The Treachery of Beautiful Things (11 page)

In the mirror, Jack’s eyes picked out another figure. Beyond the queen’s courtiers, alone in a corner and watching everything with flat and passionless eyes, stood her piper. Of course Titania had retrieved him. She always got what she wanted. So now he waited on her. Waited to be called upon, waited to be of service. His silver flute in hand, he gazed at the queen in rapt adoration. And there was no mistaking him.

Jenny’s brother.

He looked like her—the same coloring, the same brown eyes—and yet not like her at all. Aloof, cold. Familiar, though. Jack had seen the piper often enough. He’d grown to manhood in the Realm, and that left its mark in the coolness of his gaze, in the disdain that clung to his every expression. A far cry from the boy Jack had found in the forest seven years ago, this man. He should have noticed the resemblance in Jenny when he first saw her, but he hadn’t been looking for it. He’d only been trying to get rid of the girl. And now within reach was the one thing that might make her leave the Realm. Not that he could bring her brother to her. The queen would not stand for that, and neither, Jack suspected, would the piper.

Jack studied the young man’s reflection, trying to work out how he could use this knowledge to his advantage, before he realized, too late, that he had taken his eyes off Titania. Never wise.

She stood too close. Far too close, the scent of roses that clung to her encircling him as well. Her fingertips brushed his cheek and she laughed when he flinched away.

“I’d forgotten how handsome you are, Jack.”

He took an involuntary pace backward and Titania followed him, matching him step for step. Theirs was an old dance. He knew it well and it never failed to seduce him into thinking things might end differently this time.

“Nothing to say?”

His voice finally found a way of escape, even if it was at her implied command. “Why did you bring me here?”

“I want to talk,” she said lightly. Her hand caught his wrist, closing on it like a vise. His pulse thundered beneath her touch. The pressure was both intimate and threatening. “Are you guarding her, Jack? Keeping her safe? Taking her to
him
?”

Venom dripped from the final word and he saw the flash of sharp teeth behind those full and luscious lips.

“I’m doing my duty, Your Majesty. The one with which I was charged.”

“Ah yes, your duty.” She glanced down the great mirrored hall to where the piper stood, now staring blankly into the fire. He seemed to sense the queen’s eyes on him and turned; his gaze, though without passion, lit at the sight of her. “You’re remarkably good at that, Jack o’ the Forest. No one better.” She didn’t release him. Instead, she leaned in closer, peering into his eyes as if to see all his secrets. “You never call me ‘my queen.’ Everyone else does. Why would that be, Jack?”

Her lips were too close to his. Her presence stole his breath. Even though he was aware she was throwing every glamour she had against him, even though he knew the being beneath this charade and all that she was capable of, he still wanted to kiss her. He licked his lips, his face turning toward hers—

Wires of pain shot through him, breaking the creeping tendrils of her enchantments, and he felt suddenly sick with himself. His curse protected him, and damned him. It kept him from Titania, and kept him free of her.

Still Titania didn’t release him. Her grip only tightened. “Do you remember what it was like, Jack? Before, I mean. When you weren’t”—she brushed her silken fingertips against his cheekbones, underlining each eye—“as you are now?”

Remember? Of course he remembered. It was seared into his mind. The power, the strength, the pure wonder of freedom. She must have seen it in his eyes, on his face, in the tight line of his mouth.

Titania tilted her head. “I can give that back to you, Jack.”

The hall grew quiet with expectation. The light through the high windows cast crimson-gold bands around the room. Outside, the sky would be turning red.

Chains of iron seemed to be crushing his ribs, and Jack realized he had stopped breathing. It wasn’t possible. She couldn’t. He belonged to Oberon. They both knew that. Unless she and Oberon had worked out a deal…But Titania never bartered. It had always been orders, or threats, or simply torment. Never cajoling. Titania didn’t need to offer honey when her sting was so vicious.

She turned away, luring him after her as she swept up the steps to her Rose Throne and to the mirror beyond it. He
staggered to a halt at her side and tried not to look into the mirrored glass, staring at his feet instead. He couldn’t listen to her. What she implied, what she could be promising—it was too much. The thought of it dangling so close and yet still out of reach. Freedom. His mouth was dry. Oberon would never allow it, would unleash all his fury if he even thought she was suggesting it. And Titania would never make such an offer, veiled or not, unless Jack had something she wanted.

For the queen surely wanted something in return.

Jack forced his mind to calmness. He stood straight, spread his feet on the cold marble floor, and made himself look up.

Titania stood just behind him, facing the mirror. Her free hand shook as she smoothed back her golden hair from her face. She hid it through sheer force of will and an expertise gained from centuries of being watched. But Jack could feel it when he stood so close to her, when he forced himself to be detached and wary. She pressed her body to his back, snaked her hand across his chest and rested her cheek against his upper arm. He shuddered.

His eyes followed her every move. He couldn’t stop watching her.

And neither could her reflection.

She lifted her eyes to meet those opposite her and Jack had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out.

They weren’t Titania’s eyes staring back. Mab, dwelling within her like a malignant spider at the center of a web, peered out at him. Not a trace of Titania’s seduction now. Her gimlet gaze made him quake inside as ancient half-remembered nightmares surged to the edge of his mind. Titania’s heart beat so hard he could feel it through his own body. She drew a breath, trying to calm herself. Even after so many centuries, the terror never died. He knew it as well as she did. It bonded them together, the fear. Mab ate at their shared past like a cancer.

And the old queen was hungry again.

“What do you want?” Jack said steadily.

A smile flickered over the mouth inside the mirror, a movement that did not originate in Titania’s smooth face.

“A May Queen has come. I sense her in the forest, in the water, changing things as she journeys toward us. Jack knows. Oh yes, he knows it too well.”

Mab’s voice snaked around them both, a voice like old nails scratching on dry skin. It reeked of malice, of hatred and bloodlust. Mab was old, older than any of them. She kept to the old ways, forcing Titania to do the same when she willed it. And the old ways cried for blood.

Titania’s voice was music in comparison. “Then we must get rid of her.”

“She’s too precious to kill. We need her. She will make us young and whole again.”

“We
are
young.” Titania ran her hands down her body. It should have been seductive, a demonstration of her beauty. But it wasn’t. Jack shivered, his skin contracting around a frame that was suddenly too large for it. “And whole. Beautiful. What more do you want?”

Mab laughed, mocking laughter that rang around the room, bouncing off the mirrored walls. Jack wanted to recoil, but didn’t dare show any weakness. He stood as still as a tree with deep roots before the storm. Titania’s grip crushed him. She was afraid. Very afraid. As well she might be. He pitied her, but that didn’t make him want to help her, or make him loathe her any less. He had made that mistake before.

“And are we innocent? She’s fresh blood. Her heart is so full, so ripe. She knows not what she is, what power she could wield. Her innocence, her heart, her will. Her choice. She knows not what it could mean. And she’s ours. She must be. Quickly, before Oberon claims her. Time is short.”

The mirror image lifted a small casket, rosewood inlayed with gold, carved with filigree designs. The catch was a golden heart pierced with a knife. Behind him, Titania’s arms jerked up like those of a puppet, mirroring Mab’s movements perfectly. Her hands slid up the sides of Jack’s body. And came to rest on either side of his torso. In the mirror, the casket glimmered in the center of his chest.

The metal heart gleamed red in the reflected light.

“You were a hunter, before you were a guardian.” Titania’s breath played against his ear, stirring his hair. She had pushed her fear of Mab aside to be all seduction once more. He longed to give in. It would be so much easier. But he couldn’t. It was just a glamour, just her magic working on him. It would beguile him, trick him, use him. “To be free, you just have to hunt again, Jack.”

Jack swallowed. “I can’t,” he said, straining to keep his voice even. “You promise more than you can deliver.”

“Do we?”
Mab laughed, the sound clawing at him.
“I think you forget my power, Jack o’ the Forest. Oberon certainly does. Underestimating your foe is certain defeat.”

Mab held the casket out to them, an offering. Jack stared, hypnotized by horror and need as it moved closer to the glass and then, with only the slightest resistance of reality, pushed through. The mirror bulged, distorting their images. The hag who appeared in Titania’s place grinned, revealing needle-like teeth. Titania released him and he almost sagged to his knees but struggled to stay upright. At the first show of weakness, Mab would slash his throat before his heart could beat again. She’d drink down his blood and his strength. She’d promised it, so long ago, and Jack knew she was only biding her time. She used Titania as her agent in the world because it suited her, because despite her strength the current queen would never be as powerful as the old one. Strength and power were different things.

But the moment Titania failed her, or fought too hard. The moment Titania was no longer of use…

Mab’s eyes flashed when Titania reached out to take the casket. The glass wobbled like the surface of a bubble about to burst, rippling with a rainbow sheen. Nails scraped over the queen’s hands, leaving a raw trail as they pulled back into the far side of the mirror, tearing skin, but leaving the glass intact once more.

“Nothing can replace you, my Titania. Not if you make it ours. Part of us.”

And then she was gone. Titania gazed at her own perfect reflection, the casket weighing heavily in her bleeding hands.

She turned slowly and offered it to Jack. But her voice reached out to the whole room. Jack remembered suddenly that they were far from alone. Her courtiers gathered at the center of the chamber, at the foot of the steps leading up to the throne, hovering, humming, waiting. Every moment, every movement, watched. Every word heard.

Titania could never show weakness. In that way, she and Jack were alike.

“A mortal girl is loose in our forest. Whosoever brings her to me will be rewarded. Beyond measure.” She dropped her voice and suddenly she was speaking to him alone. Intimate, like a lover’s whisper. “I can give you your desires, Jack. Your freedom and your hope.”

She knew him too well. She knew him better than he knew himself. His dreams, his wishes, all the things he had given up on. She knew each and every one.

“I can’t.”

But he knew his duty.

“Because of your oath?” She laughed. “And where has your oath brought you, Jack?” She said his name like a curse, like a slur. “And what value can we place on an oath you were forced to make?”

Jack stared her in the eye.

She was right. He hated it, but couldn’t deny it. He dropped his gaze to the marbled floor.

“She’ll bring ruin to the forest. Oberon will take her, make her his, refuse to let her go, and winter will sweep back over us. And what will become of the forest fae then? We all know he hates them. Nothing will stay his hand if he takes her.”

Titania placed the casket on the table beneath the mirror and turned back to him, smiling again. A predatory smile. Jack knew it of old. It was more like Mab’s than she would care to admit.

He needed to get out. He needed to get away from her. And he longed to stay. To let go. To obey.

The casket pulled his attention back. Did he hear a beat from inside, an incessant rhythm, like the pounding of a pulse? It called to him, and he wanted to answer. But if
he brought the girl here, what would it still take to win his heart from that box? Her own in return?

Titania’s hand clutched his. “Bring her to me, Jack. Or I’ll see you suffer more than anyone has suffered in the Realm.”

Jack met her eyes, a challenge rising in him. “Why not just bring her here yourself, as you did me?”

Titania’s upper lip lifted. “That’s against the rules of this game. If you still had an ounce of what you were inside you, you would know that. I can’t snatch her from the forest. She doesn’t belong there, and she isn’t mine. Yet. You, on the other hand, promised to serve faithfully. You gave a vow both to me and to my husband. And to her. A dreadful mistake, my Jack. No one can serve two masters. Let alone three.” Her patience had fled now. The game of seduction had failed. “If you don’t cooperate with me, you will regret it for eternity. Believe that.”

“She must come to you willingly,” Jack said. “Those are the rules. Offer all the rewards you want to anyone here, but they can’t force her, any more than you can.”

Let them all hear it. Let them know that despite her offer of rewards, the task was impossible. And remind himself of the same thing.

“Then
make
her come willingly,” Titania snarled. “Persuade her. You were charming once. Or don’t, if you’re that obstinate.” She flicked her wrist as if to wave away an insect.
“There are ways and means around it. It’s her heart and soul together that make her strong. Break her heart, strip away her soul, and I can take her as I will. You, Jack…” She turned and slapped him hard, the flare of humiliation more a shock than the pain. “You know full well what to do.”