King Athon’s solid black eyes narrowed on me. “What do you know that you aren’t telling us?”
I rolled my eyes but sighed heavily at the end. “Everyone here knows that my grandmother Isabella was my teacher. She taught me much. I remember now an old nursery rhyme I never understood then. She’d say it to me at night to help me fall asleep when I was barely old enough to walk. It is about High Pointe.”
Queen Mikko’s eyes widened. “My good Fae, that is why the Misfits think you—”
“Or maybe they simply know I am capable,” I groused, shutting the queen down. No one understood why I was here—including myself—but I was getting Fae damn tired of them saying as such. “Anyway, here is the nursery rhyme…
‘High Pointe, oh High Pointe.
Why so, so high, thee say?
These trees do thee see. Yay, see. Yay, see.
High Pointe, oh High Pointe.
Why so, so high, thee say?
To show thee thy worth. Thy worth. Thy worth.
High Pointe, oh High Pointe.
Yay, see. Thy worth. Thy treasure is found.’”
Father shook his head with a fond smile on his face. “Brilliant. Mother did it in a way you would remember when she wasn’t there physically to help you.”
King Athon rubbed at his chin and gazed to the north. “That is where we need to go. We can get there by tonight since we don’t have any dead weight to carry.”
I sniffed. The shifter king really was dreadful.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Confession of a princess:
My, my, my, what a big mushroom he has.
One would think the size of a mushroom wouldn’t be important, but in the Blood Forest, it is. I must admit to being jealous. If I had it, I would rejoice. But nay, I am green with jealousy.
My blasted soul mate is always one step ahead of me.
There is one way to fix that...
I could always chop off his feet.
In the fading light of the day, the five rulers and I stared up at the mountain that was High Pointe. Our heads tipped all the way back to try to see the top. It was impossible from our vantage point, but it did give us a decent indication of the sheer size of what we would need to accomplish.
“Well, let us set up camp,” King Athon ordered. “Same jobs as the other nights for everyone. Princess Trixie, you’re more than welcome to go and throw up like you have been waiting to do.”
My eyes flayed him.
But I quickly strolled away to find a bush far enough that no one would hear me. The hike through the Blood Forest had been uneventful, except for my lack of energy and queasiness. I hadn’t wanted to slow them down, so I’d forged on despite my poor health.
I may have swallowed my vomit twice.Ghastly.
The only decent part of the day was when we’d accidentally stumbled upon the stream of clean water. All our many canteens were full again—though it weighted our bags further. We had plenty of food and water now, so it was a blessed day based on that.
My eyes scanned for a large enough shrub to hold all that would be revisiting the realm from my stomach. The talking deer were rebelling—and rebellinghard. The black bush to the right seemed appropriately sized for my needs. I rushed to it and bent over, heaving out all the contents remaining in my unsettled stomach.
I spit a few times before standing, then bent right back on over. Eating as much as I had after no food for three days wasn’t my brightest idea.
