The Faerie Queen (The Faerie Ring #4) (4 page)

Chapter Eight

T
hey arrived in a sunlit meadow, the air pierced by the sharp trills of a meadowlark. A familiar grass-covered mound stood before them with an arched stone entry. Tiki took a deep breath of the warm, succulent air, rich with the fragrance of honeysuckle and for the first time in a long time didn’t feel the urge to cough. It was as if they had stepped through time into summer.

“
Welcome to the Plain of Sunlight, Majesty.” Dain swept his arm out as he bent in a stiff bow. “The Seelie Court’s home away from the Palace of Mirrors.”

Tiki inclined her head in a mock-bow, matching his formality.
“Thank you, kind sir.”  She looked toward the horizon where the impressive hulk of Wydryn Tor rose dark against the sky. The top of the Tor was concealed by dark clouds that spilled down into the Wychwood Forest below as though a storm overflowed the top of a teacup. Tiki was glad to be far away from the troubles that simmered there.

She pointed to several odd
ly-shaped silhouettes in the distance. “What are those?”

Dai
n squinted in the direction she pointed. Without responding he whirled around and took her arm, motioning toward the entry to the Seelie Court’s underground lair. “Never mind. Let’s find Larkin.”

“
What do you mean
never mind
?” Tiki glanced over her shoulder at the odd shadows again. “What are they?” Dain trudged along in silence until Tiki pulled her arm free. “Tell me now.”

An unfamiliar look crossed Dain’s features and Tiki’s stomach did a slow roll, not sure what to make of his strange reaction.

The muscles in his jaw flexed before he spoke as if he struggled to keep the answer captive. “They are what remain of the border guards. Donegal continues to attack and when he captures one of our soldiers he impales their bodies on large stakes. They line the perimeter of the Plain of Sunlight as a grisly warning of his intent.”

Tiki spoke in a horrified whisper.
“Why haven’t they been taken down?”

“
The UnSeelies lie in wait for those who might rescue the fallen. It’s suicide to try to take the bodies down right now.”

A terrible thrumming rumbled in Tiki’s stomach. Dead bodies left
to rot where they’d been impaled as a threat. She could think of nothing more barbaric. With each bit of knowledge she gained about the Winter King the outcome of this war became clearer and clearer: Donegal had to be stopped—at whatever cost.

DAIN LED TIKI through the arched stone entry into the underground chamber of the Seelie’s. The passageway was lit by wall-mounted torches, their flames flickering and wavering as they passed. The hallway smelled of fresh dirt, but the walls were hard-packed and almost stone-like, as if they had existed for too many years to count.  The path led steeply downhill to a plank door.  The guard who stood there recognized Tiki immediately.

“
Welcome home, Majesty,” he said in an excited voice, bowing as she passed.

“
Thank you.” Tiki nodded, surprised by his reaction.

The
y moved further along the corridor and the hallway widened, changing from dirt to stone with columns lining each side. The next guard stamped his staff on the floor and bowed. “We’ve been waiting for your return, your Grace.”

A buzz built
as she and Dain continued down the winding hallway, the news of her arrival somehow spreading through the Seelie Court as if by magic. Each of the red-coated guards they passed on their way to the great underground hall where the Macanna gathered bowed and stamped their staffs as she passed.

“
We are yours to command, Majesty.”

“
Feel safer knowing you’re here, Queen Tara.”

Tiki nodded and smiled
, surprise warring with gratitude in her chest.

Dain looked over at her.
“Do you want to go directly to the hall, Majesty, or to your rooms first?”

Tiki noticed how formal his tone
and manner had become, now that they were around others from the Seelie Court. The teasing note that usually lit his voice was gone.

“
Let’s find Larkin first.”

“
How nice of you to join us.” The mercurial faerie’s voice was unmistakable.

Tiki whirled around. Nothing about Larkin should surprise
her, yet somehow, the faerie always managed to remain unpredictable. Tiki’s gaze swept the faerie who was dressed in the same dark drape she’d worn when she’d paid Tiki her recent nighttime visit. Even dressed in black, Larkin’s exquisite face was as breathtaking as ever, her porcelain skin and enigmatic eyes emphasized by the contrast with her clothing.

“
Yes, well, I was strongly encouraged to visit,” Tiki replied. It was hard to draw her eyes away from the faerie’s ethereal beauty and she straightened her spine, as if preparing for battle. “There are a number of matters on which I’d like an update. Is there someplace where we can have privacy?”

“
Follow me. Dain,” she said over her shoulder, “I’d like you to join us as well.” She didn’t wait to see if they would follow. Instead, she swept down one of the seven corridors that stretched away from the circular main hall like spokes in a wheel. Her footsteps were silent and dressed in black as she was, there were moments when she became as indistinct as the shadows that clung to the huge columns lining the hallway. Larkin swung around a corner and stopped. “For my own protection, I conceal my chambers. Do not reveal this location to anyone—” her eyes narrowed— “you may need to hide here yourself one day.”

S
he disappeared behind a wall of greenery. Dain raised his eyebrows at Tiki and made a face as he took her hand and pulled her into a dark space not visible from the hallway. Before them a moss covered door stood ajar, a sliver of light escaping from the room.

Dain
motioned for Tiki to enter the room. “After you, Majesty.”

Tiki walked past him
, unsure of what to expect. The only other time she’d visited the Plain of Sunlight, she’d seen little more than the main underground hall. She looked curiously into the room, then stopped and stared, her heart fluttering with surprise. To her amazement, the room was furnished almost identically to the drawing room in Grosvenor Square.  A cheery fire burned in the grate, with an identical rug on the floor before the hearth.  A similar couch and chairs were grouped in a comfortable half-circle with pastoral paintings on the walls that matched those in Rieker’s townhome. Resting atop familiar cabinets, several candles were lit within hurricane lanterns, throwing a yellow circle of light that was both inviting and reassuring. Whatever Tiki had expected—this wasn’t it.

Larkin marched into the room and sat in one of the chairs, snapping her fin
gers at Tiki to sit on the nearby couch. “Fifteen more dead. Staked on the border to taunt us. While Donegal’s army grows, ours is being decimated.”

The hair on Tiki’s arms raised as her skin became covered in chill bumps.
“I saw them when we came in. What do you want me to do?”

“
I want you to be the queen you were born to be.”
Larkin snapped. Her voice, though low, seemed to echo off the walls of the small room.

“
Larkin,” Dain’s voice held a warning. “Tiki has come back to help. You need to help her understand how to do that.”

Larkin took a deep breath and looked at Tiki expectantly.
“We need to plan an attack. We can’t continue to let Donegal grow his army or the Seelie Court won’t stand a chance. Did you bring the Cup?”

“
I—” Tiki hesitated, feeling foolish, especially after Larkin’s insinuation that she’d not been living up to her responsibilities. “No, I—”

“
We were forced to leave London unexpectedly.” Dain’s hands rested along the back of the couch and his long fingers brushed Tiki’s shoulder in a reassuring way. “Donegal set Bearach’s hounds after Tara and they found us in Grosvenor Square.” He spoke as if unaware of the tension that choked the air around them. “I’m sure I could easily retrieve the Cup from wherever Tara has stored it.”

“
Go now,” Larkin commanded. “Donegal has taken all the homeless faeries captive. Those who are able to walk are now UnSeelie soldiers. He’s forced any hobgoblins he can find into service—the rest are hiding for their lives in the Wychwood. The Redcaps, Spriggans, Jack-in-Irons—the whole lot are combing the forest looking for Tara and either impressing any Seelies they find into their ranks or killing them.  While we need to go on the offensive, we don’t have the manpower to compete with the UnSeelies. I fear our only hope to truly win this war is to find the Fourth Treasure—and to do that we need the Cup.”

Tiki
turned to Dain and put her hand on his arm. “You know where it is. Go now and bring the Cup back. It doesn’t seem we have time to lose.” Her voice softened. “Be careful.”

“
As you wish, Majesty.” He bent his head and exited the room.

Larkin’s eyes were hooded as she contemplated Tiki.
“You trust him with such precious secrets now?”

“
He has earned my trust,” she answered.

Larkin’s beautiful lips twisted in a smirk.
“I wonder if William trusts him as completely as you?”

“
Of course he does,” Tiki replied indignantly. “They’re brothers.”

“
Let me assure you, my naïve little queen—” the bitterness in Larkin’s voice was unmistakable— “blood does not buy loyalty.”

Chapter Nine

“
I’m going to Windsor.” Leo stood in the open doorway to the drawing room and waited for his brother’s reaction.

Prince
Arthur looked up from where he sat polishing a rifle, pausing in mid-stroke. At his feet a small black and white cocker spaniel lay sleeping. “Why? I thought you still weren’t feeling well.”

Leo
had just returned from visiting Mamie. He debated whether to tell Arthur the truth, but Mamie’s warning was still fresh in his ears and he decided that nothing would be gained in telling his brother the real purpose of his trip.

“
Actually, I thought the clean air might help in my recovery.  I swear these low-lying clouds have trapped the soot and debris right on top of the palace. I can barely draw a breath when I go outside.” Leo coughed to emphasize his point.  “I’m going to go this afternoon.”

“
That’s fine. Why don’t you stay for a few days. I’m sure Mother and Baby will be pleased to see you.” Arthur grinned as he resumed his work. “And I’m sure our little sister would be quite happy to take more of your money in cards.”

“
Don’t be a prat, Arthur,” Leo said. “I’ll be back for the poker game on Friday night and I plan to make you eat your words.”

“
That’s right, cards this week. Is Wills joining us?”

“
I don’t know. I’ll go round Grosvenor Square and invite him when I’m back from Windsor.  I’ve been wondering how he and his cousin are faring.”

“
And I’m sure the thought of visiting the beautiful Tara has never crossed your mind.”

Leo chose to ignore his brother as
Arthur snorted with laughter. “I’m going to ask Wills if he wants to bring Dain. He’s a bit of a mysterious chap. I’d like the chance to ask him a few more questions.”

“I’M GLAD I caught you alone, Mother,” Leo said the next day as he closed the door to the small library in Windsor Castle. The weather outside was wet and dreary, making the wood-paneled room and warmth of the fire that much more inviting. “I need to ask you a few questions.”

Queen Victoria looked up from her book, a g
uarded expression in her eyes. Like usual, she wore a high-necked black gown and had her hair pulled back from her round face, knotted tightly at the nape of her neck. “On what subject, Leopold?”

“
On the matter of your ring that went missing—the ring of the truce that William Richmond now guards.”

Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“Is there a problem?”

“
Not directly, but at Mamie’s suggestion, I’ve come to ask you about the other secrets in the ring.” Leo perched on the edge of a chair, too excited to pretend nonchalance.  He sensed that his mother held information that no other mortal knew. Would she share her knowledge with him?

His mother
marked the page she was reading and closed her book, her motions slow and deliberate. “So Mamie told you there were other secrets in the ring?”

“
Yes.”

“
Was that all she said?”

“
She said Wills’ friend, Tara, needed to know those secrets. It sounded like it was a matter of life or death.”

“
Tara? What role does she play?”

Leo took a deep breath.
“Mamie said she was a true-born queen.”

Victoria raised her eyebrows.
“I suppose it’s possible. She’s about the same age I was when I ascended the throne. Does William still guard the ring?”

Leo nodded.
“I’m sure of it.”

The queen
crossed her hands over the book that now rested on her lap. When she finally spoke, her voice was hushed.  “Mamie is the only other person who knows there is more than the truce in that ring.  We vowed never to speak of the other secrets unless we felt imminent danger to the British throne existed.”

Leo exhaled slowly. So there was something more in the ring
. He leaned closer. “What are the secrets?”

His mother shook her head, her expression serious.
“I don’t know all that is held within the ring—they were never our secrets to keep. Part of our alliance with the fey allowed them to safeguard information in our world. In exchange, they protected us from those who would do us harm. Until recently, that is.” Her gaze shifted to his face. “But I believe, as Mamie has indicated, whatever those secrets are—they are very powerful.”

Leo pushed himself out of the chair.
“Thank you, Mother. I’ll let William and Tara know straightaway.” He hurried toward the door.

“
Leopold.”

Leo stopped and
glanced over his shoulder. “Yes?”

“
There is one secret I do know.”

His breath caught in anticipation.
“What’s that?”

“
One must use a mirror.”

His
brows pulled down in a frown and he tilted his head in confusion. “Come again?”

“
There is a particular mirror that hangs in the private passageway to the White Drawing Room in Buckingham. It is round with an unusually carved frame—one of a kind. Our family has had it since long before I was born or my mother or my mother’s mother. It came into our protection at the same time as the ring. I’ve always thought of it as the Faerie Queen’s mirror, because it has what looks like the head of a faerie queen carved into the top. That mirror is tied to the purpose of the ring.”

Leo slowly shifted around to face his mother.
“How so?”

“
As the ring is a secret-keeper for the Faerie world’s kings and queens—the mirror is their failsafe should the ring ever be stolen. We were told that one cannot decipher the secrets held in the ring without the mirror.” Victoria opened her book, signaling their conversation had reached its end. “I suggest you go immediately and find William Richmond and his friend, Tara, and tell them what you know. Perhaps it is time for the mirror to be put to use.”