Removing only one or two planks from the bridge would not be enough to keep the beasts from leaping across the gap and plundering the Seelie city. I have seen a wolf jump from one side of a river to the other without getting its fur wet.

“What is your name?” I demand.

“Joseph.”

I cannot wait to see Joseph’s face when he is called before the chieftain for such a catastrophic failure. None of them heard Kerris scream, which makes me wonder where the fuck they were when she fell.

“Those ‘damn Seelie’ allow us access to their well. How do you think you would fare if they found out we failed to protect them and revoked our privileges? Hmmm?” That shuts him up as I knew it would. “What about the rest of you? Does anyone else have an issue with this position? Would anyone else like to take shortcuts and leave their posts?”

All of them shake their heads.

That is what I thought. “If I ever come back here again and find you have abandoned your posts, you will be stripped of your mounts and exiled from camp. Do you understand?”

I wait until every one of them mutters his acquiesce before stalking back to where I left Nyx in a panic. There is no worldly explanation for how I knew the scream had come from Kerris, but in my bones, I knew.

I stuff the box into my saddlebag and stick my foot into the stirrup, my rage still choking me as I kick Nyx into a gallop down the bone-lined path. When I was young, I felt the same as Joseph, not overly concerned for the fae across the canyon.

None of them have ever mattered before.

But this is her.

Gryffin was right all along. The gift was not an offer of courtship, but a request for friendship. I touch the spot where she laid her fingers on my shoulder. I am not certain what I feel for the Seelie fae, but this attraction feels stronger than friendship.

The thought of any harm befalling her makes me want to become Kerris Dawn’s own personal shadow.

I tug the reins before I hit camp, urging Nyx to slow down in hopes that my own hammering pulse will return to normal. When we reach my barrel-top, a dark shape waits on my steps.

The stairs creak as Leah descends and takes the reins from me, tying Nyx to the post. “Why are you back so late? The rest of the hunting party returned well over an hour ago.”

“I stopped by the bridge to check the guard.”

Nyx snorts with satisfaction as Leah pats his wiry black mane, scratching right below his horn just the way he likes. “You cannot keep burning the candle at both ends. At some point, even you need to take a break.”