"Fine!" He shouts it at her retreating form as if the flowers had no ears, as if there were no one else at the edge of the waste, as if Michael can't hear them. "Next time I'll shift you back in front of the Strangian army without the benefit of a cloak and let you travel back naked but for one boot."

That should stop her chasing after him, at any rate, should the king send him out on another reconnaissance mission.

She should have trusted him.

She should have stayed here in the first place.

And now he's got to get out of this soldier's outfit and get to Kingsbury to report to the king. What started out as a lovely dinner with the woman who stole his heart has ended up as something far less stellar. It's with a heavy heart that he tears off the Strangian officer's hat and jacket and moves towards the door of his own castle, which doesn't feel so very much like his own any more.

Things were definitely easier when Calcifer was in charge of his heart.