She took a sip of the tea with her eyes narrowed on both attendant and lord as it slid comfortably warm down her throat.

  Damn. This was good tea.

  Deciding it was unlikely they would have gone through all this trouble just to poison her, she took another sip of the floral tea, noting a familiarity to it she couldn’t quite place.

  Her anxiety dwindled, replaced with wary curiosity. He clearly wanted something from her, but his way of going about it was odd. For one, if he simply wanted her skills, he could just demand her service. Unless she quit the Guard, there was nothing she could do, and if she quit the Guard, she would lose the protections associated with the job, meaning a cruel fey would have plenty of grounds to kill her for refusing their commands, anyway.

  It wasn’t her skills that had drawn his attention though—what had changed his voice from simply neutral to intrigued was when Tobias mentioned her knowledge.

  The thought brought another scowl to her face as she took an angry sip of tea, only like she had summoned him, the young guardsman opened the door and startled her. “I’m back—oh, shit, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you—”

  Her fingers burning from the spilled tea, she reflexively snapped, “I wasn’t scared.”

  Not by the door opening, anyway, though terror blanched her face quickly at realizing what she’d just done.

  Only he just grinned. “Someone’s feisty. Alright Braveheart, I’m sorry for startling you.”

  She dropped her gaze with a scowl to her teacup. She was getting far too comfortable with these damn fey.

  A delicate feminine voice behind him said, “You called, my lord? Oo, a tea party on the floor? What’s the occasion?”

  The lord grunted and gestured to the tiny pixie in front of him before saying to Squirt, “The Lady Kenna is a knight I brought with me from the Capital.” He said it gently, as if that should be reassuring in some way to Squirt, annoying her further. “I’d like for you to continue explaining the uses of the materials you brought, and if possible, I’d like to allow her the chance to examine both the goggles and the other tools Tobias had mentioned earlier.”

  Squirt waited until the door shut before nodding.

  The beautiful woman, a shifter by the looks of her, happily flounced onto the ground with a delicate poof of her loose dress. Her dark hair was twisted up and held back with elegant braids that must have taken ages to do, not a hair out of place. She had the tan skin and light purple eyes of a spring fey, with a grace to her that contrasted with the sword belted at her hip. “Well, this is cozy.”

  Tobias took a seat. “Aw, no cookies left?”

  Squirt kept her focus on her next sip of tea. The attendant appeared, easily picking up the serving plate of snacks and replacing it with another full one. Her eyes went so wide, she thought they might fall out of her head.

  More than the furniture or the castle or the tapestries in the hall, this was evidence of their wealth.

  Pretending she hadn’t squirreled away an entire handkerchief full of them for later, she waited for Tobias and Lady Kenna to take their own before she carefully stood, desperately clinging to her wariness in case they considered it rude for her to do so, then rolled up the skin to bring the materials down to the floor. Tobias, Kenna, and Lord Everwinter watched, their eyes brimming with curiosity.

  Unrolling the skin again, she cleared her throat and pointed to the scales. “Like I said before. These are useful for simple eye protection.” Her eyes flickered around the faces briefly, then stiffly repeated the explanation she had already given to Lady Kenna.

  Her violet eyes practically sparkled in response. “Can I see those goggles?”

  The lord handed them over, having stored them in his pocket. She took them with a delicate touch, running her fingers over the runes, her eyes sparkling in interest. “Hm. I see, I see…” Placing them over her own eyes as best as she could, as they were a little small for her own features, she managed to wordlessly cast a simple minor illusion spell that thoroughly impressed Squirt. Most had to study the incantations, but those with talent and beloved by magic could control it without.

  “Incredible,” the lady murmured. “Here, try this.” She handed the glasses to the lord casually. He accepted, having to hold it over one eye and squint due to the size difference. He nodded, then turned back to Squirt, handing the goggles back.

  She accepted them with two hands as was polite before stiffly moving on. She picked up the next item. “These are flamesacs.” Pointing it up, she squeezed it briefly, causing a burst of flame to jet out. “They don’t last long but are perfect for when you need a consistent spark. Most only last for an average of ten squeezes, depending.”

  The lord nodded. “And how do you use them?”

  “Lighting tinder, my lord. The flame is steady and consistent, unlike flint and steel, and you can direct the flame more easily. They’re a fairly common trait amongst several species of feybeast in this area, making them readily available.” She didn’t mention she used them for flame-based traps that needed a spark of fire to start, nor did she bother explaining they were high in Autumn magic for the sake of enchanting and crafting magical tools as that would be obvious enough.

  On a roll now, she pointed to the silver feathers. “These are feathers from a breezebird. They are heavy in wind.”

  Lady Kenna’s eyes sparkled, answering the lord’s unspoken question. “Meaning they are excellent components for enchantments related to winter, my lord.”

  Squirt nodded. “They also make good fletching, providing a little extra speed and accuracy to the arrows.” She pointed to the gland. “That is filled with a paralytic—it’s not powerful enough to be deadly, but it will incapacitate. It can also be dried and turned into an airborne powder, instead. It won’t be as effective but will last longer and affect more targets. These quills are razor sharp and make excellent precision tools for things like leatherwork, though they hold no other magical properties.” Lastly, she ran her hand over the soft fur of the pelt. “A pelt from a chameleon cat can help the one using it disappear, though the effect is not nearly as potent as, say, an invisibility spell.”

  Lady Kenna leaned forward. “How’d you get the pelt off a feybeast?”

  Squirt tensed somewhat at the direct question, saying carefully, “I paralyzed it.” Then she pointed to the paralytic gland. “Using one of those.” Then, belatedly, she added in a respectful nod and the words, “My lady.”

  The lady giggled. “Oh, let’s do away with formalities in this place. You can call me Kenna. What’s your name, little one?”

  Her shoulders hunched a little. “Everyone calls me Squirt.”

  Just like the lord, the lady’s lips pinched together, her brows furrowed. “But that’s not your name, is it?”

  She shrugged, dropping her eyes and muttering, “It’s not like it matters.”

  Tobias asked entirely innocently, “Why do they call you Squirt, anyway?”

  Squirt considered the shifter guard, debating whether her answer was mandatory. Technically, per all social convention, it was, no matter what his feelings on the subject were.

  Before she could decide on her response, the lady smacked Tobias upside the head, chiding him, “Tobias, you should know better.” She turned back to Squirt. “I am curious why they call you Squirt.”

  Squirt’s eyes narrowed on the raven-haired beauty with sparkling, playful eyes. Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out the portable stovetop and a pot, setting both on the floor. Pulling out a small red feystone, she crushed it and triggered the stove’s enchantment to start up. The others watched curiously as she set to work making a simple soup, the same one she’d made last night for Tobias, though minus the rice this time.

  Staring into the water as it began to boil, she eventually said, “Because the only thing I can conjure is a squirt of water, and I am small even for a pixie.”

  She stirred with her wooden spoon, making sure that the dried soup base was thoroughly mixed into the water as she did, keeping her eyes down though her attention remained fixed on the four others in the room, waiting.

  A tinge of growl was audible in Tobias’s voice as he said, “It’s the same as if Sofia was called Nully.”

  Lady Kenna’s voice was deceptively calm, an edge to it that made Squirt go rigid. “Well, that simply won’t do.”

  The lord spoke next, his voice contemplative. “If I asked you for your name, would you give it to me? In secrecy.”

  Squirt’s attention snapped to the man, full of suspicion as she answered bitterly, “I know better than to refuse a command by my better, my lord.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I will not force your hand, little one.”

  She exhaled sharply out of her nose, her doubt palpable. She stirred twice more, before asking, “What purpose would my name serve a lord such as yourself?”

  “I need your name to grant you a title.”

  Had she been drinking tea, she would have spit it out. As it was, her heart lost its rhythm and she snapped her full attention back to the lord, the disbelieving words spilling out, “Are you mad?”

  He raised a brow. “I need a Chief Hunter.”

  Her temper rose at his insanity. “No one will work for a fucking greenling, and I’d be dead before the month was out.”

  He remained unnaturally calm. “I will not let your talent go to waste.”

  “It’s not a gods damned talent to learn this shit.”

  He raised a brow. “Isn’t it?”

  She opened her mouth to argue then snapped it shut, a sound of frustration coming from her clenched jaw as she scowled down at the soup. Fine. At least he cared nothing for her following the ancient laws. By this point he’d made that clear enough that her natural self was starting to shine through, but she still couldn’t trust him. All fey had something arbitrary they cared about, and he was too unnaturally calm for a powerful lord who had just been snapped at by a gods damned greenling.

  And annoyingly, much like she was afraid, it didn’t look like these powerful fey were going to let her go.

  Damn it all.

  Pulling out another block, she pulled the pot off the stove and set it to the side on top of the cooling block to protect the expensive rug they were sitting on, then canceled the enchantment. The metal cooled rapidly as she stewed in her anger, glaring down at it.

  Lady Kenna finally broke the silence. “She does have a point, you know. Granting her a title will put a target on her back, and unlike us, she won’t be as protected.”

  Thank the gods, one of these idiots had some sense. It was clear the three of them were a pack—a group of closely bonded shifters whose animals considered them in the same family group, regardless of actual relation. The name changed with the shifter type with pride, herd, flock, and pack being the most common.

  Squirt almost choked on her sip of tea when the lady casually continued, “You should make Tobias your Chief Hunter and hire her as his assistant for a few months while we finish getting rid of the dead weight. She’ll be able to prove her skill to those that matter while he keeps her safe.”

  Squirt’s eyebrow twitched. This was stupid. They were going to get her fucking killed.

  “This way, he can vet any other hunters they bring in, and he gets stuck with the boring parts of paperwork and budget meetings.”

  Tobias grumbled, “Gross.”

  She batted her eyelashes at him. “Just think of what Sofia would say.”

  He groaned loudly before saying in a defeated sigh, “She would say it was my duty to protect those unable to protect themselves.”

  Squirt bristled and snapped, “I can protect myself just fucking fine, thank you very much.”

  Tobias, entirely unbothered by her rudeness, simply shrugged. “I know you can, Braveheart. But it’s nice to not have to do it alone, isn’t it?”

  She bit her tongue, scowling at him and fighting the urge to stab him. Bitterly, she said, “It’s what I prefer.”

  Silence descended upon the small group again, and she gave them all challenging glares at their pity. She didn’t need it, and they could shove it up their titled asses—

  “I will make you this offer once, and only once, little one,” said the lord, still absurdly calm. It was starting to become somewhat disturbing, especially for a shifter. “Do you wish to return to your life before and leave us behind?”

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  Incredulously, she just stared at him in confusion. Naturally that’s what she wanted.

  He studied her, before seeming to change his approach as he continued, “You have seen the forests and heard the other titled speak. This place is not equipped to handle the feybeasts, and while we are working on it, we only arrived a month ago. We’re still in the process of vetting personnel. We’re in need of your knowledge and skills.” His eyes flicker to Lady Kenna, falling quiet for a few minutes as he worked through something in his head, an obvious silent conversation made entirely by facial expressions between the lady and lord. Finally, he turned his gaze back to Squirt. “I have a counteroffer for you, little one. Give me one year of your service.” His eyes fixed back on Squirt’s. “One year to teach us your knowledge, and for me to convince you of my sincerity. To earn your loyalty. If, in a year, you are unconvinced, you can return to your village unharmed with enough suns to see you through to the end of your days in peace and quiet.”

  Bracing herself, she asked, “And if you were to, as you say, convince me?”

  He nodded solemnly. “I would grant you a title and a place in my court. A year will give me time to make sure the position is safe and protected for you, and for you to earn their respect as you’ve earned mine.” He inclined his head to Tobias. “Tobias is right. I would be a fool to send you back to your village, but neither am I willing to force your compliance.”

  Narrowing her eyes at him, she shifted her seat, moving from her knees to sit cross legged and watching for any shift in his demeanor. If anything, he seemed pleased by the switch from obedience to relaxed equality. Crossing her arms, she studied the man. Much like Tobias, there was a genuineness to him that roused her suspicions.

  He gave her a moment before saying, “I ask this of you not to put you in danger, but because I am trying to protect my people.”

  Tobias piped up, “Like with the chameleon cat, Braveheart. The Outskirts like this have a lot of weaker fey, and many are struggling against the feybeast populations. It was the first thing the surrounding village elders begged help with.”

  She gave him a flat look. “Obviously. The previous lord stopped maintaining the protections on the village walls almost fifteen years ago.” Though even before then, his remembering to restore the protections was spotty at best.

  Her eyes flickered back to the lord, noticing his own gaze had turned away as rage tightened his features for the first time. Finally, his absurd calm had broken, even if only a little. Though as Squirt kept her eyes on him, she couldn’t help but think that the trigger was rather odd. His hands fisted in his lap as she considered the implications, and he took several shaky breaths before returning his attention to her.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “… I’ll need materials.”

  He nodded. “Submit a list to me and I will cover your expenses.”

  Squirt’s eyes narrowed further. “How much of my expenses?”

  Lord Everwinter considered that, the last of the rage draining from him as he did based on the way the tension slowly bled out of his shoulders and jaw. Another weird trigger, this time from anger to absurd calm. “Anything related to the trapping and taking down of feybeasts, including equipment needed for staying in the forest, provisions, and so forth. You provide eighty percent of the materials you gather to Everwinter Keep and keep the rest.”

  That was… a decent deal, actually.

  For a few minutes, she considered the lord. Considered Tobias and the concern he’d shown her in the forest. Considered the way Lady Kenna had chastised Tobias about asking for her name.

  It was clear to her in that moment that she wasn’t dealing with cruel fey. There was too much genuineness in every interaction. Things could change. They could always become cruel. But clearly, they were treating her with an equality she had previously only really dreamed of.

  And he wanted her gods damned name.

  There had to be something more to this.

  Her lips pursed. As dangerous as it was, she needed to push the boundaries. Only when she saw them crack would she know for certain who they truly were. Even if they turned, a single beating would be worth the alternative.

  Deciding to be bold, she met the lord’s eyes directly. “I want a cabin.”

  His own eyes narrowed just slightly. “Why?”

  Her eyes flashed with anger. “Because the problem has already begun to fester, and I’ll have enough to worry about without having to have a gods damned knife under my pillow and wasting my time traipsing through the whole damn castle.”

  He bit his lip. “Separated like that, I won’t have the chance to earn your loyalty.”

  She snapped, “What’s more important to you, earning whatever the fuck it is you want from me or protecting the people you claim to care about?”

  His eyes flashed a bright amber of his beast, his jaw and fists clenched, though Squirt held her ground. If his anger bled into his aura, he could easily dominate her and force her subservience. Still, she readied herself to drop into a grovel the moment he turned aggressive.

  A few beats passed as he struggled with control before his eyes returned to their previous dual colors. He bit out, “Fine. But I require you to return to the castle once every five days to report on the progress, restock, and bring back materials harvested.” He paused. “I will send you trusted people to teach your skills to.”

  “And my inventions, I suppose?”

  His anger melted back to contemplation. “… no. That will be a separate bargain.” His eyes fell to the little stove. “… you invented it yourself?”

  She bristled, tensing and preparing for the same laughter. “I did.”

  “Your patent?”

  She snorted.

  His brows snapped together. “There is no patent on your inventions?”

  That cut deep. Enraged beyond reason, she snapped out, “It’s not like the Scholar’s Ward ever let me do a damn thing besides clean their classrooms. They laughed me out of the fucking room. I had to hide just to listen to the damn lectures, for all the fucking good it did once I was caught, and you have the fucking audacity to ask why I didn’t patent the inventions no one but me ever fucking uses?”

  Anger burned in his eyes again at her rant as she glared at him, daring him to speak again, daring for him to lash out and show her what the limits of his patience were, holding his gaze and challenging him directly by not dropping her fucking eyes for once in her gods damned life—

  It was the Lady Kenna who broke the tense silence, her voice light and airy as she asked simply, “Out of curiosity, how many things have you invented? I’ve not seen this circle before.”

  Squirt blinked. The realization hit.

  He didn’t break.

  Lady Kenna’s expression was innocent, but her interruption eased the tension as Squirt stared, coming to terms with the fact that not one of them had been bothered by her speaking her mind. Tobias was hunched over and casually munching on a cookie, the lord retained his absurd calm, and Lady Kenna’s aura remained non-threatening. Squirt’s actions would have made even the most levelheaded titled fey react. Should have, anyway.

  Gods damnit all. They were reasonable. Since when were titled fey reasonable?

  Realizing how intentional Lady Kenna’s interruption had been, Squirt sat back, glaring at the lady who was studying the stove from her seat.

  Squirt muttered out her answer. “I never bothered counting because I wasn’t trying to do anything other than solve problems when they came up. You’ll have to forgive me for living my life.”

  Lady Kenna held her hands out to grab the stove, pausing and asking, “May I?”

  Squirt gave her a flat glare, still annoyed that she had caught their attention and absolutely not at all flattered at the interest in her tools, before pushing the stove towards her outstretched hands.

  The lady’s eyes practically sparkled as she looked over it, tracing the runes with her finger and somewhat softening the edge of Squirt’s annoyance. “It’s lighter than I expected.”

  Shifting a little awkwardly and turning her eyes away, Squirt grunted in answer to the compliment. After a brief beat of hesitation, she explained, “It’s… hollow on the inside. You’ll have to cut it open to see the full enchantment.”

  “I see… and anyone could use it?”

  Squirt returned her gaze to the lady and arched a brow. “As you saw, it costs a red feystone of the smallest variety to use, and enough magical manipulation to engage the enchantment.” Then her eyes dropped and turned away, her brows furrowing just slightly. “… though I could always turn it into a switch.”

  Lady Kenna prodded carefully, “And how would you do that?”

  The problem was a tantalizing one. She had several other tools that she had made after this one that might provide the right fix for, say, Stalf to use on his own. The lady’s eyes were eager with curiosity, and Squirt couldn’t resist temptation.

  With unfocused eyes, she stared down at the threads of the carpet. Her lips moved, and they could hear the barest of whispers as she muttered to herself, but the sound was so quiet that no full words were actually spoken, more like simply murmuring the general cadence and tones of speech. Then she pinched her chin between her index and forefinger, falling completely silent again. Her eyes remained fixed instead of darting unseeing around the carpet, and even her heartbeat finally slowed.

  Tobias leaned in a little and said tentatively, “Braveheart? You good?”

  “Hm?” Squirt’s eyes refocused as she turned her attention to him, though they retained a daydream like quality. “Sorry, did you say something?”

  “Uh… well Kenna asked you a question, for one.”

  Squirt blinked, the hand on her chin dropping to lay on the other crossed over her chest. They actually wanted to know? She studied him for a moment, realizing that they really were waiting for those details “Oh… right.” She held out her hands to the lady for the box, accepting it back and thinking.

  She’d never had to explain before. No one had ever asked.

  Tapping her fingers across the box, she turned it in her hands and drew a line down the side with one finger. “The easiest thing to do would be to cut a line here and add a knob that one could slide from one end to the other. Feed it a feystone, pull the slider bar for the heat level… I manage it by manipulating the enchantment directly, so it’s not a true switch from engaged enchantment to lump of metal, but a progression. The higher the heat, the less time it lasts. Means I can cook different meals on it…” She scratched the top of her head. “… controlling the flames in the enchantment… it’d require different materials. Another flamesac, yes, but then? Adding in a line to control the output won’t be difficult, but attaching it to the sliding knob would be more difficult…” She reached into her pouch and pulled out a slate and stick of chalk, writing out equations rapidly before erasing them and starting again. She did this several times in rapid succession, back to murmuring to herself, sometimes crossing things out as she went along. Finished, she looked over her work with a gleam of satisfaction in her eyes and turned the board around to the waiting Lady Kenna.

  She took the board, her eyes alight with interest. “How much of this is the original product?”

  Squirt frowned and crawled a little forward, pointing to the lines directly. “These are the new additions.” Then she narrowed her eyes on the lady, asking warily, “Why?”

  The lady heaved a happy sigh, then raised an eyebrow at the lord. “I don’t think I have to tell you the meaning of her crafting a new enchantment ritual in a matter of minutes.”

  Squirt rolled her eyes, now annoyed that they were blowing her skills out of proportion. “That’s because the idiots in charge of the courses are so busy worshipping the origins they forget the actual fundamentals. I’ve been fiddling around with runes to see what I can make since the day I learned of them.” She muttered, “Pompous rich assholes are usually so overpowered they struggle with basic enchantments, anyway.” Then she paused and said with a scowl, “And their circles were always too expensive for me to use.”

  The lady murmured to the lord, “Expensive in terms of high magic cost, not financial.”

  Squirt gave her a dry look. “Both.”

  She grinned, placing the slate and chalk down before she clasped her hands together hard enough to clap. “So! How about you stay with me the next few days while our good lord makes you a cabin?”

  Shit. Damnit. Fuck. They wanted to hire her and were being nice. Gross. She reared back from the sparkling eyes of the wolf. “Respectfully, my lady, I think your problem can’t wait a few days. I’ll be better off in the woods getting a lay of the land.”

  Her grin turned a little predatory. “Excellent. So, you’ll be taking his lordship up on his offer?”

  Squirt’s expression flattened. Her eyes darted to the side as she scowled and muttered, “Titled fey like you lot screw up a lot of things for a lot of fey. I’m not doing it for you.” Besides, she didn’t trust these fey farther than she could throw them, and she was pretty sure she couldn’t throw them at all.

  They still had yet to fucking break.

  She glared a challenge at the lord. “No bargain. I’ll stay as long as I’m needed. I’ll not trap myself into a year of service only for you to turn on me.” With that, she stood and stomped from the room, scowling and furious that she’d just agreed to this shit against her better judgement.

  ***

  To their surprise, despite the rage radiating off the tiny woman, she opened the door carefully and shut it gently.

  Tobias grinned at the other two. “How long until she realizes she left the stove and stuff—”

  The door opened quickly, shutting gently once again as the scowling pixie, this time with her tan cheeks flushed a bright red, re-entered the room, grabbing the stove and cooling block, then the slate and chalk, shoving them into her pouch before grabbing the pot and staring at it blankly.

  The attendant Lowvyn stepped forward with a bowl, clearing her throat politely.

  The tips of the pixie’s pointed ears burned as red as her cheeks as Lowvyn gently took the pot, poured out the contents into a bowl, and murmured a simple cleansing spell on the pot that made the huntress visibly green with envy.

  Handed the pot back, the huntress spun on her heel, re-exiting the room in a much faster furious huff, though once again her touch on the door was gentle and controlled even as she stomped and growled.

  Tobias grinned at the shut door. “Yep. We’re going to be best friends. I just know it.”

  Kenna gave Tobias a sidelong glance, a wry smile on her face. “I see. Adopting her, already?”

  Tobias blushed, scowling at Kenna. “Look, my wolf may be particular, but, I mean… you didn’t hear—I mean, she has no one to look out for her, you know?”

  Kenna’s eyes traced back to her lord, noting the thoughtful look on his face rather than the usual mild exasperation he had whenever Tobias’s wolf adopted a new sister. Her own adoption had been even more abrupt than this huntress—Tobias had simply passed her in the street slums and immediately adopted her before she’d even gotten a word in.

  It ended up saving her life.

  Kenna considered Bartos—Lord Everwinter, she reminded herself—and that thoughtful expression on his face. His eyes flickered up, catching her gaze. Tobias, noting her attention, turned his own to the lord. For several long seconds, the three studied each other in total silence, speaking only in expressions while Lowvyn collected the dishes and disappeared down the attendant corridor.

  Eventually, Kenna’s jaw slackened.

  At the same time, Tobias breathed out, “No way.”

  Tobias had five—now six, with the tiny pixie woman—adopted sisters his wolf had claimed, Kenna included, and one actual blood sister. Still, while they were pack, his other sisters weren’t inner pack. Only Kenna and Tobias had that honor. Unless Bartos’ wolf adopted them as readily as Tobias, they never would be. Not so long as he was their alpha.

  Their lord sighed, dropping his head down. “… I have known of her for several years. You may remember the old palace weapons master retired to the Outskirts—she has been working under him for years.”

  Tobias scrunched up his face. “Vern?”

  “The one before.”

  “Stiff? No, wait… wait for it, it’ll come to me… Stalf! That’s it. Grumpy old Dullahan that never smiled, yeah?”

  Bartos’ lips twitched in a smile heavy with complexity. “Yes.”

  Kenna studied her lord before saying in a lightly accusing tone, “Talent means something to you. It means nothing to your wolf.”

  “This… is true.” He ran his hand over his hair. “This… this I suspect to be the Whims.”

  Kenna groaned as Tobias exclaimed, “Again?” surprising a chuckle from Bartos.

  “Yes.” His gaze unfocused, a thoughtful countenance softening his features.

  The Whims of Fate, another phrase for instinctual draws, divine destiny enacted through individuals, manipulation of fey by spirits, magic, or gods. The last he’d felt such a strong urge was toward Annabelle, years before their coup and her rise to power.

  A necessary rise.

  When he spoke again, the words were quiet, almost meditative, a halting rhythm to them as he struggled to explain. “She feels important. It isn’t just her talents. Even without Stalf’s letter, even without the talents I sensed, I would have selected her. I felt I needed to.”

  Tobias’s exasperation faded to a more solemn understanding. His voice was just as quiet, but no less convicted for it. “Yes. That’s how I felt, too.”

  Kenna chuckled, dropping her eyes down to her hands to study them, slowly shaking her head. “I wish I could speak sense to you two… only after having met her, I feel a draw as well.” Her shoulders straightened as she gave both men a smile that was equal parts teasing and dangerous. “The question is, who is directing the Whims? And why her?”

  Sometimes the Whims of Fate were a call from the world at large, not a singular entity. Sometimes, it was one of the gods interfering about as directly as they could. There were numerous gods, and not all of them were benevolent.

  Bartos mused, “That is the question.” His gaze dropped to the carpet. Regardless of who or what was drawing them instinctively towards the huntress, he had no doubt that her future would be as tumultuous and historically significant as Annabelle’s had been.

  Meaning she was in even more danger than he’d predicted.

  If they were to protect her, he had work to do. He stood, deciding that his first visit should be the Seneschal. “Tobias, visit Quint, inform her of our arrangement with the huntress.” She would be integral to keeping the tiny woman safe in the castle. With any luck, she would feel the same desire to protect the mistrustful woman as they did.

  Tobias winced. “Why not Kenna?”

  “I have another task for her.”

  “Yeah, but… I mean Quint barely tolerates me.”

  Kenna stood, straightening out her dress while she said casually, “Don’t steal from her stock.”

  “It was one time!” Throwing his hands up in dramatic fashion worthy of any player, both of the others found themselves smiling in reminiscence of the shared memory. Tobias’s scowl couldn’t stay, twitching upwards with a smile of his own as he followed them out of the room.