The Faerie Queen (The Faerie Ring #4)

by Kiki Hamilton

  There was something about the prince’s manner that struck a warning note with Dain. “I can take a message to him, if you’d like. I’ll be joining him soon.” It wasn’t the absolute truth, but the statement held a sliver of fact. Eventually, he would see William again—he just wasn’t certain if it would be this month or next. Assuming he survived Donegal’s attack.

  Leo went silent, indecision evident in the frown on his face. Dain took a chance.

  “Does this matter have something to do with—the Otherworld?”

  Leo’s gaze shot to Dain’s face. “You know of that?”

  Dain nodded. “William has confided in me. What have you learned?”

  Leo hesitated.

  Dain leaned closer. “It’s a very dangerous time between the worlds right now, Prince Leo. If you’ve learned something you think might help William, best to share it with him straightaway.”

  “How long will he be gone?” Leo asked.

  “It could be months.” Dain motioned to the empty townhome. “The entire staff has departed—for their own safety. I’ve just stopped by long enough to gather something William needed and then I’ll be joining him.” He stared hard at the prince, willing him to do his bidding. “What information can I pass on to him?”

  Leo took a quick glance around the dim foyer. “You swear on your mother’s head you will tell no one but William or Tara?”

  “I do.”

  The prince took a deep breath. “There is a very special ring—it holds a truce between our world and—that world.” Leo’s expression grew intent. “William guards this ring with his very life.”

  “The Ring of Ériu.” Dain nodded. “I’ve heard of it.”

  A look of relief shot across Leo’s face. “You have? Excellent. I’ve learned there is other—” he hesitated— “information—in the ring. Important secrets that William and Tara need to know.”

  A vague sense of disappointment washed over Dain. The prince didn’t have any knowledge of value after all. “Is that the message you’d like me to relay? There are other secrets in the ring?”

  “No. I suspect Wills and Tara already know that much. What they don’t know—” he glanced up and down the hallway before he lowered his voice to a whisper— “is they need a mirror to decipher the secrets. That’s what I need to tell Wills.”

  Dain’s brows pulled down in a frown. “A mirror, you say? Are you quite sure?”

  Leo nodded. “But not just any mirror—a special mirror—one that hangs in Buckingham Palace. My mother refers to it as the Faerie Queen’s mirror.”

  LESS THAN TWENTY minutes later Dain and Leo arrived at Buckingham Palace. The carriage driver stopped in the inner Quadrangle and the two young men rushed from the vehicle into the palace.

  “Mother said it hangs in the White Drawing Room,” Leo said over his shoulder as they hurried along the corridor. Elaborate gilded designs covered the soaring walls, interspersed by large, oversized pictures of royal ancestors. Their footsteps echoed on the stone floors as Dain followed the prince, scarcely able to believe the turn the evening had taken. A mirror needed to decipher the secrets in the Ring of Ériu? If what Leo said was true, that in itself, was a well-kept secret—no doubt another layer of protection by Eridanus and Finn to guard the ancient power of the Seelie Court.

  “The mirror is very distinctive.”

  “How’s that?” Dain looked over at Leo.

  “She said the top of the frame bears the carved head of a faerie queen.”

  “Really? I’m looking forward to seeing this.”

  Leo stopped before a pair of immense maroon and gold carved doors inlaid with huge rectangular mirrors. With a tug, he pulled one open revealing a room that seemed to have been spun from gold sugar. The White Drawing Room was one of the most opulent rooms Dain had ever stepped inside. Lavish gilding dripped from square columns and carved ribbons of gold stretched around the room. Light from floor to ceiling windows, as well as from the glittering cut-crystal chandeliers, was reflected in the elaborate gold-framed mirrors that lined the walls, making the room appeared to be drenched in sunlight.

  Dain tipped his head back to gaze in awe at the intricate design of the breathtaking domed ceiling. Gilded circles with triangles embedded in their centers, supported a shelf where rows of winged cherubs were carved. Faeries, perhaps? His lips twitched in amusement. Diamond-shaped embellishments decorated the arches leading to the center square of the ceiling far above their heads. Not an inch of the immense space was left unadorned. In a way, the room reminded him of the Palace of Mirrors when the Seelies were in control.

  Dain dropped his gaze to look about the room in amazement. “There are mirrors everywhere—do you know which one we’re looking for?” He pointed toward a grand mirror that sat atop a fireplace, its frame decorated with a lavish amount of scrolled gold carvings. “Could it be that mirror?”

  “No. That one is much too big,” Leo said. “And do you see a faerie queen on that frame? The mirror we’re looking for is hidden.”

  Dain shifted his gaze to the prince. “Do you know where?”

  In response, Leo hurried to the end of the spacious room and stopped before an ebony-veneered cabinet with a tall mirror stretching high above it. He reached behind the gilded edge and to Dain’s amazement the entire cabinet and mirror swung away from the wall as one.

  Leo glanced over his shoulder with a wicked grin. “In our secret passageway.”

  Dain’s jaw dropped in surprise. “Where does that lead?”

  “To our private rooms. We use this drawing room for state receptions and the like. This hidden corridor is a way to come and go discreetly.” Leo’s voice became muffled as he disappeared into the passageway behind the cabinet.

  Dain followed the young prince through the opening into a small hallway. At a curve in the passageway Leo stood before a small round mirror that hung upon the wall. Dain hurried to his side.

  The mirror wasn’t large. At its widest point it couldn’t have been more than twelve inches. What had once been a gold frame was now aged to a mottled green-blue patina. But most interesting—at the top of the intricately carved frame was a woman’s face, with wings on each side.

  Leo motioned toward the carved figure. “Now this is a Faerie Queen.”

  “Indeed.” Dain said in a low hush. His eyes caressed the mirror, for he knew innately that this mirror was connected to his world. The design, the detailing, the age—this was another piece to an ancient puzzle. His gaze halted on the figure located at the bottom of the mirror. The image was that of a man with ram’s horns protruding from each side of his head. An arrogant expression twisted his features and he wore a headdress with a golden jester’s mask at its crown.

  At the same moment, Leo pointed to the figure at the bottom. “Who do you suppose that is?”

  Dain answered with uneasy confidence. “The UnSeelie King. The dark to her light.” He motioned to the mirror. “May I?”

  Leo moved aside and Dain shifted position so he stood directly in front of the frame, but instead of reflecting his image, the surface of the mirror shifted and undulated until it looked like a fire burned within the glass.

  “What could be the purpose of a mirror like this?” Dain mused as he examined the piece. “One that does not provide reflection, but instead shows us something not in this room.”

  “I don’t know—” Leo reached for the frame and lifted it from the hook from which it was suspended— “but there’s only one way to find out.” He proffered the mirror to Dain. “You must take this to William and Tara—they’ll know what to do.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Dain rode alone in the back of the carriage as Leo’s driver returned him to Grosvenor Square. The mirror rested on his knees, carefully wrapped in a blanket and hidden inside a fabric bag. The Faerie Queen’s mirror. What luck that he’d been at William’s townhome when Leo had come calling.

  He ran his long fingers over the soft fabric that protected the mirror, marveling at
the secret he guarded. All of his senses told him that this was important—a critical link to understanding the powerful clues which Finn and Eridanus had left to the future ruler of the Seelie court—to Tara. Could this little mirror mean the difference between glorious victory or soul-crushing defeat for the Seelie Court? But only if they could decipher how to use it.

  “I will take you to my beautiful Faerie Queen,” he said to the bundle on his lap, “and she will make sense of your true purpose.” He imagined the intricate design of the frame, wondering at the faces carved into the mirror’s border. The Summer Queen and the Winter King. Should he include Larkin when he shared what he’d discovered? Though he’d trusted the faerie with his life more than once, he was well aware of Tara’s distrust and even dislike of Larkin. Perhaps he should leave it to Tara to decide who would know of the mirror.

  He lifted his head and gazed out the window as the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves echoed against the cobblestones. The streets of London were always thick with a diverse crowd: from gowned women in their elegant attire to streetwalkers, one side of their skirts hitched in their belts, plying their trade; from coal-dusters and black-faced chimney sweeps to the finest top-hatted men; and always the street children, so dirty it was all but impossible to tell boy from girl—scrabbling among the mix trying to survive. London was home to all. But here, in the quiet, tree-lined streets between Buckingham Palace and Mayfair, a bubble of gentility existed as though insulated from the darkness of the world. As if air was more plentiful here and one could draw a deeper breath—but Dain knew it was an illusion. There was no safe place in London or the Otherworld while Donegal lived.

  AN HOUR LATER Dain had returned to the Otherworld and stood in the drawing room that was so similar to Grosvenor Square. He had hidden the Faerie Queen’s mirror in his own rooms upon his return to the Plain of Sunlight, waiting for the time when he could give it to Tara alone. On the other side of the drawing room, Larkin held the Cup of Plenty. The glamour had been removed and brilliant colors swirled on the outside of the glass, glowing softly in the firelight.

  “How does it go again?” Tiki looked over at Dain. “The paradox of the Four Treasures?”

  Before he could speak, Larkin answered as if reciting a poem, never lifting her eyes from the sparkling glass she held. “One must possess the first three to find the fourth. The secret of the Fourth Treasure is held within the third: the Ring. One must use inspiration from the second, the Cup, to procure the secrets from the Ring. But one must be a queen named by the first, the Stone of Tara, to retrieve the information.” She lifted her head. “So it’s up to you, Tara. Use the inspiration of the Cup to draw the secrets from the Ring so we may find the Fourth Treasure and defeat Donegal.”

  Tiki sank down onto the couch and closed her eyes. “I just need to…think for a moment.”

  Dain looked over at Larkin. “Have you got a blanket? And perhaps something for Tara to eat before I leave? It’s been a difficult time lately.”

  Tiki’s eyes flew open and she clutched at his hand. “Leave?”

  “Yes. I need to—”

  A knock sounded against the wood.

  “Come.” Larkin called as she set the Cup on a small coffee table in front of where Tiki sat. The door silently swung open and a small figure came in, hidden behind the voluminous crimson-colored dress that was bunched in its arms.

  “Your dress, Lady Larkin,” a scratchy voice said.

  Tiki turned with a jerk. “Ailléna?”

  “I’ll take that before you wrinkle it any further.” Larkin plucked the dress from the diminutive figure’s arms revealing the face that had been hidden by the scarlet material. A long beak nose stretched from a wizened face with fang-like teeth jutting up from the little goblin’s lower jaw. An uglier creature probably didn’t exist.

  “Majesty?” Ailléna gasped and dropped into such a low curtsy her forehead thumped the floor. “I did’na know you were back.” She raised her head and clapped gnarled fingers together, jumping up, her stubby legs pushing her a few inches off the ground. “We’re saved!”

  Tiki held out her hands and wrapped her long fingers around the little goblin’s. “Perhaps not saved yet, but we’re working on it. I’m so glad you were able to come to the Plain of Sunlight. I thought you said you weren’t allowed….”

  “That is enough.” Larkin sneered at Tiki. “Release that dirty Redcap before she bites you.”

  Ailléna yanked her hands free and took several hurried steps back from Tiki. “Yes’m.” She pointed a clawed finger at the Cup of Plenty sitting on the coffee table. “I see you brought the Cup with you.” She drew in a long breath, the oversized nostrils on her beaked nose flaring. “Still smells as wonderful as ever.”

  A tantalizing scent wafted through the air as if a hearty soup cooked nearby.

  Tiki frowned and inhaled. “You’re right.” She looked from Larkin to Dain. “What is that smell?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s making my mouth water.” Dain nodded at the little goblin. “Have you brought food with you?”

  “No sir,” Ailléna gasped, her frightened eyes shifting toward Larkin. “I’m not allowed to eat the food in the big house—just the scraps they throw in the fields.”

  Tiki pushed herself off the couch. “What? They don’t feed you here?”

  “Of course we feed her,” Larkin snapped. She pointed at the door. “Be off with you. You’ve done your job, now scat.”

  Ailléna smiled at Tiki, which looked more look a horrible grimace with her jutting underjaw and huge fangs reaching up over her upper lip, and bobbed her head. “Pleasure to see you, Majesty.” Then she scampered out the door and disappeared.

  Tiki turned to Larkin. “Tell me you’re feeding her.”

  “Obviously, since she’s alive, isn’t she? Now let’s get back—”

  But Tiki persisted. “How is it that Ailléna has come to be at the Plain of Sunlight?”

  Larkin lifted her slim shoulders in an elegant shrug. “I guess we needed some help around the place. Labor has been in short supply since Donegal converted the beggars to UnSeelie soldiers.” She let out a derisive snort. “Though we could probably buy off the lot of them with a loaf of bread.”

  “That smell is gone now, have you noticed?” Dain raised his nose and sniffed. “How strange. Maybe the goblin had been in the kitchens and the smell clung to her clothes.”

  “This isn’t the first time that has happened. When we were in the Palace of Mirrors the same thing occurred—Aillena was with us and suddenly the room smelled like fresh soup.” Tiki gazed at the Cup with a perplexed frown. “The Cup is said to provide sustenance. I wonder—” She reached for the little glass goblet and peered into its depths but the vessel was empty. She tipped the cup as if to pour liquid, but nothing emerged.

  “Maybe it only provides sustenance when there is someone in need,” Dain offered.

  Tiki lifted her head. “That’s brilliant, Dain. We’ll have—”

  “Let’s focus on the main purpose of the Treasures,” Larkin interrupted.

  Dain pulled a blanket from the back of a nearby chair and handed it to Tiki. “Wrap up in this. Larkin will order food and you can rest until I return.”

  “Where are you going?” There was a note of concern in Tiki’s voice.

  Dain pushed his blond hair from his forehead. “I’ve got to find William so he can bring the ring of Ériu back here. It won’t do us any good to figure out the inspiration of the Cup if we don’t have the ring to pry the secrets from—wouldn’t you agree?” He slid his hands into the pockets of his trousers and looked from Tiki to Larkin, waiting for a response.

  “That’s exactly right, Dain,” Larkin replied. “Do you know where to look for him?”

  “He was headed to Edinburgh, I believe. I could…”

  Tiki interrupted. “We don’t need William.”

  Dain’s gaze shifted to Tiki. “You’re right, we don’t need William,” he grinned, “but we do need the ri
ng he guards.”

  “No,” Tiki said softly. “Leave William alone and let him remain safe.” She tugged on the thin braid of gold that hung around her neck and pulled the ring from beneath her clothes. “I guard the ring of Ériu now.”

  Larkin moved so quickly Tiki barely discerned her movement. One minute the faerie was across the room, the next she was standing too close, mesmerized by the blood red stone that hung from Tiki’s neck. “May I?”

  Tiki lifted the ring and gazed at the flickering flame that burned in its depths. She didn’t remove the chain from around her neck, but instead, held the ring out for Larkin to see.

  Dain let out a low whistle, his expression filled with awe.

  “A true-born Seelie queen named by the Cloch na Teamhrach, the Cup of Plenty and now the Ring of Ériu all together in the same room. Three of the Four Treasures are within my sight at this moment.” He grinned like a little boy. “Larkin, did you ever dream you’d see this day?”

  Larkin’s eyes narrowed. “I have been planning this day for half my life,” she snapped. Her gaze turned to Tiki. “You held the Cup while wearing the Ring—did you feel anything? Sense anything? Gain wisdom you didn’t have before?”

  Tiki heaved a dejected sigh. “If there are secrets within this stone, they are hidden from me—and I have no idea how to retrieve them.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “We’ve found a blue gown, hung from the rock cliffs on the far side of the Tor.” Sullivan’s hair shimmered like liquid silver, brushing his bony shoulders as he approached the Winter King.

  Donegal turned from the window where he had been staring toward the band of light on the horizon. “Was it hers?”

  “It had her scent—” Sullivan scowled— “but the hounds lost her trail among the rocks.”

  Donegal smiled, the scarred side of his face pulling down in a grimace. “She knows she’s being hunted and has sent someone to lay a false trail as a diversion.”