The crone, barely concealing a grin, held up a mirror.
A hunched scaly creature stared back. She’d turned me into a hobgoblin.
“What the actual fuck?” I croaked.
“You’re welcome,” said the crone. “Your magic is entirely hidden. It’s a good job, if I do say so myself.”
“For how long?”
“Three hours. Don’t look at me like that. As a lesser fae, they’ll look right past you. They’ll think you’re a servant.”
“And Cedar gets to stay in human form?” I shot him a glare.
“He’s accomplished in imitating nobles,” said Gladys. “You… I don’t know what you do.”
“I’m a thief,” I croaked. “A thief and a Sidhe-killer. If this doesn’t wear off, I’ll turn you into a lawn ornament.”
I turned my back, shouldering the door open, and damn near tripped over the threshold with my clumsy goblin feet.
“Raine,” Cedar hissed, closing the door behind us. “It’s okay. It won’t be permanent.”
“I can’t even see properly from this height,” I growled. “Let alone sneak around. You know who this Lord Niall is, right?”
“Yes. It’s as I suspected. We can get into the event’s location through the front doors, but once our task is complete, we’ll have to sneak out through the back. There’s a tunnel behind the tree at the back of the hall. I’ve never used it, but I’m told it comes out somewhere in the forest.” He spoke in a low voice. “Before then, we need to pinpoint which guard is holding the talisman. It’s in the form of a key with a stag carved into it, and the guard usually wears it around their neck.”
“Gotcha,” I said, recalling the details of our plan. “So we figure out who carries it, create a diversion, and steal it. I’ll do the hypnotising part, and you…”
“I’ll take it,” Cedar said. “The royal I’m disguising myself as would have an alibi for holding the talisman, if it came to it.”
“But I have to play this… thing.” I looked down at myself in disgust.
“Your magic is distinctive,” he said. “They’d never guess it came from a hobgoblin.”
“I feel so honoured.” I scowled. “Why would they carry something so important around at an event like this?”
“It’s deliberate.” Cedar exhaled in a sigh. “They’re too confident that nobody will ever act against them. So few actually know the code to use the talisman on the gates to the centre of the Court. I hope Lady Whitefall doesn’t, but considering she’s worked out this much…”
“What if she’s there?”
“That,” said Cedar, “depends on whether she wants a Court left to rule over.”
“I honestly don’t know if she does.” My voice shrank to a whisper, and the rasping overtones of my nasally hobgoblin voice didn’t help at all. “Winter’s more open to her. Coming here—it feels like we’re missing a crucial piece of her strategy.”
“She could want any one of a hundred things,” said Cedar. “To weaken Summer’s defences. To spike a war with Winter. To draw out the Sidhe. Anything. In any case, we’re unlikely to get a better chance to strike than this evening, and if there are any signs of her there, stopping her is more important than not exposing ourselves.”
Though it might mean death sentences for both of us, even for trying to protect the Seelie Court.
“When this is done,” I said, “I’m never working with the Courts again. I’m retiring.”
“Let’s hope we get that option,” he said.
Chapter 9
Experiencing the forest as a hobgoblin made the vast areas of Summer seem even more tangled than usual. My legs were shorter than I was used to and kept getting caught on the undergrowth, though my feet were twice as long with sharp nails. At least I could give someone a good kick if necessary. Not being able to sense my magic, however, was like having a vital sense cut off.
“How am I supposed to dance like this?” I growled. “I’ll be lucky not to trip over these clown feet.”
Cedar tried and failed to hide a smile.
I flipped him off. “You’ll see who’s laughing. Where’s your disguise, anyway?”
The air shimmered green. Cedar’s face subtly altered, his hair turned silvery blond instead of black, curling to his neck and masking the scar on his face. He looked like a pretty Court faerie, but a stranger to me. Then again, I was hideousness personified. At least I didn’t smell like a wild hobgoblin. But I’d lost my speed and gracefulness in the transformation. I couldn’t captivate the crowd under a spell even as a last resort.
Please don’t let this be a mistake.
Cedar led the way, moving easily down the path out of the woods. My clumsy feet seemed painfully slow, and the winding paths didn’t help. Would my magic work while I was stuck in the form of a non-magical creature? Really, the lesser fae didn’t have an easy time of it. Their roles were set, like ours. Hobs were either servants to Court families, or scavengers. In Winter, they tended to be more brutal and bloodthirsty. My nails were long enough to gouge out someone’s eyes. But I kept my head down, meekly playing my part.
A river swirled past, bringing the scent of earthy freshness with it. Not ice-cold and frozen, but alive and thriving. Other faeries began to appear throughout the shining green fields as we passed by yet more Sidhe estates. Horses bore riders dressed in finery, some with elaborate coats made of feathers or grass, thorns and flowers woven into their long hair. Most were lesser royals, probably, since the Summer Court had a single king whom few people ever saw. Between the royals ran goblins and elves and brownies, helping to get the horses ready and to wait on the higher Sidhe hand and foot. There were half-bloods, too, I saw to my surprise. Must be heirs to the royals. I’d bet they’d had a nicer welcome to Faerie than I did.
Piskies flew around emitting humming noises, while fireflies of all colours flitted up and down, basking the lawns in a patchwork of light. A group of nixies and merfolk lazed around a pond where the river halted, apparently not in a hurry to leave for the event. The horses all headed towards a grand old house behind a gate made out of living, creeping thorns. Long-leafed plants flanked the entrance, swaying in the faint breeze. I’d bet some of them were poisonous like the ones by Lord Hornbeam’s palace.
The guards hardly looked at me, though I scanned for any tell-tale signs of hypnosis. Anyone would pick up on it immediately in this haven of Summer magic. Cedar kept close behind me, nodded politely to the guards, and we were in.
Walking through the doors was more like entering an indoor garden than a palace. Cobbled paths wound between fountains and marble statues and beautifully arranged flower displays. Gold and white flowers bloomed along the walls, while thorny stems snaked outside the windows, promising a painful landing if we tried to climb out. The ceiling was a network of blooming red flowers, the occasional petal falling to the ground like a droplet of blood. The perfumed aroma that seemed to linger everywhere didn’t seem so overwhelming as a hobgoblin. Now I understood why she’d chosen this form for me. My senses were blunted, and even my sensitivity to magic had been dialled down. Based on the intense green glow of vital Summer magic, I might have fallen under any one of a dozen spells upon entering the room. My mortal blood wasn’t made to withstand this level of Seelie magic, and being Unseelie didn’t help.
My shorter stature made it difficult to see over people’s heads and work out where the exits were. Cedar feigned casualness as he walked, and I could only assume he’d left his iron weapons behind or hidden them well. Some carried weapons here—swords sheathed at waists, conspicuous daggers, often with a sheen which drew the eye. Talismans. Holy shit. They all have talismans. Each and every one of the royals had an unknown power—and my mother might be hiding amongst them.
Someone handed me a platter of drinks, thinking I was a servant. I took it and continued to walk slowly, head down, nobody looking twice at me. Why would they? I was just a hobgoblin, honoured to be serving the Court at such a prestigious event. My mind w
hirled. Any of those talismans might turn into a murder weapon if my mother’s hypnosis entered the mix—and I’d never know, because my senses were dulled to the presence of magic.
My spine prickled at a shriek from the corner. A couple of trolls yanked the wings off piskies and threw them at one another. My stomach turned over. Maybe it wasn’t safe here even by Faerie’s standards. The Sidhe hardly seemed to notice, and if any of them worried about an attack, they hid it under smiles and laughter.
When I circled the fountain, pretending to serve drinks, I spotted Cedar conversing with two other royals. I let the crowd’s momentum carry me until I reached a large tree at the back of the room, so huge it’d fused into the wall. Its trunk formed a large section of the back wall, and its branches must stretch much higher. An ancient tree… a source of power, but alive, moving slightly. This must be the tree Cedar had mentioned as our back door exit later tonight.
My path carried me past the royals again, and I looked closer this time. A sharply-dressed male royal wore a key around his neck where it gleamed under the lights dancing around the large fountain. It matched Cedar’s description exactly, to the pair of stag’s horns etched on its face. There’s my target.
I caught Cedar’s eye. He’d manoeuvred his way to a group of court fae not ten metres from the guard in a way that looked totally natural. The guard was heading in his direction, entirely oblivious.
Despite my clumsy feet, I stole silently after him. Once I passed within the guard’s sight, he’d get the first taste of my magic. His path carried him behind the fountain. The crowd moved, unseeing, pretty faces and magic and life swirling around, unaware of the monsters in their midst. Here we go.
A familiar tugging sensation caught my chest and yanked me to the side, nearly sending me falling into an elven knight.
Shit. What was that? Had someone used magic on me? I looked around but saw no traces of a threat. When nothing happened, I continued to make my casual way forward. For the magic to work, the guard had to be looking at me, but not realising what I was doing. My feet moved as though guided by someone else, my heart thundering so loud I feared someone would hear me. That won’t work. You need to believe you can do it. Like on the stage…
The knot in my chest loosened as I drew closer, feeling the familiar hum of magic inside my chest. Just a few more inches and he’d fall under my spell.
Raucous laughter came from the crowd, and a drunken faun stumbled in front of me. I sidestepped it, and the weird tugging sensation caught me again, spinning me around on the spot. It was like a thread connecting me with—someone in the crowd.
Oh hell.
I’d felt it before. I knew what it meant: a vow. Aside from Cedar, there was only one person I’d ever sworn a vow to. Not my mother.
But where was he?
Focus, Raine. I swiftly walked forward, crossing in front of the guard. Magic flowed to my feet and into the air, catching his gaze. For a heart-stopping moment, I thought it hadn’t worked, and I was about to be exposed. The guards here were pure Sidhe, after all—but for all that, they were also minor royals, and not immune to my mother’s magic.
The guard stopped, the faintest trace of blue reflected in his eyes. I slipped up to him, holding out the plate of glasses on the pretext of offering him a drink. “You’re going to take off the key around your neck and put it in your pocket, and keep walking past that group of nobles,” I murmured. “You won’t say a word about me. Take a drink.”
He did exactly that, not breaking stride. No trace of my magic remained as a hint of the spell I’d put him under, though I cursed my stumbling goblin feet for costing me seconds in getting the hell away from him, behind the fountain, swept up in the crowd again. I didn’t dare get closer to Cedar, but hoped he could pull off the theft before anyone suspected what I’d done. I’d pickpocketed people in broad daylight before. I sure as hell hadn’t blasted someone with Winter magic within a Summer-only Gathering in public before. At least the guard wouldn’t be able to give me away.
But the tugging sensation in my chest didn’t abate. Aspen’s here. Somewhere. And the vow’s still active.
He had a Sidhe’s magic. Lady Hornbeam’s. Powerful enough to get through security. Worse, he was from Summer, so his magic would blend in—including those blasted pipes.
A faerie with familiar features slipped away from the crowd, heading for the back of the room in a smoothly casual manner. Thanks, Cedar. Relieved, I altered my steps to follow him.
Once we’d reached the tree, he turned to smile at me. Wait. We’re not supposed to make eye contact.
Something was wrong. Not just because of the disguise he wore… but because he wasn’t Cedar. Oh hell.
The false Cedar’s glamour melted away, revealing Aspen’s face. “Surprise,” he said softly.
Chapter 10
The vow clenched around my chest and yanked me forward against my will, as Aspen spoke. Too quiet for me to hear the words, but I’d sworn to obey him, and as long as we both lived, the vow still held. In this form, I couldn’t summon the magic to resist. He must have been watching carefully to know it was me underneath the disguise.
As I drew closer to him, magic rippled up my hands, too subtle to detect—I hoped. The air froze around him, forming an icy dagger inches from his throat.
He raised a hand and the ice melted the instant it touched him, evaporating into thin air. My magic had failed.
“You swore to serve me,” he whispered, too quiet for anyone to hear but me.
“The vow has gone,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “I left you behind. I won the battle.”
“The vow can’t die if you don’t set conditions on it, you foolish girl. If you’d said, I will serve you until I defeat you in combat or until I leave this realm, you’d be free.”
He was right. Damn the bastard, he was right. “You’d never have let me.”
“True.” He smirked. “I order you not to speak a word to anyone until I say so.”
My throat closed up, my mouth sealing itself shut. Panic shot through my nerves and I lunged at him, intending to knock him off his feet.
“Stop.”
My body screeched to a halt. If his will was more powerful than mine, I’d stay still until he next commanded me. But he hadn’t said stop forever.
I pushed against the thread pulling at my chest, hard. It was worse than the mind control, because I was fully aware of everything I was doing, yet as powerless to stop it as if someone else used my body. Which in effect, they did. Worse was the painful ache inside me, promising pain if I veered from the path he’d set me on. My brother had been directly ordered to kill me. By disobeying, he’d started bleeding, and killed himself to stop the pain. Vows weren’t connected to talismans. They might even be more powerful. The guard I’d hypnotised would snap out of it within a few minutes. Cedar and I were supposed to have gone.
What have you done with him?
Aspen smiled. “I want you to dance, but not using magic,” he said. “On the table. There. Draw a crowd. Don’t use any magic.”
So he does want a diversion. I fought every step, but the vow reached inside me and dragged me up onto a chair, then the table.
Someone giggled and pointed at the dancing goblin. I cursed Aspen to oblivion, fighting with every step. I couldn’t use blatant hypnosis on an entire room of Summer faeries. They’d shoot me dead on the spot. But I could still move, as long as I obeyed. I kicked plates off the table, knocked glasses over, and moved in the same direction as Aspen, drawing as many eyes that way as possible. But he’d hidden too well. I kicked another plate over, and my foot caught on a wine vat. Desperate, I lunged and picked it up, faked drinking from it, and I collapsed onto my back.
The vow stopped tugging, as though I’d surprised him. I writhed, pretending to choke. My throat was closed up from the vow, and my hobgoblin voice made the sound convincing. The nobles’ laughs turned to outraged shouts, and a scream came from an overhead piskie. Then another buzzed pas
t in a panic, picking up on my message. They thought someone had poisoned the wine. And I’d landed right in front of Aspen, who was backed into a corner. Good luck making a quick getaway.
The vow half-heartedly tugged at me, but I carried on writhing as chaos ignited. Aspen’s distracted. I can push back while he isn’t paying attention.
I pulled hard, and fell off the table. My knees cracked off the hard floor, and my body was swallowed up in the crowd. I stumbled to my feet, then ducked into the melee and ran as hard as I could. He’d been hiding, and now the crowd knew there was an intruder, his attention would be on hiding himself, not drawing me back to him.
Then a guard shouted, “Thief!”
Shit. Shit. Had Cedar managed to replace the talisman? Or had Aspen got there first? I risked a look over my shoulder, but I was too short in this form to see over the crowd. I was positive I’d caught a glimpse of the guard I’d hypnotised, and he’d been carrying a sword.
Either Cedar had succeeded… or Aspen had got the same idea.
I pelted to the tree at the back of the room, slipping around the back into an alcove in the wall. Ducking out of view, I scanned the crowd from above for Cedar. Flittering piskies spun around the ceiling, shrieking out warnings. Sidhe nobles callously tossed lesser fae out of the way—goblins, brownies, fauns—as they sought to find the intruder. The overturned table I’d danced on was surrounded by shouting nobles, all of whom looked suitably agitated as to not be under mind control—but that was the point, wasn’t it? To do a convincing job, you had to order people to act like normal, pretend they weren’t obeying you. But it was nigh on impossible to know whether Aspen had used his pan pipes or Lady Whitefall had been here. I held myself out of sight, desperately scanning for a familiar face, and the tree moved as someone climbed up the side. I tensed, preparing to strike—but the real Cedar gave me a grim nod. He was covered in blood, half of his face swollen with bruising, but still in his disguise. Except the scar, which I recognised underneath his glamour.
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