She nods again and resumes petting Ares.

Ash grimaced and sank to his knees, arms around his middle. Dark blood trickled between his lips.

She blinks in surprise. "You okay?"

" it won't be any worse from the other things hes done. "

For the moment, he ignored Lise. "Oh, we're playing nice now?" Puck remained seated, looking anything but compliant. "Shall we have tea first? Brew up a nice pot of kiss-my--"

"Truce, Goodfellow," Ash grated out. "The Chillsorrow manor is a few miles east of here. Right now, the lady of the house is away at court, so we'll be safe there. I suggest we postpone our duel until we arrive and the princess is out of the cold. Unless you'd like to kill me now."

"No, no. We can kill each other later." Puck hopped off the stump and padded up, shoving his dagger into his boot. Putting the prince's arm over his shoulders, he jerked him to his feet. Ash grunted and pursed his lips but didn't cry out.

Isiea starts trying to climb onto Ares. She's failing miserably.

Lise stood up and turned to face east.

Ares tries to help Isiea up.

"Off we go." Puck sighed. "You coming, Grimalkin?"

"Oh, definitely." Grimalkin landed with a soft thump in the snow. His golden eyes, bright with amusement, regarded them. "I would not miss this for the world."

Lise rolled her eyes.

After quite a large struggle to do so, Isiea manages to get on Ares.