“None taken.” I raised both hands then looked to Morgaine, but she was gone. “Hey, where’d she go?”

Blade looked to the stairs. “Weird. Don't know.”

“Maybe she went to see where the rest of the Council are.” I turned back and made patterns over the cracks on the tabletop.

“You okay.” Blade sat down carefully beside me. I felt his hesitation.

“Yeah. I'm okay. I guess it explains why guys would possibly ever fall for me.”

“Aw, hey, don't be like that.” He carefully tilted my chin upward. “One of the first things I noticed about ya was how pretty you are. That’s why guys fall for a girl. From there on in, it’s to do with personality. But, put a pretty face like this in front of a guy and he’s bound to want your affections, curse or not.”

His English accent made me smile; somehow, everything sounded better coming out of his mouth. And I realised then—that was how it happened. I felt an attraction to his accent, his cute smile, his cheeky mannerism. I dropped my head into my hand again. “I pity any guy who ever walks in a room with me if he has an accent and a cheeky grin.”

“Sucker for it, huh?”

I nodded into my hands. “Uh-hu.”

“Then I guess a cheeky grin is my curse.” He sat back then, resting his knuckles by the corner of his lip, his elbow on the table. “You haven't felt anything for Falcon, have you?”

I laughed. “God, no. He’s Mike reincarnated.”

“Ha! That's what we say over at the barracks.” He rolled back with laughter. “We all reckon Falcon and Morgaine should get together—since Morg is so much like you, red hair aside.”

“Why Falcon and Morg?”

“They’d be the Mike and Ara that never happened.”

I smiled. “Well, Mike has Emily. That’s the way it was always meant to be.”

“Emily?” Blade scoffed. “You mean that fiancé we never hear about?”

“Huh?”

“He talks more about Morgaine than he does Emily. I was starting to think she was just a trophy.”

I sighed. “No, he just…he keeps his heart closed off. Besides—” I grinned, looking back up the stairs to make sure no one was coming. “I have sneaking suspicion Morgaine might actually like you.”

“Me!” He jostled, rolling his neck so he almost had a double chin. “No way. She throws her shoes at me.”

“Ha! Really?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his elbow. “She got me real good, too.”

“I got news for ya, Blade. Girls pick on guys when they like them. Didn’t you ever go to kindergarten?”

“No.” He shook his head.

“Oh. Um—well, she’s being mean to you because she’s insulted you haven't taken her very subtle signals that she has feelings for you and done something about it. You're expected to read her mind.”

Blade nodded, his lips turning down with thought.

“So, do you like her?”

“Uh, not really. It’s hard to like someone when they’re calling you names.”

I chuckled. “Ask her out on a date; if she stops calling you names, it means she likes you.”

“And what if she doesn't like me?”

“Then start collecting the shoes she throws at you until she has none left.”

He laughed, and I couldn’t help but join in. I knew I shouldn’t, but it felt so good to laugh. There was this moment, when finding something funny, where you could actually completely forget all your problems.

“Okay.” He stood up, giving the table a soft whack with both palms. “A date then.”

“Who’s going on a date?” Mike asked, stepping into the room. “Not you two?”

“No, Mike.” I sighed and stood up. “Blade and Morgaine.”

Mike smiled at Blade. “I thought she hated you?”

“Turns out girls hate you because they’re angry at you for not noticing that they like you.” Blade shrugged.

“Is that so?” Mike raised a brow in my direction. “Good to know.”

“Hey, Chief.” Quaid came bounding into the room and sat down on one of the chairs. “What's on the agenda today?”

Mike stood taller and folded his arms, looking at me. “Discussing the knighting ceremony.”

Quaid’s face lit up. “Did you ask her?”

Mike shook his head. “I'm just about to.”

“Ask who what?” I said.

“Ask you.” Quaid tipped a chair back and forth with his foot.

“We want to move the knighting ceremony to tomorrow,” Blade said.

“What?”

“There’s no sense in waiting. Saves getting the people out here again for another festival,” Mike added. “We need to take action and get ready for this attack on La Chat—I mean Elysium.”

“But…if you do that, I can't be there for it.”

“I know.” Mike looked down at his folded arms and nodded. “But it’s only the Ritual of Rights you’ll miss—you kinda have to be there for the ceremony, since you’re the one who knights us.”

I swiped a hand slowly across my forehead, wiping away the sweat of the summer day, sneaking in through the open hatch up top.

“And,” Mike said, taking a deep breath. “If we can get your approval, we want to move in on Drake Monday night.”

“Monday?”

“Yes.” He looked at Falcon as he came in. “We’d do it Sunday, after the crowning, but we all have to attend that stupid ball.”

“So that leaves Monday,” Blade said.

“But…I'm not ready yet, I—”

“You won't be coming.” Mike leaned on the wall, tucking his foot up under his thigh.

“The hell I won't!”

“Baby, look, we’ve been dicking around—wasting time. Drake knows you're alive. If he comes here, we can keep you safe, but casualties would be insurmountable. I don't want to sit on this any longer.”

“Fine, but if you plan to strike Monday, I'm coming with you.”

“Out of the question.”

“Why do you always say that?” I stomped my foot. “It’s not fair. I'm Lilithian. I'm powerful, Mike. You've seen it. Why won’t you trust me?”

“I trust you, Ara. But there’s no need for you to be there. My bite, Blade’s bite, they all do the same thing—and we’re stronger than you are. Ryder pinned you in training yesterday.” He held his palm out as Ryder came in. “If he can pin you, especially being a newb, it’s a damn sure bet Drake can.”

“I agree, Ara.” Blade moved into me; I shrugged away from his touch. “You don't need to be there.”

“But that’s not on topic right now,” Mike said. “I need to move the ceremony to Sunday morning—right after your first official session of Court. We’ll perform our rituals in the forest while you’re doing your Walk of Faith, and—”

“That’s what this is about?” My narrowed gaze fell over Mike and his conspiring. “You don't want me out in the forest alone! That's what this really is, isn't it?” I yelled.

He shrank, all eyes in the room on him. “Baby, this is because we need to move in on Drake. We all gain power from swearing an oath, too. Okay. So this is not just about you!”

It was my turn to shrink. His voice had that effect.

Mike sighed and slumped down in a chair, making a steeple of his fingers in front of his lips. “Look, Ara…I'm worried about you.” He looked right at me. “I think we need to bring David back into the picture, and I can't do that until Drake’s locked up or dead.”

“Why do we need David back?” I looked around at all my knights. “What's the big deal?”

Mike’s tongue moved around the corner of his lip for a second; he looked at Falcon, who stepped forward.

“We think you've been away from David for too long,” Falcon said.

Mike stood up, scuffing his chair across the floor until it hit the wall softly. “It’s not good for you two to be apart. Morg says you’re not right—she says there are things she can’t tell me because they’re personal—” He ran both hands through his hair, “—things about you, and the only thing she can tell me is that we need to hurry and get David back.”

“They're two pieces of one puzzle,” Quaid said from his seat at the table; we all looked over at him. “Keep them apart too long and the equilibrium starts to shift.”

“Yeah.” Mike nodded slowly. “That’s it, isn't it? It’s like the world isn't right, somehow. It makes me uneasy.”

“And I've never seen David like this either.” Emily gently placed her fingers against mine.

“Em!” I spun around quickly and wrapped my arms around her neck. “Oh my God. It’s so good to see you.”

“I missed you too, Ara—you and all your crazy.” She laughed and stood back. “Are you okay? How are you feeling about tonight?”

I shrugged one shoulder, looking at my feet. “We’ll talk later?”

“Okay.” She squeezed my fingertips.

I wanted to tell her everything about the whole magic pheromones curse—tell her she was right; there was no true reason for all these guys to keep falling for me, but a part of me wondered if she already knew. David always told her things he couldn’t tell me; she was starting to feel like an extension—the part of me David could confide in; the sensible, reasonable, mature part of me. Best of both worlds. I suddenly felt the weight of all the bullshit they used to fertilise the Mushroom Land I’d been living in.

At some point, while I was lost in thought, everyone had decided, despite my disagreement, that the ceremonial procedures for the knighting would begin tonight, after I started my Walk of Faith—ending tomorrow when I would officially knight them into the Core.

“Are you kidding? It makes us official.” Blade grinned.

“Yeah, all the hours of practice and study—it’s time to get a title for it,” Quaid said.

“You know, I always wanted to be a knight when I grew up.” Ryder leaned back in his chair.

“Then you better hurry and grow up,” Blade said.

“I’ll give you grow up.” Ryder dived off his chair, pummelling Blade, and they fell to the ground, scuffling about, laughing harder than they were punching.

Emily and I stepped back, covering our smiles as the other knights jumped up and piled onto the stack.

“Typical boys,” Morgaine scoffed, coming back into the room. “Do they ever grow up?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?” I asked, watching the ‘men’ flounder around on the floor like children.

“It’s so good to see the Lilithian family back together again.” Morg wiped an imaginary tear from her cheek. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“So, what do you think, Morg?” I asked, branching us away from the chaos. “Mike wants to move the knighting ceremony to tomorrow.”

“He already spoke to me about it. I agree. We might as well be a complete unit by weeks’ end.”

“Then it’s unanimous?” I turned and faced the guys as they stood up, patting themselves off, breathing heavily.

“Aside from one vote.” Mike placed his phone at the centre of the table. “I officially call this meeting to order.”

Everyone laughed.

“David? You there?” Mike said.

“Here.” David's voice came through the phone like a long-forgotten melody, and I nearly melted to the floor. Emily pushed a chair under me as I sunk down, ignoring the roaring amusement of my council. “What are you all laughing at?” David asked.

“Ara,” Mike said. “She practically fainted at the sound of your voice.”

“Ara?” David sounded weary, detached. “My love, are you okay?”

“I'm fine. Are you?”

“I'm fine,” he said, but he sounded puffed-out.

“Are you around humans?” I asked.

“Yeah. How can you tell?”

“You never breathe heavily unless you're walking fast—in public. And I can hear your footsteps, too,” I said.

“Oh, right. Uh, well, I'm at the store. Had a hankering for pizza.”

“Oh. Lucky. I wish my life was that simple.”

“Hey guys?” Mike spoke louder. “You do realise the rest of us are here, right?”

“Shut up, Mike,” I said.

“So what's on the agenda for today?” David asked.

“Well, we’ve all agreed we want to move the knighting ceremony forward—to tomorrow, rituals being done tonight, and…” Mike hesitated.

“And?” David said.

“We wanna move in on Drake,” Mike finished.

“When?”

“Monday,” four of us spoke at the same time.

“Uh—” David paused, probably rubbing between his brows. “Right. Well, I agree to the ceremony being moved. But, why Monday for Drake? It seems a little soon. And who’s going? Ara? You're not planning on—”

“Do you really think I'm that stupid, David,” Mike interrupted.

David just groaned. “I know you’re not, bro. But I know Ara. And you and I both know if she wants to go…there’ll be no stopping her.”