“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just . . . yeah.” I’d seen Marcia make the crossing a dozen times without problems. It must have been the goblin fruit making things even worse—that, or the fact that I was currently even more human than she was. I coughed into my hand and straightened, steadying myself against Danny before taking my hand away. “Let’s go find Dean.”
A group of pixies rushed by overhead, their wings chiming like bells. They vanished through the door that led into the courtyard. I blinked.
“Pixies usually go where there’s food,” I said. “I guess everyone came upstairs for lunch?” It would have made more sense to stay down at the beach, where the Undersea army would be more comfortable, but this wasn’t my invasion to plan.
We walked down the hall to the courtyard, me trying to pretend I didn’t notice how closely my companions were sticking, them trying to act like they weren’t waiting for me to fall. Then we stopped, all of us staring through the open door as we tried to make sense of the scene.
Dean was there, in close-held argument with Marcia, both of them making tight, quick gestures with their hands. Patrick was sitting on one of the low walls that supported the flowerbeds, his head cradled in his hands. Dianda was nowhere to be seen.
And neither was Arden.
I cleared my throat. All three of them looked toward us. Their expressions only drove home the idea that something was terribly wrong. Patrick looked numb; Dean, panicked; and Marcia, who had served as my Seneschal and knew me better than either of the other two, relieved. Then her relief flickered, turning into bewilderment as she really saw me, and realized I wasn’t wearing a human disguise.
“T-Toby?” she said uncertainly. “Oh, oak and ash, what happened?”
“I think I need to ask the same question,” I said. “What’s going on? Where’s Arden? Where’s Dianda?”
“Arden ran,” said Dean. His voice sounded hollow. I wasn’t sure he’d even registered the change in my appearance. “After the Queen arrested my mother, Arden ran.”
“What?!” It felt like the word had been ripped out of me by unseen hands. I stared at him, unable to wrap my mind around what he was saying. “What do you mean, the Queen arrested Dianda? On what grounds?”
“Sedition and conspiracy to incite rebellion,” said Patrick. He sounded a little better than his son. I guess after years of watching the Queen’s policies chip away at the relationship between the Kingdom of the Mists and the Undersea, he’d stopped hoping for anything better. “She came in here with a dozen guards and said she had proof that Dianda was at the head of a campaign against her. She took my wife to be imprisoned until the Queen of Leucothea could be contacted.” A weary smile creased his lips. It was the sort of expression a convicted man might wear on the way to the gallows. “I suppose it’s a good thing I recanted my title when I chose the sea over the land. The Queen ignored me completely.”
“Me, too,” said Dean, sounding confused.
“Yeah, which just proves this is a farce,” I said. Saltmist was a part of the Kingdom of Leucothea, the nearest Undersea demesne. But Goldengreen belonged to the Mists. “This is your land, Dean. If she was arresting people on charges of sedition, you should have been the first against the wall.” He looked sick. I wrinkled my nose. “Sorry about that, and if it helps, I have no idea how she found out. I don’t know how she found out any of this. Did the Queen really come here? The actual Queen, not a representative?”
“It could have been a Gwragen under an illusion, but I don’t think it was,” said Marcia. Everyone turned to her. She shrugged, touching the thin layer of faerie ointment that gleamed around her eyes. “I can’t always see through illusions, but I can almost always tell when someone is wearing one. The woman who came here looked like the Queen; commanded like the Queen; scared the crap out of the pixies like the Queen; and she wasn’t wearing any disguises. I don’t think we’re worth that much trouble. Not Goldengreen.” She paused before adding, “And she was singing. No one could move while she was singing.”
That sealed it. The Queen was part Siren: her songs had the power to command. It also explained how she’d been able to take Dianda with an Undersea army right there. Unless they’d had a Siren of their own to deploy, the Queen could have walked in and out without meeting any real challenge.
“Goldengreen is worth more than any other noble holding in Golden Gate,” I said, surprised by the venom in my words. I looked toward Dean. “I am sorry. I am sorry to have brought this on your house, and on your family, and I will do my best to get your mother freed.”
“Don’t be.” He straightened. “The Queen of the Mists is a bad regent, and right now, she’s in control of my lands and my people. That means she needs to be deposed. Mom is an Undersea noble. She was committing sedition, even if the Queen had no right to arrest her.”
“So what are you committing?” asked Quentin. It was the first time he’d spoken since we stepped into the courtyard.
Dean smiled. “Treason.”
“Okay. Just as long as we’re all on the same page,” I said.
“We’re not,” said Patrick. He stood. “Pardon my language, October, but what in the name of Titania’s ass happened to you?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. It didn’t help: Patrick continued looking at me expectantly, waiting to hear my answer. Dean and Marcia were doing much the same thing. I sighed. “The Queen arranged to have me exposed to goblin fruit. I think she was hoping she could discredit me by getting me addicted to the stuff. Turns out that because of my particular . . . talents . . . I was able to turn myself almost human in the pursuit of a better high.”
“Why only almost?” asked Dean.
“Because that’s when my magic got too weak for me to keep going. Now I can’t turn myself back without either a hope chest or my mother to help me.” My stomach rumbled. I ignored it. “Did the Queen see Arden? Or did Arden just run?”
“She—the Queen—came in through the cliff entrance,” said Dean. “We were all down by the cove. She and her men used the stairs to get down to us, and they went straight for Mom. Arden was at the back of the crowd. I don’t think the Queen saw her, but after the guards took Mom away, Arden was gone.”
“Okay. So she got spooked. It happens. Has anyone checked the guest room where Nolan is sleeping?”
Blank looks told me that they hadn’t thought of that. I bit my lip before I could say something I’d regret later. Dianda was Dean’s mother and Patrick’s wife. They could be forgiven for being a little off their game. I would normally have expected Marcia to be more on the ball, but seeing the Queen was never easy on changelings. She had the kind of beauty that stopped hearts, and the more human you were, the worse it was.
If I saw her in my current condition, I’d probably drop dead on the spot. Not a pleasant thought, given that she was the one who had the thing I needed to cure my current condition.
Please, Tybalt, find Mom, I thought, not dwelling on the fact that somewhere along the line, I had started thinking of humanity as something to be cured. “Nolan, her brother? The reason she’s been in hiding since her father died? That guy? We put him in one of the guest rooms when we first arrived, remember?”
Marcia paled. “I didn’t even think to check.”
“That’s what I thought you were going to say.” I looked back to Danny. “Wait here. I don’t think the Queen is going to come back, but if she does . . .”
“I start shoutin’ about how I’m so honored by her presence and does she need a ride anywhere,” said Danny. “They’ll be able to hear me in Shadowed Hills.”