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Galen looked more and more puzzled. He gazed up at Doyle, half holding the little fey up to him. “For those of us under a century, what in the name of Danu is going on? I didn’t do this on purpose, because I didn’t know it was possible. If I didn’t know it was possible, then how could I have done it at all? Magic takes will and intent.”
“Not always,” Doyle said.
“Not if it is simply part of what you are,” Frost said.
Galen shook his head. “What does that mean?”
“Maybe we should save the magic lessons for later,” Rhys said, “when we’re more alone.” He was looking at the tiny queen who was still hovering above us, gazing at her fallen army.
“Yes, white knight, keep your secrets from me,” she said, “for the princess has broken the bargain she made with me. My people are her eyes and ears no longer. We serve Prince Cel once more.”
I got to my feet, careful not to step on the demi-fey who were passed out in and among the flowers. That would be bad on so many levels. “I did not break our bargain, Queen Niceven; you took Sage away. He could not take blood if he was not allowed near me.”
She buzzed to hover in front of my face, her white wings moving in a blur of speed that would have shredded true moth wings. I knew from Sage that that blur meant she was angry.
“I bargained for a little blood, a little sexual energy to come to my proxy, and thus to me. I did not bargain for him to be made sidhe. I did not bargain for him to lose the use of his wings. I did not bargain for him to…”
“Be too big for your bed,” I said.
“I am married,” she said, and that last word sounded like a curse. “I have no lover save my king.”
“No, and because you ca
The wind from her wings played along my hair, buffeted my face. The air was cool, though her anger was not. “What I do with my court is my business, Princess.”
“It is, but you accused me of breaking our bargain, and I did not. I am still willing to offer a taste of royal blood to you.” I held my hand out slowly, gently, offering her my upturned wrist. I did not want another misunderstanding. “Do you wish to take the blood personally? You sent Sage as your proxy because the Western Lands are far from faerie, but now I am here.”
She hissed at me like a startled cat and buzzed high into the air above me. “I would not taste your sidhe flesh for all the power in the world. You will not steal my wings from me.”
“But Sage was always able to change to a human size. You are not, so you can’t get stuck in a larger size.”
She hissed again, shaking her head, sending rainbow dazzles to dance around the walls, on us, and the flowers. “Never!”
“Then choose another proxy,” I said.
“Who would take such a risk?” she said.
A small voice came. “Someone who has no wings to lose.”
I looked down until I saw a cluster of demi-fey against the far wall. None of them had wings, but they had other means of transport. Carts pulled by sleek, cream-colored rats, and one dainty chariot that had more than a dozen white mice tied to it. There were two ferrets with multiple tiny riders, one the standard black mask, the other an albino with white fur and reddish eyes. A Nile monitor that was nearly four feet long had two of the larger riders. The monitor was not only harnessed but muzzled like a dog that you’re afraid will bite. Nile monitors could be vicious and ate anything small enough to catch and kill. If I’d been the size of a Barbie doll, I wouldn’t have wanted one anywhere near me.
Movement on the wall brought my attention to the fact that there were tiny many-legged demi-fey clinging there. Some looked like tiny spider centaurs, eight legs combined with a rounded fey body hidden under a sway of gauzy cloth. One looked like a black beetle, so like that only staring showed the pale moon of a face under the insect camouflage.
“I spoke,” said one of the men in a rat-drawn cart. There was a woman in the cart with him. She was pulling on his arm, trying to stop him from waving. “No, Royal, no,” she said, “don’t do it. There are worse things than not having wings.”
He let go of the reins that led to a lovely rat, and grabbed the woman’s arms. “I will do this, Pe
Pe
“You won’t lose me.”
“I will if she makes you sidhe.”
“I have no other size, Pe
The two pale oval faces stared up at me. There was a little more squareness to his jaw, a somewhat daintier curve to hers. He was a little taller than she, a little more broad of shoulder, narrow of hip, but beyond the basic differences that made them male and female, they looked identical.
“You’re twins,” I said, “Pe
He nodded. She just stared at me. They were even dressed alike in gauzy tunics of deep purple. They were both dressed in more clothing than the majority of the demi-fey. Her dress covered her from neck to knees. His tunic covered him from neck to knees, as well. I realized as I looked at the wingless ones that they were all dressed in a similar fashion. The winged fey men went for what amounted to kilts or loincloths of gauze. The women were in mini-dresses or less. Only Queen Niceven wore a gown that swept to her ankles. She was their queen, she got more clothes, but I’d never noticed the marked difference in clothing between those who had wings and those who did not.
“I have not agreed to this,” Niceven said, and came to hover at my shoulder.
“Please, Your Majesty, let me try. You do not know what it is like to be without wings, doomed to walk or ride forever.”
She crossed her arms over her thin chest. “I feel for your plight, Royal, and all of you who are so cursed, but you might get a great deal more than just wings from touching this one.” She motioned at me. “Look what has happened with the green knight.”
“Would having one of your people able to conjure such enchantments be a bad thing, Your Majesty?” he asked.
She came to hover near my face. “How can I trust you, Princess, when you have insulted me and my court so severely?”
Doyle said, “You spoke of an insult when you first arrived. You said the princess had done it. What has she done?”
Niceven turned in the air so she could see him, then moved backwards so she could see us both as she spoke. “You arrested one of my people without asking my permission. Beatrice was not sidhe, she was mine. Though trapped in her human-sized form, she was demi-fey. Beatrice was cursed but she was not Andais’s or yours. The murderer is one of mine, the victim is one of mine, and you did not give me even the courtesy of a message. No other court would have been so ignored.” She moved close enough that the air from her wings brushed my hair against my face. “You would have at the very least contacted Kurag, Goblin King. He would not have had to learn of such a thing from rumor and gossip as I did. Sholto, King of the Sluagh, sat in the consort’s throne for you last night. You would not have arrested his people without asking him first.” She flew to the ceiling, and stayed there fluttering like an angry butterfly back and forth above us.