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“That’s it,” Gerard growled behind her. “I’m coming in to get you.”

“Don’t you dare.” Lorelei kept her voice calm and her hand held out in offering as the giant lurched back around, sending another wave cascading over her. Swallowing and blinking more water from her eyes, she tipped her drenched head back all the way to meet his anguished gaze, so high above her. The stench that surrounded him was nigh-on overwhelming, but she refused to allow her nose to crinkle. “This is the fault of the one who tricked you,” she said steadily. “You did not choose any of it.”

No, that fault lay with whichever fae noble in her mother’s court had taken this innocent creature and turned him into their pet monster for their own malicious entertainment.

In that moment, Lorelei made a vow not to her own patron goddess, Sylvana, but to Divine Elva, the mother of all wild and magical nonhuman creatures: she would find out who had mistreated this one so badly … and she would exact revenge.

But she kept her fury locked safely inside as she crooned, “You have your heart back now, my dear. You’re finally free. You can let all of this go, I promise. You are not to blame.”

For a long moment, silence hung over the lakeshore. Even the hobgoblins trapped in the dirt behind her stopped struggling as they, too, waited for the outcome.

Then a giant, open mouth erupted up through the water’s surface just beside her, rows upon rows of teeth wide and waiting for Lorelei as a dozen thick tentacles lashed out to drag her down.

She didn’t even have to shift out of its way. The giant grabbed the lake beast before it could touch her, holding it back like a nobleman restraining an overeager hunting hound.

“No,” he growled. “No more. Never again.”

Shoving the creature back into its watery domain, he turned his big back on Lorelei and strode across the lake with determined, splashing steps. He didn’t aim for the shattered castle walls. Instead, he moved from one floating body to another, gathering them all up in a pile in his arms before bringing them back to lay them all gently—apologetically—on the lakeshore where Gerard stood.

“Free,” the giant rumbled.

The ground shook as he stepped out onto dry land beside them. Water spattered like a sudden storm as he shook himself.

Then he strode away, trampling elegant topiary with every step as he left the prison in which he had been trapped.

Lorelei could have wept with the force of her emotions. Instead, she tipped her head back to smile triumphantly at Gerard as she emerged from the lake, too. “You see? I knew we could work out a better way together. Are you ready to praise my wisdom and good sense now, partner?”

He shook his head at her with what looked more like furious disbelief than the wonder she certainly deserved. “You…!”

Before he could say what he thought of her brilliant actions, the air rippled around them.

The lake and the broken garden disappeared.

Lorelei and Gerard stood on the tournament field once more, surrounded by their surviving competitors … and for the second time that day, there was no applause for the end of the trial. A tense, watchful silence filled the open air, prickling with warning.

Oberon didn’t even try to hide the hatred that twisted his face as he glared at her from the autumn throne. “How very disappointing.”

18

Gerard was not in control of his emotions. From the moment he had found himself rashly throwing that egg at the giant’s chest instead of listening to reason and crushing it, he had been hanging by a thread. Watching Lorelei splash directly towards that blood-soaked, murderous creature and then, in an act of inconceivable recklessness, start petting it—as if her own safety meant nothing!—had ripped that final thread to pieces.

For seven years, this woman had haunted his life and his dreams with her incorrigible teasing and their circling, joint obsession. The possibility of watching her be killed before him now—just as his parents had been, so long ago!—had whited out every thought in his head and left behind only furious, panicking denial in their place.

He could not bear a world without his nemesis in it. All of his most unacceptable, desperately-repressed-until-now feelings were focused on her.

And when he saw that giant—whom Lorelei had actually compared to Gerard!—break free of his own bindings …

Gerard couldn’t name every overwhelming, tumultuous feeling rioting through him in answer. All he knew was that their concatenation was deafening. Overwhelming.

He couldn’t think clearly over their racket—but when he landed back on the fae field, instinct drove him to take a swift step to Lorelei’s side to face the tournament’s lord together.

The sight of Lord Oberon’s expression, directed at Gerard’s partner, was a metaphorical splash of water colder than the lake they had left behind.

The man who sat before them was no longer simply angry. No, the man Gerard was looking at now was a petty, vicious weakling who had lost all control and was about to break the last remaining social rules that bound him … unless someone broke his concentration first.

“I assume you are about to crown us the victors, my lord Oberon?” It took every ounce of Gerard’s willpower to make his words a calm inquiry.

Still, Lord Oberon jerked with surprise when he spoke, as if Gerard had been invisible to the fae lord until then. Oberon’s snarl deepened, but his gaze shifted from Gerard to the silent, watchful field of observers around them, and his throat worked soundlessly for several swallows in a row. When he finally replied, his voice was once again pitched to reach their full audience. “Sadly, you have all failed this challenge.”