The Eighth Court (27 page)

On the eve of the solstice, the High Court of the Feyre was in session for the last time before the turn of the year.

“We’ve been locked in disagreement for too long,” said Krane to the assembled High Court. “We all acknowledge the situation, but we can’t continue like this indefinitely. In the interests of moving things forward, I would like to propose that we shelve this issue for the foreseeable future and move on to other matters.”

“To what end?” asked Kimlesh. “The issue of the mixed-race fey remains unresolved.”

“We have other business apart from the mongrels,” said Teoth. “It’s taken too much time already. We’re almost at the solstice and it’s time we moved forward.”

“I agree,” said Blackbird.

A murmur went around the arc of the chairs.

“You do?” said Krane.

“I would like to discuss finance,” said Blackbird.

“You don’t understand,” said Krane. “Without the establishment of the Eighth Court, you are no longer part of these discussions. We will not be discussing anything with you, let alone finance.”

“I have an established court,” she said, “or I will by tomorrow. It was the solstice tomorrow, you said, Lord Teoth?”

Teoth blustered. “Impossible,” he said. “You need a home for the court, members sworn in. You don’t even have a room of your own, never mind a court.”

“I have one now,” Blackbird said. “We are moving to Grey's Court in Oxfordshire tomorrow. Court members will be blood-sworn on the solstice night. By the turn of the year there will be eight courts, not seven.”

“Grey's Court? I’ve never heard of it,” said Krane.

“Is that a requirement, now, that you have heard of it?” asked Blackbird. “If it is, you have not mentioned it previously.”

“This is extremely timely,” said Barthia.

“Are you implying that I am being less than truthful?” asked Blackbird. “I would have thought my words were enough?”

“It’s not that,” said Barthia. “This is all very sudden, to be reprieved on the eve of the deadline.”

“My Lords Teoth and Krane gave me very little time to meet their stringent requirements,” said Blackbird. “It has been a challenge, as they intended, but we have risen to it and we have our court. We will celebrate the solstice as the Eighth Court of the Feyre.”

“That’s preposterous,” said Teoth. “How can they swear a blood oath if they’re not even fey?”

Kimlesh leaned forward. “You raised that point some time ago, before the issue of establishment came up. We dealt with it then.”

“Not to my satisfaction,” said Teoth.

“You agreed, Lord Teoth, did you not?” said Yonna. “Which was why we moved on to the issue of establishment. There would have been little point in discussing establishment if the members of the court were unable to swear fealty.”

Mellion made a complex gesture involving placing the tips of his fingers in and then flicking them out of his palm.

“Mellion’s right,” said Kimlesh. “You cannot scatter pigeons and eat them.”

“Or eat cake and have it,” agreed Blackbird. “Can we discuss finance now?”

Krane stood. “This is a trick!” he said. “They seek to dupe us with hollow words and hidden meanings.”

“I mean what I say,” said Blackbird. “I will have my court. Tomorrow.”

“I want to see it,” said Teoth. “I want to touch it.”

“Is my word not good enough?” asked Blackbird. “Are we to distrust each other’s words now?” She looked around the room. “For if that is the nature of things then I would want to visit each of your courts, so that I may establish that they are more or less than my own.”

“You are welcome at mine,” said Kimlesh.

“You’ve seen mine,” said Yonna.

Teoth pointed a finger at Blackbird. “You will set foot in the Nixine Court over my dead body.”

“Then how do I know the Nixine Court exists?” asked Blackbird. She appealed to those around her. “How do any of us?”

“Of course it exists,” said Teoth. “Unlike your fabrication, the Nixine Court has been an integral part of the Courts of the Feyre for generations uncounted.”

“Has anyone in living memory seen it,” asked Blackbird. “Apart from you, my Lord?” Once again she looked around the faces. Even Krane had to admit with a shake of his head that he hadn’t.

“I invite you, all of you.” said Blackbird. “Once the solstice is past and we have our court, you must come and be welcome there. We will have a celebration that the High Court will remember for centuries to come, providing of course that we have some money,” said Blackbird.

“Very clever,” said Krane. “By giving you money for your feast, we acknowledge the court, but we can’t see it until you have your money, and it’s acknowledged.”

“You don’t expect to be fed on air and magic, do you?” said Blackbird. “That kind of feast tends to leave one hungry.”

“There’s a sleight of hand here,” said Krane. “I can taste it.”

“There is a sleight of hand,” said Blackbird. “It’s called moving the target. I have met your requirements and your immediate response is to question my veracity. Then to place new requirements in my way. If this were any other member of this court, there would be uproar.”

“You’re not a member of this court,” said Teoth.

“I am tomorrow,” said Blackbird.

“Be careful,” said Krane, standing. “Tomorrow is yet a day away. Much can change between sunrises.”

“Is that a threat?” asked Blackbird.

“It’s an observation,” said Krane. “Come, Teoth. We have much to discuss. Will you join us, Barthia?” He met Barthia’s gaze and for a moment something unspoken passed between them.

“No,” she said. “I will stay.”

“Very well,” said Krane. “Teoth?”

They marched from the court, opening the great doors for themselves for once, and slamming them shut behind them.

“Well, that was unexpected,” said Kimlesh.

“Was it?” said Blackbird, breathing out. “I’ve been looking forward to that for a long time.”

Alex stood in the darkness. The moon was approaching fullness and it lent a hazy softness to the view across the fields. The temperature was dropping fast, and the mist was rising, adding a further soft-focus to the view and yet she didn’t go inside for a coat. She’d made a habit of coming here, watching how the seasons stripped the trees of leaves and then coated them in white. She would go inside when she got too cold to stay.

She ought to be tired. She’d worked all day, helping Lesley shift stuff into vans so that they could move it in the morning. Alex watched carefully, knowing Lesley was pregnant, and wondering whether she ought to take it easier. Shouldn’t pregnancy be lots of lying around having your feet rubbed, or was it this mad burst of activity? Is that what it made you do?

She’d been to the new place now. She’d wandered around it, touching the surfaces, drawing lines in the dust, getting the feel of the place. It was strange, as if there were someone waiting in the wings to enter, like a stage-play. You felt like the lights had gone up, but no cast had appeared. She’d found the article about Lettice, like a misspelled salad vegetable, and thought it was funny until Blackbird explained that it was an old spelling of Letticia, and the Letticia Knollys had been the lady of the house long ago. Personally she preferred Lettice.

“Aren’t you cold?” The voice was behind her, and it made her jump, but she hid it as well as she could.

“Hello Tate,” she said. “Do you enjoy creeping up on people?”

“Professional habit,” he said, leaning on the fence to look over the fields. “Pretty, isn’t it?”

“It has its charms,” she said. “I should be going in.” She stood back from the fence.

“Someone was in my room,” he said.

She froze. “Were they?”

“While I wasn’t there, someone went in and moved things.”

“Did they?”

“Why?” he asked.

She waited, but he didn’t say anything else. He was like a rock or a tree – just there, still, waiting.

“I thought… I thought I’d lost something,” she said.

“So it was you,” he said.

“You didn’t know?”

“I do now,” he said. “What did you lose?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, too quickly.

“Did you lose anything, or were you just taking a look around?”

“I told you,” she said. “I’m not sure.”

He was stillness again.

“Sorry,” she apologised.

“What were you looking for?” he asked again.

“I don’t know. I didn’t take anything, I promise. I thought maybe…”

“What?”

“Nothing. I shouldn’t have done it. I’m sorry.” Now she felt like shit. “I should go.”

He returned to the state of stillness. It was like looking at a photograph of someone. It didn’t look natural. “Tate?” It was just the instinct to make him move, make him come alive again.

“Yes?”

“Have you ever been in love?” As soon as she asked, she regretted it. What was she thinking? Even to have mentioned it was stupid. What was she thinking?

“Yes,” he said.

It was not the answer she was expecting. The one she was expecting was,
why do you ask?

What she wanted to say was,
who with
, but came out was, “What was it like?”

He stared at the fields for a long time. She thought he wouldn’t answer, but after a while he did. “It was like drinking honey and finding ground glass in it.”

“Did she hurt you?” she asked.

“Not intentionally,” he said. “But the effect was the same.”

“I would never…” but then she swallowed her words. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ve really got to go.”

“Where?” he asked.

“What do you mean, where?”

“Where have you got to go?”

Alex looked at him. “To my room, I suppose. It’s cold. I’ll catch my death.”

“No you won’t,” he said. “Why do you run away?”

“I’m not running,” she said, anger tinting her words.

“Then, what are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m going inside. I can’t stay out here all night.”

“No,” he said.

She waited for something else, some clue, some tiny indication, but it was like he’d merged with the fence and become part of the scenery. “How do you do that?” she asked.

“Do what?” he said.

“Disappear in front of me while I’m watching you. Where do you go?”

“Professional habit,” he repeated. “You want me to show you how?”

“Sure,” she said.

He leaned back, shrugging his shoulders as if he was loosening part of a cliff in a landslide. “Rest your hands on the fence,” he said.

She did as he said, looking at the fields laid out before her. He moved around behind her, resting his hands either side of hers. She could feel the warmth radiating from him on her back, though he did not touch her. “Watch the moonlight,” he said. “Let it seep into your bones, slow your heart.”

Her heart was anything but slow. “I’m not sure this is a good idea,” she said, listening to her heart thump in her ears.

“Just relax,” he said. “Let it seep into you.”

She was more than conscious of the man behind her. His arms encircled hers, inches apart. She felt the heat of him behind her. She flushed, no longer cold. She twisted around, “I’d really better go…” And there he was, facing her. His long hair draped around his shoulders, the gleam of moonlight as it caught the reflection in his eyes. “Oh God,” she said.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Her eyes searched his for some sign, some indication. She wanted to reach up and touch his face, to see if felt the way her dreams told her it would.

“Tate?” she said.

“Yes?” he answered. She could feel his warm breath. There was a scent of musk and earth rising from him.

“Will you kiss me?”

He looked down at her for a moment.
Oh shit!
She thought. What did I have to say that for?

And then his lips touched hers. He was unexpectedly warm and soft, and she leaned into him, not wanting it to end. After a moment, he withdrew. “Like that?” he asked.

“Uh huh,” she said. “Again.”

He kissed her again, this time enfolding her in his arms and pressing her against him. She felt her knees give way, but he held her up. Her hands were searching for a way under his shirt, searching for skin. She slipped them under his shirt and found warmth and a gentle roughness. He released her, but she could not let go.

“Alex?”

“Uh huh?”

“Are you sure you want this?”

She pressed her lips to his again. “Yes,” she said, breaking away for a moment. She could feel his body responding to hers. The rush in her was impossible to defy. It was like the tide. She was incapable of resisting.

“Oh God! You’re going to have to take me somewhere.”

“Where?” His breath tingled across her neck.

“Anywhere,” she breathed. “But now.”

When I opened my eyes, I knew something was different. I was lying on my side, and the dawn light was just starting to brighten the room from behind the curtains, which in these shortest of days meant that I’d slept in. Still, there was something else. I rolled over to find myself being observed by two pale eyes.

“What are you doing there?” I asked my son, who was lying where Blackbird would normally be. She must have risen without waking me, and then popped him into bed with me while the bed was still warm.

His answer was to wriggle, waving his arms until he got one under himself and turned over so he could lift himself up on his hands.

“That’s a new trick,” I told him. He grinned at his achievement.

I sat up and stuffed some pillows behind me so I could lift him onto my lap.

“Where’s your mum gone, then?” I asked him.

“Mmmmmmmmmm,” he said, trying to tangle his fingers into the hair on my chest.

“Mum mum mum mum mum,” I said, encouraging him to repeat it.

“Ghrammugharghle,” he said, not helped by trying to get his fist into his mouth.

“One of us smells,” I told him. “And one of us needs a shower. Can you guess which one is which?”

That was enough to get me out of bed. I took him into the bathroom and changed his nappy. A small bit of tickling may have been involved. I tried to put him back in his cot so that I could shower, but he wasn’t having any of that, so I settled him into a nest of towels on the floor so he could watch me while I showered. He was quite amused by the splashing water, and it meant I was clean.

Once we were dressed and presentable I thought I would wake Alex and see if she would join us for breakfast. We had a busy day ahead of us and her help would be appreciated. With the baby in one arm I tapped on her door.

“Alex, it’s Dad. Are you awake?”

There was no response, so I tapped a bit louder. “Come on, Babe, it’s time to be up and about.”

There we still no answer. “Shall we see if she’s awake?” I asked the baby.

“Lalalalalal,” he said.

It was then that I noticed that the door was shut. She normally slept with the door open, but it was closed. I knocked more loudly this time and opened the door. “Alex, it’s getting up ti…”

Her room was empty, the curtains were open and her bed was made. There was no sign of her.

“How odd,” I said.

“Labalabalaba,” said the baby.

I closed her door again and went downstairs to find the baby his breakfast, wondering at the same time whether Alex had slept at all last night. Maybe she’d pulled an all-nighter – not the best idea with the celebrations this evening, which she would be expected to attend.

I went into the kitchen, looking for Lesley, and found my daughter instead.

“Morning, Dad,” she said brightly. “Morning, precious,” she said to the baby, ruffling her hand through his fine hair.

“Good morning,” I said. “Are you OK?”

“I’m fine,” she said, kissing my cheek while the baby tried unsuccessfully to snag one of her curls in his grasp. “Breakfast has been cleared, but if you’re OK with toast I can do some for you?” She went to the big larder fridge, extracting a fruit-flavoured rice, then the cutlery drawer for a plastic spoon. “Are you OK feeding him that while I make you some toast?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yes,” she said. “Why? What’s up?”

“Nothing,” I said, settling the baby into his high chair and strapping him in. He could see the rice pot now, and was getting impatient.

She warmed up milk for the baby in a pan of water. “Do you want tea?” she said. “Coffee?”

“I think coffee,” I said, stripping the top off the rice pot.

The baby stuck his tongue out. “Labalabalaba.” I wiped the sticky bit from the lid on his tongue and he grinned at me, then spread the goo around his chops with his fingers.

“Lesley tells me off if I do that,” Alex told me, placing a coffee out of the baby’s reach.

“Lesley’s not here,” I reminded her. “Thank you for the coffee.”

“I’m going for a shower,” she said. “You can drop him with me when you’ve finished, if you like?”

“That’s very kind of you,” I told her.

“Garvin was looking for you. I said I’d wake you but he thought you needed the sleep.”

“Did he say what about?”

“Something about a meeting? He said you’d want to be there.”

“Ah,” I said. “I may not have time for breakfast,” I pushed the chair back.

“Sit down and finish that while I make you some toast,” she insisted. “He won’t go without you, and anyway, he said it would do them good to wait, for once.”

“Are you sure you’re OK?” I asked her. “You look different.”

“I’m growing my hair,” she said. “Do you like it?”

“It’s lovely,” I said, unsure I could tell the difference.

She placed toast in front of me along with a pot of honey and some butter, and the milk for the baby. “Don’t let him have any honey until he’s eaten the rice,” she advised. “Or he won’t eat the rice, and then he’ll scream blue murder until he gets more honey.”

“I’m not a complete novice,” I told her. “I managed with you.”

She kissed the top of my head. “I’m going for a shower,” she said, “but I’ll be back before you’ve finished, and I’ll take over while you go and do Garvin things.”

“Did I ever tell you were a wonderful daughter?” I asked her.

“Don’t be soppy,” she told me, and headed off for a shower.

“Ah,” I said to my son. “So that was Alex after all. I was beginning to think she’s been replaced by an alien.”

“Labalabalabalaba,” said the baby.