Foxglove

by Aaron McQueen

Finn was stunned into silence as they stepped into the hall. The entry corridor wound around in a snakelike pattern, interspersed with tall tables for people to gather around and chat. Faeries in black doublets and dresses circulated among them, passing out glasses of wine and morsels of food on little wooden plates.

  Maddie snagged a cracker layered with cream cheese and spiced cricket, but she hadn’t eaten since lunch, and the canapes were not going to cut it.

  “Is there more food inside?” she whispered to Finn.

  “Plenty,” he answered with a soft chuckle. “Just don’t eat the plate. Remember, the diplomats are watching.” He stopped outside the dining room, where a short line of people had formed outside the door.

  “What’s going on?” Maddie asked.

  “They’re going to announce us,” Finn answered.

  “What?”

  A woman standing just inside the door belted their names across the room.

  “Madeline Foster and Prince Finn ap Rose!”

  They entered to applause. Maddie bowed, and Finn followed suit. When she straightened up, she couldn’t help but notice the stares and furtive glances pouring in. Suspicious eyes joined warm smiles as she and Finn made their way to the royal table, and Maddie couldn’t began to wonder if it was possible that she had underestimated the significance of asking the prince out on a date.

  “What is ‘ap Rose?” Maddie whispered as they took their seats and a server poured them each a glass of wine.

  “It means ‘Son of Rose,’” Finn answered. “The given name gets passed down from the mother’s side.”

  “You don’t have last names?”

  Finn sipped his wine. “Not traditionally, but it’s not unusual for faeries to take on human-style surnames, especially craftsmen. Smith, Baker, you get the idea.”

  “So, my children would be ‘ap Madeline?’”

  “Unless they’re girls. Then they would be ‘fer’ Madeline.”

  A bell rang, and the crowd began to rise. The lively conversation fell to a low murmur as the usher led Rose into the hall.

  “Honored guests!” the usher shouted. “May I present your host, Rose, Queen of Amaranth!”

  The crowd broke into applause as the queen glided across the room, a dress whose color matched her name trailing behind her. The guests bowed low as she approached the royal table and stood in front of her seat.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said. “This evening marks the end of the first chapter of this city, a hundred years in the making. It is my hope that, as allies and as friends, we will all join together in writing the next.”

  “May it be long and glorious!” Theresa said, raising her glass.

  Rose took up her wine. “To the Veil, Amaranth, and the peoples of the fair folk far and wide.” The guests clapped again, sharing in the toast as Rose took her seat. She whispered to Finn and Maddie, seated beside her. “How was it? Too short?”

  Rose sat at the head of the table with Theresa on her right alongside Maeve. Maddie sat on the queen’s left with Finn, feeling very much on display.

  “It was perfect,” Maddie said as the servers brought out the food.

  Roasted grasshopper, pill bug in the shell, blood pudding-soup, and steaming, fragrant vegetables circled the table. Maddie took generously from every plate as they were passed around, an effort to follow a rather peculiar faerie tradition Rain had outlined during her crash course on formal etiquette. It was bad form to pick and choose, and even worse to take sparingly from what was on offer. The first meant that you weren’t grateful; the second implied that you were worried that the host couldn’t afford to feed everybody.

  “How do you like the food, Maddie?” Theresa asked, passing her a huge bowl of fried cricket legs covered in bright orange sauce.

  Maddie smiled, picked up a leg, and took a bite. It was juicy, and the spicy sauce was off the charts. She grabbed her water and slugged it down. “Fantastic!” she said, gasping.

  Theresa grinned and picked up her bowl of soup. “Glad to hear it. Right, Mom?” She drained the vessel dry.

  Rose put a hand on Maddie’s arm. “I’m glad to see you so happy settling in,” she said. “Normally we don’t put on such a show, but we’re aiming to impress.”

  Maddie asked, “The diplomats?”

  “And you,” Rose said with a coy smile. “I want to get you hooked on the lifestyle.”

  “The lifestyle? You mean—”

  “Can’t blame a mother for trying, can you?”

  Finn coughed as his face turned bright green. Maddie smiled in spite of herself and sipped her water to stop her cheeks blushing. Theresa cackled with glee.

  They spent the next hour talking politics, but Maddie mostly just ate and listened. There were more than a dozen representatives seated at the table and she only knew two of them: Brynna and Ida. According to Finn, the queen’s supporters had been strategically seated among the swing votes, and the voices in those areas were low.

  “How do you think the vote is going to go?” Maddie whispered to Rose.

  The queen leaned back in her chair, glancing down the table at Delilah. “I’m not sure. It’s going to be very close. Our friend from Aster has been working overtime. She’s capable of offering far more in exchange for votes than I am, and I’ve promised more in trade concessions and tribute in the last week than I ever thought I would in my life. It’s like an auction. The only difference is we’re bidding for our freedom, and no one knows what the other side’s offering. At this point, it’s so muddled…” She trailed off and sipped her wine. “I just hope it’s enough. If we’re lucky, your personal appeal will help them understand that there’s more to this than money and sacks of grain.”

  The dinner bell chimed, and Maddie glanced over at Finn. As the queen stood up, the whole room got to their feet. Maddie’s shoulders sagged. The time had come for the part of the evening she had been looking forward to the least.

  “Do I have to do this?” she asked Finn. “What if I mess up?”

  “Relax,” he replied. “You’ll be fine, and you look gorgeous.”

  Maddie took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Thanks for the dress. It’s beautiful.“

  The servers cleared away the dishes and tables with mystical precision. In minutes, the floor was empty, and a soft tremble of music grew in the air. Rose put out a hand to Brynna.

  Maddie raised an eyebrow. “They’re going to dance?”

  “Brynna doesn’t have any family here to dance with,” Finn said. “Her husband is back in Thistle watching their kids. Theresa is going to dance with Hale, the son of the envoy from Hawthorne.”

  “Hawthorne?”

  “It’s in England. The ambassador is one of the undecideds, and she’s hoping to set them up.” Finn pointed with a nod and Maddie looked over. Hale stood in the corner in a white doublet and tall, leather riding boots accented with gray, an outfit to match his lean frame and pale blue eyes.

  “He seems nice,” Maddie said.

  Finn took her to the edge of the dance floor. “My sister doesn’t like him very much. Apparently, he’s too brash. There’s no way it’s going to happen, but my mother’s hoping it will be enough if we make it look like he had a chance.”

  The couples began to dance, first Rose and Brynna, then Theresa and Hale. Maddie watched them as they waltzed across the floor in daintily rotating squares. Maddie wrung her hands nervously as the first selection came to an end and the dancers left the floor.

  When faeries dance, the woman leads, Maddie thought. It was an old saying that Rain had been careful to impress upon her. The first dances were the prerogative of the hosts. Theresa and Hale selected the next, and Maddie cringed as she watched the princess twirl rigidly around the room.

  “She does not look happy,” Maddie said.

  Finn chuckled. “The things we do for politics,” he replied, leaning in to whisper in her ear. “You may be the Foxglove, but I should tell you, dating royalty probably isn’t going to be a bed of roses e
ither.”

  “Then I guess I should wish us luck,” said Maddie.

  Finn squeezed her arm gently as Theresa and Hale left the floor. “Our turn.”

  Maddie took a deep breath. She’d been hoping to pick the waltz. It was the easiest, and while it wasn’t technically a faux pas to repeat a previous selection, she suspected that the guests would be expecting more from the prince’s consort. Luckily, she’d insisted that Rain teach her a backup. The courante.

  The dance hadn’t survived the test of time, but the steps were easy to remember. Bend… step, step, step. She took Finn by the hand and stepped onto the floor. The musicians recognized the form and began to play.

  Bend… step, step, step.

  Bend… step, step, step.

  Maddie did her best to smile as she and Finn went through the motions. Her heart pounded as she fought with every fiber of her being to avoid breaking out in a cold sweat.

  “You okay?” Finn asked.

  “Just fine,” she answered rapidly.

  His hands shifted down to rest on her hips. The supple silk of her dress revealed every detail of his touch.

  “Hey…” he whispered. “It’s alright. Look around. They love you.”

  The music slowed to give the other guests a chance to join them on the floor. Here and there around the room, Maddie caught a subtle nod or a little bow. When the music ended, she led Finn off the floor into the corner, where they headed down a twisting corridor until they came to a balcony. Maddie walked out to the railing, and Finn came up behind her and put a hand gently on her back.

  “Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked.

  Maddie turned around and laughed. She honestly didn’t know what to say. Giddy energy bubbled in her chest.

  “I just led a dance at a royal banquet,” she said.

  He gave a beaming smile, and his eyes glittered as he held her waist. “You did.”

  Maddie giggled.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  I could end up royalty, she thought. She wondered what her mother would think, knowing where she’d arrived and the strange path she’d taken. She would probably be proud. And it felt good.

  “Nothing,” she answered. “It’s just funny how things turn out.”

  Finn let her go and leaned on the balcony railing. “Not bad though, right?”

  Maddie turned and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Not too bad.” He practically turned to stone.

  The door behind them opened, and Theresa poked her head out. “Maddie? Are you out here?”

  Maddie blushed as she turned around. “Yes.”

  Theresa looked between Maddie and the prince and grinned. “Sorry to spoil the mood,” she said, “but—”

  Maddie cut her off. “It’s time.”

  A Century in Review

  “I fail to see a problem,” Rose said.

  Delilah scoffed, standing opposite her. Two dozen other ambassadors sat around the table, which extended away from the throne and deep into the shadows beyond the light.

  “Really?” she said. “That’s odd, because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you can’t even control your own territory. The Erlkin inhabit the Veil less than a hundred miles from this very spot, and not only do they pay neither taxes nor tribute, but they raid your settlements with impunity.”

  Maddie stood behind the throne beside Maeve and Theresa. Finn stood against the wall behind them. Only the representatives were permitted to sit.

  “Is this everybody?” Maddie whispered. “Where’s Ida?”

  “Absent on instructions,” Maeve whispered back. “Her city ordered her to abstain from the vote and stay in her quarters. They don’t want to be involved in what happens here.”

  “But I thought they were on our side?”

  “At least they’re not voting against us,” she said. “Now, be quiet.”

  Rose slid a ledger across the table. “Not with impunity. My jails are full of Erlkin brigands and thieves, but their common ancestry does not make them a nation. They have not been one people since the dissolution of the monarchy.”

  “You are naive,” Delilah said. “Gwynedd is the oldest Erlkin alive, and she is their queen, whether the fact serves you or not.”

  “It is wrong to extract tribute from a broken society.”

  Brynna leaned forward into the conversation. “Besides which, competing claims on territory are hardly disqualifying. Even Thistle has its share of insurgents and border disagreements, and our kingdom is one of the oldest in the world. I would say that having to manage internal disputes is a prerequisite of politics. If anything, it strengthens Amaranth’s claim.”

  “And have you managed them?” Delilah said to Rose. “Or have you left them, bleeding like a dagger in your side?”

  “Not everyone is as eager as Aster to stamp out their malcontents,” said Brynna. “Would you have her burn their city to the ground? Put its citizens to death? Those would hardly be the actions of a leader.” Half a dozen others thumped their hands on the table in agreement.

  Delilah was unmoved. “A kingdom that cannot assert its own sovereignty is not a kingdom.”

  “I am asserting it,” Rose said, rising to her feet. “Right now. Amaranth has no need for Aster. We are capable of caring for our own, along with any person who passes through our territory, and we will continue to do so, just as we have done for the past hundred years.” The queen shifted her gaze from the table and gestured for Maddie to come forward. “This young woman was attacked in the woods, a human girl, who crossed into the Veil by chance. We rescued her, healed her wounds, and she has made this place her home. I invited her here to recount her experiences so that you all might understand the care and comfort afforded by our city, its protectors, and its citizens. What better measure of our claim could there be?”

  The ambassadors gave a rumble of support. Delilah sat down, grumbling.

  Rose put her hand behind Maddie and ushered her gently to the table. “Go ahead, Maddie,” she said.

  Maddie pressed her hands to her sides to stop them shaking as the ambassadors stared her down. Their luminous eyes winked in the dim light. Rose was counting on her. Freedom. War. Political upheaval. It could all be riding on her next few words.

  And I thought I was under pressure when I took the SATs, she thought.

  “Thank you for hearing me,” she began, bowing. “It’s an honor to address this assembly.” There was no reply. The ambassadors sat quietly, attentive as Maddie went on. “It’s impossible for me to express my gratitude. I would have been killed if it hadn’t been for Rose and her wardens, but the truth is that my rescue was only the beginning of a part of my life that… transformed me.

  “I was an ordinary girl, with a family and friends. I went to school and worked hard, but I never really knew where my life was going to take me, and if you had asked me to guess or imagine or even to dream, I still wouldn’t have come up with anything as strange and wonderful as the Veil. Thanks to Rose, I’ve come to know its people and their culture, continued my education, and earned an apprenticeship with her royal practitioner.”

  Brynna clapped, joined by a few others at the table.

  “I look forward to the future,” Maddie said. “A future that would not have been possible without Rose and the people of Amaranth, some of whom have become my close friends, and others…” She took a moment to look back at Finn. “More than friends.”

  She turned back to the table. “Rose told me that a life is something you build. She didn’t have to help me, but she did, and she did it because she believes in protecting and enriching the lives of the people around her. I would have withered away if I had never come to this city, and any place that is capable of that kind of healing, and any woman that is capable of that kind of love and leadership, deserves the recognition you are all about to vote on.”

  The table applauded. Maddie felt her heart lift as Rose got out of her chair and wrapped her up in a tight embrace.

  “Thank you,” Ro
se whispered in her ear.

  Maddie whispered back, “I hope it was enough.”

  As the applause faded, a single pair of hands continued to clap.

  “A fine speech,” Delilah said. “But it’s a fraud.”

  Brynna’s fist hit the table. “That’s uncalled for,” she said. “There is no basis for calling these women liars.”

  Delilah rose out of her seat like an approaching storm cloud. “Isn’t there?” she said, addressing the table. “Friends and colleagues, it is my sad duty to inform you of an infamous and terrible truth. There is a conspiracy in this kingdom, to seize power. If we do not give the Queen of Amaranth what she wants, she has positioned herself to take it from us. This vote is a sham. Rose has seen to it.”

  Brynna laughed. “Ridiculous,” she said. “We’re all sitting right here! The armies of our nations stand ready to uphold the result of this assembly, and with the deepest respect to Rose, in the face of that, what could she possibly do to override our decision?”

  Delilah fixed her eyes on Rose, and Maddie shuddered, tracing the lines of her gaze up the table to meet the queen’s hard expression.

  “Would you like to tell them?” Delilah asked.

  Rose kept silent.

  Delilah swept her hand around the table. “This assembly has gathered in good faith. Would you like to explain why this so-called nation of love and leadership has brought a weapon of mass destruction into their midst?”

  The ambassadors sat up, heads pivoting as they scanned the room. The guards stood against the wall, swords still in their sheaths.

  “Not the soldiers,” Delilah said. “The danger cannot seen with the naked eye.” She lifted her arm and pointed straight at Maddie. “It’s the girl.”

  “What are you talking about?” Brynna said with a scoff.

  “This woman is not human,” Delilah answered. “She is an ancient weapon, recovered from the human side of the Veil barrier, disguised as a girl to keep us from discerning her true purpose: to provide a lever for Rose to exert political control beyond her borders, and perhaps to embark on a conquest of the Veil itself.”

  “An ancient weapon…” Brynna said. “You’re talking about the Foxglove.”