The fox had never before experienced the level of anxiety he’d been experiencing lately. It was too much. He could not keep everyone safe all by himself! And his siblings, all of whom were present at this party, were as useless as ever. All they wanted to do was play Trounce Each Other, with occasional forays into Catch the Falling Food. As if they were kits! They had no interest in helping him with any of his dilemmas. How could he foil Ferla’s plans?

He could delay her departure home, maybe. Distract her from her headache. Then he could try to be on hand to help Lovisa.

The fox set out to find Ferla, composing a lie about having snuck into the inner Keep, then having seen someone trying to break into the president’s office. That would delay her, while he came up with the next lie.

—

It was easy for Lovisa to convince Pari to leave the party.

“Come help me get my coat, Pari,” she said.

“Are you leaving?” he said with a small pout.

“Aren’t we both leaving?”

Outside, though, a light snow was falling, and he balked at the idea of going all the way to Flag Hill. “We live in the same dorm,” he said. “No one would know.”

She didn’t respond, just kissed and rubbed up against him. Then, when they reached a place where the footpath diverged, she turned toward a staircase that led away from the dorms.

“What are you doing?” he said. “It’s this way.”

“Shut up, Pari,” she said. “I have a better plan.”

“The dorm is right here.”

“If you want this,” she said, “then you’ll have to come back to my house.”

“But, why? It’s freezing out here!”

She took hold of his hand and put it inside her fur coat, thanking the cold for her hard nipples. She gave him a minute to touch her, kiss her throat. It wasn’t terrible, actually. It was even a little bit exciting.

“Come on,” she said. “Just come with me.”

With a ragged breath, he followed.

Chapter Twenty-one

Leading Pari home was a little like trying to take a walk with an oversexed dog. He kept slowing their progress by stopping Lovisa, groping her.

“Won’t your guards rat on you to your parents?” he said during one of these interludes. “Maybe we should do it here in the trees.”

It wasn’t time yet to break it to Pari that they’d be sidestepping the guards by climbing a wall, then a tree, then a trellis, then entering through a third-story window.

“I have a way around the guards,” she said. “An arrangement.”

“An arrangement with your guards? What kind?” he demanded, then smirked. “That kind?”

“Don’t be disgusting. It’s not an arrangement with the guards.”

“It is that kind of arrangement,” he said. “You’ll have sex with anything, won’t you?”