“And there she has remained?”
I shrugged, spreading my hands wide. “She didn’t really have a lot of options.”
“Understandable.” Bod smiled at Anya. “Lass, how did you take on Beira’s mantle? I must admit that is something I’d not foreseen.”
“Nor I,” Anya said. “It was Mum’s punishment. She tried kidnapping the gallowglass’s bride in order to rescue you all, but everything went wrong.”
“The gallowglass? You mean one of Nicnevin’s assassins?” Bod asked. “What poor wretch is saddled with it now?”
“The same man, Robert Kirk, still holds the title,” Anya replied. “I remember you speaking of him often, or at least whenever you got into a rant over the Seelie.”
“You mean Robert is still around?” Bod shook his head. “That one was touch as old shoe leather. He would have made an excellent giant.”
Anya nodded. “Aye, that he would have. Robert’s bride—the one Mum kidnapped— is Christopher’s sister.”
Bod’s gaze slid toward me. Apparently being somewhat related to the gallowglass improved my standing in his eyes. “Beira’s lucky she survived against Robert. How did he strip her mantle?”
“It wasn’t Robert,” Anya replied. “It was Fionnlagh himself what punished Mum.”
“Fionnlagh,” Bod roared as chunks of ice fell from the ceiling and crashed around us. Anya glared at him, then she snapped her fingers and the ceiling reverted to its smooth, unmarred state. “That wee shite is still making trouble for all and sundry?”
“He can’t, not now,” Anya said in a rush. “He’s been imprisoned in the glacier below the palace.”
“Fionnlagh’s trapped in ice?” Bod asked, and Anya and I nodded. “Well, now, that is a piece of good news. Anya, I will take you up on your offer to feed us a bit of supper. Afterward, we shall discuss what else has happened while the boys and I were away.”
SARMI WORKED HER MAGIC—MAYBE it was actual magic, who knows—and soon enough we were seated at a table long enough to fit all of the brothers, and a grand feast was laid out in the great hall. A few weeks ago Maelgwyn had assisted Anya in lifting the concealment wards from the palace, and now it bustled with servants; there were cooks, and chamberlains, and so many maids that dust and grime didn’t stand a chance. We even had a liveried guard, and stables and mews out back. There weren’t any horses or other animals on the grounds, and I thought that was for the best. Who knows what would happen if we filled the place up with polar bears and Arctic foxes.
Supper was a bit chaotic, but it went well. Anya took her place at the head of the table, with her father to her right while I sat at her left. On my left sat Angus, the eldest of the brothers and Bod’s admitted co-conspirator. Angus’s dark eyes tracked everything, from the servants as they moved about the room to what and how much each one of his brothers ate. Let me tell you, they ate a lot.
“Can I ask what it was like?” I asked him. “Under the stone, that is.”
“What do you think it was like?” Angus countered. “It was cold, and dark, and boring.” He pointed his dagger—did I mention that he was carving up his meat with an actual dagger and using the blade to shove it in his mouth?—at Anya. “How did you meet my sister?”
“My sister, Rina, and I used to teach at a university in New York,” I began. “That’s across the ocean, in the United States of America. Have you heard of it?”
“Have I heard of the ocean or America?” Angus countered. “The answer is yes to both. Giants aren’t as stupid as the stories make us out to be.”
Okay, then. “Anya was a student in Rina’s class.”
Angus’s eyes narrowed. “Prowling among the schoolchildren, were you? You find a lot of your girls that way?”
“She wasn’t really a student.” I was not discussing my doomed relationship with my former student and ex-fiancée, Olivia, at the dinner table. Or ever again, if I could help it. “Beira sent Anya to watch over Rina.”
“This sister of yours. She’s special?”
“I like to think so.”
“Karina is quite wonderful,” Anya interjected. “I’ll introduce you to her. I’ll introduce all of you.”
“But not until after we go to the Unseelie Court to visit Beira,” Bod said.
Anya bit her lip, then she nodded. “Aye. We shall go to the Unseelie Court first.”
Bod shoved back from the table and stood. “Let’s go now.”
“But, what about your supper?” Anya asked, clearly panicked.
“I’ve eaten my fill.”
“I haven’t,” Angus said, and the rest of the brothers agreed.
“The lot of them can remain here,” Bod said. “Christopher will host you. You don’t mind, do you, lad?”
“Not at all.” Truth be told I didn’t want to be anywhere near the Unseelie Court during Bod and Beira’s reunion. My sense of self-preservation was too strong to allow that. “We’ll have a great time.”
“Very well,” Anya said. “Da, before we go to the Unseelie Court I must see to something in the land. Will you meet me near the door to Elphame?”
“Aye, I can do that,” Bod said. “Don’t be long.”
“I won’t.” Anya squeezed my hand, then she blinked out.
Bod shook his head. “Always in a rush, that one is. Christopher, can you not impress upon Anya the beauty of taking it slow?”
“Um. How exactly would I do that?”
Apparently that was a funny response, because Bod roared with laughter. “He doesn’t ken how to slow her down,” Bod yelled, and the brothers laughed and slapped the table so hard pieces of it broke off. I didn’t know if I should be embarrassed or call for a carpenter. “What do you do when it’s just the two of you?”
“Best go back to that American school, eh?” Angus said, elbowing my ribs. “Perhaps those schoolgirls can learn you a thing or three.”
I smiled and concentrated on finishing my beer. Having Bod and the boys staying with us in the Winter Palace was going to be great. Just great.
Chapter Three
Anya
I BLINKED FROM THE Winter Palace to Crail, trying my best to ignore the nagging feeling that I’d made a grave error leaving Christopher alone with my da and brothers. After all, he was only a human man, and historically lone humans among giants tended to not fare very well. However, my family was far from the first batch of supernatural creatures Christopher had encountered, and I doubted they would be the last.
Christopher is a strong, capable man, I told myself. He’s no stranger to Elphame’s quirks and tricks. He will be fine.
Just as I resolved to leave my worries behind, I recalled the time Da went to a croft in order to collect their promised tribute of bread and ale, but unbeknownst to Da a new minister had taken over the congregation. That minister instituted many so-called reforms, not the least of which was counseling the villagers against making any new offerings to the old ones. Da flew into a rage at the disrespect, plucked the mill stones from their place in the gristmill and threw them all the way to the top of a nearby mountain.
“Their punishment,” Da had explained, “is to retrieve the mill stones before next year’s tribute is due.”
“But how will they make your bread without the stones?” I asked.
“They should have thought of that before they withheld my tribute.”
When Da next returned to the village the minister was gone and the tribute was waiting for him, every single morsel of bread he was owed along with an extra cask of ale.
Now I stood outside the walker’s modest home, but I didn’t enter it. The workmen were still repairing the damage that had been done by the Seelie King’s rampage, and they didn’t need me appearing out of thin air and giving them the fright of their lives. Instead, images of Christopher in my mind, I went to the adjacent walled garden and found the wights. They were tiny sprites that spent most of their time tending gardens, but wights possessed two other fine qualities: they were fiercely loyal, a
nd they could teleport just as well as I or Mum ever could.
A wight could instantly alert me to any mischief happening in the Winter Palace. Not that I was expecting mischief, but my brothers did bore easily.
“Mistress Anya,” the wights’ leader, Wyatt, said when he saw me. “What brings you to the garden today?”
“To see your flowers, which are as lovely as ever,” I said; everyone knew that to gain a wight’s assistance one must first complement their flowers. The unseasonably warm sunlight bathed the garden in a golden glow, and the blooms were heavy and bountiful. “Pretty as a picture, they are.”
“Mistress, you are most kind,” Wyatt said, his cheeks going rosy.
“I only speak the truth. Might I ask a wee boon of you?”
“Name it,” he said.
“First, I have news,” I began. “My da and brothers are free.”
“Oh, mistress, that’s wonderful,” he said. “Shall I gather a bouquet to welcome them? A garland, perhaps? Will they be by for a celebration?”
“How kind of you. Actually, I’ve an errand I need to see to, and they’ve remained at the Winter Palace. Christopher is hosting them.”
“You left a defenseless mortal alone with the Bodach,” Wyatt said, aghast, his tiny fist clutched against his breast.
“Christopher is not alone,” I said. “My brothers are there, too.”
“Gods below.” Wyatt flew to the far side of the garden and issued a few orders to the rest of the wights, then he returned to me. “Mistress, if it pleases you I would like to watch over Master Stewart until your return. That way if anything untoward were to happen, I could notify you in a trice.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Wyatt. I owe you a favor.”
Wyatt bowed his head, then he blinked away, I assumed to Christopher’s side. I cast a glance toward the cottage, and resolved to check on the construction’s progress another time, then I blinked from the mortal plane back to my home. Da was waiting for me in front of the door to Elphame. I was surprised he was already waiting, but he was anxious to see Mum.
“Shall we?” I asked.
Da opened the door and gestured for me to pass through. “We shall.”
I stepped out of the palace and into Elphame proper. One of the first things Mum had done upon her exile to the Winter Palace was repair the path that led from it directly into the heart of Elphame. Since I’d moved in I also reestablished the path that led to the mortal realm, so Christopher needn’t be dependent on me to come and go from Glasgow.
Da exited the palace behind me and closed the door. I wondered what was going to happen when we reached our destination. I noticed him staring at the charm bracelet on my left wrist.
“Do you like it?” I asked, giving my wrist a shake. “Mum made it for me.”
“It resembles hers a great deal,” Da said. “Does it have the same properties?”
“Mostly.” I slid the bracelet off of my wrist and handed it to Da, and he proceeded to inspect the charms. There were five silver orbs, each of them a receptacle for a different bit of magic. Mum devised the charms long ago, so she could keep certain bit of magical assistance handy without needed to stop and cast a complex spell. When I’d explained the bracelet’s purpose to Christopher he’d likened it to keeping spells fresh in Tupperware.
“Wise of you, to wear such a device,” Da said as he handed me back my bracelet. “When you rise to a position of power challengers come from all directions. Soon enough, you may be challenged for your right to rule the cold.”
“Let them come,” I said as I donned the bracelet, the charms tinkling as I did so.
“That’s my lass, brave down to her bones.”
We followed a curve in the path that brought us past the Winter Palace’s boundary, and into Elphame proper. The ground we waked on was packed dirt, and bramble thickets lined either sides of the path. As we got closer to the Unseelie lands, the brambles thinned out, but the wickedly sharp thorns remained.
“Have you ever been to the Unseelie Court?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. Many, many times,” was Da’s reply. “You handled your business in the mortal realm rather quickly.”
“It was a small thing.” I could never tell anyone, not even Da, I’d sent a wight to watch over Christopher. The teasing he and I would have to endure from my brothers would be relentless, and who knows what Da would do.
We reached a crossroads, and kept straight on. I almost asked Da if this was the same road he’d stomped down when he took out his anger over Mum’s unfaithfulness on Maelgwyn. Gods below, for the second time in an hour I feared I was making a huge mistake. “You’re not going to lose your temper in front of the Unseelie, are you?”
“I’ve never once lost my temper. I have always remembered exactly where I last set it down.” I opened my mouth, but he continued, “I do, however, promise to do my best to not embarrass you.”
I nodded, since that was the best I could hope for. “Thank you, Da.”
“Anything for my best lass.”
Soon enough the Unseelie Court rose above us, a foreboding black castle made of angles and spires that were precariously balanced on the edge of a crag. The whole of it cast a heavy shadow that was unaffected by the sun’s position overhead. Once the sun set, the area around the crag was such a deep, dark black you’d be hard pressed to find your nose in front of your face.
We ascended the steps cut from the living rock; I could have blinked us directly into the throne room, but I wanted to give Mum and Maelgwyn plenty of time to see our approach and prepare themselves. No one appreciated it when the Bodach arrived out of the blue. At least he had remained man sized, though a giant approaching the court would have certainly tested the guards’ courage.
The obsidian-armored guards greeted us, then Da and I entered Maelgwyn’s throne room. The first time I came to the Unseelie Court the room was black as night, with only a single lamp left burning near the throne. Now the curtains were drawn back and the room was filled with light and color. I hoped it mirrored Maelgwyn’s newfound happiness with my mother.
I glanced at Da. He frowned as he gazed about the room, no doubt noticing the same changes I had. I wondered if he attributed the differences to the passage of time, or if he recognized Mum’s influence.
“Anya!”
I turned toward the voice, and saw my blood father striding across the room, his arms outstretched. At my side, Da grunted his displeasure, which didn’t surprise me. I only hoped he would keep his opinions to himself for the time being.
Christopher thought Maelgwyn and I resembled each other enough to be twins. I thought I resembled Mum, but I couldn’t deny how much my appearance favored my father. We had the same iridescent gray eyes, and were both tall and lean. His hair was such a light yellow it was nearly white, whereas mine was the same sunflower hue as Mum’s. The biggest difference in our appearance was our skin, with Maelgwyn’s being so pale it was almost sickly. I must remember to have Mum get him out in the gardens more often.
Maelgwyn saw Da beside me and halted, his head cocked to the side.
“Bod.” Maelgwyn approached us cautiously, as one would a wild animal. That was wise of him. “I was not expecting you.”
“I am certain you weren’t,” Da said. “Is my wife here?”
“Beira is in the courtyard,” Maelgwyn replied. “I can take you—”
“I can make my own way,” Da said, then he lumbered off in the direction Maelgwyn had indicated.
“I’m so sorry to appear unannounced like this,” I said once Da was out of the room. I hoped he was out of earshot, too, but you never knew with him. “We only released him earlier today, and his first demand was to see Mum.”
“Yes, I imagine it would be,” Maelgwyn said. “Are your brothers free, as well?”
“They are,” I replied. “As it turns out no portals were involved. The spell was lying right where the stones met the ground.”
“And of course you divined it all, brilliant lass t
hat you are.” Maelgwyn gestured toward the windows that overlooked the courtyard. “Come. We can watch their reunion.”
“Won’t that be like spying?”
“Yes, it most definitely is spying. It will also be me watching over the two most volatile individuals present, and ensuring they don’t destroy my home.” Maelgwyn grimaced. “I do have some experience with Bod destroying my things.” He leaned closer, and added, “Please don’t take offense, but I won’t be referring to you as daughter while he’s near.”
I smiled. “I won’t be calling you Da, either.”
“Look at us, co-conspirators in our own self-preservation.”
Maelgwyn and I stood at the windows, and I immediately noticed Mum as she wandered among the hedgerows. She’d kept up her habit of wearing red, which before had marked her as an outsider in the Unseelie Court. Then the gardens had been a bleak sight of grays and browns, devoid of life or happiness.
Now the gardens were full of life, with rich greens and blues and vibrant yellows splashed across the landscape. Even the fountains look renewed, with sparkling clean water splashing into marble basins polished to a high sheen. I realized that despite the rainbow of hues Mum was the only living thing clad in red, and I wondered if that was by design.
“Why did you readily agree to tell Da where she is?” I asked.
“Beira is more than capable,” Maelgwyn replied. “If she doesn’t want to speak to Bod, she will make it known.”
“I suppose she will.”
We watched as Mum sat on a patch of grass. Amazingly, tiny purple flowers sprang up around her.
“Is she... Those flowers are growing because of her,” I said.
“Yes,” Maelgwyn agreed. “It’s a most extraordinary thing. Now that Beira’s command of the cold has left her, she’s become quite adept at creating life. All the changes you see in the Unseelie lands are her doing.”
I nodded, unsure if this new aspect of Mum was a good thing. Maelgwyn clearly thought it was, but he wasn’t a good judge of anything Mum did. She could have installed a herd of elephants in the throne room and he would have thought it grand, and added a flock of pelicans to keep them company.
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