Swallowing Darkness

Lord Hugh had stepped back a little from the mirror. "We hear your words, Princess Meredith."

"Queen Meredith," I said.

He gave a little bow of his head. "Queen Meredith."

"Then disband this ill-conceived and u

"His orders were very specific, Queen Meredith. We are to come back with you and the chalice, or not return at all."

"He has exiled you, unless you succeed?" I asked.

"Not in those words, but we are left few choices."

"You must kidnap me for him, or be kicked out," I said.

Lord Hugh spread his hands wide. "Blunter than I would have put it, but not inaccurate, unfortunately, for all concerned."

There was movement in the tent wall, and Lord Hugh said, "Please, forgive me, Queen Meredith, but I have a message." He bowed again and left me looking at my mother.

She said, "You look lovely in a crown, Meredith, just as I always knew you would." She even looked pleased, as if what she said were true.

I could have said a lot of things in that moment. Like "If you thought I would ever rule, why did you let Taranis nearly beat me to death as a child?" Or, "If you thought I would ever be queen, why did you give me away, and never wish to see me?" What I said out loud was "I knew you would like the crown, Mother."

Lord Hugh came back into sight. He bowed lower. "I am told that human police and soldiers are coming. You called the humans for help."

"I did."

"Now if we attack, the Seelie Court could be banished from this new land, which would leave the Unseelie and the sluagh in place, and in control of the last remnants of faerie."

I smiled sweetly at him.

"You would win all that Queen Andais has sought to win for centuries without the Unseelie, or the sluagh, striking a blow."

"The point is to not strike the blow," I said.

He gave the lowest bow yet, a real one, causing him to partially vanish from the view of the mirror. When he stood up, he had a look of naked admiration on his face. "It seems as if the Goddess and faerie have not chosen ill in their new queen. You have won. We will retreat, and you have given us a reason that even King Taranis will understand. He would never risk our entire court being cast from these shores."

"I am very glad that your king will take you back, and understand that to do anything but retreat would be extremely unfortunate," I said.

He bowed again. "I thank you for finding a way out of our dilemma, Queen Meredith. I had not heard that you played politics well."

"I have my moments," I said.

He smiled, bowed once more, and said, "We will leave you to be rescued by the humans then."

"We aren't going to leave her with the sluagh," my mother said, as if horrified at her daughter's fate.

"Give it a rest, Mother," I said, and blanked the mirror.

She was still arguing with Lord Hugh, as if she believed what Taranis had told her. It was clear that Lord Hugh did not. But then if I went back as Taranis's queen, Besaba wouldn't be the mother of the new queen of the Seelie. She had more to gain politically, if Taranis was telling the truth.

Sholto kissed my hand, smiling. "That was very well done, My Queen."

I gri

"No, Meredith," Doyle said, "that was well played. Your father would have been very proud."

"Indeed," Mistral said.

And in that moment, holding a weapon that only myself and my father could have safely wielded, covered in faerie's blessing, and knowing that my father would have been proud of me meant more than all the rest. I guess in the end you never outgrow wanting to please your parents. Since I'd never please my mother, my father was all I had left. He always had been. He and Gran.

My parents were dead now, both of them. The woman in the mirror was just the person whose body spit me out. It takes much more than that to be a mother. I prayed that I would be a good mother, and for help to keep all of us safe. There was a shower of white rose petals from nowhere, coming down like perfumed snow. I guess that was answer enough. The Goddess was with me. As help went, it didn't get much better than that. As the Christians said, if God is with me, who can be against me? The answer, unfortunately, was almost everyone.