Wander The Night, page 20
“Okay, stop,” Kavi says, eyes wide. He doesn’t move, just stares at me.
I start to ask if I need to continue, to provide further proof. And then he’s surging forward, almost forcefully enough that I lose my balance when he throws his arms around me and squeezes, hard. My side aches in protest of his affectionate abuse, but I don’t pull away.
“Are you ready to go home?” I whisper into his dark hair.
His breath shudders against my ear. “Yes.”
“You fantastic bastard,” Peaseblossom says, sounding far more like Mustardseed than she has any right to.
A laugh startles out of me, and I shoot her a beaming smile. “I’m claiming that as a compliment.”
“I meant it as one,” she says.
Kavi relaxes his hold on me but doesn’t let go yet, and Pease sobers.
“What now?” she asks. “How are you going to get out?”
“You and Kavi need a glamour. Have you seen Ariel yet?”
“Ariel?” Kavi asks at the same time Pease says, “I haven’t. Why?”
Strange. They should have been through here by now. I shake my head. “Never mind. Change of plans. Pease, you’re the only one who has active magic right now. You and Kavi—”
“I’m not leaving.”
I stare at her. “What?”
She repeats herself, and I still don’t understand. Then, she gazes lovingly down at the child in her arms, and I get it. I understand now. She looks back up at me, an unspoken moment passing between us. I nod, and she smiles in response.
And then she says, “Threaten me.”
My thoughts short out. “Excuse me?”
“Whatever for?” Kavi asks.
“So that if I’m asked about you two, I can say I was threatened into helping a blond man steal Oberon’s son.”
“Not a bad idea.” I pull out the dagger and, knowing it will catch her off guard, brandish it at the baby—my sister—instead of at Pease. “Glamour him,” I demand, forcing menace into my tone.
She twists away from the blade. “I said to threaten me.”
“But you felt more threatened this way,” I say and tuck the weapon away. “Works better as a truth when it’s not expected.”
She scowls at me before her violet eyes turn to Kavi. She arcs her free hand through the air, and sweet pea-scented glamour ripples over Kavi’s form. When the magic settles, a brown-eyed redhead in rust-colored clothing stands beside me.
“Perfect,” I say.
“Wonderful,” Peaseblossom chimes, waving her hand in a shooing motion. “Now get out of here before we all get caught and executed.”
I flash a grateful smile at her and guide Kavi from the room. The hall is empty save for us. I close the door to Titania’s chambers and pull Kavi along until he follows of his own accord.
“Don’t speak,” I tell him. “Just stay close to me and follow my lead.”
Kavi nods, red hair bouncing against a pale face.
The occupants of the throne room dance and drink and pay us no mind as we slip through the crowd. Titania has taken her seat on the throne next to Mab’s, but her expression is far away and troubled. She doesn’t seem to notice me or the stranger now with me.
I still haven’t seen Ariel. Mab’s own throne is empty. Perhaps Ariel has run into her and been delayed by conversation or command. Concern rises, but I push it back down and focus on the task at hand. One thing at a time.
Kavi and I reach the foyer outside the throne room and cross to the stairs. A lone guard is the only person in the room. We’re almost home-free.
The doors to the throne room bang closed behind us. I whirl at the sound. The guard has vanished.
My heart sinks into my stomach.
Kavi pushes close to me. “Is that part of the plan?”
I shake my head, mouth dry. “No.” I shove Kavi toward the spiraling staircase. “Run.”
We don’t make it that far.
A shower of greenish powder scatters from above. It settles over me and Kavi, clings to our skin, clothes, hair. I stand confused until I register the scent of it. Clover, mostly, along with some other ingredients I can’t recall. But I know what it is. Enough of it can shed the glamour on someone. And we’re covered in enough.
“Kavi, come on!”
But when I glance at him, I see him. The real him. His red-haired disguise is gone. I know without checking that my own glamour must be gone too. I snatch at Kavi’s sleeve and drag him after me as I dash for the stairs. Just a few feet away.
Smoke begins to pour into the space. Not smoke from flame, but a thick fog, acrid and stale when it hits the back of my throat. My lungs burn at the first breath of it. My eyes water, and I shield my mouth and nose with my arm, but it doesn’t help. The stuff is everywhere, clogging my senses and making me cough.
A dull thud sounds behind me. I step toward Kavi—on his knees, bent almost to the floor on his elbows, trying to breathe and failing—but my knees give out. I land hard, managing to catch myself with my hands. Whatever this is, it works fast. Too fast.
Kavi goes limp, his body falling the final distance to the ground.
I can’t speak.
Can’t think.
Can hardly breathe.
I feel myself collapse, head striking the floor, limbs useless.
The smoke clears away, traceless, as quick as it came. My head is spinning, vision tunneled. The clip of footsteps and then a pair of jeweled heels in my line of narrowing sight.
Mab’s voice cuts through the haze, just enough to reach my dwindling consciousness. “Oh, darling, you should have stayed dead.”
SCENE 2
Pain wakes me. Not the dull ache of a healing wound, but a sharp spike along the ribs on my back. I pry my eyes open and remember all at once where I am.
All around me, Grey fey shout and shriek. For vengeance. For war. For blood.
For my blood.
I must take more time to gather awareness than I’m allotted. A boot meets my ribs again. Instinct—damned fight or flight always puts me in horrible situations—makes me whip around with a snarled remark, but the threat dies on my tongue.
Upon her throne, Queen Mab watches me with glittering black eyes, her red mouth stretched into a pleased smile.
I feel the blood drain from my face. For a moment, we stare at one another, she in intrigued amusement, I in unparalleled terror. She is a cat with a wounded bird. I am the bird.
Kavi is no longer with me. I dare not ask where he is for fear my concern will be wielded against me.
“Will you come into my domain and not show your respects?” Mab asks, speaking at last. “Kneel, pet.”
I hesitate for the briefest second before common sense reminds me not to tempt her ire. I push myself up until I get my knees under me and then lean forward until my head nearly touches the floor. When I rock back onto my heels, Mab is baring her teeth in a triumphant grin. I turn my gaze to her feet, watching her peripherally so I needn’t make eye contact.
“I thought I made my requests to Oberon quite clear,” she says, not sounding put off in the least. “If he tried anything, I would bring my wrath upon his entire court.”
She turns her head to glance to her left, and I realize that Titania again sits on the second throne. Staring somewhere just above and to the side of my right shoulder, she doesn’t look at me and doesn’t comment. Cobweb is perched like a rat atop the back of Titania’s throne, a gleeful smile flashing his shark teeth. I wish he would wander into a large Venus fly trap.
Mab’s eyes narrow minutely at her sister before she shifts her attention back to me. “And yet Oberon sent you anyway. Could he not summon the courage to come here himself?”
I manage to find my voice. “Your Majesty.” For good measure, I bow my head low once more. “I did not come on Oberon’s order.”
“Then on whose order was it?”
I take a breath. “My own.”
The surrounding crowd murmurs and hums. I hazard a glance and find Mab’s expression calculating. Titania is watching me now.
“Do tell,” Mab purrs, leaning onto the arm of her chair.
My pulse rushes in my ears. “Oberon honored your request. In fact, he forbade anyone from going against it. He has no fault in my actions.”
“So you disobeyed him,” she says, drawing the word out like a blade from a sheath. “This is the second time, by my count, that you have done so recently. A bit of a rebellious streak in you, I think.”
I suppress a wince, knowing she’s baiting me for a reaction. This is far from the worst she can do.
Mab puts a hand to her mouth, tapping her lips in a show of thinking. “But I do wonder about your motive. If Oberon had been the one to ‘storm the castle,’ so to speak, he would have had a reason to do so. But you?” She leans forward, evaluating. “Why would you risk everything for Oberon’s half-breed?”
I give the least incriminating reply I can. “I was the one who took care of him when he was a child. I admit to being fond of him.”
“I myself am fond of strawberry jam, darling, but I’d not risk my life if it were to be stolen from me.” Laughter follows from several in the crowd. Mab shakes her head. “No, there’s more than that. Did you come because you see him as your prince?”
“No—”
“Then answer the question. Honestly, this time, if you don’t mind.”
My mouth opens, but my brain doesn’t supply an answer.
Mab’s face darkens. “Answer me.” She gestures with a hand, and two guards appear from around the crowd. “Or I’ll have him killed while you watch, dear.”
Kavi stands restrained between the guards, hands bound before him. His chest hitches up and down in anxious breaths. At the sight of him, I lunge to my feet, but I don’t make it far. Someone behind me—another guard, I realize a moment later—grabs a handful of hair and jerks me back down to the floor. The deed is enough to still my impulse. The ensuing backhand to the side of the face seems a bit much, but I manage to merely hiss in pain when the gauntleted blow breaks the skin along my cheekbone.
“I did answer you,” I say to Mab, spite making me bold, “Your Majesty.”
She cuts a glance in Kavi’s direction, and one of the guards pulls her dagger free.
“Sister,” Titania starts, in a placating voice, but I don’t wait for her attempt at dissuasion. Panic takes control of my tongue.
“He’s my brother!” I shout, louder than I mean to, and the room goes deadly silent.
All attention, every eye, is on me. My heart is beating so wildly it hurts.
“…What?” Mab breathes. She looks to Titania. “Did you know of this?”
From the corner of my eye, Titania’s expression is unreadable. “I did not,” is all she says.
Mab turns back on me. “You are clearly in no way human, so I suppose your mother wasn’t shared. Therefore, you must be Oberon’s as well.” She grips the arm of the throne with fingers gone white. “Are you yet more evidence of his infidelity, then?”
I try not to take that as a personal offense. My every intention is to offer a gracious response that will cool her anger, but Titania answers instead.
“Goodfellow has been part of the Green Court longer than I have,” she murmurs to her sister. “He was present before our marriage.”
Mab breathes out deeply and leans back, regarding me with bottomless eyes. She waves a hand, and the dagger brandished at Kavi slides back into its sheath.
“Are you his oldest child?” Mab asks.
“I am.”
“Then you are his heir,” she continues. “A legitimate heir, unlike his half-breed. You have the rightful claim to the Green throne, and my sister’s child is to be left with nothing. Am I correct?”
I shake my head. “I don’t want—”
“No matter. You shall have to live that long first.” She snaps her fingers at a nearby attendant. “Have them bring out Ariel.”
No. No, no, no. No.
“You attempted to steal one thing and managed to steal another in the process,” she says as Ariel is dragged out with hands bound. “The loyalty of my people.”
“My Queen,” Ariel starts. “I—”
“No, no.” She holds up a hand. “You needn’t bother with excuses or explanations.” Her eyes meet mine, but I’m not the one she addresses. “Search him.”
The guard behind me wraps an arm under my chin and presses a blade to my throat. The edge bites in, and I feel a bead of blood roll down my skin and into my shirt collar. Another guard comes forward to check my clothing for hidden articles. This could have been done while I was unconscious, but then it wouldn’t have had the same effect. The guard finds the dagger in my shirt and tosses it away. Mab watches with a sly smile.
It turns predatory when the shred of paper is pulled from my pocket.
Realization takes a second. Then panic sets in.
But I can’t move, not if I want to avoid choking on my own blood. I can only watch in horror as the guard hands Mab the piece of script, as she turns it over and casts a feral look at Ariel.
Ariel’s face drains of color.
“Don’t look so terrified, darling,” Mab purrs. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m merely disappointed. I thought I had your loyalty.” The page in her hand alights with black flame. She sighs as the paper turns to ash and drops to the floor. “Alas, loyalty seems to be in such short supply these days.”
She gives no warning, no sign. She just makes a gesture in Ariel’s direction. Glamour weaves through the air, and the guards back away from their prisoner. But Ariel can’t move even with them gone. Roots have begun to push up from the floor of the throne room, winding themselves around Ariel’s ankles and up their legs. Ariel tries to wrench free, but the roots hold and keep spreading. Horror shines in their eyes.
“My Queen, please,” they whisper, fighting against panic. “Please, do not do this.”
“It’s not forever, darling,” Mab coos with condescension. “We’ll see where you stand in a decade or two. I’m sure you’ll find obedience to your liking by then.”
I can’t just stay silent. “Your Majesty, you can’t—” is all I get out before she flashes a furious glance my way.
The arm beneath my chin shifts, and a hand seizes my jaw. The blade at my throat digs deeper.
“And yet, I can.”
The glamour moves without slowing, crafting itself into the shape of a tree as Ariel’s pleas give way to begging, to sobbing. In a matter of minutes, an oak stands in place of the sylph, muffled shouts and the pounding of fists against wood just audible from this side of the bark until even those noises fall away to silence.
From my right, I register the sound of hitching breath. I don’t look—can’t look—at Kavi’s face. Instead, I stare at the ground before me, cheeks hot with shame and wet with tears.
“Well then,” Mab sighs. “What to do with you?” My eyes jerk upward, and she titters a laugh. “Oh, I’m not going to turn you into a tree, little bird. I’m going to do so much worse.”
A nod from her is all it takes. The hand and blade vanish from my skin, allowing me an unobstructed breath. One is all I get.
A kick to the back, more forceful than the earlier two, sends me skidding forward to my hands. A second, to the stomach, lays me flat. The two become three, and I register the sounds of Titania’s shock and Kavi’s cries, but I can’t focus on their words. I curl in as much as possible, trying to protect myself with knees and elbows, but it does little. The three become four, five, until I lose count, and ribs crack, and my whole body sings with pain. I don’t black out, but it’s a near thing.
When the abuse ends and the edges of my vision fill in, I catch the tail end of Titania speaking. I lie there and listen, unwilling to do anything that requires moving.
“—not what I wanted,” Titania is saying. “This doesn’t have to end in violence.”
Mab makes a dismissive sound. “If you did not wish for me to handle this, why did you come to me with your worries? You are well aware how we do things here. Eyes for eyes, dear sister.”
“So you’ll blind the world?”
“No. Just the Green Court.” Her voice gets louder. “Bring me the boy.”
The crowd shrieks with enthusiasm. I drag my head off the floor to see the two guards restraining Kavi drag him forward and force him to his knees in front of Mab. One of them hands her their blade. She raises it above Kavi’s chest, poised to strike, and gives him a pitying look.
“I can’t say it’s nothing personal, dear.”
Titania leaps from her seat—“No, stop!”—as the blade plunges downward.
I shout the only thing that comes to mind.
“I’ll pledge you my life!”
The blade halts in the air. Kavi and Titania both release a shuddering breath. Mab turns a slow and calculating gaze on me. She doesn’t say anything. No one says anything. Even the crowd waits in silence.
I stagger to my knees but don’t try any farther than that. “If you let him go, let him live, I will be yours.” My voice breaks, but I press on. “Let him go free and safe, and I’m yours to do as you wish.”
Mab hums in consideration, lowering the blade. “A valiant offer. You would make such an offer willingly, knowing what you do?” She glances from Kavi to Titania to me. “Very well. Give me your True Name, and I will release him to the safety of his own design.”
A ripple goes through the crowd. Kavi shakes his head, over and over, speechless with horror. My heart lodges in my throat. My True Name. To give her that is to give up myself entirely. To give up my True Name is to let her own me.
But how can I refuse and let my brother die?
I close my eyes and breathe out. I open my mouth to speak. To seal my fate.
The throne room doors crash open.
Clipped footsteps, angry and rushed, sound through the parting crowd. I twist around to see who would dare interrupt a faerie queen’s vengeance.
