Page 75 of Kiss of Smoke

Oh, Blessed Branches. How was I going to concentrate if I spent the whole time praying I wasn’t going to end up with the Seelie Queen as my stepmother?

But then… not only did Titania deserve happiness, but Noctifer did, too. And he did spend all of his time here, protecting her…

Damn it, I was already getting sidetracked.

“So, this is just a recon mission?” I asked, trying to focus on the more pressing task at hand. “Get in, get out?”

“They may request further aid,” Titania said. “But for now, yes. Explore the Wight Isles, and ensure the Dark Fae aren’t amassing there.”

I had a feeling that in about one hour, I was going to be a hell of a lot more nervous.

The Dark Fae were even worse than the Unseelie—so terrible that both Seelie and Unseelie had banded together centuries ago to cast them out of the Courts.

But Robin nodded, folding the letter and sliding it into an inner pocket of his suit. “We’ll discuss specifics with the Autumn King. Is the portal active?”

The queen accompanied us to a chamber beneath the palace, where a circular portal stood in the middle of a room of stone and iron. It was warded heavily, ensuring that no one could come in unless they had an express invitation to the palace.

The queen nodded to Robin. “Good luck. I expect all of you to come home whole and hale.”

I raised a hand to my father, but he pulled me into a hug. It was a rather uncomfortable hug, seeing as how I was crushed up against armor, but I returned it happily regardless.

“Be careful,” he warned me. “If you see the Dark Fae, get out and make a report—don’t go crashing in there by yourself.”

I nodded, but Gwyn draped an arm around my shoulders.

“Don’t worry.” He smiled down at me. “We don’t do heroism alone around here.”

Yeah, that had been a tough lesson to learn.

The portal lit up, and a breeze poured out. It smelled like crisp leaves and smoke, and I breathed deeply, closing my eyes.

We all linked hands and walked in together.

It felt like a buzz of magic over my skin, prickling at my hair and eyes and nose, and then the smell was a hundred times more intense.

I opened my eyes, and for a moment thought I was surrounded by fire, but it was trees.

The autumnal branches were vivid shades of scarlet and gold, and grass crunched underfoot as we stepped out of range of the portal. A herd of fallow deer leaped away as the portal hummed and fell asleep.

The colorful forest of the Autumn Court seemed to stretch into forever, the lands of Tír na nÓg perpetually frozen in their seasons.

Robin straightened his jacket, and bowed to someone. I followed suit quickly, then looked up.

A man with cinnamon-colored skin and a rack of gilded antlers had been waiting for us. Bright hazel eyes looked us over. He wore hunting leathers, a quiver of arrows slung over his back.

“Welcome to Tír na nÓg,” he said, smiling. “I am Dain, the Autumn King. Let’s get to work.”