Embarrassment floods my mind. Then, words.

"Spring is taken. Summer will be betrayed. Where is Autumn? Find Autumn or Winter will thaw. The balance must be maintained. Darkness is coming, there's no escape."

I whisper the words before they flee my mind.

"What?" Crispin mutters sleepily into my ear. His head is snuggled against my shoulder, his breath hot against my cheek.

"Blaze said that when he was in his food coma."

My Guardian sits up, choking with laughter. "Is that what it was? He ate too much?"

I grin. "Yup. Too much magic. Although he said that he did it intentionally to get a vision. Apparently, unicorns can do that. He told me to keep a note of what he prophesied, but I think my mind went a little weird after that."

"You could say that," Crispin laughs. "You were rather cute."

I shove my elbow into his thigh and he laughs even more.

"It was even better than the first time he gave you sparklies. Priceless, really."

I tousle his hair with my magic and he yelps, slapping a hand on his head as if he's expecting there to be spiders.

I sit up as well, noticing that I'm still wearing the same dress I wore to travel to the Dragon Realm. Was that only this morning?

"What time is it?" I ask, even though I know that my magic could probably tell me.

"Three in the morning. We didn't know how long the unicorn effect would last, so I made you sleep a bit longer than probably necessary."

"Thanks." I smile at him.

"You're not mad?"

I cringe. "For not letting me behave like an idiot? No, better to knock me out. You've hereby got permission to do it again next time."

Crispin chuckles. "With pleasure. Although I hope you're not planning to expose yourself to sparklies again soon."

"Nope, definitely not. This was an emergency. And now that I can actually think, it was a good idea that Blaze did this. 'Spring is taken.' I think we should find out if anything has happened in the Spring Realm. Flora is still here in the Palace, right?"

He nods. "As far as I'm aware. I think I saw her in the Great Hall at dinner yesterday."

I sigh. I really want to stay in bed with Crispin, do some of the things I planned to do with the guys while I was drugged, but the weight of responsibility is making me get up.

"I better pay her a visit. Want to come?"

Crispin shakes his head. "I'll go and see if there are any new reports from the Spring Realm. Meet in your office?"

"Yes, let's hope this was either just unicorn nonsense, or hasn't happened yet."

I teleport away from my chambers and to the guest rooms. I'm not quite sure what rooms Flora has been assigned, so I appear at the main door leading to the guest wing. The two guards jump and shout, but immediately bow when they see me.

"Sorry, Your Highness," one of them apologises. "I didn't know it was you."

"Lead me to the Spring Goddess," I say without engaging in small talk. "It's urgent."

The guard nods and opens the door, motioning me to follow. The guest wing is extensive and spread over several floors with enough rooms to house hundreds of people. Not all Gods can teleport, and after a long night of drinks and delights, some like to stay here rather than travel to the closest Gate. Having a room also helps when meeting a pretty Guardian to take to bed.

Luckily, Flora's quarters aren't far. The guard gives me a questioning look and I tell him to return to his post.

I wait until he's gone before knocking on the door. There's no response, but it's the middle of the night, so I didn't expect Flora to be awake.

I knock again, then enter the dark room. With a thought, I switch on the lights. I'm in a cosy living room, made homely by dozens of flower vases dotted around the shelves and tables. It's obvious that the Spring Goddess has tried to make this place more like home. She must miss her own Realm, which according to what she's said looks very different from this one. More colours, less snow, obviously.

"Flora?" I call as a warning before heading towards the door at the end of the room. I don't want to scare her.

Actually, I could just use my magic. Silly me, I'm still not used to it. I concentrate on my surroundings, feeling for nearby auras. There's nobody here. Damn it.

I run and open the bedroom door, but as I thought, it's empty. The bed looks like nobody has slept in tonight, but there are boxes and clothes everywhere, so she's definitely been living in here. Maybe she's out partying or has found a lover. I refuse to think that it's something more sinister.

I teleport back to the entrance to the guest wing. This time, the guards don't shriek quite as much.

"When did you last see Flora?" I ask immediately and they look at each other.

"Yesterday," one of them says and the other nods. "She came back here after dinner, and a few minutes later, one of your Guardians came to pick her up."

"One of my Guardians?" I ask, a sinking feeling spreading through my stomach. Please don’t let this happen again.

"Crispin, Your Highness," the other guard supplies. "He said you'd requested Lady Flora's presence."

I teleport away from them, into my office. As soon as I'm there, I pull on the bond connecting me to my Guardians. I try to avoid doing this because they don't like the feeling of it, but I need them here, now, and I don't have time to search for them.

I open the door and tell one of the guards outside to send for Tamara. If she's surprised that I'm in the office without them having seen me walk through the door, she doesn't show it. I guess they're used to it from my mother.

"My Guardians will be here any minute. You can let them in without asking." She nods and bows her head.

I close the door behind me and look around my empty office. Yet again, I have a crisis to master, and yet again, my mother isn't here to help me. It's depressing.

Arc is the first to arrive, bursting into the room. "What happened?" he huffs, completely out of breath. He must have run here.

"Flora is gone, but let's wait for the others. We have another fake Crispin on the loose."

"Another one?" He flops down on one of the chairs. "Wasn't everyone told about the possibility of one of them reappearing?"

I sigh. "Apparently not, or he knew the passcode. I'll have to ask the guards. Actually, wait here for the others, I'll be right back."

I teleport back to the guest wing. The same two guards are still standing there.

"When Crispin picked up Flora, did you ask him for the code word?" I ask them sharply, half expecting them to admit that they didn't, but the burly one to the right bows.

"Of course, Your Highness. He answered correctly." He pauses for a moment, exchanging a look with his colleague. "Does that mean that it was an impostor?"

I nod. "It seems that way. For now, spread the word that the real Crispin will stay by my side, so if he is spotted without me, sound the alarm."

I disappear before they can respond, trusting them to follow my command.

Back in the office, Crispin and Storm have joined Arc. I can't help myself, I scan Crispin's aura to make sure that it's really him.

"I checked," Arc mutters. "It's Crisp."

"The one and only," Crispin says darkly. "Sorry for giving you so much trouble."

I go to him and pull him up from his chair, taking him into my arms. "It's not your fault," I whisper into his ear. "None of this is your fault."

He shakes his head as if he doesn't agree, but that's when Frost runs into the room, panting heavily. "What's up?"

Behind him is Tamara, a net covering her grey hair. She looks even more grandmotherly in her bright purple dressing gown and her fluffy slippers.

I step back from Crispin, wishing once again that I could see his face. His aura is dark and broody, full of sadness and regret. Does it show in his expression? In his eyes?

I take a deep breath and face my audience. "The Spring Goddess has disappeared. The guards saw Crispin lead her away, and as my Crispin didn't do that, we have to assume that we have another clone in the Palace. Crispin, from now on you're going to stay by my side so that if your clone is seen on his own, everybody knows that it's an impostor.

"Guess that's one way of spending more time with you," he says under his breath, but I don't have time to reply. There's too much at stake here.

"Flora’s disappearance fits with what Blaze said during his vision."

"Is that what it was?" Tamara interrupts. "A vision? I didn't know unicorns had that power."

I shrug. "Neither did I, but apparently, they do. He said that Spring would be taken, and that's exactly what happened. We need to find Flora, but there's more we need to be aware of."

"Summer will be betrayed," Crispin recites. "Find Autumn or Winter will thaw. The balance must be maintained. Darkness is coming, there's no escape."

"Does that mean the Morrigan will betray Angus?" Tamara asks, hope swinging in her voice.

"That would be nice," I mutter, "but life hasn't been very nice recently. Maybe there's going to be betrayal inside the Realm? Maybe his wife will betray him? Who knows. For now, I think we need to focus on Flora and Autumn."

I've put off asking the most important question for now because I don't want to show my ignorance. I thought I'd learned quite a bit about the Gods and Goddesses by now, but once again, my lack of knowledge is showing. Well, no way around it.

"Who's the God of Autumn?" I ask, kicking myself internally. Such a stupid question. I should know this. "Or is it a Goddess?"

"There isn't one," Storm replies with a shrug. "Never has been."

"Wait, so there are Gods for Spring, Summer and Winter, but not for Autumn? Isn't that a bit discriminatory?"

"I'm not sure you can discriminate against a season," Frost jokes. "I think there was never a need for one. In autumn, Beira takes over from Angus and slowly introduces winter to all life. In spring, she retreats, but during winter, some beings die, so the Spring Goddess is needed to breathe new life into the worlds, before passing the baton on to Angus."

That doesn't really make sense to me, but alright, so there's no official Autumn God.

"I think Blaze disagrees with that," I point out. "He says to find Autumn. How can we find a God that doesn't exist?"

"Maybe it's a riddle," Tamara suggests. "Perhaps we shouldn't be taking it literally."

"What else could it mean, though?" Storm asks. Nobody answers, we're all just as clueless.

"Autumn... harvest... end of summer...," I mutter more to myself than to the others. "Beginning of winter... third season of the year..."

"Wait," Frost says, his aura brightening. "Beginning of winter. Winter. Maybe it's a hint that you should be crowned?"

I sigh. "Please don't interpret things into this that don't make sense. I know you all want me to take the throne, but that's not your decision to make."

"But don't you see?" His enthusiasm confuses me. "We'd be crowning Autumn. Not Winter. Your mother wouldn't have to give up the throne if we don't crown Winter, but Autumn."

I shake my head. "As lovely as that sounds, this Realm needs a Winter Queen, not an Autumn one."

"Ha!" Tamara explains. "You said it needs a Queen. Finally."

"Stop it, all of you." I grimace. "This is not up for discussion."

"End of the warmth, beginning of the cold," Crispin says quietly. "Fire and Ice. I think we may have already found Autumn."

My heart is starting to beat faster as I realise what he means. "Dewi? The Dragon Goddess?"

Crispin nods. "Maybe I'm just trying to make it easy for us, but it would make sense. They are ice dragons living in a hot Realm. It's like the changing of the seasons, having both temperatures at once."

"Wouldn't my mother know about her, though? I can't believe a Goddess can just stay under the radar for so long, especially if she's representing one of the seasons."

"About that," Tamara says and pulls a book from her dressing gown's pocket. "After you mentioned Dewi, I decided to do some research. She's mentioned in here, but not as a Goddess."

She hands me the book, knowing that I'll be able to read its entire contents within seconds. I lay my hand on its cover and take a deep breath, before letting the knowledge stream into me.

"Oh."

"Exactly," Tamara confirms. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"What is it?" Storm asks impatiently.

I smile. "Dewi is described as a demigoddess in here, the daughter of a dragon shifter and an unnamed God. She was raised away from the Realms and grew up amongst dragons. Now she's a Goddess. Remind you of someone?"

Their auras are shifting when they realise what it means. "She's like you," Frost gasps. "A demigoddess turned Goddess. That means she could be Autumn, but because the dragons are so reclusive, nobody has named her as such. That also explains why Beira didn't know about her."

I nod. "Exactly. I think we've found our Autumn, and luckily, she's already on our side. Finally some good news."

"Find Autumn or Winter will thaw," Crispin recites again. "That means that without her help, we would probably have lost the battle. That doesn't mean that we'll win it though, even with the dragons. It's not going to be easy."

"Aye, and Spring is missing. We need ta find Flora." Arc has been quiet until now, which is unusual for him, but I don't have the time to worry about it.

"Yes, our priority right now is to find the Spring Goddess and any Crispin clones that might still be in the Palace. Storm, you're in charge of the search. Arc and Frost will help you. Tamara, please inform the Council and our allies."

"What about me?" Crispin asks, a shadow surrounding the rims of his aura. He doesn't want to be left out.

"You're with me," I tell him with a smile. "There's something I need to do."