“They’re long lived, have been ridden into battle, and have roamed the human realm at their leisure for the past decade,” Dusk said. “They’ll be fine.”
Eclipse swished her tail, and Solstice rested his chin on my foot.
“Okay. I guess I’ll have to believe in them.” I twisted in the saddle to offer Chase a smile. “Are you ready for this?”
Chase grinned—he’d loosened up a bit since hopping on Fax. “Yes, Queen Leila.”
Thankfully Chase already knew how to ride horses—don’t ask me how that happened, because Chase didn’t tell me in the scuffle of getting the horses ready—and Dusk and Dawn had assured me Fax could have a screaming child draped on his neck and the placid gelding wouldn’t react.
“Right.” I centered myself, then looked down at Eclipse’s bony neck. “So…Eclipse…you want to do the thing?”
“Do the thing?” Dawn repeated, sounding shocked with my impressive wording.
“Idon’t know what to call it—”
I cut myself off when I felt magic—not the whispery-but-sticky sensation of fae magic, but the same magic I’d felt when I first met the night mares and they pressed their muzzles against my temple. It was faint, but strong—like the light of a distant star.
A hum—which may or may not have faintly reminded me of a lightsaber—made the air throb, before a stone archway and metal gate identical to the one in the garden assembled in front of us.
The door swung open, revealing the misty black interior.
“Ah. Yes. This doesn’t at all seem like a bad idea,” I said as Eclipse walked toward the door.
I hurriedly turned in the saddle to address Dusk and Dawn one last time. “I have my cellphone. I’ll call you if I need you to come pick us up with the trailer!”
“Think of where you want to go,” Dawn urged me.
“Gotcha!” I faced forward and thought of King’s Court Café.
Riding through the gate on Eclipse was a far more pleasant experience than when the Paragon had sent me through solo.
I didn’t experience that terrible sensation of not knowing up from down. Sitting on Eclipse’s back with my legs pressed to her sides, I could feel her warmth and the leather saddle.
The darkness held more swirls of blue and purple, and instead of light streaking by, when I looked out I swear I sawstarsglittering in a beautiful ocean.
And then Eclipse stepped into the Night Realm, popping us out in a grassy field just next to the dilapidated castle.
Think of King’s Court Café, think of King’s Court Café!
I hurriedly turned my thoughts to the pleasant and cute café—taking care to picture the café’s building and drive through, because I didnotwant the night mares dumping us inside the café.
King’s Court was pet friendly, but I was pretty sure that invitation didn’t extend to horses inside the café.
Eclipse gave me about two seconds to breathe in the cool but stale night air of the Night Realm before snapping another stone archway in place in front of us.
More stars and clouds, and we were out, stepping into the parking lot King’s Court Café shared with the nearby buildings.
“Wow.” I blinked—my eyes were struggling to adjust from the craziness of moving from light to dark and back to light again. “That was a ride.”
I turned Eclipse in a circle and craned my neck while looking around.
Yep, we were downtown all right.
King’s Court was named after the little side street it crouched on, King’s Court Drive. It was just around the corner from Main Street, which was the heart and soul of Magiford. From this angle, you could see Royal Beach—a small greenspace and a tiny public beach the city maintained along with the boardwalk that encircled almost all of the two lakes that rested along Main Street.
The closest lake, Fairy Lake—and no I’m not making this up, that’s really the lake’s name—sparkled extra under the intense summer sun.
I could smell the pastries from the French-style bakery just a few doors down, and even though it was mid-morning, the gelato store had a steady stream of customers coming in and out.
