me and began flying down the hallway in a weird pattern. Like she was flying drunk. She couldn’t quite keep steady.
“It’s fine,” Liv insisted.
“She. Her name is Arwyna.” I strode down the hall after her, worried she might hurt herself since she couldn’t seem to fly in a straight line. “And she’s obviously not fine.”
Myrddin and Nim followed behind me. Daniel hustled to get to my side.
“Your Highness, the pixie will certainly be all right,” Myrddin said. “I did not realize this one was close to you. I’ll ensure that it…she suffers no ill effects. I truly believe this is the best way to find your husband.”
“You should have asked us before you let her work that spell.” Daniel knew how I felt about the pixies.
“I want to know if they bothered to ask for her consent.” Anger thrummed through my body. “I seriously doubt Arwyna would have agreed to something like this without informing me. Did you trick her? Did you tell her I asked her to allow you to do this?”
Liv frowned. “I didn’t ask her at all. I thought finding Dev was more important. I didn’t have time to get the whole group together for a discussion. It was just a spell.”
“We will talk about this, Olivia,” Daniel said in that voice he used when he was in king mode.
Arwyna continued her clumsy flight and it hurt my heart to see her that way. She was graceful and precise. She was a queen and she’d been treated like a lab rat.
“She won’t even remember it, Zoey,” Nim said in a tone that let me know she thought I was making too much of this particular crime. “When she’s found her priest, I’ll disengage the spell myself. I thought it was important to Liv that she work through this. It was her idea and she’s made great strides.”
“I get it. The witch is more important than the pixie, and screw whatever the Fae creature needs. The witch wants some practice,” I shot back because I wasn’t playing politics.
“I didn’t say that,” Nim replied.
“You didn’t have to.” I stopped because Arwyna was banging against the door to Daniel’s office. She hadn’t landed on the doorknob or clung to the door itself. She was literally banging her body against the wood of the door. “Arwyna, stop, sweetie. Let me help you.”
“She won’t stop until she gets where she wants to be,” Myrddin said in an academic tone. “It’s best to simply allow her to finish her task. Though something’s gone wrong if she’s trying to get into the office. We know Devinshea isn’t there.”
“Unless he’s hidden in some way,” Nim mused. “What if they’re simply out of phase and we can’t see them?”
Daniel opened the door. “I’ll let her finish, but we will have a talk about your tactics when this is through.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” Myrddin said as he followed the pixie in. “I had no idea the small creatures were so important to you.”
“I did it,” Liv insisted. “I wanted to show everyone that I’m still capable of helping. I didn’t think it would hurt her.”
I entered Daniel’s office and Arwyna had found her target. She landed on the painting that dominated one of the walls. I stopped and watched as her ruby wings fluttered. A chill went across me because I realized we weren’t alone in the room. Jacob sat on the small sofa and there was a grave expression on his face.
We were here. Whatever Jacob and Gray had talked about, the time was now and I suddenly knew I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready for things to change.
But I was ready for one thing the prophecy had promised. Summer is coming.
Was Summer the “event” Jacob wanted to witness? I looked up at Danny, who hadn’t noticed Jacob. He was staring at Arwyna and then looked down at me, disappointment plain on his face.
“I’m sorry, Z.” He glanced back at Myrddin. “You should fix her now. It’s obvious the spell didn’t work.”
“I did everything right,” Liv was saying as I moved toward the painting. “I know it worked. I felt it. I felt my power. It should have worked.”
Arwyna’s body shook and I realized why. She was beating her head against the damn painting. Over and over. Now that I was closer I could see how pale she’d gone, losing the luminous shine she normally had.
“It’s okay, sweet friend.” I whispered the words to her because I was afraid to jostle her more. I held my