Fire In The Blood (Shards Of A Broken Sword Book 2) by W.R. Gingell

that she’d been watching him– or that he hadn’t had the desire to climb over the wall in quite some time now.
    “What’s the solution?” he asked Akish, while Kako’s fingers tickled around his wrists.
    “The water is fae water,” said Akish, his eyes gleaming. “And when I went around the garden this morning I noticed that there were some fae plants here as well. In fact, they’re all fae plants: every morsel of food or sustenance to be had in this accursed place is fae and inedible to us.”
    “I’m sure they are if you say so,” said Kako amiably. She’d gone on to the knots of sash at Rafiq’s chest. His struggling must have made them distinctly hard to untie, because it took her some time, tugging at the knots and wriggling the free ends, to loosen them.
    “And what, I asked myself,” continued Akish impressively; “Is the use of myriad sources of food, if we cannot eat of them?”
    “Did you answer yourself?”
    Rafiq flicked a look up at Kako as she untied the last of his knots, and found that her eyes were laughing down at him.
    Akish, unperturbed, said: “It was evident. The plants and fruits must have another use.”
    “And do they?”
    “Each of them is an ingredient in a Door-opening spell between worlds. We can open a Door from here in Faery to the human world with the ingredients found here.”
    “Is that so?” murmured Kako. “Are you sure?”
    For the first time, Prince Akish looked slightly uncomfortable. “All except for one: there isn’t a petty-pink to be had in the garden.”
    “Never mind,” Kako said soothingly. “It was a clever thought!”
    “I say there aren’t any in the garden because they’re outside the garden!” said Prince Akish exasperatedly. “I can see them when I look over the wall.”
    “Well, it may as well be in one of the other Circles,” said Kako. “It’s still Faery out there, and if you think we’ll be able to get back in after being out there, I’ve got a horrible surprise for you.”
    “Perhaps not if we all went together,” said the prince. “But if only one of us went? If one of us was harnessed to the others in the garden?”
    Rafiq thought Kako sighed slightly as she untied the last of the knots that bound him to the tree. “That would probably work.”
    Akish, looking rather more satisfied that Rafiq liked to see him, nodded. “Very well. Rafiq–!”
    “Don’t bother to tell Rafiq,” interrupted Kako. “He’s part of your little rescue attempt and the Enchanted Keep will probably choose to consider he’s taken a Door Out if he leaves the garden. I’m not part of the group, so if you tie the sashes around my waist and drop me over it should be safe enough.”
    There it was again, thought Rafiq. That unwillingness for either himself or Akish to climb over the wall and into Faery. Why was Kako so set against either of them venturing into Faery? He wished he’d thought to ask her that last night.
    “The sashes aren’t long enough,” said Akish. “The petty-pinks are at least fifteen yards from the wall.”
    To Rafiq’s eyes, Kako looked distinctly pale.
    “Oh, at least,” she agreed. “But the sashes will stretch just the same. Space in Faery is different when you’re on a quest.”
    Prince Akish sniffed. “I’ve not heard any such thing.”
    Kako, busily tying one his sashes around her waist and draping the remaining sashes over one arm, said: “It’s simple addition: one Enchanted Keep, one quest, and one required item, equals a warping in space and sometimes time.”
    The prince began to look distinctly annoyed, and Rafiq, to hide the grin he could feel spreading over his face, seized Kako by the elbows and carried her over to the closest wall.
    Kako said: “How rude!” at him, and went back to knotting sashes. When she was finished she looped the other end around Rafiq and tied it tightly around his waist, leaving a bare ten yards of sash between them.
    “It won’t be long enough,” said the prince,