Page 146 of Mountain of Mirrors and Starlight
Bell snorted.
“I mean it—”
“Well, of course he does,” Bell continued. “This fae appears out of nowhere and starts advising Venus that she needs a secret mirror buried in the deep? It’s very suspicious.”
“So why are we getting it? I didn’t have to stay there—”
“How are we going to find out his plans unless we bring it back?”
Caer blinked. “Why are we giving him the potentially dangerous mirror?”
“The Mirror is hard to get, not impossible. He would have found a way that didn’t use us. This way, we get a front row seat. What’s the seventh dwarven proverb?”
“Um, drinking is good?”
Bell narrowed her eyes. “No.”
“Braids shall never go out of fashion?”
“Try again.”
“Teasing Caer is the funniest of all past times?”
Bell chuckled. “Good guess. No. The seventh dwarven proverb is, ‘keep your friends close—’”
“And your enemies closer. Of course.”
Bell leaned across and ruffled his hair. “Fancy you thinking your old Aunt Bell wouldn’t have thought this through.”
“You aren’tthatold, Bell—”
“I’m three-hundred-and-ninety-nine.”
“Right. Keep forgetting.”
“And far from daft.”
“I’m sorry I ever doubted.”
She shot him a wink, and then urged her wargi forward to join her wife at the tail end of the party. Caer’s gaze drifted, as it had a habit of doing, towards Aislinn, conversing ahead of him with Luna, giggling conspiratorially. He watched the creases of her mouth when she laughed, the sway and shimmer of her hair, the way she sat, the curves of her against the saddle…
He shook his head. The sooner they got back to Avalinth, the better.
A while later, they passed by a series of steaming pools. The crystals glimmered against the still waters like a dark rainbow, casting coloured shadow along the rocky walls. Crystal flowers bloomed on the surface, filling the cavern with the scent of honey and wildflowers.
“Oh, yes, hot springs!” Diana hooted. “Who votes we should rest here for the night?”
“It’s barely afternoon…” Minerva grumbled.
“Rest whilst you can!” Flora said pointedly. “And the boy looks like he could do with a break.”
“I’m fi—” started Caer, but stopped abruptly when he saw the faces turned towards him. “I mean, ‘ow’. Yes. A break. Definitely. Without it, I may not survive the night.”
“Excellent,” said Diana. “Show of hands?”
Everyone apart from Minerva shot their hands into the air. She sighed. “It seems I am outvoted. Very well. Ladies, shall we take the bigger one at the end? For the sake of the mortal men in our group. Dwarves aren’t really fussed about such things.”
The women headed off, and the boys turned to the pool in front of them, quickly stripping off with a clatter of buckles and swords. Caer tried not to think about Aislinn removing her clothes as he sunk into the blissful water.
