“My father—the Tine King,” Ceara corrects herself.

“He’s still your father. You don’t have to share blood with him to be his family,” I interrupt her, plucking a sprite out of my sleeve.

The Fire Princess takes a deep breath. “The Tine King’s soldiers attacked Mabh’s mercenaries, giving Tinder enough time to chant the world-moving spell. We were deposited in the middle of the Wilde Forest, and you were begging for me to set you on fire. So I did. While you were burning, the forest Guardian found us and brought us here. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for the last three days.”

“Do you know what has happened in the Otherworld? Was the Saol ceremony successful?” I ask Tinder.

“Yes. My mother sent me a message and told me so. She also advised us to stay hidden for a while. She told me that Mabh bonded to the HeartStone and has been crowned the queen of Talamh. The Robber Queen has been imprisoned. It seems that Mabh is searching for you,” Tinder replies.

“Oh.” I tease the flower sprites who are weaving flower petals into my hair.

“Are you scared?” Ceara asks.

I shrug. “What else could she do to me that she hasn’t done already? Besides killing me, and it’s not like she hasn’t tried to do that once.”

“What are we going to do now?” Tinder asks, a quaver in her voice.

“Look.” Instead of answering, I give the book I found to the Fire Princess, and she takes it with a frown.

“The Talamh Crown?” She reads the title out loud and gasps. “Do you know what this is?!”

“A book.” I stare at the Fire Princess blankly.

“It’s not just a book! This is the living record of the Talamh crown! It is magicked to record the history of Talamh as it occurs without needing any kin to write it down. Everyone thought the book was destroyed when the Forever King was killed. Has it been with you all along?” She doesn’t seem to require an answer. Holding the book reverently, she sits down beside me. Less than half a month ago this book didn’t recognize me as kin and wouldn’t allow me to read it. Now it opens easily.

The first few pages detail the actions of Fionar and her companions, which we all know already, so Ceara flips to the last few pages, which narrate the reign of the Forever King.

“His magick was running out!” Tinder exclaims softly.

“ ‘To replenish his decreasing power, he had the blue-horned fauns mine for magick stones in the mountains of Areed, ignoring the repeated warnings by the blue-horned elders about Ocras, the monster in the mountain. His refusal to heed their warnings led to the occurrence of what the blue horns were most scared of: Ocras, realizing that his magick was decreasing, woke up. In a fit of anger, the monster killed all the blue-horned fauns and drained their magick,’ ” Ceara reads out.