"So you don't have an image problem, exactly," Jace muses as he walks beside our horse, "but you could use some softening up, I think. You're very heroic, very gallant and all that, but you're kind of a loner, and eventually, that becomes creepy, which I assume is where the odd rumors I mentioned come from. Now that you're with my sister, though, that can change. I'm thinking a love song."

"But we're not in love, Jace," I point out. "We're not even a couple."

Jace shrugs. "That hardly matters. It's all about perception. What people believe. According to Father, for instance, I'm an ungrateful son who petulantly ran away from home, but I'm really a charming bard who was on a rescue mission until recently. It's all semantics."

"Lying is another word for it," Graham chimes in.

"Creatively twisting the truth," Jace corrects. "And for a good cause, I might add. My aim is never to hurt anyone. Unless they deserve to be hurt, of course." He pauses, then looks up at me slyly. "All of that's moot, really, though, because Graham is absolutely in love with you, Ro."

Graham immediately stiffens behind me. I pat his hand where it rests on the reins comfortingly and prepare to explain. "Jace, Graham is a werewolf," I reveal. "He has a mate out there somewhere, and it's not me."

Instead of relaxing, Graham gets more tense. I'm not sure why. He can't be worried about Jace's reaction to the news. He's always known I'm a mage, after all, and he kept that secret admirably well. For me, that's proof enough that my brother never became the judgmental man I feared he might have.

"Oh, well, that's interesting. Too bad I can't use it in a song. But that would likely get you killed, so... Wait, is that why you were exiled?" Jace interrupts himself.

"Yes," Graham replies shortly.

"I will be asking more about that later because I'm nosy," Jace declares, making me giggle. "But to get back to my very important observation, Ro, he may have a mate out there, sure. But that's all abstract at the moment, isn't it? There's nothing preventing him from falling in love with you, and he clearly has."

"We're almost to the caves," Graham announces hurriedly.

"More on that later, then," Jace switches topics easily. "We're not going with you into the caves?"

"He's working, Jace," I remind him. "We need to stay out of his way so it isn't dangerous for him or us."

"I need to see the adventure so I can sing about it," he protests. "So that Sir Graham of Raines becomes the legend he deserves to be."

"I don't deserve anything," Graham insists gruffly, "and even if I did, I would be prevented from having it. You're not coming. You're staying with your sister."

"Do you think she needs my protection?" Jace scoffs as Graham stops the horse, dismounts, and then roughly pulls me down beside him. "Because I thought she rescued herself."

"She did. I need you to stay with her so she can make sure you don't get into trouble."

I snort as Jace's mouth drops open in mock surprise. He closes it shortly after and says, "Fine. I'll wear you down eventually. This is only the beginning of our journey together."

He pulls out his lute and starts plucking at the strings, so I take the opportunity to turn to Graham. "He's trying to be nice," I protest gently.

Graham glares at me, but the glare disappears almost instantly once his eyes meet mine. He sighs. "I know, but he has delusions of grandeur. Trying to make me legendary isn't going to do anything for his vocation as a bard. You know my story, and my complications. It's not just that I'm a werewolf."

"I know, but whatever he does can't possibly harm you, Graham. You're being too hard on him, and yourself. And you are rather legendary, you know. In bed, at least," I tease, poking him playfully in the chest.

He smirks. "Your opinion can hardly be trusted, since I'm the only example you have," he jokes back.

"Well, it has to be good that I was so satisfied that I didn't instantly want to try it with someone else," I respond.

He stops and stares at me for a moment, then smiles at me softly and kisses my cheek. "I'm going to look around out here first, then go inside each cave one at a time," he informs me. "Keep an eye out, and yell for me if you see anything concerning."

"I will," I promise.

I secure the horse as he walks away, then turn to Jace. "Do you see what I mean?" he wonders. "He looks at you like you hung the moon." He plucks another string on his lute, then laughs. "Ha. That's a werewolf pun, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is, but he doesn't look at me like that, Jace. I think he's just not used to people being nice to him."

He raises his eyebrow so high it could almost fly away from his face. "I think you were stuck in a tower for so long that you don't know when a man likes you," he finally says.

He frowns after he finishes, though, like he feels guilty about bringing it up. I'm very thankful that I kept some of what happened to me there from him, and even more thankful that Graham understood my desire to.

I go stand beside him and hug his arm, leaning my head against his shoulder. "You don't have to feel bad for talking about it," I assure him. "It happened, and now it's over. And you're probably right. I'm not exactly up on my social cues. But you're wrong about Graham. We talked about this."

Jace chuckles. "Well, he omitted a few things, then. But I'll let it go for now." He eyes the horse and adds, "Am I going to get my own horse?"

"I imagine so. I don't think the horse can handle three people, and it would be rather slow to have you walk beside us all the time."

"That's nice," he decides. "Oh, tell me what you think of this." He strums his lute and hums. "Sir Graham of Raines," he croons. "His tunic never stains."

My brow furrows as I scrunch up my nose at him. "Um, I think it might need a little tweaking."

"The lyrics are awful," he freely admits. "But I have to play with the rhymes. Once I figure out the rhymes, everything falls into place. What about the tune? I need it to be catchy. If a song is catchy, I can say anything I want."

"Like the dragon's penis?" I drawl, nudging him.

He winks at me. "Exactly."

I stay where I am, watching the landscape around us, listening to him tinker with the song. "Sir Graham of Raines," he tries next. "He's only happy when it rains."

"You can't rhyme Raines with rains, Jace," I advise him.

"Yeah, I know. Won't work. Let's see..."

Before he can say more, Graham returns to us. "Something's wrong here," he grunts. "There are tracks and trampled grass outside these caves, but I think they're fake, which means..."

I straighten up, swiveling my head. "Someone lured us here."

Jace flips his lute in his hand and holds it like a club. "If they want one of us, they have to get through all of us," he states boldly.

Graham rolls his eyes. His sword is already in his hand. "I should have known," he mutters. "No creatures are native to these mountains. But sometimes they move, or end up somewhere unnatural because of necessity."

"It's not your fault," I soothe him. "It's mine. Whoever it is, they must be after me."

"Well, at the very least, my dear, you're smart," a slippery voice addresses us, seemingly from out of nowhere.

Then the air in front of us thickens and turns wavy and a man materializes in front of us. It's obvious that he's a mage, and he must have been cloaking himself, because now that I can see him, I can feel the power rolling off of him.

"I'll take my book now," he tells me.

I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head at him firmly. "I hate to sound cliché, considering the circumstances, but over my dead body."

Graham steps in front of me and holds his sword out in front of him. "Mine first," he growls.

Jace waves his lute at the man. "And mine."

"How quaint." The man waggles his fingers at each of us in turn. "Oh, who shall I remove from play first?"

He looks at Jace and a red powder fills the air around him. He coughs once, then drops to the ground unconscious.

Graham lunges, raising his sword over his head. The air hisses like it's being sliced and the sword falls to the ground in pieces. Not fazed, Graham moves to punch the man in the face with the hilt.

But he never connects. Instead, he's swept off his feet and his head hits a rock. I see blood as he slumps to the ground. Then ropes appear around him and Jace, and around my wrists.

They tug up, pulling me onto my tiptoes. I struggle, trying to think of a spell to counter this, but I have no practice with this kind of magic, and it takes time to filter through everything I've read. I clearly haven't even begun to master what I really need to learn.

"To my lair, my dear," the man invites me, gesturing to the nearest cave mouth with his arm. "Unfortunately for you, it's not time to dispatch you just yet. I want to experiment first."