He shook his head. “Go work. I’d rather you two were on the same side, and I’m fine with a little quiet. The light’s great for sketching. . . .”

Rika leaned in and kissed Jayce. Although she’d once been a human too, she didn’t always understand him. Maybe it was that they were from different places and times, but the easy way he accepted everything—Sionnach, Donia, Alphas, fealty, faery fights, and faery courts—seemed . . . odd. She hadn’t been so calm when she’d discovered the oddities of faeries, but maybe it was easier being an observer than an active participant in this world.

“I trust you,” Jayce told her quietly. “And when this whole Alpha bit is resolved, you’ll be less tense.”

Rika felt Sionnach watching her, knew that he was aware that she wasn’t telling Jayce everything. Being Alpha wasn’t going to make things easier for her, not really. She’d be busier and have more conflicts to handle.

“I’ll be back soon,” she promised Jayce.

And then, avoiding eye contact with the faery she’d reprimanded for omitting truths, she walked out into the sunlight.

Sionnach and Rika crossed the desert in silence. Although Rika was trying to look serious, he was grinning. They exchanged looks a couple of times.

Finally, Rika looked at him. “Well?”

“Well, what?” His fox tail flicked behind him.

“What’s the plan?”

“Make a point. Establish clarity.”

“That’s the whole plan?” she asked.

“You mean the part where we capture Maili?” Sionnach nudged her with his shoulder. “And you”—his expression became one of feigned innocence—“‘talk’ to her?”

“Yeah, that part.” Rika couldn’t help it; she felt better. Keenan was banned from the desert; Jayce was accepting of her obligations; and Sionnach was happy and at her side.

“You talk to her, and then we’ll take her before the rest.” He scurried over a rocky outcropping, not quite as quickly as he usually would.

“I shouldn’t look forward to this,” Rika said quietly.

Sionnach paused mid-step and leaped down in front of her with a slight wince. “Princess, the only reason you haven’t been Alpha around here is stubbornness. You are what you are.”

“Looking forward to a fight is—”

“Perfectly normal. You’re a solitary faery. A strong one. . . .” He pulled back a fist as if to strike her. “And you’ve spoken your authority into reality.”

He swung. Without pause, she stopped him, capturing and holding his fist in her hand.

“This is your territory, and there’s a threat in it.” He punched upward with the other hand.

She blocked him again.

Gently, he said, “Just like you defend against me without thought, you will defend them.”