Kade had been silent, sitting next to him, but placed a hand on the small of his back as he spoke.
“What did you and Tatiana talk about?” he asked. Kade had definitely sensed Florian’s distress earlier, but he knew Florian didn’t want to discuss it and hadn’t asked. Now, though, he supposed he should be transparent with everyone.
“Just... What would happen with the Winter Court if, uh, things go poorly, and I don’t come back,” Florian said, looking down at his plate. “So... yeah. Not very fun conversations, but necessary.”
Rune and Koji glanced at each other, expressions sobering. Next to him, Kade nodded slowly.
“I get it,” he said softly. “My mom and I had a talk about that too, before I left after the coronation.”
Florian smiled at him, a trickle of relief soothing his anxiety. He knew Kade would understand. Part of him was curious about what they had talked about—if what Kade and his mother haddecided was similar to the arrangements Tatiana had made—but he knew that if he didn’t want to discuss it, then Kade wouldn’t either.
“So I guess we should talk about what we’re doing,” Florian sighed, looking back over at Rune and Koji. “We’ve been here for a few days, so... We should probably make a plan for what’ll happen next.”
Koji nodded solemnly, and Rune shrugged.
“Yeah, okay,” she sighed. “Guess that means vacation’s over.”
Florian chuckled. “Maybe a few more days. But we should head out soon. I know it’s hard to make a plan without really knowing what we’re going into, but we should try and have at least an idea of what we’ll do.”
“Agreed,” Kade said mildly, which made Florian stifle another laugh. “Are we going straight there?”
Florian nodded. “I think I can teleport us right into the Summer Court. At least, I’m pretty sure I can. Elodie thought I should be able to with what I could see of it in Thaddeus’ memories, so... I think it’ll be worth the try. Getting there on foot is going to take forever and be miserable.”
Kade nodded, tension in his face. He would always worry about Florian using old magic, especially when the outcome wasn’t certain like this; but even he could see that it didn’t make sense not to try, when the alternative would be weeks or months traveling through the Blight.
“And the final Arrow is somewhere around the Summer Court,” Koji said. “So the plan will be to go find it once we’re there, right?”
“Yeah,” Florian nodded. “And then... I guess, figure out what exactly we have to do with the Arrows. That’s something I don’t know anything about yet. But once we’re there, we should be able to figure it out.”
“This all soundsboring,” Rune sighed. “Why are we doing all this combat training if it’s only going to be a recon mission?”
“I’m sure there will be at least some Blight monsters,” Koji said in a reassuring tone, which made Rune laugh.
“Exactly,” Florian chuckled. “No need to worry about that. I bet we’ll be fighting our way through the castle. You’ll get your epic battles.”
She shot him a grin. “Sounds like a plan to me, then.”
“So, when are we leaving?” Kade interjected.
“Soon,” Florian said, though it made him feel unsettled all over again to think about. “It won’t take very long to get everything ready, so...”
“The day after tomorrow?” Kade offered. Florian’s heart plummeted—that felt sosoon—but there was really no reason to wait any longer except for his own nerves, which certainly wouldn’t go away with more time.
“Is that okay with everyone?” Florian asked with uncertainty, glancing between the other three. Rune nodded. Koji seemed nervous now too, but didn’t protest. Kade only watched him, face neutral. “Then, yeah, that works for me. The day after tomorrow. So tomorrow we can pack and get ready, then we’ll leave the next morning. Okay?”
Kade nodded, then Koji. Rune added, “What if your teleportation doesn’t work after all?”
Florian grimaced. “Then I guess we take another day or two to reassess and pack for a longer trip…awaylonger trip. Fuck, I don’t even know how we could carry enough supplies for that long, but, well, I guess we’ll figure it out then.”
That decided, dinner continued as normal. Florian barely tasted anything that he put in his mouth and was too caught up in his own thoughts to pay attention to the conversation happening across the table. Every so often, Kade would rub his back or his shoulder again, bringing him back into themoment; but the rest of the meal passed by without much more conversation. Florian excused himself when he was done, and Kade followed him back up to their room.
“I know you’re worried,” Kade said softly to him when they were alone. “Can I help at all?”
Florian grimaced. “I don’t know. I don’t think anything will make me less nervous. But maybe you can distract me?”
He bit his lip, too anxious to really be horny, but maybe a distractionwouldbe nice. Kade chuckled, a faint flush rising in his face.
“Is that what you want?” he asked, his voice a low rumble as he stepped closer to Florian, his hands settling over his hips.
