To Catch a Queen

by Shanna Swendson

  Taking a cue from her, Michael moved forward and bowed, as did the enchantresses, Eamon, and Emily. A rustling and rumbling rolled through the room behind him, and Michael couldn’t resist a glance.

  The Hunt, still in their renewed form as a royal guard and dismounted from their steeds, marched down the center of the throne room, bowed to Sophie when they reached the front, and took positions to either side of her. Behind them came the free fae and human army Emily had recruited. Following them was a flood of the wild fae, with a few in courtly costumes sprinkled throughout. It looked to Michael like about as definitive a victory as anyone could hope for. It was a landslide.

  Once it was clear where things lay, some of the court members joined in. Even Niall’s former consort went over to give Sophie and her grandmother a perfunctory curtsy.

  It looked like this would go on all day, but Tallulah raised her hands over her head and shouted, “The Realm has decided. These ladies will now be our rightful rulers.”

  The cheer that arose was deafening. Michael could imagine that it echoed throughout the Realm. He was surprised to see that instead of grinning in triumph, Sophie actually looked somewhat humbled, like the acceptance of the people had truly touched her. Her mismatched eyes were bright with tears, and her lower lip quivered.

  Her grandmother looked more serene about it. She gave the impression of someone born to this kind of adulation, nodding and smiling to each person who came before her.

  With a roar of rage, Niall rushed toward the two Drake women, a sword materializing in his hand as he attacked. Sophie moved automatically to shield her grandmother. There was a flash of light, and Michael couldn’t tell if Sophie had managed to block the blow magically or if she’d taken the hit.

  He didn’t stop to find out before rushing to tackle the fairy. He wasn’t sure what he expected to be able to do, but when someone waved a weapon in a crowd, his cop instincts kicked in. Niall easily brushed him aside without laying a hand on him, and Michael went rolling across the dais, barely stopping himself before he went over the edge and down the steps.

  From where he lay, it didn’t look like Sophie was hurt, but she was having to fight magically against both magic and a weapon that seemed to be physical. Suddenly, Niall yelped. Michael hadn’t seen Sophie get in a blow, but then he noticed Beau with Niall’s ankle clamped firmly in his jaws.

  By this time, the leaders of the Hunt had made it up the steps. “You shall not attack our queens,” the lead Huntsman said in his eerie, booming voice. Michael wasn’t sure what the Huntsman did to Niall, but the attack stopped instantly and Niall was being drawn inexorably toward the Hunt, fighting every inch of the way. Beau was dragged behind for a few feet before the dog apparently decided the Hunt had it under control and released his grip.

  When Niall reached the Hunt, he changed. Gone was his tuxedo, replaced with armor. A helmet covered his handsome face, horns growing out of holes in the helmet. “You will now serve the queens for eternity,” the Huntsman boomed.

  The Hunt turned and trooped away, back down the middle of the throne room to the great doors. Michael couldn’t pick out which one of them was Niall. Even Sophie looked a little stunned by this development.

  Jen came over to where Michael still lay and knelt beside him. “Are you okay?” she asked, helping him sit up.

  “Yeah. Probably just a few new bruises,” he said.

  “Good,” she said, but her voice trailed off before she could even finish the one word. He followed her gaze and saw the fairy man she’d been clinging to the last time he was here. The man stared at her like a man fearful of losing a great love—the way Michael must have looked his last time in the Realm when he’d been forced to leave Jen behind. Michael turned to look at Jen, but he couldn’t read her face. Did she still have feelings for this guy? Had she ever had feelings for him, or had that just been part of the spell she was under as a captive?

  Whatever it was, he needed to get Jen out of here as soon as possible. The contest, battle, or whatever this had been was well and truly over. Leonie appeared serene as she gazed out upon her subjects, but Sophie looked utterly exhausted. He met her eyes, and she nodded.

  “I suppose it’s time to go home,” she said, gesturing to her grandmother, the enchantresses, and Emily, who’d picked up Beau’s leash. Coming over to Michael and Jen, Sophie said, “Ready?”

  “Yes, please,” Michael said with great feeling.

  “Can I, really?” Jen asked, her voice shaky.

  “I think so. We seem to have done all the right things. It should just be a matter of taking you through a gateway. There will be some adjustment, of course, but I should be able to leave the Realm often enough to help you through it.”

  “You’re really planning to stay here?” Emily blurted, sounding dismayed.

  “I told you, it’s the only way to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Sophie said mildly, sounding like she wasn’t all that enthusiastic about the idea, herself. “I can’t afford to leave the throne vacant.”

  “But this time, everyone’s seen you win the throne, very definitively,” Emily argued. “It would be really hard for someone else to claim to be the queen now. You could just show up here to hold court every so often and no one would care whether you lived in a palace here or back home.”

  “And then how long would it be before someone decides to challenge my rule on the basis that I’m no longer here? Or what if someone sets herself up as my agent, giving orders in my name? If I’m not here, I might never know, and I’d have no way of knowing how much time has passed in my absence.” Sophie shrugged. “It may not be permanent. I just need to make sure there’s stability. When our ancestor left, it was after centuries of established rule. I can’t expect to swan off after five minutes and have everything be okay.”

  Tallulah came to stand behind Sophie. “She is correct,” she said, placing a hand on Sophie’s shoulder. Sophie twitched as though to shrug it off, then winced and let out a deep breath, visibly forcing herself to remain still. “Your sister must do her duty.”

  Sophie managed a grin. “On the bright side, it’s not like I’ll age while I’m here.”

  “What about Nana?” Emily asked. “You’re just going to take her home and leave her there with Mama while you play fairy queen?”

  “Now you sound like Mama,” Sophie shot back.

  “I’m not saying it’s your duty to stay at home with her. I’ve been the one arguing all along that you need to get out of there. Moving to the Realm wasn’t what I meant. But what will happen to her without you? You’re the one who’s been using that as an excuse all along. But if you wouldn’t leave to go be a real dancer, why are you leaving now?”

  “Because going off to dance would have been selfish. This is a duty. It’s not about what I want, but what all these people need, and keeping our world safe.”

  “Excuse me, but I believe I get a say in this,” Leonie Drake said. “You can’t talk about me like I’m not here. I’m just as much a queen here as you are, Sophie. In fact, I believe I’d be ahead of you in line.”

  “She’s right, Soph,” Emily said. She turned to Tallulah. “Isn’t she?”

  “The order of succession is seldom an issue in the Realm, as the fae are immortal and so few are born,” Tallulah said. “You woke the crown, throne, and palace. She also won the crown. You, however, can’t give it up entirely. You will always be a queen of the Realm.”

  “And there would still be someone on the throne if I stay,” Leonie said.

  “But what about Mama? You can’t just vanish,” Sophie protested.

  “You left a changeling,” Leonie reminded her.

  “She’ll notice when it doesn’t move or wake up.”

  “She’ll just find a body,” Leonie said with a dismissive wave reminiscent of Sophie. “I may have slightly adjusted your changeling.”

  Sophie gasped. “So Mama’s going to wake up in the morning and find your dead body? Oh dear.”

  “It
’ll make more sense than you disappearing would have. What kind of cover story did you have handy?” Her eyes softened, and she took both of Sophie’s hands in hers. “It’s for the best, and you know it. You have a life to live. What kind of life did I have? Here, I’m young and powerful. You wouldn’t ask me to give this up to return to the way I was, would you? I can assure you that your mother won’t miss me. She may act bereaved at the funeral, but she’ll be happy to have me out of the house. About the only person who’ll really feel it will be Bess, but ultimately this is a job for her, and I won’t be the first patient she’s lost. She’s already bracing herself to lose me, and then she’ll have another patient. You girls will be able to visit me here. I challenge you to find a single flaw in this plan.”

  Sophie started to speak, but her eyes filled with tears and no words came out. Instead, she threw her arms around her grandmother in the biggest hug Michael had ever seen Sophie give anyone. “Oh, thank you,” she said at last.

  Leonie patted her on the back. “I’m doing it as much for myself as for you. I want you to get out there and have a life, then come here and tell me all about it. You spent way too much time looking after me.” When Sophie finally pulled away from the hug, her grandmother took her shoulders firmly and stared directly into her eyes. “You will get out of that house and go do what you want. Go dance. Fall in love. Be happy.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Sophie said, nodding.

  “Sorry you didn’t get to sacrifice yourself,” Emily said, squeezing her sister’s shoulder. “I know how much you love martyrdom.”

  “Oh, hush, you.” Sophie pulled herself together and regained her usual aplomb. “Okay, so now I need to get everyone home and probably get back to my own home before my mother finds a dead body and has a heart attack. Eamon, do you think you can take care of Emily and the enchantresses? I need to be able to focus on Jen.”

  “Gladly,” he said with a bow.

  “If I start a band, I’m totally calling it Emily and the Enchantresses,” Emily said. “Good luck, and let me know how things go.” Turning to Eamon, she added, “Can you make it still be morning? I want to get a nap before the show. It’s been a long night.”

  They moved away, and Sophie returned her attention to Michael and Jen. “Let’s get out of here,” she said.

  She led them to the now-familiar staircase that led to the kitchen. It felt good to get away from the pomp and the crowds, and Michael noticed a similar easing of tension in Sophie.

  Jen, on the other hand, seemed more anxious. “Where are we going?” she asked, her eyes moving nonstop as she surveyed their surroundings.

  “We’re going out the back way,” Sophie said. “There are too many people here, and we’ll want some quiet for this. Maybe I should have sent them all back to the valley.”

  “No, I think you need to let them celebrate here,” Michael said. “Symbolism seems to be important in the Realm, and where else would you celebrate a coronation?”

  “I don’t remember this part of the palace,” Jen said as they went down the seemingly endless stairs.

  “It leads to the kitchens and service area,” Sophie said.

  “Oh, no, I didn’t get down here. Why did you? You’re the queen.”

  “It’s my palace. I figured I’d better know about it.”

  “And that paid off,” Michael added.

  Sophie grinned. “Yeah, Niall didn’t think to block off the kitchens when he was trying to keep me out.”

  The kitchen staff were their usual effusive selves when the group arrived there. Sophie greeted them all graciously, not acting like she was at all impatient, but Michael could see her glancing toward the door. “Sophie, we need to be going,” he said, raising his voice above the sound of their fawning. He figured he could play the rude bad guy here and give her an out.

  She shot him a grateful smile and said, “Yes, we must go. But you have a new queen to serve, and I’m sure she’ll be down to see you before long.”

  They made their way out of the kitchen and across the yard to the hidden gate in the wall. The wooded area beyond the wall was peaceful and serene, a welcome change from the tumult in the throne room. “If I were you and could come here anytime, I think I’d be tempted to come here a lot,” Michael said as they walked into the woods.

  “Why do you think I’m so well-acquainted with the kitchen staff?” she asked with a wry smile. Coming to a stop, she said, “This should do well enough for a gateway.”

  Jen cleared her throat and said, “Um, do you mind if I ask what’s going to happen?”

  “I can open a portal between worlds, connecting the Realm to any point in the human world. We’ll come out in Central Park, and then you go home.”

  “Just like that,” Jen said with a little laugh that sounded a touch hysterical. Michael put a reassuring arm around her shoulders.

  “Just like that,” he said.

  “You do this often?” she asked him.

  “Only a couple of times,” he admitted.

  “But what will I do?” Jen asked.

  “Whatever you want to,” Sophie said. “We can come up with a good cover story for where you’ve been. When Emily went missing, I managed to keep the police from prying too deeply, and the mystery just made her famous, which she loved.”

  “Will I age?”

  “You’ll probably catch up to where you were when you left, but that’s only seven years.”

  Jen looked down at her own hands. “I suppose mid-thirties is a little early for liver spots, so I don’t have that much to worry about.”

  “You know, aging is normal in our world,” Sophie said gently.

  “How much has the world changed?”

  “Not too much,” Michael said. “The same sort of things keep happening. Technology moves pretty quickly, but you’ll still recognize it. No flying cars or jetpacks, unfortunately. You’ll want new clothes, and you might want to redecorate the apartment.”

  “Definitely, if you haven’t changed anything in seven years.” Her smile was the closest she’d come to the old Jen since he’d first found her, and he couldn’t help but smile back at her with the hope that this really would work.

  “You missed the end of a few TV series, but that’s what Netflix is for,” he continued. “I think you’ll be surprised by how easy it is to catch up.”

  “I wonder about my career. I’m about at the age when parts start drying up for women.” With a bitter little laugh, she added, “I guess I’d better get used to playing moms. I’ll be demonstrating cleaning products in commercials. I bet they’ve come up with some new ones I’ve never even heard of.”

  “I’m the wrong guy to ask about that,” Michael said.

  “You’re telling me! I can only imagine what that place looks like.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Sophie said. “I don’t think the health department would even raise an eyebrow at his housekeeping.”

  “Is anything going to happen to me when I leave? I heard stories when I was a captive.”

  Michael and Sophie exchanged a glance. “Well, Emily did go through some ordeals that also tested us,” Sophie said, “but she was still under Maeve’s control then. Michael has already gone through all the trials, so you should be free. You’re bound to be affected, as you would whenever you move to a new place after living somewhere else. But don’t worry; we know a lot of people who can help with your transition. You won’t face this on your own.”

  Michael remembered what Sophie had done when freeing Emily and thought of something. “Here, wear this,” he said, taking the fairy shawl out of his satchel and draping it around her shoulders. “I traded something of value for it. The plan was to trade it for something else of even more value, but I didn’t get around to it. But if I’m right about the way this works, that puts you under my protection.”

  “Good idea,” Sophie said with a nod.

  Jen rubbed her palms against her skirt. “Okay, then, I’m ready to go. What do I have to do?”

>   Sophie moved to stand between Jen and Michael, and he reluctantly separated from his wife, reminding himself that soon he’d have her back home for good. “You each need to hold my hand, and then I take you through the gateway. All you have to do is walk.”

  She reached out for both of them. He grabbed her hand perhaps a bit too eagerly, then quickly eased up on his grip. He knew she wasn’t as delicate as she looked, but her hand felt so small in his. Jen took longer to put her hand in Sophie’s, like it was a decision she was weighing. Finally, she took a deep breath, bit her lip, and thrust her hand at Sophie.

  “Here we go,” Sophie said, and together they stepped forward.

  And didn’t go anywhere. At least, not that Michael could tell. It should still have been dark in New York, and it should have been a lot colder than this. He glanced back, and the palace was still behind them. “What happened?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Sophie said, her voice sounding vague, but she was looking directly at Jen, who was shifting uncomfortably under Sophie’s gaze. “I haven’t had that happen to me before.”

  “Well, I didn’t pull an Orpheus and look back,” Michael said.

  “I did,” Jen whispered, her eyes cast downward. “I looked back.”

  “Then we should try again, and don’t do that this time,” Michael said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. He wasn’t angry at her, just frustrated at the situation. After all these years, he was so close, and now things were going wrong.

  Jen looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Michael. I love you, but I can’t go back there.”

  “We can live somewhere else. Anywhere.”

  “That’s not what I mean. I don’t think I belong to that world anymore.”

  Trying not to sound too desperate, he said, “You don’t know that.”

  “I know it’s hard for you to believe, but I’m happy here. I have friends here. You may not have moved on, but I did. You’re the only thing I have left in that world, and that’s why I was willing to try. I know what this means to you.” Her voice broke in a sob. “I just can’t.”