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I groan, knowing what that’s going to mean—vampire speed nausea, party of one. “Closing my eyes now… you can do it, Dezi.”

Again, allowing anyone but me to run the show is completely out of my wheelhouse normally, but these men have changed me so slowly I barely noticed it.

“Giddy up, fang face,” I joke, my heart pounding in my chest as he does as instructed. “If we get caught and have to explain our excellent adventure to the other side of the Veil, we won’t be able to leave this damn court without a spectacle. I can imagine the headlines: ‘Commoner Witch Crashes Harvest Court Ball, Ruins Everything’ followed by Fae screaming for you to send me home so I don’t sully your lands or some shit.”

Tiernan grunts, his powerful arms straining against the window frame as Dezi and I get to him. “Almost... got it...” With a last heave, the window swings open. The vampire vaults through the opening like an Olympic gymnast, landing in a less-than-graceful heap on the other side with me on top of him.

“Ow,” I mutter, picking myself up and dusting off my already filthy clothes. “Note to self: work on landing.”

Dezi appears beside me, his grin smug. “That’s what you get for talking down about yourself. We don’t even know your full history, witchling. Your parents were not your sister’s… what else were they hiding?”

Now is not the time for that fucking conversation—and I am definitely not ready to face the possibilities.

Rev and Tier come scrambling through the window, followed by Khol, and I look at Dezi in annoyance. “We will discuss that bullshit later, bloodsucker. Let’s move.” I take off into the night like a thief, darting through trimmed hedges and manicured lawns. My lungs burn and my legs ache, but I don’t stop until I reach Rev’s Magical Mystery tour bus. It stands there like a beacon of hope, its gaudy exterior gleaming under the moonlight.

“Come on, come on,” I pant, fumbling with the door handle. Behind me, I can hear shouts and footsteps getting closer. Finally, the door swings open, and I practically fall inside. Everyone but Dezi tumbles in after me, collapsing on the floor in a tangled heap. The vampire practically glides in, his expression mocking as he takes us in.

“That wasn’t necessary. No one is chasing us, you know.”

I snort, rolling to my back. “Oh, good. I’d hate to think I’m going to die for nothing.”

Revelin laughs, a breathless sound that makes my heart skip a beat. “We might have overreacted, but after that shit in Briarvale and falling through a portal twice? It’s not really that big a stretch to think we could be in trouble if anyone finds out. The run was kind of thrilling in the end, though, right?”

I shoot him an incredulous look. “Thrilling? I am not in good enough shape for that shit. My chest is going to explode, Rev.” But even as I say it, I can feel a grin tugging at the corners of my mouth. Everything I do with these assholes is exciting, and my life is completely unpredictable since they came into it.

If you’d asked me months ago, I would have said that’s fucking terrible, but now? I kind of like it.

“Alright, fine,” I concede, pushing myself up into a sitting position. “It was a little thrilling, but don’t get used to doing shit like that. Witches are more ‘area of effect’ archetypes, not ground troops or brawlers.”

Tiernan snorts, his yellow eyes glinting with amusement. “That was a mess of metaphors, Knuckles.”

I stick my tongue out at him, feeling a sudden rush of affection for the big cat. He may be a pain in my ass sometimes, but his sense of humor always makes me smile. “Alright, enough chit-chat,” I say, hauling myself to my feet. “We’ve got three more courts to get to before this fucking tour is over, plus artifacts and clues to find.”

The guys roll to their feet, following me towards the back of the huge vehicle as it rumbles to life. I can’t help but feel trepidation as the road ahead is long and fraught with dangers we don’t even know about. The scene in the woods proved that there are some very bad people doing wretched things in our hometown. It’s not paranoid to believe that magic that powerful, performed by people on the Council, is approved by the leaders of all the supernaturals, even the ones who live here in Faerie.

As I head for the bedroom to get on clean clothes, I look at Khol. He’s on my heels, while the others have dropped onto the bench seating in the kitchenette area. “Feray’s becoming something fierce,” I reflect aloud, thinking of my sister’s newfound strength. “It’s like she’s swallowed some kind of badass potion.”

Khol grunts, his serpentine eyes narrowing. “Khal’s the same,” he says, his tone hinting at a mix of admiration and sibling rivalry. “He nailed me for not helping with the business while I’m here. I’ll have to pay more attention to it now.”

“Think they’re giving Torben gray hair?” I muse, picturing the laid back bear trying to wrangle my newly brassy sister, the grumpy ass dragon, the stuck-up bird, and a snarkier basilisk twin. “I bet they are.”

My twin shrugs, his eyes glittering as we enter the bedroom. “Wouldn’t put it past them. And Torben is a lot like Tier in that he’s the peacemaker.”

“He’s a calming influence, whereas my old friend is a sterner hand, like me.” I turn to look at the vampire as I peel off my shirt, ignoring the crimson flashing in his eyes as he watched Khol and I change. “But that is the least of our worries since our trip home.”

I sigh, throwing my dirty clothes in the basket. “No shit. What in the fuck was that? Feray and her guys didn’t seem super surprised by what was happening, which worries me. What is happening out there in the wilds they’re exploring?”

“Evil magic users have a long reach, witchling, especially if they pair with other species,” Dezi muses, his voice trailing off. The words hang in the air like a dark omen, and I can practically feel the weight of their implications settling on my shoulders.

I glance over at the vampire, taking in his furrowed brow and pensive expression. Dezi’s seen a lot in his centuries of undead life, but even he seems unsettled by the chaos unfolding around us. “You think that’s what we’re dealing with here?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. “Some kind of dark magic conspiracy?”

“Clearly,” Khol snorts as he yanks on sweats. “Because everything in Briarvale is crooked like a goddamn question mark.”

Dezi meets my gaze, his eyes glinting with a mixture of concern and determination. “It’s looking that way. The beasts in the forest, the unrest in the courts... it’s all connected.”

I nod, my mind racing as I try to piece together the puzzle. Our parents’ disappearance, the growing threats in Faerie... it’s like a twisted web of secrets and lies, and we’re just now unraveling the threads.

“And we have three more courts to go,” I groan, the weight of our mission pressing down on me like a physical force. “Midnight Court, where the shadows whisper secrets; Court of Reaping, which sounds as fun as a dentist visit; and finally, Daybreak, Revelin’s home turf, complete with his bitchy manager and her minions, who’d gladly see me skewered on a stiletto.”