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“Then perhaps I have greeted the wrong man. Are you Kent of the naiad called Calla?”

“I am.”

“Then—”

I closed my eyes and cut him off. “I am who you seek. Ignore my foolish objections and lead the way. My doom awaits.”

“I pray not, Kent of Beyond the Wild Wood. I have wagered a great deal on you being our next king.”

The fae behind the leader groaned. “We all did, sir. Shouldn’t we be taking him to the challenge so we can collect our money?”

“Quiet, Grund!” the leader ordered.

“Yes, sir.” Grund snapped to attention.

The leader closed his eyes, and I suspected he would’ve rubbed his face if he hadn’t been on duty.

“Shall we?” I asked.

The guards made a jovial group despite their efforts to appear official as they escorted me through the corridors to the conservatory. We emerged into the gardens, and they guided me north, away from the mansion and deeper into the wilds of the grounds.

To my surprise, I saw no one else walking the same way. When I mentioned it, Grund responded immediately, “Lord Greyson doesn’t want his lands messed with.”

“More like there are too many safeguards and suppressive magical measures for an accurate test of power already here on the grounds,” the leader said. “Lord Greyson refused to compromise on the safety of those in his care by removing any of them.”

Grund rolled his eyes. “Same difference.”

The leader visibly suppressed a retort. “Regardless, the testing grounds are marked off just beyond the northern edge of Lord Greyson’s land.”

We were tramping along a narrow trail by this point. I was about to ask how much farther we had to go when the defensive magic decreased. The land magic rushed in to fill the space it left behind.

I stumbled to a halt, breathing deeply as my senses flooded with an intense awareness of the surrounding life.

The trees reaching their branches to the sun moved in the windless sky almost as though greeting me. Some nymphs within them stirred as my awareness brushed their minds. The smell of the air, heavy with the scents of the surrounding flowers, filled my lungs. The sun warmed my head, heating the dirt beneath my feet and the air around me as it filled with power. I breathed deep and slow. As though I had put down roots, each step beyond Greyson’s border protections felt like removing great weights.

I stumbled to a stop, my head buzzing with sensations, smells, and power.

“Kent?”

I lifted my head with effort. A male stood across the path a short way ahead. Dressed in simple but elegantly expensive clothing, he frowned at me. “Are you Kent?”

My whole body buzzed with the awareness of millions of tiny flares as a field full of insects joined the cacophony in my head. I peered at the new arrival, flinching at the hazy glow he gave off. It was almost as though I were seeing power like Rue described. I blinked and tried to clear my vision. The glow stubbornly remained.

“Who are you?” the head of my honor guard demanded.

“Azulin sent me.”

“The Seelie king?” Grund asked. “What would he want with us?”

“The thrones are linked,” I responded. “He has very sound reasons for wanting to know how the challenge ends.”

“As you say,” the newcomer agreed. “I am called Portent. He sent me to evaluate the contestants.” He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at me. “You are connected to the realm.”

I gritted my teeth as I wrestled to regain control of my senses. But my efforts were useless against the overwhelming well of magic flowing through the ground beneath my feet and flooding my body with an ever-growing awareness of the forest around me and the lives within it.

Thanks to the sensory overwhelm, I was only dimly aware of movement around me.

“Back off,” the leader of the guards barked.