Page 14 of The Princess of Portals

Too busy to protect Gaia from imminent danger? I doubted it.

“Ok…” I breathed in and out, slow and calm. Serenity was key. “Then could you send some Knights to the Tea Hut?”

“To apprehend the notorious hunter you lured there,” he said flatly.

“I didn’t lure her there. I thought she was…”

Deep breaths, Savannah. Lots of deep breaths. It’s not like the world is in danger or anything.

“You know what, Senator. Never mind. I’ll take care of it myself.”

“No, Miss Winters. You will return⁠—”

My phone shot out of my hand, smashing against the asphalt ground. Smoke billowed up from the burnt, broken device.

“Why?” I looked at the phone. Looked at Conner. Looked at the phone again. “Just…why?”

“He was about to order you to return to the Castle,” Conner said. “We couldn’t have that. This way, you never received that order. And, therefore, you never disobeyed it. Plausible deniability.” He tried to dazzle me with his charming smile.

I retrieved my firebombed phone from the ground. I stared at it for a moment, holding back a sigh. Nice and calm. Easy and serene.

Conner saw right through it. “You really need to stop worrying so much, Red. We’ve got this covered.” He hit me with another dazzling smile. “Trust.”

He extended his hand to me, and I took it. “Trust.”

Conner and I had been through a lot. We’d get through this too. We’d stop the Nightingale and save the Alchemist. Because we had to. That’s all there was to it.

CHAPTER 7

THE TEA HUT

The Tea Hut lay at the northwestern tip of the Magic Emporium. And I do mean lay. Literally. Once, it had been a cozy cafe, serving twenty flavors of tea and ten varieties of hot chocolate, at least according to the menu board nailed over the front door. I had to cant my head to read it properly because the building was on its side. Something—or someone—had knocked it over five years ago, and no one knew who, what, how, or why.

“Savannah Winters.”

I jumped in surprise when Yara said my name. Where had she come from? She seemed to have materialized out of nowhere, which, since we lived in a world with magic, was perfectly plausible. The moment I saw Yara, two things were perfectly clear. One: she knew I knew who she was. And two: she wasn’t playing around; she’d come here to get what she wanted, no matter what.

I shot the twin swords in her hands a wary look. They were both pointed directly at me. She’d also abandoned the whole damsel-in-distress look in favor of a damsel-causing-distress vibe, complete with a long, black leather jacket and a pair of matching boots. Bands of throwing knives looped around her arms like bracelets.

Yara sized me up, slow and menacing. Her swords remained firmly fixed on me. I had a feeling that if I moved, she’d skewer me.

She knew.

How much she knew was another question. Obviously, she’d figured out that I knew she was lying to me about being Ren’s daughter. She might have even figured out that I’d come here to stop her. I was pretty sure she didn’t know that I had backup. If she had, her attention wouldn’t be focused solely on me.

Conner was nearby, invisible, checking the scene for traps. Apparently, the Nightingale had a reputation for fighting dirty. Imagine that.

She smiled like she’d read my thoughts. “I’m going to be blunt, Savannah, because I think you’ll appreciate that.”

Translation: I’m giving myself a free pass to be a jerk.

Her smile sharpened. “Tyren doesn’t belong here. He came to Gaia without your Government’s knowledge or permission. Tyren’s inventions are dangerous. Tyren is dangerous. His very presence here puts all your people at risk. Tell me where he is, and I will remove him from your realm.”

“And bring him to Dellondré.”

“She wants him. You don’t. I’m here to make sure everyone gets what they want.”

“Everyone except for Tyren. Do you honestly expect me to help you capture someone against his will, someone whose greatest crime is that he knows how to make magical things that people want?”