by D. R. Perry
“Cassandra Spanos,” Henry answered for his girlfriend. “She always had a kind word for Maddie last year, even though she couldn’t remember her. She's been missing since last August, and we found out she gave loads of info to Hopewell.”
“Except she didn’t.” The boy sat at the edge of the desk, hands covered in spider webs. He looked down. “My mom didn’t tell them anything, except for the times that horrible man used mind magic to force predictions out of her.”
“This is impossible.” Maddie blinked. “Sandra’s too young to have a kid your age. What are you? Nine? Ten?”
“I’m one. Almost. And the name’s Cosmo.”
“Nobu aged him, of course. His mother, too, the poor thing, but that's the price of assistance from a Tsuchigomo.” Hertha Harcourt tied her hair into a knot on the top of her head, then went to work on the thick webbing Cosmo hadn’t been able to tear through. She stopped, though, shaking her head. “Henny, hold this.”
Hertha Harcourt slipped a jade dragon amulet over her head and held it out, but Henrietta Thurston didn’t take it. The two women gazed at each other, the emotion between them nothing like what I’d seen when the headmistress had grieved for Neil with Henry.
“The only conclusion to draw now is that you’ve been helping my ex, Hertha. After everything we've been through together. I can’t.”
“Fine.” I reached for it, but the dragon lady snatched it away.
“You must be crazy. This is a Seelie device.” Hertha closed her eyes. “Henny. It’s not me.”
“I’ve got it.” Henry stepped forward and grasped the chain, taking care not to put his hands on the business end of the artifact. He eyed it though, and I figured he’d touch it eventually.
“Thank you.” Claws sprang from the ends of Mrs. Harcourt’s fingertips and cut right through the cocoon still twined around the children. I made fists so tight that my nails cut into my hands. It should be me rescuing my daughter, faerie courts be damned, but at least Hertha was a mother. She’d be careful since her daughter was trussed up in there alongside mine.
An arm flopped out, longer than I expected, but the right shade and tone to be Hope’s. A leg followed, half the calf revealed in what should have been ankle-length pants. Had they ridden up? The pit of my stomach dropped like I’d been tossed heavenward. No. My daughter had grown.
She slept, so her face wasn’t too different, even with her cheeks less round than a kindergartner’s typically were. But my little girl wasn’t so little anymore, not when she could pass for a fourth-grader. According to Cosmo, she’d stepped up and saved a life. Hope was a full-fledged hero. The kid asleep on her chest proved it.
Her arms cradled an oversized dragon whelp, scales pale green with rounded ridges above her eyes instead of the wickedly sharp horns her mother sported when she shifted. Her tail had fins, not spikes. A water dragon, then. I'd never seen one in all my years at sea.
“They won’t wake up just yet,” said Henrietta. “We’ve got a few minutes, at least. The Tsuchigomo’s magic took a lot out of them.”
“You don’t say.” Hertha raised an eyebrow, then turned her gaze toward Henry. “Don't you have a memory charm or something that will tell us who the informant is?”
“I'm sorry for doubting you, Hertha.” Henrietta pointed at a piece of paper floating in mid-air beside her. “This is Sir Dunstable's confession. It seems the queen ordered him to answer Richard's questions about us.”
“And now he’s Richard’s prisoner.” Hertha feigned a yawn. “Loose ends neatly tied. We don’t have to lift a finger to see justice done.”
“No.” I put my hands on my hips. “You left it to me to rescue your son and his fiancée last spring, and let my daughter give years of her childhood for your baby just now. I’ve about had it with your every-dragon-for-herself attitude.”
“And what are you going to do about it, troll?” Hertha bared her teeth, but I didn't let her get to me.
“What I should have done a long time ago.” I reached into my coat and pulled my wand out of the inside pocket. Calling on my Air magic, I levitated the sleeping girls, binding them to my wand with a tether. “Rescue the people I love.”
I turned on my heel and left, not caring which of them followed me, if any. Once I had the two kids settled in Maddie’s dorm room, I headed for the one old Summoner who could get me directly into the queen’s castle.
Chapter Thirteen
Albert
I stared at the round table’s empty seat. Mine, usually. Fred sat in his, eyes burning with rage. I wondered who he was angrier at, Hopewell or me. Another blow fell across my back, still only the shaft of the cane. It hurt slightly less than the headache an Extramagus’ proximity induced.
“You helped nocturnals. Unseelies.”
“I helped my daughter.” I swallowed a groan as he hit me again.
“She traded years to the Tsuchigomo. A traitor, like her father. When I see her again—”
“Enough, Richard.” A long rustle of fabric told me Her Majesty had risen. “The child knew no better.”
“Perhaps, Majesty. But the dragon did.”
“Just so.” Leather-soled slippers tapped across flagstones. The glimmering hem of Her Majesty's robes edged into the corners of my vision. “You will tell us where you sent Hertha Harcourt, as you’ve told us all about her son and his little friends. Speak the name of your portal’s endpoint. Now.”
“Newport.”
“You lie.” A third blow fell. This time, the shaft of Richard’s cane crushed one of my ribs. "I felt the Unseelie magic."
“To Hope’s mother.” Closing my eyes, I swallowed a sob. I was too weak to protect the people I loved, one who truly needed it, and another who’d only just trusted me again. I was a failure, too weak. Again.
“You see now, my queen, that your knight is complicit with the king’s people.”
“Your Majesty,” Fred’s words came out strained.
“You may speak, Sir Redford.”
“Sir Dunstable is not the only one of your knights with blood ties to the king’s people. Will your prince say the same of me when my year and a day is up?”
“Unfortunate circumstances of birth and tithe have existed since the dawn of man, Majesty.” The simper in Richard’s voice made my blood boil.
“Incorrect.” I tried like hell to push through pain and shame and channel Mr. Spock. “At the dawn of man, the unified courts meant Faerie did not contribute to that problem.”
A whistle and a rush of air sounded above my head, and I shut my eyes against what might be the end but would certainly be more excruciating pain than my worst migraine ever. But the blow never fell. At least, not on me.
“Brodsky.” Richard changed his cane’s trajectory.
I looked up, not quite able to believe the old Summoner had the stones to show his face in the Seelie side of the Under, let alone the queen’s castle. He’d been involved in undoing one of her punishments, after all. That blow from the cane toppled him, and he hit the flagstones with a sick snap and not even a single cry of pain. The old guy must have been through worse. Hadn’t I heard he’d lived through ten years in a Siberian gulag? He passed out after that, the portal he’d opened fading along with his consciousness. But he hadn’t come through alone.
“Gemma?” I shut my mouth, realizing that this was the second question I’d asked her on the same day.
“Watch it, Al.”
“Destroy her!” The queen stepped between us, pointing one long, pale finger at the Unseelie troll captain who dared set foot in her throne room. Brownies like staves shot up from the cracks between flagstones, twisting to tether Gemma and bind her to the spot. She was a sitting duck.
“No.” Richard extended one hand toward the queen. “I’ve got a better idea, Your Majesty.”
Using his cane more as an accessory than something he needed to keep his balance, Richard Hopewell sauntered toward the western window. Facing the king’s demesne, he called out a challenge, on
e his rank as prince empowered him to make.
The Extramagus, bolstered by almost the entire Seelie population, had made his move. If he won against the king, all restrictions on his magic in the mortal realm would vanish. He’d be a full monarch, even more powerful than the queen, and if he married her, he might as well rule the entire Under.
I watched the queen and her power-crazed consort step back up the dais and take their seats. Turning my head so I wouldn’t have to look at them would have been a relief if that hadn’t meant looking at Gemma, who was stuck in a tangle of brownies. I sighed, not willing to make any move to escape, even though I could have.
“Looks like you won’t get that date, Al.”
“This is enough, Gem.” Tapping into the same Sidhe magic the queen had used to call up the brownies, I made one addition she wouldn’t kill me on the spot for. Roses, orange-amber like Gemma’s hair, budded and bloomed all around her. “It always was and ever will be.”
“’Ever’ might not be for much longer.” She smiled. “And if literal flowery stuff like this was the only thing between us, Hope wouldn’t exist. But meeting like this is not enough for me, not anymore. And I’m sorry.”
“Why?” The energy between us grew as I asked her the third question. Neither of us mentioned it. There wasn't time.
“I should have fought harder for you that night you didn’t show up. Should have known it was your family and not you.”
“I blame your lack of a stylish vision-correction apparatus." I pointed at my glasses, where they stuck out of my pocket. "You know what they say about hindsight.”
“Oh, by the way, you owe me now.” Her smile shimmered like sunlight on the ocean.
“Yes. I know. So what’ll it be?”
“Save the world.” Those hazel eyes glowed with a purpose.
“You must think I’m something special.” I shook my head.
“You're a rare breed." Gemma's mouth flattened in what I always thought of as her serious face. "Al, haven’t you ever wondered why a guy with your pedigree needs glasses and gets magically-induced headaches?”
“Watch out, or you’ll cancel that debt before I can pay it.” I shut my eyes, digging through memories to try to figure out the sum of those particular parts. Revelation rose in my mind like the sun. “I have blanks in my memory, Gem.”
“Great Garters! Henry. His mentor, maybe." She blinked. "That’s what the headmistress meant by the right time.”
“Memory Psychics.”
“Yeah. You weren’t supposed to know. I should have told you the second I got here. But Al, you’re not just a Sidhe. You’ve got magus powers of the rarest kind.”
“Silence!” One of the roses covered Gemma’s mouth at Richard’s command.
If I’d paid more attention in Magus Studies, I’d have known right away what she meant. Setting up a duel took time, so I thought I'd remember something before the duel could start. But Richard was too smart for that.
The cane struck my head, knocking my consciousness loose like a boxer’s tooth.
Albert
I woke slowly to the scent and taste of salt. The grit against my face told me we’d moved out of the castle and to a beach. I sat up, not wanting to get sand in my eyes by opening them, but I couldn’t brush it off. My hands hung bound behind my back, so I shook my head instead.
Once some sand fell off, I opened my eyes and looked around. I sat on the beach, up past the tide line. Gemma, still bound by Brownies and roses, sat sleeping nearby. The section of beach we occupied was right at the border between the Seelie and Unseelie demesnes, with a set of amber banners on our side and another of indigo on theirs.
A dueling square had already been marked out in the sand, its borders made of silk. Over my shoulder, I saw the queen’s pavilion where a seat befitting her station sat beside another for Richard. On the other side, where the sand of the beach turned from gold to jet, the king had a similar setup, except he had only one chair.
Drums beat from somewhere in the woods on the king’s side, and I watched, waiting as the Unseelie contingent emerged from the tree line. Duke Neil walked with Duke Ismail, their presences so imposing that I almost didn’t notice Gee-Nome limping ahead and setting their slow pace. The dukes took positions at the two corners on the king’s side of the dueling square.
I wondered who’d stand up for Richard. With less than two year’s familiarity with the queen’s court, I didn’t think it likely anyone would volunteer to marshal the lists on his side, but I was wrong. One person stepped forward, taking the spot that’d be at his left, on the woodward side. My mother. She didn’t even spare me a glance, and I could hardly blame her. I was a traitor twice over, after all.
A series of splashes came from the seaward side, where Ren Ichiro stood shifting from Selkie to human form. He wore a low-slung pair of surf shorts with a yellow and white Hawaiian print and approached the last empty corner without bothering to put on more suitable attire. He caught my eye and rolled his, confirming my suspicion that he’d offered to be there for some reason I couldn't fathom.
The royal entourages arrived, with high-ranking individuals in tow. It didn’t much matter whether said beings were tithed fae, guests, or hostages like the Tsuchigomo who paced behind the queen, unbound even though he was her prisoner. Each person in attendance added to the figurative prestige and literal power on either side.
The king’s people outnumbered the queen’s, although his guests held power at lower levels on average to hers. Portals opened to admit more guests from the mortal realm. The reason Rhode Island was so important to the monarchs was that its contradictions somehow make an eclectic whole. It’s one of the few places in the entire world where portals from both sides opened side by side. They were separate for each court but originated at the same location—in front of the monument at Swan Point Cemetery.
I saw Henrietta Thurston arrive on the queen’s side, red ears poking out of her hair and tails to match trailing behind her. At her side walked Hertha Harcourt, the amulet keeping her in humanoid form. The dragon lady had two children in tow.
I realized one was Hope, although she’d grown at least five inches in height and aged by at least three years. She had one rainbow-hued wing around the other kid, a girl of about ten years. I did not recognize her at first. Her skin was so pale it was almost blue, and her hair was black with green highlights. When I noticed her wearing an amulet identical to Hertha’s, I understood. This was Saya, the dragon child my daughter had rescued from the doom of premature birth.
Henrietta and Hertha stood near the pavilion but the two girls continued on, stopping in front of the queen’s throne. Saya took a knee but Hope stood, chin tilted to look the Seelie monarch right in the eye.
“Your Majesty I, um, humbly request that you release my father and mother, so they can watch this duel just like your other guests.”
“Your parents are my prisoners, child. Dangerous.”
“And so is he, Your Majesty.” Hope held out one hand to indicate the Tsuchigomo. “Yet Mister Nobu is allowed to attend unbound.”
“Your argument is as impeccable as any of your grandmother’s, young Alkonost.” The queen tilted her head toward my mother, then nodded at Fred Redford.
With Richard off suiting up for his duel and not at her side to nay-say, I shouldn’t have been surprised that Her Majesty granted Hope’s request. The smile my daughter gave me as she curtsied her way out of the queen’s immediate presence struck me harder than a blow to the chest. I’d been the one to coach her on courtly speech, and even though she’d declared the lessons boring, she’d absorbed them.
“You don’t deserve this, but I’ll do as Her Majesty bids.” Fred’s tone cut as deep as his blade through my bonds. With a whistle, he ordered away the brownies imprisoning Gemma.
“Nonetheless, thank you.”
“You’d better have a damn good reason for breaking the rules, Al.” Fred shook his head. The veneer of anger didn’t quite hide a weariness I under
stood all too well. Playing both sides drained a person.
“From my point of view, it’s a good reason. I won’t presume to know yours. For the third time, thanks.”
“Fine.” Fred stepped back to his honor guard position near the pavilion.
“Redcaps.” Gemma snorted.
“So I’ve learned.” I shrugged. “Fred means well, and the strict rules of Seelie suit him. But the law here is hard.”
“Tell me about it.” She grinned. “This show’s gonna go on no matter what we do.”
“Yes." I smiled. "We should remain vigilant, as we’ve learned to do as a knight and a captain.”
“Nah." Gemma chuckled. "We should remember our lessons better than that.”
“So it’s all of Faerie we’re protecting, then?”
"And maybe the mortal world, too.” She shrugged. "Same difference to us."
“Considering everything I’ve seen and heard about Richard Hopewell, you’re right.”
"You really know the way to a girl’s heart.” Gemma winked. "Telling her she's right and all."
“Not a girl, a woman. And of course, I know. I’ve loved you for what seems like forever.”
“I never stopped, either. Loving you, I mean, Al.”
“Then there’s nothing we can’t face, Gem.”
“Not even if it ends in disaster?”
“Not even then.”
And of course, it did.
Chapter Fourteen
Gemma
I watched the first group come in from the portal on the king’s side. Henry Baxter escorted a spry older woman with Ed Redford in tow while Tony and Olivia trailed behind. The woman held one of those crocheted shopping bags with something inside. When she saw me, she tugged Tony’s sleeve, then whispered in the black-furred ear he bent toward her.
Tony shook his head, then pointed to Ed. The woman sighed, her shoulders drooping like she’d rather go to bed than attend a duel. She reached into a pocket and handed something from it to the young medium. He stood staring into the trees, oblivious until she tapped him on the shoulder. He pointed at whatever he’d seen. Tony and Olivia both looked, and she put her hands over her mouth. He hung his head. I saw his lips form the name “Bianca.”
