I wobble and swipe the branch with the pinecones. “You’re not getting away from me that easily, gorgeous,” I say to the branch, and pause as though it’s speaking back to me. “No! You flirt!” I pause again. “Oh, all right, but only one…,” and then I press the pinecone into the man’s cheek and make a kissing sound. His face looks so shocked that I don’t need to concoct a laugh. The one that erupts from my mouth is real.

Ash immediately escorts me away, shooting an apologetic look over his shoulder, and I make a show of stumbling as I hug my pinecone branch. I resist looking up at Brendan or back at Hawk. Each step we take through the tables feels like it could be our last.

A few people take note of us, and I hiccup as I pass, leaning my weight on Ash as we go. Just let us get out of this room. Twenty more feet and we’re in the clear. As we reach the end of the tables, I get a good look at Aarya and Ines. They haven’t left, but they are standing awfully close to the exit.

As we approach, I realize Aarya isn’t looking at us but past us and across the room, and I can tell by her expression that she doesn’t like what she sees.

“Hawk’s looking this way,” she says, and it takes all my self-control not to make a run for it.

Instead, we walk at a reasonable pace to the door, me wobbling and laughing.

“I’m correct in assuming this is the way to the loo?” Ines says to the guard as though she owned the place, and the confidence in her voice surprises me.

He nods, examining each one of us and pausing when he gets to me and the branch I’m clutching. He tilts his head, unsure, like he might tell me to leave it behind. My heart pounds against my ribs and I do the only thing I can think of in that moment. I lick it. I lick the branch from bottom to top, because even children know that no one wants to touch something someone else licked.

The guard narrows his eyes and Ash steadies me as I wobble.

“Are you going to open the door?” Aarya says, impatient, daring the guard to object. “Or are you merely decorative, in which case, step aside.”

The guard grumbles under his breath at Aarya’s rudeness, but her challenge works and he opens the door.

Ines nods a thank-you and Ash helps me out of the room. The minute the door closes behind us, we pause for a fraction of a second to examine the empty hall ending in two doors. There are no turns leading back to the lobby, no windows to climb out of; there is no way out.