Reign of the Stone Queen

by Jayne Faith

  “Yes?” I prompted.

  “We want the protection of the Carraig Sidhe when the Tuatha descend on Faerie.”

  I looked from one to the other and then shook my head. “I don’t understand. You each have militaries at least ten times the size of the New Garg—ah, Carraig fighting force. Your kingdoms aren’t the largest of the Seelie realms, but neither are they insignificant. What possible protection could I offer either of you?”

  Moreau and Vida shared another look and seemed to silently determine between them that it was the Dobhar king’s turn to speak.

  He gave me a smile, flashing teeth that seemed impossibly white against his tanned face and dark stubble. “I can understand why it might seem an odd request. But we believe your people aren’t just important in keeping Seelie control of the Summerlands. We believe you are the key to defeating the Tuatha.”

  I tipped my head at an angle and peered at him. “Why?”

  “King Oberon mentioned his oracle before, the one who told him you must not lose the stone fortress to the Unseelie. Well, we have our own seers,” Vida said. She interlaced her fingers and held her arms loosely in front of her. “They have advised us to align ourselves with you and your people.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and then lowered my eyelids and moved my thumb and forefinger wider to rub my eyes for a moment. I tried to think through how agreeing to their request might bite me in the ass later but couldn’t come up with anything. What did I really have to lose? And more importantly, did I really have a choice? I needed every advantage at my disposal, every bit of strength I could round up, to have any chance of taking back the fortress.

  I opened my eyes, grabbed a croissant, and ripped off a big bite with my teeth. “If I go along, what specifically am I agreeing to?” I asked, chewing. Gods, I was starving. “I mean, we’re all Seelie. We’re all on the same side anyway, and we’ll be fighting together, right?”

  “In theory,” Vida said, but her doubt was clear. “But even if we all have the same larger goal, each kingdom is going to be vying for advantage. Deals will be struck. There likely will be some backstabbing and betrayals.”

  I gave a low, disgusted growl. “And that is exactly why the Tuatha want to wipe us out and start over.” I waved my croissant and a few crumbs flew onto the coffee service setup. “All this political bullshit. Doesn’t anyone understand we don’t have that luxury anymore?”

  As soon as I said it, I heard Jasper’s voice in my head, his passionate speeches about how we all needed to rise above the usual Faerie ways. He understood it. He’d been saying it all along. Oberon had even come around to recognize the importance of uniting everyone and finding better ways. But it had taken sky iron torture to get the High King to see it, and it seemed as though very few others were picking up the message.

  Moreau’s face hardened, his green eyes icy. “Some of us do realize that the political bullshit, as you call it, isn’t going to save us. But most politicians will keep on being politicians until their dying breaths. To some extent, I even include Vida and myself in that category. We’ve been at this so long we don’t really know any other way.”

  “So, what, you both want a promise that I won’t turn on you? That we’ll be allies no matter what happens?” I tried to curb in my irritation, but impatience still leaked through in my voice.

  “Yes, essentially,” Vida said.

  I blew out a slow breath through clenched teeth and slanted my gaze off to the side. This was one of the reasons I’d left Faerie to try to make a life on the Earthly side of the hedge. The irony was, the political bullshit was almost as thick over there. On the other side, I could largely avoid it, or at least ignore it. But here in Faerie? I was a frigging queen of a realm.

  I faced them. “Okay. I’ll agree to an alliance with you.”

  Moreau’s face relaxed with relief, and Vida gave me a thin, close-lipped smile. Neither of them seemed the least bit smug about getting their way, though. And honestly, their seriousness scared me a bit because it meant they truly believed their survival depended on their alignment with the Carraig Sidhe. And I had no idea exactly what that meant for my people in the days ahead.

  They’d already had paperwork drawn up, so we moved over to the dark wood secretary desk near the door and spent a few minutes signing documents and sealing them with magic.

  Moreau lifted his coffee cup. “To a beneficial and fruitful alliance.” He inclined his head to me and then took a sip.

  “Hear, hear,” Vida chimed in.

  I managed a slight smile, but I wasn’t in the mood to toast or celebrate. I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were taking advantage of me, though I didn’t believe either of them had deeply malicious intent. It was more the sense that they knew they could manipulate me because I was such a green ruler. I wished Maxen were there. He would have known exactly how to negotiate Moreau and Vida’s proposal.

  The thought of Maxen brought me back to what I had to do next: force the Unseelie out of the fortress and attempt to lead the new kingdom. My insides tightened as the reality of it hit me all over again, and I couldn’t help thinking of my father and wishing he could be at my side as I tried to take back the fortress.

  Chapter 6

  I DIDN’T MAKE it far from my meeting with Queen Vida and King Moreau before a castle page caught up to me. This one was a young woman with green-tinged blonde hair and the leggy build of a Kelpie seahorse shifter.

  She gave a hasty curtsy. “Your Majesty. Melusine sent me to fetch you, if you will please follow me.”

  I raised a hand, indicating she should lead the way. The thought of seeing the Fae witch gave me a tiny pinch of relief, but I didn’t allow it to take root. I wasn’t sure what she had in store, and it was best not to get my hopes up.

  My page escorted me into a corridor of apartments and stopped at an unmarked door and pressed the button for the bell. A tinkling chime sounded within, and a moment later Melusine opened the door.

  I tried not to stare around at her quarters as I followed her inside, but I couldn’t help curiosity. The décor was vaguely gothic, like Melusine’s own appearance. Lots of ornate metal work, rich fabrics, and a spindly iron chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the formal front room. I also wanted to be sure one of her giant hairy pet spiders didn’t sneak up on me.

  She went to the coffee table in the middle of the front sitting room and lifted a thick metal object.

  “I’ve devised a little something for you,” she said, giving me a tiny but wicked grin.

  My eyes widened as she approached me. The thing she held appeared to be a wide metal cuff, possibly brass, that she’d unclasped.

  “Your arm,” she demanded.

  I lifted my left arm. As I’d guessed, it was indeed a cuff. She snapped it closed around my forearm well away from the creases of my wrist. It was a very snug fit, with barely enough space for tendons and muscles to move when I flexed my hand back and forth. Magic tingled against my skin and began to spread in a warm rush over me. Then the sensation faded.

  “What does it do?” I asked, lifting my arm to examine the cuff more closely. I couldn’t even see the seam where she’d fitted it together.

  “It will block Eldon’s magic.”

  My gaze whipped up to her orange eyes. “All of it?”

  She cackled. “Yes.” Bringing her hands under her chin in a prayer position, she gave a few little claps. “Oh, won’t he be infuriated?” She was positively glowing with glee.

  I couldn’t help grinning, and I gave her a bow and a flourish of one hand. “Your power is remarkable.”

  “Of course it is.”

  I straightened and looked her in the eye. “You seem to relish battling him. How well do you and the Fae sorcerer know each other?”

  Her brows lifted at the boldness of my question, but she didn’t seem upset by it. She turned and wandered over to a settee with cream cushions and delicately carved wood details, where she sat and spread out the folds of her layer
ed skirt.

  “Oh, not so very well,” she said. A hint of a smile touched her lips. “But we’ve crossed paths a few times over the years.”

  I gave her a sly look. “Would you like to know him better? He is, after all, your male counterpart. And he’s a very handsome man.”

  I didn’t actually think he was particularly attractive, but he had a certain intrigue about him. I seemed to have struck a chord with Melusine, though, and she tittered and waved a hand through the air, looking demurely off to one side.

  “Maybe you should come with me,” I said. “Convince him to abandon the Unseelie and join us. I bet you could. I could tell he was captivated by you.”

  She turned back to me and bit her lower lip for a moment, as if considering it. It would give me a huge advantage to have her in the fortress with me, even if only for a small amount of time.

  But she shook her head. “The High King has ordered me to stay here. With new enemy forces soon to descend on the Summerlands, he wants me here to make sure all of my energy goes into maintaining the ward around the castle.”

  I felt my face fall, but I nodded. “Then that’s what you’ll have to do.”

  She leaned forward a little, and her expression became intense. “Might you take a message to Eldon from me?” she whispered.

  I pulled back a little, surprised, and stumbled a bit over my words. “I—he tortured my father, Melusine. If I see him, I’m—well, I’m going to kill him.”

  She paused, seeming to stare off into the distance. “Hm. Well. Take the message anyway.”

  I frowned but didn’t want to waste time arguing. I’d take a message, but I wasn’t promising to deliver it.

  I expected her to give me a verbal message to pass along to the Fae sorcerer, but she jumped up and went over to the little writing desk in the corner. She pulled a notecard from a stack, plucked up a pen, and dashed off a few sentences. Then she sealed it with wax and magic.

  When she handed it to me, her pale cheeks were flushed. I was absolutely dying of curiosity, but she’d become agitated. She grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around and pushing me toward the door.

  “Off with you,” she said.

  Her shoving was a little much, but I did need to get going.

  “I’m deeply indebted to you for this.” I held up my forearm, encircled with the brass cuff.

  She halted abruptly. “Oh! I almost forgot. It’ll only fend off his magic for a limited time.”

  I lifted one brow. “That seems like an important detail.”

  She flicked a hand impatiently. “I can only force so much magic into one charm. You’ll feel it weakening, so you’ll know when it’s about to expire.”

  “Got it,” I said. “Anything else I should know about the charm?”

  “Nope.” She shoved me out of her quarters. “Try not to die!”

  The door slammed shut. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or curse at Melusine under my breath. At least there was someone in Faerie with social skills rougher than mine.

  I tucked her note into a pouch on my belt, feeling odd about carrying it, seeing as how I didn’t plan to let Eldon live if we happened to cross paths, but taking comfort in the solid heft of the charm the Fae witch had made for me.

  The next few hours passed in a blur as I readied myself to leave. Oberon sent a messenger with a special portal jewel that would take a large number of us through a doorway and into the stone fortress all at once. The glimmering orb was nearly the size of my fist, and it arrived nestled in a velvet-lined box. I couldn’t imagine its value. Oberon had made it clear that he couldn’t support my efforts with official decrees or the aid of Summerlands soldiers, but he was trying to help in other ways, and I was grateful.

  A page came to let me know that Moreau and Vida’s soldiers had arrived and were ready to go. When I reached the yard where they were waiting, my heart deflated a little. Each ruler had promised a battalion, and I belatedly realized I should have asked for hard numbers. Turned out they only provided me with a dozen fighters apiece. But they all looked sharp and fit, and I could tell at a glance that Vida and Moreau had sent me some of their top fighters even if they were few in number. They snapped to attention in neat rows when they caught sight of me.

  “At ease, soldiers,” I barked.

  Moving as one, they widened their stances by half a foot. I walked their ruler-straight lines, inspecting them.

  Vida’s people rested their hands on the weapons they wore at their hips. Sylphs wielded unique swords that looked impossibly thin and lightweight. I’d seen one once and knew that inside those sheathes the slim blades were carved to look like long feathers. The double-edged swords were incredibly sharp.

  As beings affiliated with the air element, the Sylphs’ entire fighting style was based on blinding agility, lightness on their feet, and fast, vicious strikes. If a skilled Sylph warrior caught you on your heels, she could slash you five times before you even drew your weapon. It was deceptively deadly, as their blades were sometimes poisoned. Even if they weren’t, Sylph soldiers were trained to cut so precisely they’d make an enemy bleed out before he even realized he was mortally injured.

  The Sylphs ran the gamut in terms of body type, some rounder like their queen and others more gangly. Each of them had the same impossibly long, curling eyelashes.

  King Moreau’s people, in contrast, were all animal ferocity. They carried no weapons, as nothing they could wield was as effective as their canine form. They were trained to attack in small packs, and their jaws were strong enough to rip off limbs.

  “King Periclase is our enemy in the stone fortress,” I said. “His military currently occupies there. We must force him to withdraw. The Fae sorcerer Eldon will be there. Let me deal with him.”

  There were some shifting eyes at the mention of Eldon.

  “The foot soldiers Periclase has in the fortress aren’t his best,” I continued. “His top fighters are protecting his kingdom or fighting outside the walls of this castle. He’s already subdued my people, so right now he’s feeling in control. Once we’re inside, split into smaller groups and make your way through the fortress. This isn’t a time for mercy. Periclase will not show you any. A swift and brutal attack is our best strategy. Mow down the Duergar as you have the opportunity.”

  Vida and Moreau’s people had already been briefed on the layout of the fortress, including the area where we’d be entering. I’d chosen a spot near the jail. I wanted to free Maxen and any other important New Gargs right away. I also wanted to be able to arm my people, and I was guessing that the weapons the Duergar had rounded up were locked in the fortress jail.

  I palmed the box containing the deluxe-sized portal jewel, opened the lid, and took out the sphere. Palming it like a baseball, I faced the soldiers. Vida’s people took up one of their whooping battle cries. The Dobhar were shedding their clothes, already growling in anticipation. Their bodies began contorting and disfiguring, each of them disappearing in a cloud of smoky magic momentarily, and then emerging in their canine forms—dogs as big as grizzly bears, with teeth as long as my fingers.

  I shifted the orb to my left hand and drew Aurora with my right. Looking up, I tossed the jewel and whispered the words that would take us through the netherwhere.

  The orb exploded with shockingly bright light, and then the dark chill of the void claimed us.

  I didn’t know if my people would see me as an enemy for killing Marisol and taking her place on the Carraig throne or a savior for trying to reclaim the fortress. I was about to find out.

  Chapter 7

  THE SYLPH SOLDIERS, Dobhar dogs, and I all emerged simultaneously in the hallway outside the stone fortress jail, thanks to the portal jewel. Vida’s swordspeople made quick work of the half dozen or so Duergar we surprised in the immediate vicinity, some of whom had been blown backward by our abrupt arrival. But others had seen us from a distance and were already running to alert their captains.

  The Dobhar and Sylph broke into groups of t
hree and began spreading out.

  I whirled around and punched my heel into the double doors of the fortress jail, blasting them open with surprising force, actually bending hinges. Magic flowed from my blood to my skin, forming armor. A couple of Duergar were on duty in the jail but had clearly been messing around on the job. One of them still had his feet propped up, and he was looking at me with the shock of a man suddenly awakened from a nap.

  The other was slightly more on top of things. He reached for his short sword, charging me. I batted his arm hard with Aurora and then rammed the end of my blade through his diaphragm.

  Scooping up the fallen short sword, I lunged at the door and shoved the blade through the door handles, creating a makeshift lock. I turned just in time to strike the other guy’s oncoming sword. Metal clanged, and Aurora shone with yellow-orange light, flaring brighter as I pushed magic into the blade.

  The soldier was still sleep-slow, and my connection with Aurora quickened my reflexes. When he swung again, I easily ducked under his arm, came up behind him, and ran him through with a forceful stab angled up under his ribcage. He fell forward, and I jerked my sword free. For a moment, I just stared. I’d just pierced clear through armor. Adrenaline and Aurora’s power combined with my magic and seemed to give me additional strength.

  Shouting and banging at the door snapped me out of my daze. I turned and ran to the reception desk, frantically searching for the controls of the jail cell doors. A tablet lay off to one side, but I found its charge had died. Controls, controls . . . Or keys. Keys would work. I scooped up a heavy ring with a mess of long, intricate keys hanging from it.

  The door leading back to the hallway that ran along the cells was unlocked. I made a tsking noise. Sloppy. But the Duergar carelessness was my good fortune.

  I skidded to a stop in front of the first cell but then thought better of my choice and continued on. I needed to get Maxen out first, and he’d be held toward the back in one of the warded cells.