Authors: Suzanne Lazear
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Fantasy & Magic, #Steampunk
Innocent Darkness (29 page)
Stiofán lied to Noli as well, hiding his true nature. Did she smack the prince? Hardly. She
ran
to him. Why did they always fall for princes? He didn’t understand why the queen allowed Noli to leave with Stiofán, either. Kevighn gathered he was some exiled earth prince …
Oh. Interesting. “If I might be so bold as to inquire, what is your plan, your majesty?”
“My plan?” She arched an eyebrow, voice rising in pitch. “Not only are you the huntsman, but we’re in this predicament
because
of you. How are
you
going to fix this?”
Well, his plan involved going back to San Francisco and drowning his sorrows in opium. No matter what happened, Noli was lost to him. Like Creideamh.
Like Creideamh, in the end, Noli would die.
“Well … ” She tapped her slippered foot impatiently. “Have you nothing to say for yourself?”
“Me? You’re the one who let them go.” No sooner had Kevighn spoke when he felt the energy bolt graze his arm, singeing the cloth and burning the flesh, but not actually cutting off his arm. A warning shot. The queen had peculiar abilities—but all the women who’d held the high queen’s throne did.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,
huntsman.”
Her face hovered inches from his. “It’s not as if I let them go to the world above. For all we know, he might hold the power to binding her.”
Pain seared through him, but all he could do in her presence was put one hand over the wound to stifle the bleeding. “With all due respect, you majesty, none of us saw the Annabelle escapade coming.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” she snapped. She threw another bolt, this one grazing his leg, causing him to nearly tip over in shock and pain. “What is your plan?”
“I know you don’t think we have time to find a new girl, but the place where I found Magnolia seems to be a holding pen for girls with the Spark.” The pain was so great it was hard to speak. “I’ll return there, your majesty.” And conveniently located next to the Red Pearl.
She smiled at his discomfort.
“You do that.” Her cool tone told Kevighn that if he didn’t, his torture and death would be the entertainment at the next feast—if they weren’t all dead.
“We can, I mean,
I
can fix this.” He forced himself to sound as confident and sure as he could while bleeding all over her carpet.
“Yes, you will.”
“Of course, your majesty.”
“I do have a plan of my own,” she added slyly, enjoying his suffering.
His stomach sank; if she succeeded and he didn’t, there would be a price to pay. He wanted to leave before he grew weak from blood loss, but clearly, the queen wasn’t finished with him yet. “Excellent, your majesty. May I ask what?”
She smiled in a way that would frighten the most seasoned warrior. “Magnolia still remains our best prospect. I’ll go to Stiofán.”
That was not the plan he expected. “Stiofán? Why do you think he’ll succeed? He’s not even a man.”
The gleam in her eyes became vicious. “I have something he wants more than anything.”
“Very good, your majesty.” He shifted his weight to keep the pain from overwhelming him. The poor prince would pay dearly for it, too, and be scarcely worth what he’d get in return. One must be exceedingly careful when making deals with faeries—especially those like Tiana who’d betray her own family.
She looked him up and down and waved her hand towards the door. “You are bleeding on my carpet. Be off with you.”
“Yes, your majesty.” Kevighn bowed the best he could. Halfway to the door, he turned. “Your majesty, what does Stiofán have that I don’t?”
The queen laughed, a high pitched menacing laugh that sent chills ricocheting off his spine. “My dear Kevighn,” her words held no sincerity. “You might be handsome and quick-tongued; you might even be an expert lover. But you’re just my huntsman. Stiofán, as young and inexperienced as he may be, is a prince.”
Why did women always think that? Being a prince didn’t make you a better man.
“Of course, your majesty.” He may have bedded many women, but he never claimed to be able to understand them—especially while sober.
Steven stood in the doorway to the room he’d given Noli. Having been Elise’s room the decorations befit a young girl with its pale colors, ruffles, and ribbons. They’d made camp in the nursery, the area of the estate he and his siblings had lived in before they’d been exiled. Though dusty, the spells kept vermin and other riffraff out of their ancestral estate. Even though it lay quiet and empty, it still felt like home.
He watched Noli sleep, her chest gently rising and falling with her breath. Every day she grew lovelier—to him at least. She’d become distraught when the wood faery died in her hands. She possessed a connection to them, which he hadn’t known, but it didn’t surprise him either. They liked those with the Spark and those who held a connection to the earth.
Her anguish led to him comforting her—and to a disconcerting realization as he’d sensed the magic shift around them. Kevighn might not have been able to get the magic to bind Noli—but
he
might. It may have to do with Noli becoming
his
when he’d given her his sigil. That could be why the queen and Kevighn tried to get her to take the medallion off.
could
get the magic to bind Noli.
Kevighn usually bound girls through seduction. By sleeping with him they made an unconscious decision that they belonged to him, or at least belonged in the Otherworld. Steven was relieved she hadn’t fallen for Kevighn’s charms. He’d been even more relieved—and delighted—to discover she liked kissing him in person as much as she did in her dreams.
They’d have to be careful. It would be so easy for the magic to bind her. With each kiss, each stroke, he’d sensed the magic build. As much as he wanted certain things from her, at this moment it proved out of the question. He couldn’t allow the magic to bind her, even if it meant pushing her away until they figured everything out.
Getting her home would be an entirely different matter …
First thing first. Perhaps James would have an idea. Where was he? Surely, it hadn’t taken him that long to visit Noli’s brother and to find the mortal girl. They knew Noli wouldn’t be with either, but needed to cover their backsides. Rather, Steven needed to cover his backside. He’d still be in trouble when he returned to his father.
Shutting the door to her room, he walked into the small library that always had been his favorite. He scanned the shelves, but nothing that could help him would be here. Perhaps there’d be something in his father’s library.
“How like your father you are, so ponderous with your books and studies.”
He didn’t need to turn around to identify the speaker, but he did, inclining his head as was proper from a prince to a queen and not one iota more.
“Your majesty, I wasn’t expecting you so soon.” He tried to keep any and all emotion out of his voice.
“Why, Stiofán, you’d think I wasn’t allowed to visit my own son.” The look she shot him was hardly motherly. She hadn’t always been that way—not with them at least.
“You stopped being our mother the day you chose being high queen over us,” he retorted.
“Really, Stiofán, you, of all of them, should understand.” She didn’t hug him or even approach; she simply stood there, cool and collected in a ridiculous lavender dress which looked as if ruffles had been wrapped around her like one wound thread on a spool. Little mechanical butterfly clips flapped in her upswept hair and more decorated the dress.
“Ah, but I do, your majesty,” he replied. “Séamus understands. Ailís doesn’t. She still remembers a mother who loved her—and we try to keep it that way.”
Her eyes narrowed at him. “You are your father’s son, aren’t you?”
“Why are you here, your majesty? I know this isn’t a social call.” He suspected what she wanted lay sleeping in Elise’s room. Certainly, she only let him and Noli leave the high palace because she figured she could easily get Noli back through him.
“Why
did
you choose him over me?” No hurt flashed in her eyes, no condemnation rang in her voice as she looked around the library.
Even though their father wasn’t fun anymore, and tried to be gone as much as possible, he’d never abandoned them. Deep down their father still loved them and always sought to do the right things for them. Their mother stopped loving them the day she decided being queen of the earth court wasn’t enough.
“James and I support our father’s choice. Why would he wish to go from being king to a mere consort?” There was no such thing as high king. “He made you his queen. He loved you. You
promised.”
Her shoulders squared. “You don’t understand how complicated this all is. You could return—you, your brother, and sister. I exiled your father, not you three.”
That’s not what it had felt like.
“I came to get Noli, your majesty. That’s all. What brings you here?”
“I have a proposition.” Her voice held a calculated chill and he tried not to shiver even though the library wasn’t cold at all, the door to the adjoining gardens tightly closed.
“I don’t want to bargain. You have nothing I want,” he spat. Lies—and she knew it.
Tossing her head back, she laughed and laughed until her chest heaved and her eyes glistened. “Silly, silly Stiofán. I hold the key to what you desire most. Do you want me to restore your father to the throne? Or should I make you king, and allow you to bring him back?”
Oh, she’d like to see that. His father would never return except as king.
“I won’t give you Noli.” He met her gaze. When the time came, he’d take back his kingdom himself.
“I’m not asking for you to
give
me your little mortal.” She smirked in the way that always made him feel like an idiot. “All I ask is for you to ensure the magic binds her. Then the earth court, and all your family’s honor, will once again be yours.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m sorry, your majesty, but I won’t.”
Her jaw clenched, eyes flashing. For a moment he was grateful that his status as a child prevented her from killing or exiling him. But she was queen and he was close to being an adult. Suddenly this didn’t seem like such a good idea. But he couldn’t allow her to keep Noli.
“Do you not understand what’s at stake? Have you forgotten everything?” she hissed. For a moment her hand raised as if preparing to strike him.
He tried to school his expression and show no fear. “I know precisely what’s at stake, your majesty. Noli and I will try to find another.”
“You do that. If you find another, you may keep your silly little mortal. Though I don’t understand why your father would allow you to become attached to her to begin with.” She gave him a pointed look. “I’m
very
disappointed in you, Stiofán.”
Steven watched his mother walk out of the library; just like she’d walked out of their lives. “I’m disappointed in you, as well, Mum.”
Mood Swings
“Good morning, V.” Noli walked into the library where he hid, hunched over a large, dusty book as he sat on one of the settees.