“I promised him I wouldn’t leave him alone in the black pit,” she explained. “Even though I might be centuries too late.”

In the middle of the other men’s jubilation, he stood still. Then he stepped forward to put his arms around her. He said from the back of his throat, “Thank you for bringing us all home.”

In answer, she rested against the hard length of his body and put her head on his shoulder.

Then his arms loosened, and he pivoted. He said to the others, “We can’t relax. We’re not done. This is the only way we have right now to get back to Earth, and time here moves so much more slowly than it does there. We’ve got to get word to Annwyn at Raven’s Craig as quickly as we can, muster troops, and climb back through to stop Morgan before he closes this passageway for good.”

“Shit,” Gawain swore. “Raven’s Craig is a good ten leagues from here. Even running as fast as we can, it will take us at least two days in this weather.”

Nikolas said, “It might take us two days, but it wouldn’t take Robin that long.”

Shivering as the wind bit through her clothes, Sophie turned to look in the same direction as the others. Several yards away, the monkey played and rolled gleefully in the snow, flinging handfuls into the air.

What did Nikolas mean, it wouldn’t take Robin that long to travel ten leagues? How long was a league? Assuming the men could run for two days, that would make it thirty miles? Forty?

And even assuming they could run that long, she couldn’t.

Gawain said, “Even if he would agree to take a message, we can’t send Robin by himself. He’s been absent for too long. Annwyn would never trust him.”

“Someone would have to go with him.” Nikolas raised his voice. “Robin, we have a favor we need to ask of you! Will you carry one of us to Raven’s Craig?”

As she listened, her questions kept coming. How would a monkey carry one of them thirty or forty miles?

But Robin wasn’t really a monkey.

As Nikolas called out his question, the puck’s head lifted, and he turned to look back at the group.

The puck said, “No.”

Nikolas strode toward the puck. “I wouldn’t ask it of you, except our need is so urgent. You can bargain for anything you like, and if it’s in my Power to give it to you, I will.”

Lifting one hairy arm, the monkey pointed around the group. “Not a single one of you looked for Robin. Not a single one of you asked if a puck might be all right, what might have happened to him, or how you might help.”

“Robin,” Gawain said, stepping forward too. “We didn’t know any better, and I, for one, am so sorry.”

“I’m sorry too,” Nikolas said. “Deeply sorry. You deserved to have someone ask those things.”

Sophie could hear the sincerity in both men’s voices. She held her breath. Could Robin?

The monkey shook his head. “Still, I say no. What I would have bargained for, what I would have given my entire soul for, you already refused to give. I will consent to carry only one of you—for she is the only one who carried me and asked nothing in return.”

Sophie was so wrapped up in the conversation, and also so tired, it was only when everyone turned to look at her that she realized who the puck was talking about. “Who, me?” she said. “I can’t go to that place and talk to your people. They won’t trust me any more than they would Robin.”

Nikolas strode rapidly over to her.

He said, “Sophie, you have to. You’re dressed in Earth clothes. You speak in a strange accent. Annwyn will listen to what you say, especially if you take her this.” He twisted his signet ring off and offered it to her. “The only way you could be carrying the ring of the Dark Court commander is if you had traveled from Earth. Trust me—she will believe you.”

Every taut line of his body was an intense plea. It was impossible to come this far only to refuse him.

She sighed. “Oh God, fine. I’ll go.”

She held out her hand, and he slipped the ring on her thumb. In return, she handed him the skull. Power shimmered in the air. When she looked in the puck’s direction, the monkey had disappeared and a tall black stallion stood in its place.

He was magnificent, with fiery eyes and a mane and tail that flowed with magic. The pale moonlight shone on the muscled bulk of his shoulders and haunches. With a regal toss of his head, the puck sidestepped over to her.

She put a hand on his velvet nose and murmured, “I’ve never ridden a horse before.”

“I will not let you fall,” the puck told her.

When she turned back to Nikolas, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard. “None of us will be able to thank you enough for everything you’ve done.”

“Shut up,” she said. Of everything she might want to hear from him, gratitude didn’t play any part of it. This is why you don’t kiss assholes, Soph—yet still you keep kissing him and kissing him. The wind gusted, and she shivered harder. “Help me get up on his back before I change my mind.”

Setting the skull on the ground, Nikolas put his hands around her waist and lifted her effortlessly onto the stallion’s wide back. Thankfully, the puck radiated heat, so she had some hope of not freezing solid within the first ten yards.

As she glanced around at the men, they all looked so solemn it was beginning to scare her.

She sank her hands into the stallion’s mane. “Run your heart out, Robin.”