Kade met his gaze silently for a beat, his piercing orange eyes looking straight into Florian, as if he could see all his worry and anxiety out in the open. Florian’s breath caught, his heart speeding up—then Kade gave him a small, resigned smile, and nodded.
“You’re right,” he said. “Worrying about it now won’t help. We’ll figure it out then.”
“I love you,” Florian blurted out, suddenly unsettled about the sad little smile on Kade’s face. “It doesn’t matter how far apart we are, you know? It won’t... won’t make me stop loving you. It won’t make me want to break up with you.”
Kade blinked, taken aback. He thought for a moment before replying, Florian’s heart hammering in his chest the whole time.
“I know that,” Kade replied slowly. “And I feel the same way. I love you. Being with you will be a priority. And maybe it’ll even end up being a good thing.” His smile became a bit more amused. “If we make the fae and the wolf shifters one kingdom, plus all the land in between, then...”
Florian laughed, his anxiety fizzling away. Somehow, Kade always knew how to make him feel better. “That would be averybig kingdom with not a lot of people in it. But maybe we can negotiate something.”
“Let’s loop Tatiana in on this,” Kade said, amused. He offered his hand and Florian took it. “Or maybe we should sleep on it.”
“Sleep on it, definitely,” he chuckled, and they went to join the others for breakfast.
Getting packed and prepared to head out was a surprisingly quick affair. As always, Tatiana easily coordinated getting them outfitted with supplies and travel gear, and the four Arrows that they had already found were safely stored in Jerah’s private study—Florian’s study now, he supposed, though it remained exactly as Jerah had left it. He placed the two they brought from the kraken kingdom alongside them, ready to be gathered into a quiver for easy transport.
But even though their physical preparations were quick and simple, his stomach still felt queasy when he thought about heading out toward the Summer Court, and no one else seemed keen to leave soon either. Rune and Tatiana had become fast friends, Rune following her around the castle as she worked more often than not. They had started first talking about Rune’sparents, but were now chatting about anything and everything. Tatiana was already like an aunt to her now, too, Florian thought. He was glad that they were getting along so well; Rune was prickly even on her best behavior, but it barely seemed to phase Tatiana. Maybe she could tell Rune needed a mentor, someoneotherthan Torsten.
Koji was enjoying himself, too—still just as fascinated with the castle as he had been the first time that he’d been in the Winter Court. He and Florian went on walks through the various gardens, and Florian could name most of the plants that Koji asked about, remembering all the walks that he and Kade had taken. It felt so long ago now, but it hadn’t been more than a few months since it had just been him and Kade and his father. It felt so much longer.
A few times on their walks, Koji had talked about what they would doafter, which only made Florian more nervous. How could everyone already be planning for an after, when they didn’t even know for sure that there would be one? And even if they succeeded, he couldn’t imagine what the Blight being gone would be like. Making plans or speculating about what it would be like seemed unfathomable to him. But the others didn’t seem to share his worry.
“I wonder what it’ll be like going back to the dragon kingdom,” Koji said as they walked. After a moment, he added, “If I even go back.”
That caught Florian by surprise. “You don’t want to go back?”
Koji shrugged. “I don’t know. I would want to help, of course, but after getting away from it all... It seems silly to go back. I’ve seen everything there is to see in the dragon kingdom. I want to see new things and keep exploring. Maybe I’ll go home just to check on things, then we can all go on another adventure.” His smile became chagrined. “If the two kings can get away for long enough, that is.”
Florian chuckled. That, too, was hard to think about—what it would be like to be king—when he wouldn’t have an excuse to be gone from his kingdom for so long. He would really have to get his shit together then. Tatiana wouldn’t hold his hand forever. Not that he would want her to.
Koji seemed to sense his discomfort with the topic, though, and moved on. “I bet there’ll be a lot of new buildings going up in the dragon kingdom. Everything was so cramped, so with all the extra space they could move into... I bet the hills will feel abandoned by comparison in a year or two.”
Kade’s focus was, as always, on training. He still made sure everyone sparred together for at least an hour each day to keep their skills sharp. When he wasn’t with Florian, he was off training on his own, too. After the first day, Florian told him they were there to relax, but Kade only chuckled, shaking his head.
“I am relaxing,” he replied. “Sitting around doing nothing would make me more worried. At least this way, I know I’m doing everything I can to protect you.”
Florian’s expression had softened at Kade’s response. He couldn’t exactly argue with that. And still, they spent time together every day, eating side-by-side and going over Jerah’s notes again in the library.
When reading over Jerah’s notes on the Summer Court—which were mostly just random facts Jerah’s own father had told him about the Summer Court, before it had been consumed by the Blight—Florian realized that after his time in Thaddeus’ memories, he had a general idea about the layout of the Summer Court’s castle. It was vague, but he sketched out a basic map of what he could remember, which took him the better part of an afternoon. While the resulting paper wasn’t much to go on, and he wasn’t sure how useful it might end up being, he supposed it was better than nothing.
“He remembered it that well?” Kade said, surprised, when Florian showed it to him that evening.
“It’s weird,” Florian replied, shaking his head. “It’s not like a specific memory of his. It’s more... When I try to think about the Summer Court, it’s like I can almost remember it. Sort of like remembering someplace you went as a kid, but you haven’t been there since? I don’t know how accurate this will end up being, but... I don’t know. It seems right.”
Kade spent a long moment looking at the hand-drawn map. Nervous, Florian added,
“I guess the only part I’m really sure about is Soleil’s room, the courtyard, and that garden pond. I remember those pretty clearly. Everything else is just a guess.”
Kade’s eyes softened, and he handed the paper back to Florian. “I think it’ll come in handy. At least to help us get our bearings when we get there.”
Florian smiled back at him, relieved he didn’t think it was a total waste of time. “Better than nothing, right?”
“Right,” Kade agreed.
