Lirrane snorted from across the courtyard. “He’s in newlywed overprotective mode. It’s adorable and exhausting.”
“Do not encourage her,” Mingxi muttered.
Caelan didn’t even glance up from stabilizing the portal. “Please don’t antagonize the fox prince while I’m holding a spatial seam together.”
Poppy whispered to Mingxi, “She’s doing it on purpose.”
“I am aware,” he whispered back.
A surge of blue-green light rippled outward.
Caelan stepped back and said, “The portal is ready. It’ll take us to the outer boundary of the Moonwell Valley. No farther—the wards there repel all direct magic.”
Lirrane clapped her hands lightly. “Which means a blessedly civilized half-day walk.”
Poppy froze. “Repeat that?”
“Half a day on foot,” Caelan confirmed, tightening the portal ring with a tap. “The moonwell forbids portals within its inner grounds.”
Poppy’s mouth dropped open. “Half a day? Caelan, I walked for two weeks last time!”
Mingxi winced like she’d thrown a spear at him. “I know. And I still haven’t forgiven myself.”
“It wasn’t your fault!”
“It feels like it.”
Lirrane wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. “By the tides, she’s going feral. I adore her.”
Caelan murmured, “You adore everyone feral.”
“Because it's fun,” Lirrane replied primly.
While they bickered, Lysandra sprinted toward them, panting wildly as if chased by demons. “Wait! Wait… you can’t leave yet.”
Poppy turned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Lysandra wheezed, thrusting a cloth bundle into Poppy’s hands. “I brought emergency dumplings.”
Mingxi growled, “They’re steaming hot. They will burn her.”
“They are lukewarm! You are a helicopter husband.”
“I do not know this term,” he said stiffly, “but I object to it.”
Yunlian approached and gently touched Poppy’s cheek. “Steady your breathing. If the moonwell pulls, I will feel it, and I’ll be right there with you.”
Mingzhao met Mingxi’s eyes. “Go before the moon rises full.”
Mingxi bowed. “We will.”
Chapter 103
The selkies stepped into the portal first, Caelan’s water magic steadying the left side of the seam, Lirrane’s tidal pull rooting the right. Mingxi guided Poppy through the center, one hand wrapped around hers, the other already warming with foxfire.
The world turned liquid. A ripple, a flip, a jolt… and suddenly they stood beneath towering, twisted pines at the forested edge of the Moonwell Valley. The air smelled sharper here. Metallic.
Poppy shivered. “Dear gods, the air is wrong here now.”
