When the company returned to the keep victorious and in high spirits, they were met with a messenger for his lordship on horseback. She didn’t hear the message as the messenger dismounted and invoked a silence zone around them before speaking. The lord merely nodded, and the spell was canceled. Without another glance at the rest of them, the messenger got on his horse and sprung into a gallop back to the castle.

  Frowning in thought, he turned to Squirt. “Athereon, take your hunters back to your cabin and rest. Come see me tomorrow before the spring celebrations to restock on lost supplies.” He paused before grinning, “And pick books. Then you and the rest of the hunters can enjoy the festival and a week of rest.”

  She scowled as the hunters cheered but had to concede that having so many hunters around had done wonders to curb the feybeast populations around the keep. “Understood, my lord.”

  He then paused, tilting his head back and sniffing the air before smirking. “You’ll have good company there. Send them my way if you need to rid yourself of them.”

  Giving him a hard stare, she realized not for the first time how strangely compelling and enigmatic this fey was. “… as you wish, my lord.”

  More than a little concerned, she dashed off to her cabin.

  Not more fey, please—

  Gods, what if he’d tried to grow food in the entire clearing? Worse, what if he’d grown it too close to the jewelbird and then tried to harvest it? Her thoughts circled farther and farther into panic until she was racing through the forest, worried the damn pest had somehow ruined something or hurt himself or tried to be helpful—

  She heard him before she saw him, recognized that he was singing and strumming another damn instrument, slowing her steps a little until she stopped right at the edge of the clearing.

  There he was, strumming an instrument to a group of five rather tall and colorfully tattooed fey she was pretty sure were shifters. All of them surrounded a very happy looking Paloka, seated on wooden benches, with the hunters she’d left behind—Fenry and Samuan—smiling and clapping along from their seats on the ground.

  She scowled. Damnit. She’d panicked for no reason.

  A hand landed on her shoulder as Qzi murmured, “You know, if you’d rather find privacy, I don’t mind. I’ll be happy to—”

  She threw her elbow back into his gut, something she’d not been able to do for the last three weeks. He groaned as he doubled over, drawing the eyes of the crowd and forcing her to step out of hiding.

  Giving the new people a wary once over as she trotted forward, she found her eyes inexplicably drawn to the pest, regretting it the moment her eyes landed on his. She froze, stiffening at the sheer radiant joy in his eyes as he stood, then quickstepped over to her with his arms spread wide. “My goddess! My love!”

  In an instinctual reflex to his attempt to hug her, she gut-punched him. Perhaps not ready for the sudden violence, he hadn’t shielded himself.

  He fell to his knees as she blushed in flustered rage and snapped out, “I’m not your fucking goddess, you damn pest. Gods damn it all, why aren’t you gone?”

  Without stopping, she stomped off to her cabin, fury making every line of her rigid with tension. Yet no matter how furious she seemed, her touch on the door was gentle as she opened it and softly shut it behind her.

  ***

  Tobias, having finally caught up, grinned as he squatted before the kneeling pixie. “Didn’t go as you hoped?”

  Fel grunted. “Gods, not even close.” He straightened as he stared after her with that wistful sigh. “She likes me, she just doesn’t want to admit it.”

  Tobias’s expression flattened. “Yeah, about that, just know she has a fanbase. You break her heart, and we’ll break your knees.”

  Fel chuckled out a breathy laugh and stood. “I’m serious about her, Tobias. Besides, if I did break her heart, I would probably help you. How did the hunt go?”

  Tobias’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, I have tales, man. Come on, Paloka will want to hear this.”

  Telos fixed her hair for what felt like the thousandth time, her hands shaking just slightly.

  Twenty years. Twenty years she’d been in love with Tobias, ever since he’d struck up conversation between them one day and ended her solitude as an archmagis. Most fey had been either too dazed by her title to speak to her normally or too enamored by the status symbol of her company to actually care about her.

  Tobias?

  Tobias was different.

  But the last few weeks had a stone sinking in her gut, a general unease she couldn’t quite pinpoint. Even knowing he didn’t look on the huntress romantically, there was still something about their natural camaraderie that stung.

  Even if, speaking honestly, she felt the same way towards the tiny woman. That same natural gravity.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  It just… hurt to watch him with her.

  Shaking her head and banishing the despair hovering around the edges, she slapped her cheeks. With a touch of concentration, she wove magic around herself, murmuring the words to an incantation that would smooth out any wrinkles and add just a touch of lily-of-the-valley to her scent.

  Even though she had cast it five minutes ago.

  She turned to leave, only to pause, looking back at the mirror. Her fingers gently touched the edge of her face, and her stomach twisted into knots. Maybe she should have put her hair up instead of down? Or perhaps she should have worn a gown instead of pants? There was still time to change—

  The servant’s stair opened, and her attendant, a giggly pixie named Velna, appeared with a conspiratorial gleam in her eye. Flying forward, her pink wings somewhat illuminating her brown skin and giving her a dim glow beyond that of the setting sun visible through the window. The bright-eyed woman grinned and said, “He’s here, my lady.”

  Panic filled Telos. She swallowed, or tried to, only to find her mouth was dry and her stomach threatening to heave.

  Like she read Telos’s mind, Velna already was pouring sweet water with a touch of fruit juice, and with a brief flutter of her wings, she was suddenly close enough to push the glass into Telos’s trembling hand. Velna’s eyes danced as she asked with just a touch of tease normally unbecoming of her station, “Should I summon him?”

  Telos stared, frozen, before suddenly downing the drink in a single desperate swig.

  Velna clenched her fingers into fists, her tone energetic as she whispered a cheer of, “You got this! You can do it!”

  Telos melted a bit, grateful to the pixie once more. Velna had been thrown out of her previous employment for speaking out of turn as an attendant one too many times, but Telos had always appreciated the friendly relationship between them.

  A knock came at the door, surprising Velna and startling Telos enough that she fumbled and dropped the empty glass. Velna swooped in and caught it before flying herself over to answer the door. Meanwhile, Telos tried valiantly to regain her composure. All she needed to do was find Tobias and ask him to meet her tomorrow at the festival. She could do this.

  “My lady? Tobias is here to see you.”

  She couldn’t do this.

  More stiffly than she ever had been before, she straightened her robes and patted her hair, giving one last glance in the mirror and lamenting that she hadn’t done more decorations in it. She should have had Velna braid it instead of watching for Tobias’s return—

  “Hey Telly, gonna let me in?”

  Her voice cracked a little as she answered with a stilted, “Come in.” Wincing at herself, she moved over to the sitting room of her suites, her limbs barely cooperating and her magic rioting in her chest. Despite her best efforts, as Tobias poked his head in with a grin and strode inside, her magic escaped the tight control she normally had on it, causing some flowers to bloom between couch cushions and a breeze to kick up around the room.

  And she’d been doing so well with her aura control, too.

  Tobias strolled in with an eager grin, teasing her with a simple, “Aw, Telly, stressed out?”

  He had no idea.

  She cleared her throat, settling herself into her seat properly. There was the usual stubborn hope that this time he’d notice the blush on her cheeks. In vain, of course.

  He took a seat next to her as Velna started serving tea and biscuits. “Thanks, Velna. How’s your suit going, by the way?”

  Velna giggled and swooned, her wings fluttering a bit as she did. “Oh, wonderfully. What can I say, she’s a hunk of a woman that I need to get between, if ya know what I mean.” After that audacious sentence, she winked at Telos and fluttered back.

  Tobias laughed good naturedly. “Glad some things are going well here. Kenna mentioned some Capital ennobled guest that keeps pestering her, but luckily even with the title Bartos forced on me, I don’t rank high enough for high class fey to care much about me.” He grimaced. “Poor Bartos, though. She’s a pretty thing, and I heard she basically ambushed him as soon as he arrived, before he’d even dismounted, poor guy.”

  Telos hummed, listening but distracted by her own nerves. She’d seen the woman in passing. Calling her a “pretty thing” was something only Tobias could reasonably do, as the elven woman was clearly blessed by Beauty himself, perfectly proportioned and alluring enough that no one in the keep had been able to shut up about her.

  Telos had met this “guest” once before in the Capital. The encounter had been clearly colored by envy in a way that had put Telos off her ever since. It was clear from the single interaction that the woman coveted the very title that Telos had thrust upon her, and her envy meant she never sought out Telos’s company even when in the same room.

  And that was about all her thoughts on the matter. Beauty had never really drawn her eyes like hazel eyes and a friendly smile.

  Tobias, being Tobias, breezed past the topic of the scholar with a snicker. “Gods, seeing his face, I didn’t hear the conversation but already I know he’s dying inside. She must be a real piece of work.”

  “Ah… yeah…” Telos reached forward and sipped her tea, her fingers still trembling, but not as much as before. Tobias had this way about him. Even though her stomach was currently trying to eat itself, the air was comforting rather than stifling, easing the fluttering nerves.

  If only he’d notice her as more than just… Telly.

  “Oh!” he clapped his hands together. “I have stories for you. I just finished regaling Feldan and his family over them, too.”

  Ah, right. The dragons.

  “Seriously, Braveheart is the most—”

  Maybe it was just hearing his nickname for her, but suddenly she was speaking. “About that, I—” She glanced out the window at the setting sun, knowing that he would likely be summoned after it went down by his packmates. “—can you, um… I was, uh, wondering… if you would…”

  Tobias started leaning in as Telos trailed off, and oblivious as he was, he still didn’t notice the blush she knew was coloring her cheeks was aimed at him.

  Clearing her throat, she tried again. “T-tomorrow, at the festival… would… I was… um, w-wondering… if you would go with me?”

  Tobias’s brow furrowed in slight confusion. “Obviously.” He grinned. “I’m planning on dragging Braveheart along with us—”

  “No, I mean… would you meet me there? For some time with… with just us.” Was she breathing? She wasn’t sure.

  An owlish expression appeared on Tobias’s face. “Do you… not like her?”

  “No that’s not—I mean—I just… please?”

  Tobias let out a breath of relief. “Thank the gods. It’s been a nightmare trying to figure out everyone that has it out for her, I wouldn’t know what to do if you took issue with her, too.” He grinned. “What time?”

  Something in her heart cracked, realizing that he was still misunderstanding the situation. Regardless, the stubborn flame of hope clung to life, and she answered awkwardly, “S-sunset. At our usual place.”

  “You got it.” He took a healthy bite of a finger sandwich, chewing on it before his eyes gleamed. “Wanna hear how Bartos’s plan went? It was genius, I’m telling you.”

  There was a brief pause, that stone in her stomach settling, that hope of hers flickering once more. Resigned to stew in her jealousy and knowing how unfair it was for her to feel this way about the huntress, she pushed it aside. For now, she would have to focus on enjoying his smile, if nothing else. “Sure. Tell me all about it.”

  Tomorrow. Tomorrow, at sunset, she would tell him.