The Earl's Childe (6 page)

In my world, there weren't nearly this many trees in the reserve. It's mostly sheep fields bordered by ocean and cliffs. There were a few places where my ancestors had planted trees, azaleas, and other flowering bushes not terribly long ago, maybe only a few hundred years. In this world, which I guess was the faery version of mine, or, well, Faerie, itself, I don't really know. There were way more trees, and they were old trees, of types I didn't recognize, with spidery leaves and pastel or metallic bark. They were all brighter, too, either almost-glowing or metallic in the moonlight. The moss was more like fur. I wanted to pause and look closer, but Tom hurried me on.

There was a light from between the trees ahead, and I heard what sounded like a mix of murmuring voices and birdsongs, even though it was so late at night. Tom swished his person-sized cat tail anxiously. It smacked me in the thighs.

“Ow!” I growled at him.

“If you kept up, it wouldn't be a problem,” he growled back, but I saw more than impatience in his eyes. He
was
worried about something; he didn't want me to know he was worried, though.

I sighed and picked up my pace. “What should I expect?” I whispered.

Tom's lip twitched into almost a scowl, but it wasn't directed at me. He spoke so quietly I had to concentrate. “I don't know, and I don't like that. I overheard that they were meeting but an hour or so ago. No one informed me of this, but I could smell how nervous some of the guards, and especially some of Lord Cadmus's guards, were. They weren't this anxious, nor trying to hide their anxiety, when the kelpie was being discussed, so I figured this is important.”

“Do you have any guesses?”

Tom rolled his eyes. “As I said, Lord Cadmus's guards,
especially
, were concerned.”

I blinked. “And?”

He stopped for a moment and faced me with a glance towards where the flickering light, like a campfire's, was becoming clearer. He still spoke barely above a whisper. A really exasperated whisper. “Really, Heather, if you're going to be useful to your family, you need to pick up on subtlety!”

I put my hands on my hips and glared back. “Yeah, subtlety's never been a huge trait in my family, even if I wasn't, you know,
eleven years old
. If we've got something to say, we say it.”

“That's not how the fey courts work, so clearly, if we want to keep good relations between the humans and fey, we should work on this with you.” He matched my stance and glare, though punctuated with an impatient frown in the direction we'd been walking. “So, before we make a mess of things tonight, quick lesson number one. What do you know about Lord Cadmus?”

“Um, he's creepy and used to be Unseelie, like, a thousand years ago, and then changed courts or something like that?”

Tom furrowed his brow and
whooshed
his tail even harder. “Close enough, but you'd do well to keep that ‘creepy' opinion
entirely
to yourself. So, based on that, if
his
guards are especially nervous and anxious? What's
your
best guess?”

“Oh.” The stupidity I felt was almost painful. “Something Unseelie, who might be related to him, is causing problems?”

“See, I knew you were capable of sentient thought on occasion.” Tom turned back towards the light and started walking again.

I skipped to catch up and avoid being “accidentally” whacked by his lashing tail again. “Wait. One more thing before we get there, please?” He managed to give me an even-more-impatient look, but he paused, arms folded.

“What do I do if they demand to know why I'm there or tell me I'm not supposed to be there?”

Tom blinked. “They won't. That would be rude. They'll tell you that they are pleased you were able to come and that they hadn't expected you. The best thing for you to do is just play along as if you knew you were invited all along.”

I scowled. “So, more or less, lie. Got it. Why do faerie have to be so complicated?”

Tom
hmphed
at me, though I could see a half-smile even as he turned to go again. “Faerie are no more complicated than humans.”

Thing is, I knew he was probably right. I knew how complicated my own family was, and I
liked
my family.

As we approached the clearing, before I could quite make out any details, I heard Tom's voice in my head.
Be sure to keep your thoughts guarded at all times. And, for goodness sake
, don't thank anyone!
Okay?

What's with the whole thanking thing? Can you tell me?

Never mind. Later. Just, focus on keeping your thoughts guarded and paying attention to every little detail of what is said. And to me. I'll try and help as much as I can
.

I started to thank him in my mind, but he threw up the mental image of a wall before I finished. He smirked at me and winked just before we passed through the circle of trees and into the clearing.

I gasped upon seeing the crowd of faerie within the clearing. As dumb as it was, my eyes were drawn first to all the sparkling or shiny or bright or otherwise beautiful clothing.

Before I got too close to the crowd, I looked down at my almost-too-small-thanks-to-a-growth-spurt pink nightgown and bit back a curse.

It's
your
image
, came Tom's voice in my head.
Imagine yourself in something different. Like that dress you were wearing when the queen visited
.

You were watching me that day?

Tom didn't bother to put a response into words. Whatever. It was a good idea. My dad had gotten me the dress last Christmas, and it was too big then, but now it fit. It was a pretty robin's-egg blue in the underdress, with a filmy, gauzy material of swirling blue and brown flowers with Swarovski crystal accents. It was definitely the most beautiful dress I owned. I also imagined myself in the little bit of lip gloss and mascara Mum had put on me, too, because, well, we were meeting Important Faery People, so why not?

I could feel the material and the make-up on me, and I smiled. That made me feel a little more confident in this meeting. Tom led me to a space not too far from the only two faerie I recognized for sure—Lady Fana and Lord Cadmus. Lady Fana had super-long blonde hair and a smile just about anyone in Hollywood would sell their soul for. She was quite petite, but one look from her huge—definitely-not-human huge—violet eyes let you know she was very dangerous.

It wasn't quite a glare that she shot me, but her gaze shook me to the core. In response, I curtsied deeply, smiled, and engaged in the game per Tom's suggestion. “Well met, Lady Fana. It's a pleasure to be in your presence again.” I didn't consume fantasy movies, comics, and books for nothing.

Her look softened some, and the slightest hint of genuineness touched her pink, pouty smile. “Well met, Heather MacArthur, human liaison to the MacArthur clan. I hadn't expected to see you by yourself.”

“Tom made special arrangements so that I could be here to do my duty.”

“And has Tom briefed you on why we are meeting?” Her eyes flicked to the cat fey. I sensed that, if he still had fur on his body, his hackles would be up.

I actually had an answer for this! “Tom thought it would be best I hear everything from you, directly, to ensure the most accuracy.”

Dimly, in the back of my head, I heard a
Yes!
I did my best not to react.

Lady Fana nodded slightly, and then gave me a once-over. “You are still injured from your capture of the kelpie?” she asked softly.

I hadn't realized I was rubbing my ribs. One would think since this was all in my head that the walking wouldn't have made them sore…or maybe they were sore from how I was sitting in my parents' office. “A little.”

“Would you permit me to heal you, then? As you are here and clearly willing to help, I would hate for you to go through this meeting in pain.”

“Um, I suppose?”

She smiled and did…
something
…that made her look even more beautiful than usual. I bit my lip, but still kept from looking in her eyes.

“I give you my word that I will do nothing more than heal you. I know it is just your spirit here, but this should still reach your body.”

I nodded at her.

“Give me your hand, then, Heather.”

When she took my hand, I felt warm tingles go from my fingers to my torso, and then they stopped. The slightest frown touched her face. “I have your permission to do this, Heather?”

“Yes,” I said, not liking that “stop” sensation.

Once I said that, I could feel the healing magick again. It was odd, because I could feel the magick acting at the same time in this spirit body, as if it stood firmly on the woodland floor, and in my body-body, sitting in my parents' office. It felt really weird.

After a moment, she released my hand and turned to Lord Cadmus, who had been speaking quietly to an amber-eyed, owl-faced fey who wore an owl-feathered cape. She touched Cadmus's arm lightly. Like Lady Fana, Lord Cadmus was more petite than a human, and had pointy elf ears and long hair, though his hair was black and stopped just at his shoulder blades. Also like Lady Fana, he had deep, dangerous, violet eyes, which glanced at Tom and me for a moment. He nodded slightly, then attended to her. “Shall we begin, my love?”

Fana nodded and proceeded to greet everyone else there individually, which took a holy-crap-forever long time. I remembered a few. The owl-looking fey was actually an owl fey representing his owl clan, as well as being Lord Cadmus's lead guard, and he was called something like “Hoo-ell-winn.” The head of the rabbit clan, Lady Ansa, was a ginger-haired young looking woman with big brown eyes full of mischief and pride and a nose that still wiggled in her person-form, who wore my favorite of all the outfits of the night—a dress/jumpsuit that layered different materials, in greens and browns. Several of the fancier-dressed faerie, including four who looked like daoine síth, were giving Lady Ansa
looks
, which made me like her even more. There was also another cat fey, a female, with pale blonde hair and possibly a haughtier look than that of the any daoine síth. She just went by “Marquesa.”

You're not head of the cat fey?
I asked Tom, since it seemed either only one person or a couple represented each of the animal-related fey.

No
. His tone had a clear “I don't want to talk about it, and I won't answer if you ask” message, so I didn't press.

The daoine síth, three men and one woman, all appeared related in some way to Lord Cadmus and Lady Fana, and they stood opposite us on the rough circle everyone had assembled in. For the life of me, though, I couldn't remember their names. I wondered if there were magick to that.

Besides the animal fey and the daoine síth, there was an almost-but-not-quite human-looking woman, introduced as “Arooa,” representing the coastal selkies—glowing, face-shaped bubbles with a single unpronounceable name, representing the will-o'-the-wisps; a very short, angular man in a tattered coat, whose name sounded like clanking gears, for the brownies and gnomes; and two whom I recognized— Ehranthal and Melldadnium. The two flower pixies were also opposite me, and hard to make out beyond being tiny sparkling, winged persons, but my youngest sister, Ivy, had told me she and Ash, her twin brother, would speak to them in the really old gardens. I wondered what they thought about Dad's “Let's salt the castle!” plan.

After the “ridiculously long greetings” part of the meeting, where I was formally introduced as the human liaison to the MacArthur clan, things got underway. And by “underway,” I mean a whole lot of talking and phrasing that I seriously didn't understand.

It sucked.

After maybe an hour of conversation among mostly the daoine síth, about the history and tradition of Seelie Stronghold Something and how those of opposing courts had yielded or were forced to yield some-other-thing, I thought my brain might explode. I pictured a secret tunnel, running to Tom, to channel my thoughts so no one else could read them, and shouted a mental
Help!
to him.

I heard his sigh in the back of my head.
Historically, this part of Scotland, even before it was known as “Scotland,” has been held by the Seelie court. Unseelie who pass through must uphold the standing relationship with humans—-play nice, so to speak—or they can incur the wrath of the Seelie Court. There have been some battles, and this court has always won, maintaining their laws
.

Okay, that made sense. And I had taken enough politics and social studies classes to suggest,
So, the reason they're bringing up tradition and history and all that is because someone wants to make a change?

Tom didn't answer me in words, and the feeling of him in my head lessened even more, but I sensed, first, his agreement with my thought, and second, him “pointing” my attention back to the conversation, particularly at Lord Cadmus.

“No, I cannot confirm that my cousin will uphold Seelie law,” he said, his lips a thin line across his face, “but you know what we risk by directly opposing his claim.”

That
caused an uproar. Everyone started talking and shouting all at once.

“Enough.” Lady Fana spoke in what sounded like a normal tone, but somehow everyone heard her above all the rowing. Everyone did, in fact, shut it at her word. “We already have an Unseelie that lives on our lands but must bend to the Seelie rule.” She looked at me, and everyone's eyes followed hers. It was all I could do not to duck behind Tom.

“You're talking about Ehrwnmyr?” I asked. The kelpie was definitely evil; he'd told me so himself. “He has to do what I say.”

“And you command him to abide by Seelie law.” That wasn't a question, but her tone made it clear that I should agree.

However, I had rubbish for a clue of what exactly “Seelie law” was, and I had a feeling it was in my best interest to be careful exactly what I agreed to. The tiniest sense of Tom in my head seemed to support that idea, too. “I command him to harm no one, faerie or human.”