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“I figured he would.” Ria smiled.

“But he didn’t just apologize.” The grin spreading across Zara’s face warned Ria that whatever came next was going to be ridiculous. “He decided he needed to win me back.”

“I’m listening.” Ria rested her chin in her hand.

“The best part?”

“There was a best part?”

“Oh, definitely,” Zara laughed. “He sang to me.”

Ria blinked. “Hektor sang?”

“He did.”

“I don’t know why that’s so hard for me to imagine.”

“It gets better.”

“How?”

“He had help.”

“What kind of help?”

“A marching band.”

“An actual marching band?”

“The entire thing.”

“No.” Ria burst into laughter.

“Yes.” Zara nodded. “He somehow convinced an entire marching band to play for him.”

Ria laughed so hard she had to wipe at the corners of her eyes. “That sounds like a scene from…” she paused as recognition dawned. “…a movie.”

Zara pointed at her. “Exactly.”

“Wait.” Ria’s eyes widened.

Zara’s grin grew wider. “He recreated that scene.”

Ria dissolved into laughter, nearly doubling over. “I cannot picture Hektor doing that.”

“Neither could I.”

“And it worked?”

Zara’s smile softened, becoming almost shy. “I mean…” She shrugged. “He’s my mate.”

Footsteps echoed down the hallway just as Zara finished speaking, followed by Hektor’s voice. “That’s the problem. No one could tell us where any of them were.”

“I thought Liora only mentioned one missing girl,” Asterion said.

“That’s what we thought at first.” Hektor set a platter on the coffee table, piled high with sliced cheeses, cured meats, fresh fruit, crackers, and small bowls of olives and roasted nuts. “Then someone mentioned a boy who’d gone upstream to stay with relatives. Except another Naiad said he’d run away after fighting with his father.”

“And which was it?”