“Don’t be ridiculous. There’s plenty of room for you here, and we can revisit this in the morning, Your Majesty. Come now, it is the sensible thing.”
“I’m not waiting until morning to find him.” She couldn’t. She had a meeting tomorrow just to tell a man who had traveled across a kingdom and a halfno. Lilac nearly couldn’t see straight, panting into the cooling air, the wind whipping past her face in the dark as she marched toward the stable. Giles was just now hobbling toward them, cat tucked in his arm, the carriage crookedly parked in front of the stables.
“Why does your priest have a cat in his arms?” Adelaide said, giggling.
“Honestly, I’m not—get back in, Giles” Lilac commanded furiously as Giles squinted and saw the queen stomping his way, freezing midstep. “We’re leaving.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?—”
“No,” Lorietta snapped, confusing him further. “Stop. No one is going anywhere, certainly not to seek Garin out. Not with that vampire in this state.”
Lilac shot a glare over her shoulder at the following witches.“What state? Is he angry? Hungry?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it hunger,” Lorietta began to reply.
Lilac turned to confront the tavern owner as a loudpopsounded in front of her, followed by a puff of billowing white smoke. She coughed against the strong aroma of black powder—and screamed.
A man stood between her and the witches. He flopped his long golden hair out of his face, making a startled noise upon spotting the perplexed witches, and then spinning, doubling back at Lilac as he fixed the royal blue velvet robe that dusted his loafers. The material shone in the night, a pattern of white stars mirroring those speckling the clear sky above.
“Funny seeing youhere, Your Majesty,” the man said. “I was afraid I’d end up in the middle of your dining hall.” Relief flooded his long face. He couldn’t have been more than in his early thirties, with piercing blue eyes and a short, neatly trimmed beard.
He held his hand out.
“Don’t touch him,” Lorietta snarled at Lilac—she wasn’t planning on it, already shrinking away—then turned to the man. “Where are they?” She craned her neck, glancing around as if expecting to see Garin watching from the trees. “You left him?”
He ignored Lorietta’s inquiry, still glancing at Lilac. “Pleasure,” he said, offering his hand again.
She didn’t recognize him, but his voice and accent much were too familiar to ignore. “Emrys?”
“Myrddin Ambrosious Wyllt,” said the man, retracting his arm as if the name should have been familiar. “Myrddin the Great?” His impish grin fell further when Lilac gave him an astonished grimace. “Emrys. Ambrosius. I’ve gone by a few names in the last few centuries, but you can call me Myrddin.”
Lilac blinked at him. The voice was his, yet warmer, fuller. Younger. Much less gruff. Garin had said he was alive and seemed annoyed about it, but hadn’t mentionedthis. “You were the warlock they were after,” she said accusingly, expecting to feel more anger toward him. But all her fury was focused on finding Garin. “But how? How are you alive?”
“It wasn’t the arrow that killed him, but the impact of the crash. Myrddin woke and stabbed himself in the arm with the merchant’s arrow stuck in his armor shortly after we got to the inn,” said Adelaide, looking equal parts terrified and impressed as Lilac remained at a loss for words. “He had a chest plate on.”
“I had become stuck in my own glamor after living in it for a few decades, hiding from theGuàiand other… prominent figures. Using theGuàiarrow I’d so easily acquired seemed the simplest way out.”
Lilac frowned, glancing him up and down.Thiswas the drunk old man with the filthy beard they’d rescued from the Jaunty Hog? “You don’t even look like a warlock anymore.”
Myrddin stepped back, his eyes roving over her tight corset and pink kirtle. “And you certainly don’t look queenly tonight.” When Lilac crossed her arms over her chest, he snorted. “I’m not complaining. You’ve certainly dressed the part for our destination.”
“She’s not going anywhere.” Lorietta marched over.
Adelaide was close behind. “It wouldn’t hurt to hear what Myrddin has to say.”
“He’sthe one who got them into this mess. You’re not bringing her anywhere near him.”
“You know where he is?” Lilac urged.
“That, I do.”
Lilac neared him, eyeing his outstretched hands. “Please, take me to him.”
“Myrddin,” Lorietta said, her cat eyes flashing bright in the night.
“Is he safe?” Lilac asked, unable to focus on anything but knowing Garin was well and alive. Her heart dropped when the warlock made a face.
“It’s nothissafety I’m concerned about,” said Myrddin.
