood so still, watching me with eyes that betrayed worry.
Dugan entered last, but he remained by the tent flap, his arms crossed over his chest. That was fine; the better part of my inner circle of friends was around the bed already, and he didn’t actually fit into that category. I’d question why he was here at all, except this was probably his tent, so he