When we get back to Jeremy, someone is feeding him a carrot. Will snaps a finger and the tingle of magic leaves my skin.
“How did you find us?” he asks, able to speak again.
Pigeon whips around with a wild grin, her bow slung across a shoulder. Across the right side of her jaw and creeping up her cheek is a faded pink burn mark that licks her skin like fire.
“I’ve been following your tracks for about an hour. You’ve gotten sloppy,” she says.
I break away from Will to march over and yank her into a pine-scented hug. She freezes in my arms and chokes out a short laugh.
“What did I do?” she asks.
I let her go, then jab my knuckles into her arm.
“Ow!”
“Last I heard,” I scold, “you’d hurt Prince Merit on his way back from Dreah and got caught in an accidental explosion! What on earth were you thinking? He almost died! You’re lucky I gave you the benefit of the doubt and kept my mouth shut!”
Pigeon laughs and taps a light finger to her scarred skin.
“Oh yeah, it was a shocker. Didn’t know there would be extremely flammable alcohol inside that particular wagon. I got a cool battle wound out of it, though.”
“Pigeon, it’s not a joke! I told you to be careful!”
“Ah, sorry. Everyone is on the mend on our side. How about the prince? Was he okay? He ran off before we could check, and to be honest, it was pretty chaotic.”
“He collapsed in front of us! Bleeding!”
“Yikes, sorry about ruining your date like that….”
I stutter a wordless reply. Moments later, Will’s hand brushes my lower back.
“I told Will he should go for it,” Pigeon explains coolly. “I assume that happened? Considering you’re now on the run together with a crazy number of guards hunting you?”
“It took a while longer,” Will says, “but I appreciate your attempt to meddle.”
Pigeon winks. “Anytime. Now you can talk to a human being instead of always talking to your cats.”
“Thank you, Pigeon,” Will drawls, a tinge of embarrassment slipping through.
“I imagine you’re wanting to get past those guards?” Pigeon says. Jeremy prods his nose into her shoulder, and she digs around in one of her pouches for another carrot.
“Yeah, we’re trying to get to the Library,” Will says. “There’s some information that might come in handy before the prince’s wedding tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Pigeon nods, her eyebrows knitting together. “We were trying to come up with a plan to disrupt it, but there’s too many guards to go at it safely. That big one on the bridge there is particularly infallible.”
“Howell,” I say. “He’s one of the most senior guards. Definitely not to be underestimated. And the other…”
“The pretty blond one?” Pigeon asks.
“Hmm,” Will says with a held-back laugh. His hand slips around my waist protectively. Possessively. “Not sure that’s the adjective I’d use to describe him.”
“Are you kidding? Those shoulders? I’ve never felt attraction a day in my life, but I’m sure he’s a popular one.”
I grit my teeth together. “That’s, um…That’s my ex.”
Jeremy snorts into Pigeon’s open palm and the last of the carrot disappears.
“Oh,” she says. “Huh.”
