Chapter 2234

Grace stepped forward."If I may suggest, King Arbuckle, contact my mother. Tell her what has happened. She will help you locate it."

The king's temp er flared."She would steal it from me rather than return it!She has made her desires known!No!I will deal with this myself."He glanced at Sylvan."I have resources. Now, go!Head to the Wilds and attend to your duty. Now get out of my sight. You are dismissed."

Grace stood for a moment and then turned and walked swiftly to the exit saying nothing more.

The others hesitated for a moment and then followed her out. The door closed with a bang.

Johnson was waiting outside, grinning, and for a time Daniel forgot about the egg. It didn't bode well that the king no longer had it. But that could wait. Across his bond with the witches, he could feel their happiness and excitement. They were adventurers and would party like adventurers!Tonight, they would celebrate, and then the Wilds awaited. Daniel couldn't stop

smiling.

* **

That night they indeed celebrated as only a circle of witches can. Bitty cooked up a cornucopia of culinary delights, aided by a few gnome friends of hers. The few friends Daniel and the girls had made over the course of their lessons at the Academy came and joined them. A bar d set up outside in the garden and played the night through, his vocal cords loosened and lubricated with wine. The party was in full swing. Word had gotten out that Grace was adventuring with the witches, and everyone tried to crash the party to join in the festivities.

Daniel ignored it all and danced with all his girls. He even picked up Bitty and swung her around, laughing. Faces, laughing and drunk, swam into focus and disappeared. Music swirled. Food was consumed. And through it all Daniel noticed Grace sitting to the side, deep in thought.

He tried to loosen her up, and she feigned a smile and urged him to go back and enjoy himself. This was a night to remember, she had

said. They were graduates of the Academy. He was soon pulled away and joined a drinking game for a time.

Much later, he felt a tap on his lower back and turned around to find an older female gnome looking up at him with complete adoration. She looked familiar.

"Do I know you?" he slurred.

"Karen Clingstone, my Saviour," said thewrinkled gnome."I am the leader of Gnomology."

Daniel smacked his forehead."Right!You guys! How's it going?"

"It is going well, my Saviour."

Daniel blinked and tried to focus on the old gnome, his thoughts muddy. Gnomology? That was that religious bullshit Bitty was going on about…

Then, miraculously, Bitty was there and right up in the old gnome's face.

"I warned you, Karen! Stay away from him.How'd you get in here?"

The old gnome sputtered and looked pa st Bitty to Daniel. Her face had a creepy, adoring look on it. Daniel suddenly wanted nothing to do with her and turned and lurched away.

"Saviour!" called out the old gnome.

Daniel heard a slap, a shriek, and then it all faded behind him. Then Amy was there, and he was so thankful to see her. She was laughing, and he tried to laugh too, but suddenly he knew with absolute certainty that he was gonna spew and spew hard.

Amy's expression changed, and she grabbed his face."What's wrong?"

"Sick. Gonna be..." His stomach clenched. Hewas going to vomit. Right here. Right now.

Amy touched him and an icy feeling rushed through him. His thoughts cleared and the feeling of being drunk vanished. So did the need to puke.

Daniel blinked into the sudden absence of being intoxicated. Amy was laughing and then kissed him and danced away.

Jasmine sidled up to him."Weird, isn't it?" she said.

Daniel nodded."Yup. Third time tonight she's done that. That was a close one, though."

"Nah, we can all feel each other through thebond. She made a point of getting to you in time."

Daniel remembered Karen and turned around in time to see Bitty hauling the old gnome toward the exit. He grinned and Bitty sensed him and turned her head to grin back.

I love my life!

个

Two days later, they departed Whitehaven for the Wilds. They had bought horses with spares and moved at a brisk pace to clear the traffic on the roads leading out of Whitehaven. Grace ran alongside them, refusing to use a horse.

Everything they needed or could ever want during a road trip were in bags of holding Daniel, Jason, and Brian carried. Amy had purchased a ton of stuff to give to her parents to sell at the Acron Trading Post. She was excited to see her parents again, despite how they had treated her in the past. Daniel suspected she was going to lord over them with her new status as an adventurer. Daniel admitted her parents needed some comeuppance for how they had treated Amy in the past.

Grace ran alongside Daniel for a time. She had been withdrawn since meeting the king and Daniel and the rest of the party knew why. She was thinking about the female phoenix egg. Her mother had asked her to recover it, and now it was gone again.

"We'll find it, Grace," he said, looking down ather.

She glanced up at him and said nothing.

"Are you going to talk about it? You've beenmiles away for days."

"I'm worried."

"By the Gods, Grace, we all are. So, share withthe party. We can figure this out together."

Grace ran alongside him for a time, saying nothing more, and then shot off into the woods beside the road, disappearing.

"Och, she'll be fine, lad," said Brian, riding justbehind him. Daniel slowed down his horse and slipped beside him."She's always like this when things don't go her way. She sees it all as some conspiracy against her."

"Syn has been strangely quiet," added Jennifer,who rode beside Brian on the other side.

Brian nodded."Aye. It means we are on the right path."

Daniel looked ahead at the long, dusty road."So, the egg is up ahead somewhere?"

"I dinnae say that, but perhaps. It is more likethis is the way we need ta e go and Syn is fine with that."

"Gods and destiny. I hate those tropes. I preferto think we are masters of our own destiny."

Jennifer nodded at his words."I would agree and so would Syn. She only cares that justice is served. I don't believe she would manipulate our lives." She briefly thought about her callings and how Syn had treated her in Yanwey and frowned.

"Och, same lass," added Brian after a moment."But sometimes the twain shall meet."

"Well, that's disturbing,"muttered Jasmine."Does she, like, make sure I get laid when I needit, too?"

Brian barked a deep dwarf laugh."Aye, she might at that."

"Oh, goody!"declared Jasmine, beaming a smile.She tilted her head back and spoke to the clouds."Thank you, Syn!"

Brian coughed and then pointed to a grove of trees by the road."Actually, she's right over there, lass."

Jasmine looked shocked."Really?"

Jennifer shook her head, smiling sadly."No,

Jasmine."

Jasmine glared at Brian but smiled crookedly when he laughed."Just wait until it's time to adjust your pocket pussy, Sir Dwarf." She clucked at her horse and rode pa st Brian to join Amy and Amber up ahead. Bitty was riding on Amy's lap like a toddler, her head nestled between her breasts.

Brian looked at Daniel in fear."She's joking, right?"

It was Daniel's turn to laugh. "I doubt it."

Brian dug his heels into his horse's flank and sped up."Lass!I was only joking!Wait!"

That evening, Daniel found Grace sitting high up in a tree outside their camp. He found her through the subtle bond she had with his circle. Grace had admitted she was both pleased and not pleased about the bond. She didn't like anyone knowing where she was. Daniel had prodded her for more information, but all he got back was some mutterings about growing up in the Night fae caverns under their mountains.

He stopped under the tree and then put his back against the trunk and waited.

After a long moment, Grace dropped silently to the ground in front of him, turned, and laid her back against his front. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the nape of her neck.

"You okay?" he whispered.

"No."

"Want to talk about it?"

"No."

He held her and said nothing.

"It doesn't make sense," she said.

He nodded his head and kissed her neck again. She tilted her head to the side to grant him easier access. She felt goosebumps rise on her skin as it always did when he held her. His lips on her neck tickled in a delightful way.

"I know where the king hid the damn egg. Hehas a special vault deep underground, beneath

the castle. Totally obvious place. But it does have lots of protections. High-level magic. Alarms. Trip wires. Deadly, really."

Daniel moved his lips to the other side of her neck, and she tilted her head the other way.

"I was in the vault, checking on the egg, and itwas there. That was a month ago."

Daniel paused his kissing and raised his eyebrows in surprise. Did she just calmly say she had gone into this impenetrable vault and glanced at the egg?

"So where did it go? Who could have taken it?"

He resumed his soft kisses and then slid a warm hand under her shirt and found her right breast and cupped it gently.

Grace melted back against him."Few people can break into that vault. I know of maybe two people. One was killed in Yanwey. The other works for my mother. I thought of her at first, but she hasn't left my mother's side in over a century. She sounds obvious, especially since my mother wants the egg, but I would have

known if she had appeared in Whitehaven or left the Night fae lands. Plus, she runs mother's army. She's busy as fuck right now, getting ready for the war."

His other hand slipped under her shirt, found her left breast, and cupped it. Grace sighed in pleasure and pressed her ass against Daniel's hardening cock.

"So, it's someone new. Someone I don't knowabout. That's what bothers me. I know everyone."

"Why not someone on the Light fae side?Surely, they would want the egg, too."

Grace shook her head."Yes and no. They have one person who could have broken into Arbuckle's secret vault. She was killed at Yanwey, too. I checked. It was the only good thing that came out of the Yanwey disaster."

"I don't mean to change the subject, but can Iask you something? Why do the fae war with each other?"asked Daniel."Over and over, and with never a winner?"