Fieta shook her head. “I knew they could do that, but…” She tossed the dregs of her mug into the fire, making the flames spit. “It was so much easier on the nerves when I thought you were making up women, Van.”
Vandra snorted. Maybe the populace of Parbeh would also refuse to believe the seelie existed. Though how they could be presented with a creature as lovely as Lilani and still want to deny her existence…
When she looked up, the twins were grinning, though Pietyr’s look was far kinder. “When you make up women, Van, you don’t do it by halves,” he said. “She’s lovely.”
Vandra shrugged through her embarrassment. “As if that matters.”
Fieta’s grin widened. “You sure noticed. Babbling like a schoolgirl.”
Heat rushed to Vandra’s cheeks. “I was not!”
The twins glanced at each other as if they’d scored a point. Vandra glared at them then crawled into the tent. Even with the teasing ringing in her ears, she was happy Lilani followed her into her dreams.
The next day, Vandra wanted to bypass Saribelle and continue on, but the twins reminded her that they’d never make it to Parbeh before the day was through. And the deeper they went into habitable areas, the more likely they were to run into trouble. They stayed at the same inn, and while it felt lovely to have a bath, Vandra’s mind worked too hard for her to enjoy anything. She longed for past days of research, when she could ignore pesky concerns like time and sleeping and eating.
Then her thoughts would tip toward Lilani: her hair, her aura, and the pointed tips of her ears. The distance between them was an uncomfortable ache, like a freshly pulled tooth she couldn’t stop searching for.
When they reached Parbeh the next day, Vandra made directly for the Assembly House, knowing Ariadne would be there. Even though she was tired, with an aching back, she couldn’t wait. She felt the pressure of the tattered metal inside her pack, had felt it oozing into her consciousness.
When they marched into the Assembly House, they were directed to an antechamber, the only area open to the general public. Everyone stared at their dusty clothes and large packs. When a junior clerk approached them with a disdainful sniff, Vandra was ready to yell at him simply for being alive, but Pietyr introduced them as guests of Ariadne. The clerk’s sneer turned into a look of such surprise as he checked his list that Vandra nearly laughed at him. Ariadne had left orders that Vandra be admitted to her office. There they had to wait again, and Vandra refused to sit, wanting to pace if she couldn’t start her research.
When Ariadne finally came through the door, Vandra started talking, and the entire tale spilled out in a rush. To her credit, Ariadne didn’t seem as perturbed as Vandra would have been in her place. She sat behind her desk and took everything in without expression. Vandra supposed she’d had plenty of practice doing that while listening to political opponents.
Once Vandra finished, Ariadne stared over her interlaced fingers. “You have this piece of metal with you now? Is that what this…miasma about you is?”
Vandra shifted as if Ariadne had said they smelled bad. Which they probably did. “Yes.”
Ariadne scribbled something on a piece of paper. “This order should get you all the equipment you need to study the metal, but I want you to wait until the students and other professors have gone home for the night.” She scribbled another note and handed it to Fieta. “And this will get you two more time off so you can guard Vandra’s door.”
Vandra swallowed hard. “What about the seelie? What if I can’t run the experiments I need in time? What if the other pylons…” She took a breath and tried to relax, but her back felt like a sack of knots, and a headache that had been threatening for hours was pounding through her temples.
Ariadne smiled, calm as ever, though the dark circles under her eyes said she was tired, too. “I’ll send some trusted runners to the other pylons.” She took a deep breath. “And the monarchs will need to know what’s been going on now that we have proof, and now that we’ll have visitors. Tomorrow afternoon, I should be able to bring you before the assembly.”
Vandra’s stomach burned just thinking about it. “Great.”
“Don’t worry,” Ariadne said with a grin. “They’ll have lots of questions, but I’ll be with you the entire time. Stick with the facts.”
Except this wasn’t just about facts. She’d heard that some in the assembly wanted everyone around them to fail so their successes looked even more impressive, and others might dispute everything Vandra said just because she was tied to Ariadne. Some professors acted the same way. They wanted any supposed rivals to be discredited, no matter what.
Ariadne got up and laid a comforting hand on Vandra’s shoulder. “You’ll do fine. Just tell the truth.”
“About everything?” Vandra asked. “Even the seelie?”
Ariadne sat on her desk. “They’re already coming, so yes. I’ll send a message to the head assemblyperson, and she’ll tell the five monarchs before the assembly meets. We’ll stress that the seelie volunteered to come. You did not invite them on anyone’s authority. There might be some political maneuvering, but we’ll have to hope that most of the assembly will see an opportunity rather than a slight.”
Vandra nodded again. “Sounds like very murky waters.”
“Get some rest,” Ariadne said as she stood. “And maybe don’t tell your parents you’ve come back just yet.”
Vandra chuckled tiredly. They’d shared many parent stories, and Ariadne was right. If Vandra’s parents found out she’d returned, there would be demands for dinner and information. Better that they found out what had happened as the city did, never mind that it would take them weeks to forgive her for holding back the juiciest gossip of the century.
Chapter Nine
When Lilani went outside the next morning, the seelie Court had a murmur running through it. It hadn’t taken long for word of her trip to Parbeh to spread, and whether people supported her or not, everyone was talking about it.
Her mother hadn’t given any orders to keep quiet, so Lilani answered questions freely, trying to gain information on humans as well as spreading stories about Vandra’s curiosity and friendliness. She tried to speak as eloquently as possible, but after too many concerned or shuttered looks, she felt as if she was trying to walk unaided up the side of the Highpeak.
She heard tale after tale of murder and deception, many of them familiar. Even the seelie who’d never met a human, who never cared to, felt the need to reiterate how nasty humanity could be. Most said she shouldn’t go. They spoke calmly, and that made Lilani’s teeth ache more than if they’d yelled or panicked. But extreme reactions weren’t the seelie way. Instead, they had endless discussions with calm, cool voices saying the same things over and over. Lilani finally fled into the orchard behind her house and climbed a tree just in case any of the worriers followed her. She didn’t think her mother would take it kindly if she left the Court again.
“Lilani?” Faelyn’s voice soon called.
She opened her mouth to reply then shut it. She’d rather eat glass than hear another lecture.
“Don’t make me search every tree in the forest.”
She smiled. If he could joke, he couldn’t be that angry. “Up here.” When he climbed up beside her and settled in, she said, “Please tell me you’re trying to get away from all the naysayers, too.”
“I’m not going to lecture you, if that’s what you’re asking. I’ve met some humans I liked.” He nudged her shoulder. “And some I didn’t. But I wouldn’t try to convince a relative of Awith’s that humans can’t be in her future.”
She sighed. “Why do our people have to talk everything to death?”
“You’d rather they used their fists?”
“Like the humans?” she asked, rolling her eyes.
“Some of them. You have to be prepared for the bad with the good.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “That sounds dangerously close to lecture territory.”
&nb
sp; “I’m a teacher. We teach.”
“I won’t disobey the Guard. I won’t…deliberately disobey you.”
He snorted. “Yes, your mother told me I was going. Thank you for bringing me into it.” He nudged her. “And don’t think that ‘deliberately’ floated right past me either.”
She sighed. “I’m not going to run off and—”
“Even if Vandra invites you to do a little sightseeing?”
She blushed, happy she couldn’t look him in the eye from her position. “You can come along.”
“Very gracious of you. And the Guard will come, too. You and your intriguing new friend will not be getting any alone time.”
She leaned back, giving him an appraising glance, trying to see if he was really upset or if this was just his usual sarcasm. “Aren’t you curious at all?”
He shrugged, and she didn’t know if that meant he was or wasn’t. Like he’d said, he’d known humans in the past. If she’d had some history with humans, meeting new ones would have made her even more curious to see how they’d changed. The thought excited her, but he seemed calm as ever. Maybe she could shake him up, get some real feelings out of him, something that wasn’t a rehash of the past.
“I want to see them use their fists,” she said.
He blinked at her.
“Not on me,” she said. “Or any seelie. I want to see them argue, to get mad or excited, anything. I think they can help us as much as we can help them, Faelyn. We can keep our eyes open for treachery; we can learn from our mistakes. Maybe we can finally forgive, too. And their capriciousness can breathe new life into us.”
“There are many who won’t want that.”
She nodded. “But once we break our forced exile, those who want to get to know the humans will be free to do so. Surely there will be humans who want to get to know us, too. We can explain to the humans why they can’t come here. The magic makes it too hard for them. And if that means they won’t let us into their cities, either, maybe we can make new places where humans and seelie are welcome.”
He gave her a kind but patronizing look. “Beginning a relationship by saying someone isn’t welcome in your home? Sounds like something I might do.” He sighed again. “Most probably won’t mind us coming to them. Some won’t want us to leave, especially when they learn about our natural magic. They have a hunger for syndrium. They may want to wring it out of us.”
She shuddered at the image and remembered what she’d said to Vandra about her magical field. Maybe she shouldn’t have done that, either. “We’ll have to be careful about what we say.”
“Lying and saying they can’t visit us? Better and better.”
“If you keep being cynical, I will shove you out of my tree.”
He chuckled and held up his hands. “Teachers also make up problems for the students to solve.”
“Incidents will happen,” she said. “But we can’t let that stop us. I have to believe that the good will outweigh the bad.” She clenched a fist, willing that statement to be true.
“And if it doesn’t?”
Then humanity was doomed, but she didn’t say it. They hadn’t made the pylons without seelie help. They might not be able to repair them without it, either. Once they knew that, they’d have to accept seelie in their lands while also accepting seelie boundaries. She supposed some might want to take hostages and demand help, but if it was already being offered…
“We’ll be friendly but wary,” she said.
He smiled. “My thoughts exactly.”
Now she really did want to push him. “Then why didn’t you say so? Why all those doom-laden questions?”
“To make sure you’ve thought about them.”
“So, it was a lecture! You’re just like everyone else no matter what you say. You’ll be inviting me home to tea in no time.”
He grinned. “Unlike the others, I’m firmly on your side. That’s why I’m hiding up here with you.”
He could have said that from the beginning, but apparently, he had to keep justifying why he was the teacher in their relationship. And glaring at him wouldn’t help. Instead, they leaned together and watched evening fall around them, turning the orchard into shadows. One of the Guard checked on Lilani, but she made sure to ask that no one but her mother know where she was hiding. The murmur of voices drifted over the short orchard wall as the streets were set for dinner, and lanterns bobbed hypnotically in the dark.
Lilani hadn’t realized she was drowsing until the wind gusted over her. She blinked sleepily. The street in front of her house stood abandoned, with only a few hanging lanterns driving back the shadows. Groups of fireflies flashed through the orchard, and the leaves fluttered gently in the breeze, calling her back to sleep.
A soft snore woke her again. Faelyn had fallen asleep, too, resting his head on her arm. She moved to wake him but spotted someone below their tree, tiptoeing through the orchard.
Lilani froze, watching. The figure continued toward the back of her house. Maybe it was one of her lovers thinking to climb in a window as if in some romantic poem. She shook her head. No, she would not enjoy someone randomly appearing in her bedroom. Her friends would know that. Besides, she had too much to think about to relax into lovemaking.
And Vandra kept coming to mind.
Someone wanting to see her mother then. In secret? Maybe they were going to discuss something Lilani’s mother would be reluctant to share. About humans? She had to know. Lilani gently shifted Faelyn’s head onto the tree trunk and slipped down. She drew her magic around herself and shrouded, wondering why the shadowy figure didn’t do the same.
The figure climbed the ivy clinging to the house, heading for the second level, the bedrooms. Lilani gained speed, keeping her shroud tight. Perhaps this poetic lover/conspirator wasn’t good at shrouding and couldn’t do it while moving, let alone climbing.
Lilani grinned. All the easier to follow them, then. Maybe this had nothing to do with her trip to Parbeh and was only someone who was trying to win her mother’s heart. If they paused outside her mother’s bedroom and crooned a romantic song, she would collapse with laughter. Her mother would toss them both out on their ears.
Lilani went in through the back door and hurried through the dark house, knowing the way by memory. She ran up the stairs and paused on the landing, listening.
A faint scuffle from down the hall. She edged closer to the window nearest the sitting room. If the nocturnal climber didn’t go directly to her mother’s window, the sitting room was closest. Another noise came, farther down the hall. Lilani took a few steps, straining to listen.
The sound came again. Her room.
She frowned and moved to the doorway of her bedroom. The shadow eased over the window ledge. Several fireflies drifted through behind it, sparks in the darkness that tantalized more than revealed. Lilani opened her mouth to speak, but the figure tiptoed toward her bed, and she wanted to see what they would do.
Her bedclothes were as rumpled as always. She never saw the wisdom in straightening what she’d only sleep in later. The figure touched their waist and reached for the edge of the bed. Lilani saw a glint of metal, a knife. She pressed her hand to her mouth, her heart pounding. She couldn’t move. The knife glinted as it tore into the cloth of the pillow with an awful shredding sound. Lilani uttered a little cry, and the shadow turned.
And vanished.
Lilani stumbled back as pounding footsteps echoed toward her. Lilani’s magic held tightly, nearly suffocating her as she stumbled away. The shimmer of the enemy’s shroud collided with her shoulder, their shroud flickering, and the knife gleamed again. Lilani fell, knocking into the hall table as the knife sheared into the wall with a dull crunch.
The table clattered and collapsed, sending Lilani and a handful of figurines crashing to the floor. She scuttled backward, hands raking over shards of pottery that bit into her palms like tiny knives.
The pain brought home the notion that she should shriek, alert her mother, but then the e
nemy would know exactly where she was. Or maybe they could see better in the dark, and they were following the trickle of blood and her path through the shards.
“Lilani?” A light flared under her mother’s door.
“Mother!” She rolled, keeping her shroud as she hit the wall and felt along it, looking for a way up, a way out, anything.
The footsteps pounded away, heading down the stairs.
“Lilani!” Her mother appeared at the end of the hall in her long, pale nightgown. She had a needle-like rapier in one hand and a lantern in the other. Her hair whipped around her shoulders. When she spotted the broken figurines, she set the lantern down then vanished, wrapped in her own shroud.
Lilani couldn’t even see a shimmer, and the other form had fled. She let her own shroud drop. “Here.”
Her mother blinked back, still searching the hallway as she skirted the mess and hauled Lilani upright. “What happened?” She stepped between Lilani and the staircase, sword on guard.
“The door,” Lilani said, still struggling to breathe, to have the world make sense. “They headed for the door!”
Her mother took her hand, grabbed the lantern, and headed down the stairs. The front door stood open. Lilani’s mother shut it quickly. “Light the other lamps.”
When the room was awash with light, her mother turned to her. “Tell me what happened.” She glanced toward the stairs as if expecting trouble to rush at them again.
“Someone stabbed the bed, Mother. They thought it was me, and they stabbed it, and then they shrouded and came after me.” Tears began to flow as she saw it happening again, and she clutched her mother’s hand more tightly than she ever had.
Her mother went still, thinking. Lilani nearly cried out for her to move, to offer assurances, protections. She jerked her mother close, forcing an embrace.
“There now.” Her arms went around Lilani’s shoulders, but she didn’t drop the rapier, not yet. “I have you, my heart.”
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