“Did you see the crystal?” Tanner asked, pale eyes sharpening.

“No.” I shook my head. “But my . . . but one of the Order members who’d been working with the prince took it.”

“Hussy,” Merle muttered under her breath, and Brighton sighed once more. “The crystal should’ve never been in the hands of the Order. They do not understand the power or its importance, not truly.”

“I haven’t seen it,” I said, looking around the room. “The Order hasn’t explained its importance. One of the guys there even went as far as saying it’s basically nothing. I’m guessing that’s not the case?”

Faye folded her arms over her chest. “The crystal can send the prince back to the Otherworld, but it is not an easy task.”

“And we don’t know exactly where the crystal is,” Tanner added. “Faye looked for it while she was at the prince’s compound.”

“Never saw it,” she said. “But there were many places I simply had no access to.”

I wanted to know how she came about working for the prince, but that wasn’t exactly important right now. “So, we have to get the crystal and then what?”

Faye took a deep breath. “Then we need the blood of a royal and the blood of a halfling—”

“Only a small amount,” Ren clarified, sitting up. “Like a drop of a halfling’s blood.”

Tanner smiled. “He’s still not happy about that.”

His eyes narrowed. “Finding the crystal and getting the blood of the prince and a drop of yours isn’t the hard part.”

“It’s not?” Doubt lifted my brows. “That sounds pretty hard when we don’t know where the crystal is. And getting blood from the prince is not going to be easy.”

“The ritual of the blood and the stone,” Faye said, drawing my attention, “has to be completed in the Otherworld.”

~

There was a little conversation going back and forth after that. Getting the crystal was the first step, but we’d have to figure out where the hell it was. I couldn’t really even think about getting the prince’s blood, because I really didn’t want to be in the same time zone as him. And then there was the whole issue of getting to the Otherworld.

The whole point of me not getting knocked up with the prince’s baby was to keep the gates closed, but we had to open them. Temporarily.

And we’d need the Order for that.

I had a suspicion baby Jesus was more likely to attend dinner tonight wearing suspenders than getting them on board with opening a gate.

Faye spoke of how they were fully aware of the prince’s plan to go all super-villain on the world. It was about an hour or so later when Ren and I left the room. There was still a lot to discuss, but my head was already bursting with the limited knowledge I’d gained, and it was just good to get out.

Out in the hall, I stopped and looked up at Ren. “Can we go outside?”

“Whatever you want.”

So that’s what we did. We headed out to the courtyard. It was surprisingly free of fae, but then again, it wasn’t particularly warm out here. Drawn to a large swing, we sat side by side.

I had no idea how we were going to deal with the prince and his minions, find the crystal, and get his blood without him kidnapping me, and then somehow magically do all of this inside the Otherworld.

We were only outside for a few minutes when Tink rounded the corner, carrying little Dixon in his arms.

“At least he’s clothed,” he muttered.

“There is that.”

“There’s really not room for three,” Ren grumbled as Tink walked up to the swing.

I smiled faintly as Tink plopped down on the other side of me. “There’s totes room for three,” Tink said, shooting Ren a look. “If you have a problem with our closeness, you’re more than welcome to leave.”

Ren sighed. “I should’ve let you starve.”

“Whatever.” Tink put Dixon in his lap. “You wouldn’t know what to do with me.”

Dixon promptly climbed out of Tink’s lap and into mine. I stared down at the little guy, and he stared back up at me and started making bread on my stomach with his little paws.

“Heard you met with Tanner,” Tink said. “He thinks I’m amazing.”

“Let’s ask him what he thinks of you in a few days,” Ren replied. “I bet it changes.”

“Hate the game,” Tink said, leaning forward. “Not the player.”

“What?” Ren frowned. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

“I’m just going to ignore you now,” Tink commented, and then jabbed me in the side with his elbow. “I was worried about you, Ivy-Divy. You slept like you were a Disney princess who ate a rotten apple.”

I arched a brow as I scratched the kitten above its tail. “I think you mean a poisoned apple.”

“Whatever. Same difference. Prince Charming over there couldn’t wake you with a kiss,” he said. “That’s all I know.”

“You’re going to need more than a Prince Charming to wake you when I knock your ass unconscious,” Ren said with little heat behind the threat, watching Dixon as he curled into a little ball and promptly went to sleep.

Tink huffed and then laid his head on my shoulder. I was used to him doing that when he was much, much smaller.

The three of us sat there in silence, and I don’t know why, but I felt like crying again. I was such a mess. Such a mess. Maybe I just needed to sleep another two days. The knot in my throat was expanding, but there was something I needed to say.