I purse my lips. “Encouragingis a stretch. They’re allowing it because the Cauldron saw me wearing Konstantin’s ring.”
“The Cauldron?”
I crook my finger, and he leans over.
After I’m done recounting the prophecy, he kneads the back of his head. “Why you?”
“Thatis an excellent question. One we’ve yet to understand. But you know how prophecies go…you don’t always comprehend the reason until it all goes down, and then it feels so evident that you wonder how the underworld you missed it.”
He scrubs the back of his skull some more, as though he’s manually sorting through all my revelations. “I’ll go back with you.”
I blink. “El, it could be dange?—”
His expression hardens and he crosses his arms. If there’s one thing Elio detests more than feeling left out, it’s being reminded of his magical limitations since he’s neither a shifter nor a full-blooded Faerie.
“I would love that, but are you sure?” I ask.
“Am I sure that I want to be at your side in a land filled with small-minded Faeries in need of enlightenment? Never been surer.”
I swallow from the onslaught of emotion.
He grips my hand, his eyes stroking over the blue diamond I haven’t removed once, not even in the Baths. “Come on. The food’s getting cold.”
“What food?”
“The one I set aside for us.” He says this without missing a beat. Healsosays this without meeting my eyes. “You know how I like to eat every hour on the hour.”
He does, but I’m sensing there might be a little more than he’s letting on. Like perhaps, Naeva and Lachlano are somewhere on Isolacuori, gathered around a birthday picnic in my honor.
“Nothing can get cold in Luce,” I finally say. “In Glace, though…”
His lips quirk. “Good thing gelato is my favorite food group.”
“Ice-cream is not a food group.”
“Says who?”
We bicker about this as we stride toward the giant glass structure, home to Luce’s finest restaurant, also known asHouse of Elio. When it comes into view, I freeze, blink, gape.
Elio grins. “Surprise!”
I kiss his cheek, then sprint toward the greenhouse that’s filled with my entire family—even my mother made the trip, queasy as she is—and all my closest friends. Only one face is missing. Well, two.
“He wanted to come; Ilya as well.” Izolda hugs me tight. “But you know how long the voyage is by sea…”
I almost ask why he didn’t fly over on a Crow but then remember the necklace that blocks shifter magic.
The one I made him promise not to remove. “He shouldn’t be away from Glace at the moment, anyway.”
She rumples her freckled nose. “Don’t remind me.”
I don’t ask her for news, since I get a daily briefing from my father—no signs of Mestyla. It’s almost as though the girl ceased to exist. However, according to Taytah and Behati, the prophecy is unchanged, so the Korol’s niece issomewhere, alive and well.
“By the way, I left your gift at home. On your bed.” When my gaze strays to Monteluce, she adds, “Not that home.”
Will Izolda be as forgiving as Elio once she learns about the mating ruse?
Bisnonno approaches and kisses me on both cheeks. “Happy birthday, my little island. How goes life in the Ice Kingdom? I hear you’ve been making friends.”
