by E. A. Copen
For the evening’s events, she chose a red dress that faded into yellow as it touched the floor and hair pin with jewels made to look like tiger lilies. Jessica helped her with her makeup, which looked more like war paint when she was done.
She leaned forward, examining the glittering lines of reddish gold trailing away from her eyes. Good. Maybe Finn would think twice about causing trouble if she looked a little more threatening.
Jessica lowered a necklace dripping with rubies around Remy’s neck. It weighed a ton. Everything the court expected her to wear was either painfully restrictive or ridiculously heavy, including the crown. It was a wonder she didn’t fall over from the weight of it half the time.
“Don’t look so gloomy.” Jess fastened the necklace and arranged it. “It’s only jewelry.”
Remy sighed. “I’m definitely looking forward to wearing something other than flowy dresses and heavy jewels all the time.”
“You are the queen. You can wear what you like. Would you rather choose something else?”
If only that were true, Remy mused. She’d once believed the same thing, that being queen would free her to do whatever she wanted. Instead, the crown functioned more like a cage. Every new dress came with a mask she had to maintain or lose her supporters. Every gesture had to be practiced, every turn of phrase carefully considered. She was more trapped than anyone would ever know. Anyone except perhaps Jessica.
“No.” Remy stood and smoothed out the front of her dress. “Just tell me I look at least vaguely threatening somehow underneath all of this.”
Jess smiled and curled her fingers into claws. “You look fierce as always.”
She hoped so. This was going to be the first dinner where all her advisors were present in a long time. She’d had the cooks bring in the long head table just to make sure there was room for all of them at it, and they’d probably still all be at each other’s throats. Why couldn’t they all just get along for her sake? Honestly, it was like managing a bunch of children some days. At least while she was on this expedition into Shadow she wouldn’t have to deal with all of them.
Chapter Five
They didn’t let Finn go anywhere without a guard, but at least the guard they’d assigned to him kept his distance when Finn finally found his way down into the garden. They’d probably have guards on him until they marched out the gates in the morning. Figures they wouldn’t trust him, even though he’d given his word to the queen. He’d sworn to risk his neck for the lot of them and they couldn’t even give him the benefit of the doubt. Bunch of assholes.
He put his hands in his pockets and strolled through the trees, forcing all the worry from his face. Whatever he was going through, he couldn’t let his little sister worry. “Look what the cat dragged in,” he called.
Auryn looked up from the daisy crown she was still working on, her face transforming with her smile. “Finn!” She abandoned her crown and ran to hug him. The impact of her tiny body against his nearly knocked him off his feet and her arms threatened to squeeze the air from his lungs. “I was so worried! I know I’m not supposed to go with strangers, but they made me, Finn. They made me!”
He smiled and rolled his eyes skyward. All this and here she was worried he’d be mad at her for breaking the rules. “It’s all right, Auryn.” He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back. “You did the right thing.”
She grinned up at him until she noticed the burn marks on his wrists. “What happened? Finn, why are you here in Summer? I thought you were getting things ready at the new house. We are still moving to a big house, aren’t we?”
“The biggest.” He picked her up with a grunt and set her on his shoulders. “With big windows and a big backyard.”
She giggled as he spun her. “Stop! You’re gonna make me dizzy!”
“That’s the idea.”
“Stop!” Her little fingers pinched his cheeks as he laughed.
Finn finally stopped spinning, staggered and planted his butt on the grassy garden floor with a contented sigh, letting Auryn fall gently behind him. “You okay, sis?”
“Yeah. Are you?”
He rolled over onto his stomach, propping his head up in his hands to look at her. “I’m going to have to go on another trip soon.”
“Back to the house?” Her voice was tentative.
Finn shook his head. “The Summer Queen has given me a special quest.”
“A quest?” Auyrn’s eyes widened.
He nodded.
“Can I come?”
“No, Auryn. This is going to be dangerous.”
Her bottom lip stuck out and she turned away. “How come I can never come with you whenever you go anywhere? I’m tired of being left behind all the time. What if you don’t come back?”
“Auryn...” Finn went to put an arm around her but she still wouldn’t look at him. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the strings pulling at his heart. It had barely been two years since she lost everything. Her mom, dad, house...Even the only world she’d ever known. The blight had torn it all from them both.
As well as he remembered it, it might as well have been yesterday. When the wind blew just right, he thought he could still smell the smoke rising from the village. Auryn’s tears that night still haunted him, and that screeching. He’d never forget the sound those gaunt, winged beings made or the terror he felt when looking at the black space where their faces ought to be.
“Finn?” The small sound of Auryn’s voice brought him back to the castle garden.
Finn blinked away the memory and forced himself to smile. “Don’t worry, sis. While I’m off doing all the hard work, you get to stay here and have tea with the queen. I’ll be back before you know it.”
She frowned. “Yes, but what if you don’t come back?”
“I’m fae, dummy,” he said rubbing her head. “Isn’t much that can kill me.”
“Iron can. So can any of the Four Horsemen.” She cupped her hands around her mouth and leaned in to whisper, “And they say the Summer Queen can too. She’s scary.”
“Oh, I don’t think she’s that scary. I just came from talking to her and I’m not scared. I’m sure everything will be fine, Auryn. Quit being such a worry wart.” He stood and brushed some grass off himself before offering her his hand. “Say, did I ever tell you about the time I actually met the Pale Horseman?” he asked, pulling her to her feet.
“Only about a million times,” Auryn beamed. “But you can tell me again.”
Finn squeezed her hand and led her toward the guards waiting to take them to prepare for dinner. “He was eight feet tall, Auryn, I swear, with red eyes and fangs like a vampire.”
THEIR GUEST ROOM WAS supposed to be small, but it was twice as big as their whole trailer and came complete with a full-size tub. If the guards hadn’t kept harassing him to bathe and dress, Finn might’ve crawled into the big featherbed and passed out. Instead, he focused on rushing Auryn through bathing, brushing her teeth, and dressing in the clothes provided for them.
Auryn got a big fluffy dress in green and cute little matching slippers. Finn would’ve almost preferred that to what they’d brought for him to wear. It was a three-piece ensemble of mossy green brocade: baggy pants, a long-sleeved button up shirt, and a collared coat long enough to stretch to his shins.
He pinched the overly decorative fabric and held it at arm’s length with a frown. “I’m so not wearing this.”
“But they’re gifts from the queen!” His little sister spun in her puffy dress, grinning. “You have to! Even I know it’s rude to refuse a gift.”
Finn sighed and lowered the shirt, glancing around. They’d delivered his traveling clothing for tomorrow too, which was thankfully less flashy and over the top. Just a pair of nice cotton pants and a loose-fitting shirt of the same. He moved the fancy clothes aside and picked up the traveling pants with a smirk. “Well, no one said I had to wear the whole thing all at once.”
THE FEAST HALL WAS even bigger than Finn expected it
would be, which was saying something. He’d been expecting a big room jam packed with rich fae, all desperate to rub elbows with the queen and her advisors. Turns out, he was only half right.
There had to be at least a hundred fae present for the dinner, all sitting at long tables running perpendicular to the one at the head of the room on a raised platform. The feast was already in full swing when he arrived, with Queen Remy sitting at the center of the high table, her dress the color of flame. The seat of honor to her right sat empty with Foxglove seated next to the empty chair. Next to him was Sir Malcom. A pretty redhead in blue took the seat between Malcom and a fat fae Finn didn’t know.
Finn moved to step into the hall, but a servant stepped in front of him, halting his advance.
The servant raised a clipboard and a pen, shouldering a black cane. “Name?”
“Finn.” He patted Auryn’s shoulders. “And Auryn.”
The servant’s upper lip twitched. “Your full names, if you please.”
“Finn and Auryn O’Leary,” Auryn offered.
The servant lowered his clipboard and peered down his pointed nose at them, frowning. Clearly, he was expecting a longer and more grandiose title.
Finn cleared his throat. “Of the Shadow Court. I’m the Spellweaver.”
His frown turned into a sneer of disapproval as he eyed Finn’s outfit, but he said nothing, choosing instead to scribble something on the clipboard. “Wait here.” The entire room quieted as one of the servants walked to the center and struck his cane against the stone three times, commanding their attention. “Master Finn O’Leary of the Shadow Court and the young miss Auryn attending.”
Curious heads turned. Necks stretched and wooden chairs creaked as everyone strained to get a look at him. Auryn shrank.
Finn squeezed her hand and whispered, “Don’t be scared. If anyone says anything out of line, they’ll have me to deal with.”
That seemed to instill a bit of bravery in her, enough that she stepped out from behind him and kept pace as he walked to the middle of the feast hall to bow before the queen and her entourage.
Queen Remy stood. Every chair in the room scraped over the stone floor as the rest of the fae stood with her. “Welcome, Finn. Please, join me at the head table as my guest.”
He frowned and looked down at his sister. There was no way in hell he was leaving her alone, not with the way all those fae were staring at them. He’d promised to protect her, and that was exactly what he was going to do, queen or no queen. “I’d like to stay with my sister if it’s alright with you.”
A murmur spread through the crowd. Refusing a place at the queen’s table was probably an insult, but Finn didn’t care. End of the day, he didn’t owe her anything beyond what he’d already promised. It was bad enough she’d kidnapped Auryn. He wasn’t about to start kissing up to her for the sake of appearances.
Remy smiled. “Your sister is welcome here too, of course.”
“She can have my seat.” The redhead in blue rose and held the chair out with a smile.
Auryn looked to Finn, beaming with excitement.
He smiled back and jerked his head toward the front of the room. “Go on.”
She bounded up the steps excitedly and took her place.
Finn’s ascension was slower, but no less the center of attention. The room remained silent as he slid behind Malcom and Foxglove to stand in front of his chair. Only once he reached it did Remy nod and gesture for everyone to be seated.
Finally, the chatter in the hall picked back up as if it’d never been interrupted in the first place. Finn blew out the breath he’d been holding and sat.
Foxglove frowned at him as a servant poured some wine into Finn’s glass. “You seem to have forgotten to dress all the way.”
“I didn’t forget. I just didn’t like it. The overcoat suits me just fine.” He shrugged and grabbed a heel of bread from one of the baskets on the table.
“But not the shirt apparently,” Malcom observed.
Finn picked up the butter and slathered the bread with it. “It’s boiling hot out. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be wearing the coat either.”
Foxglove turned back to his meal. “Then I should count myself lucky.”
“Or unlucky,” said Finn with another shrug. “Depends on how you look at it.”
The heavyset fae at the other end of the table, who introduced himself as Cian, placed his goblet on the table loudly. “So tell us about Shadow, Finn. Few of us have ever been there, Sir Malcom aside. I have heard it never was quite as beautiful as Summer. I have also heard they don’t even build proper cities there.”
Finn leaned back as one of the servants spooned a thick stew into his bowl and missed his chance to answer.
“There are cities there,” Auyrn chirped. “Big ones, and a castle just like this one. Shadow has hills and valleys and mountains and the Great Shadow Sea. It really is a beautiful place. Much prettier than here.”
Cian dabbed his lips with a napkin. “Well, now that the blight has taken hold, I don’t suppose that’s true. I can hardly imagine the blight would choose to invade Faerie through a beautiful kingdom. Sadly, if Shadow’s defenses had been in place it might not have invaded your homeland at all.”
“You mean the defenses that were slaughtered here in Summer?” Finn interjected.
“It is a matter of point,” Foxglove said, “that Shadow invaded Summer and attempted to assassinate our princess.”
“Only after it was considered a matter of national security.” Finn speared a portion of meat from the stew and used it to gesture to the queen. “We were told the princess was set to give birth to a mutated monster that would bring death to all of Faerie.”
Foxglove’s fork clattered to his plate and he glared at Finn. “Careful, sir. Remember your sister is present at the queen’s pleasure.”
Finn shook his head. “I’m not trying to argue, only to help you understand. There are two sides to every war, Foxglove.”
Sir Malcom put his fork down. “That may be true, but the one thing you’re leaving out, Finn, is that every war that has ever been fought has been fought for the same reason.”
“Greed?” Finn picked the fork back up and took a bite. The meat practically melted in his mouth. He had to work to keep from looking like he was enjoying it though. Everyone was watching.
“Fear,” said Sir Malcom. “Fear that the other side has more than you do, or that they might invade first, or that they’ve betrayed you, or that they might strike again. Fear is the great begetter of war. Fear has the power to make honorable men behave with dishonor and the bravest man flee. But fear of death can also make the coward stand and fight. Fear of the unknown has led to great discoveries and terrible tragedies. It is a double-edged sword best wielded by the wise. The trouble is very few wise men know the value of fear. Sometimes, the threat of it alone is enough to change the direction of history forever.”
Finn met Malcom’s eyes and shivered. Had it suddenly gotten colder in there?
Sir Malcom sighed and pushed his plate away. “I’m afraid my exhaustion is getting to me. I don’t have much of an appetite just now. Your Majesty, if I may be excused?”
“Of course,” said the queen with a strained smile. “Look after yourself, Malcom. I’ll need you in Sir Foxglove’s absence.”
The older fae nodded and stood before making a slow exit from the room.
Finn watched him go with unease. Something about him didn’t sit right with Finn, but he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what. Maybe it was just because they’d been on opposing sides.
“Finn?”
He turned to Remy who sat waiting as if she’d asked him a question. “Huh?”
“Her Majesty asked if you were a part of the invasion,” Cian said and leaned forward, clearly waiting for his answer.
Remy frowned. “I called it the battle, Cian, and I can speak for myself.”
Cian bowed his head slightly.
Finn nodded. “I was, thou
gh I didn’t go to the front lines.”
She waited for him to volunteer more information, but he didn’t. His participation in the brief and disastrous campaign to avenge the death of the Shadow Queen by invading Summer was in the past, and that was where he aimed to leave it.
“I was told he barely avoided the gallows,” Cian offered. “Not surprising for a thief and womanizer. Let us hope he’s not a liar and a coward as well.”
“Cian!” Remy tried to stop him, but it was too late. Once spoken, there was no way to take the words back, or prevent Auryn from hearing them.
Finn’s head turned, eyes focused on his little sister’s face. Her expression hardened and her big brown eyes glistened with the promise of angry tears.
Auryn jumped to her feet. “Finn isn’t a liar and a thief! He’s a good man and takes care of me! You’re just jealous because you’re fat and mean.”
“Auryn,” Finn whispered. “Sit down.”
“No! If you can’t call the queen a monster, he can’t call you names either!” She grabbed her fork from the table and jabbed it hard into Cian’s side.
Cian paled and let out a high-pitched scream. “Why you little demon!” he shouted, pulling the fork out. “I’ll have you drawn and quartered!”
He tried to catch her, but Auryn was too quick. She crawled under the table and through the tablecloth on the other side before tumbling down from the dais. Cian threw the fork at her, but she dodged easily and took off running out of the hall.
Remy stood, prompting everyone in the hall to do the same, though Finn was already on his feet. “Cian, you should be ashamed of yourself!”
“She stabbed me!” The adviser pointed to the tiny bloodstain on his side.
“You insulted her brother.” The queen huffed, looked over the room and declared, “I’ve lost my appetite as well. Please, carry on in my absence.” She stepped away from her place.
Finn caught her before she could go far. “We need to talk.”