“We told them that.” The stern advisor from dinner crossed her arms on her chest. “They don’t believe us. They think we’re lying to cover whatever it is they believe we’re doing.”
“This is exactly the kind of escalation we were trying to prevent,” Raoul said. “Adele is investigating. We’ll have answers soon.”
“How soon?” Trevare asked. “Because Silvervale is demanding we allow their own investigators into our territory within a week, or they’ll consider what’s happening an act of aggression.”
Fates. This was spiraling faster than I’d anticipated.
“We need more time,” I said.
“Time we don’t have.” Trevare ran a hand through his dark hair. “King Raoul, you have relationships with both courts. Can you mediate?”
“I can try.”
I wasn’t sure diplomacy would work when babies were involved and tempers were running this hot.
“Do it quickly,” an advisor said. “Before this turns into something horrible.”
After we returned to our room, I tossed my notebook on the table. “I need to solve this before politics makes everything worse.”
“You’re doing everything you can.”
“I’m missing something, Raoul. Something obvious. I can feel it right on the edge of my understanding, but I can’t grasp it.”
“Let’s do some investigation outside, then.”
“Yes.” I stiffened my spine. “We’re going to find out what’s happening.”
He stroked my cheek. “We will.”
Within an hour, Raoul and I stood at the base of Goldwing’s sacred peaks, my collection kit strapped across my shoulders.
The peaks here were different from Silvervale’s, made up of paler stone, and I spied more vegetation clinging to crevices. The air carried a different scent. Spicier, with an underlying sweetness I couldn’t identify.
I climbed onto Raoul’s dragon back, settling into position, my hands finding familiar holds, my thighs gripping his scales.
These peaks are more complex than Silvervale’s,he said as we launched skyward.More caves, more vegetation.
“We won’t stop until we’ve visited them all.”
That’s my determined weather witch.
Warmth spread through my chest at the affection in his voice. I liked beinghiswitch.
We climbed higher, and I studied the rock faces we passed. Vegetation dotted the slopes, including hardy alpine plants I’d need to catalog. But something else caught my eye. Flowering vines twisted through crevices, their blooms a delicate purple.
“Stop,” I said aloud. “Those vines. Can you get closer?”
He banked, bringing us level with a particularly dense patch. The flowers were small, bell-shaped, and absolutely shouldn’t be blooming this time of year.
I pulled out my notebook, sketching quickly.Can you hold steady while I collect a sample?
How close do you need to be?
Close enough to touch.
He maneuvered, bringing his big form within arm’s reach of the cliff face. I leaned out, one hand gripping a ridge spike, the other reaching for a flowering vine.
My fingers closed around a stem, and I tugged. It came free with a shower of tiny seeds that caught the wind.
