“No?”
“No, the plan is still the same... Keep finding the Arrows.” Florian sucked in a sharp breath, thinking of Kade. “Shit. I have to tell Kade about all this.”
“Are you ready to go back?” she asked.
“Yes,” Florian said, forcing himself to sit up. His neck and back were tense and painful. When they were back in the Winter Court, he was going to sleep for days.
“Here. Let me give this back to you first,” she said, holding out her hand once more. This time, the amber-colored ball of glowing string rested in her palms—the emotions she had taken from him. “You only need to touch it and all these will be returned to you.”
Florian eyed them for a moment. It was… nice, not having the roiling feelings inside of him.
“Don’t,” Elodie said quickly, as if reading his thoughts. “They’ll just come back on their own, over time. None of it ever completely goes away. Better to hold onto the feelings you know.”
With a heavy sigh, Florian nodded. He supposed that it couldn’t be avoided forever. He reached down to take them—wound up like a tiny ball of yarn—and the moment his fingers touched them, they were gone. A tingling sensation shot up his arm into his chest, and his breath shuddered as it all came back—subdued, but there, as if he had been drunk and was just now sobering up.
“Okay,” he said, looking down at his hand as he flexed his fingers nervously. “I’m ready.”
“Then let’s go,” Elodie said, reaching out her hand. She helped him to his feet, and Florian watched the white light around them wink out into darkness, then with a lurch they were standing once again in her sitting room.
