‘Not hungry?’ Arden asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, his tone light but edged with curiosity.
‘I’m too hot,’ Kage said, dabbing at the perpetual sheen of sweat along his brow. ‘Thought it was just the rainforest, but this forest... it’s sweltering too.’
Arden’s expression darkened. He dropped what remained of his fruit and strode over, leaning in far too close for comfort as he studied Kage’s flushed complexion.
‘What are you doing?’ Kage asked stiffly, leaning back an inch.
‘Mm,’ Arden murmured around a final bite, chewing pensively. His eyes narrowed as they drifted upward, scanning the thick weave of trees above them. Then his features tightened with concern. ‘I knew it felt too warm...’ Without another word, he darted back to the tree where he’d left his satchel, gathering his things in a blur of movement. ‘Something’s not right.’
Kage rose smoothly to his feet, Spirox landing beside him with a soft thud. The crow cawed sharply, a sound filled with tension.
‘Spirox feels it too,’ Kage said, eyes narrowing. ‘But I can’t sense anything. No danger, not yet...’
Still, his instincts flared. He glanced upwards, scanning the shifting branches as though expecting something to descend from the treetops. His attention returned to the crow. ‘Go, Spirox.’
With a beat of inky wings, the shadow-bird launched into the canopy, vanishing between the trees like a whisper swallowed by the wind.
Kage gestured for them to ride the wolf, and Arden’s grin spread wide, all teeth and mischief, as he practically skipped over, patting the greatbeast’s flank with boyish glee.
‘Thought he’d never ask,’ he said, planting a quick kiss on the creature’s thick fur before swinging himself up with fluid ease. Catching the look on Kage’s face, he added with a smirk, ‘What? We Fae are at one with nature, my brooding friend. Did you truly think I’d fear a wolf?’ Arden chuckled. ‘I adore wolves.’
Kage refrained from responding, instead mounting behind him with a stiffness that betrayed his discomfort.
‘Loosen up,’ Arden said over his shoulder. ‘You’re riding like a twig.’
‘A twig?’ Kage echoed, brows lifting.
‘A term we use for someone who’s far too rigid. Emotionally, physically, all of it.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ Kage replied dryly.
Arden let out a hearty laugh. ‘Ah, now I see why Wren might’ve liked you, twig.’
Though his face remained impassive, Kage’s lips twitched, just faintly, as if a smile had attempted to break free.
‘Truly?’ Kage said, voice deadpan. ‘I can’t imagine what she might’ve found appealing in you.’
Arden’s laughter echoed through the trees like music. ‘A twig with a sense of humour!’ he declared between chuckles. ‘Now that, I did not expect.’
The wolf bolted forward, gliding through the forest like a shadowed wind, its gait smooth and sure. Above them, Spirox swooped low, the dark blur of wings signalling their path. For a time, they rode in silence, the rhythm of the beast beneath them their only sound. But then, gradually, the air thickened.
The temperature climbed, heavy and oppressive, a tangible heat pressing against their skin. Their eyes lifted skyward, and widened.
Gone was the cool, ashen sky of the Fae kingdom. In its place loomed a dreadful, seething hue. An orange-tinged red that pulsed like an open wound across the heavens.
The moment they reached the two ancient columns—towering trees twisted skyward, their bark etched with glowing runes—the great wolf came to a halt, and both riders dismounted. Kage tilted his head, narrowing his eyes. One of the columns bore a vicious wound, half of it lying splintered on the ground, as if torn apart by a blast of raw magic. The bark, gnarled and branchless, crackled faintly with residual energy.
‘Wait,’ Kage said, his voice sharp with warning. But it was already too late. Arden had darted between the twin columns, heedless, his figure vanishing into the shimmer between them. Kage swore under his breath.
The archway not only served as a veil to protect the hidden Fae city of Floridia, it was also an enchantment, an ancient ward designed to alert its guards of any intruder who did not bear Fae blood.
Kage had never set foot in Floridia before. He had read of it, of course. Tales of beauty spun like silk in the histories of the Eight Kingdoms. Yet some gnawing instinct told him that what awaited beyond the threshold would be no city of legend.
He glanced at the wolf, at the silent shadow of the crow, then drew a breath and stepped between the columns.
The world shifted.
A forest unfurled before him, vast and primeval. Trees loomed like giants, their trunks as wide as towers, their sprawling boughs woven into a tapestry of wooden homes suspended in the canopy. Bridges stretched from limb to limb, forming aerial paths that threaded through the foliage like veins of a living creature.
