The Shadowed Path

22. Reine-1

22

Reine

I felt something whiz by my head, but I couldn't tell what my grandmother had thrown, or if it had been some sort of spell. A shattering sound, like that of glass, heralded a change in the air. It felt less like the crisp chill in the heart of the forest in the Gray Zone and more like the soft humidity of the lands of the light Fae.

My grandmother smiled in a way I had forgotten—with malice. "Now that we have our privacy, we can discuss important matters."

In spite of the warm air, chill bumps raised on my skin, and I resisted the urge to rub my hands over my arms. Tatiana, Queen of the Light Fae, could have that effect on people. Being in her presence always felt like standing too close to a place where lightning had just struck—electric and potentially deadly.

And not a place where one could show weakness. Now that I had shown my respect by bowing to her, I raised my chin so I could look her in her ice blue eyes. "I am glad you summoned me, Grandmother. I have traveled to Faerie to petition you."

"And you know as well as I that petitions must be made in person with witnesses to attest to the agreement of both parties, not in dreams, Granddaughter."

"Yes, but I was hoping…" For what? The softness of rules and laws that humans relied on? A loophole? I shook my head—this wasn't about me. "Why did you summon me, Grandmother?"

"I told you in our last visit that there is danger, and I thought it was in my inner circle." She sighed, and the impression of wrinkles flitted over her face before her skin smoothed to its usual youthful texture. "Whereas that may be true, I am facing something more troubling."

"What? Are you ill?" I immediately thought about all the things I could do for her, could try. Human medicine had advanced tremendously since I had been banished, and I suspected I could use my skills in Faerie.

"It's worse, Granddaughter… I'm dying." She bowed her head in uncharacteristic surrender.

I gasped. "That's not possible!"

She raised her head and again smiled, this time with wistfulness. "How old do you think I am, Reine?"

"I don't know. A thousand years?"

"And you're taking off half a millennium to be polite, aren't you?" She held out her hands, palms down, and I saw veins under thin skin—signs of an old woman underneath the surface. "I'm thankful Fae don't get liver spots. No, Granddaughter, I am two-thousand-years-old plus a few hundred years. I have been alive long enough to see the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, the Great Rebirth, and now the Darker Age of a humanity so drunk on its power and technology it cannot see the destruction it brings to itself and the planet. Or the repercussions here."

Considering how time didn't pass the same in Faerie and Earth, that made her more than the math she had given me, but it didn't matter. Old was old, no matter how one put it, and no living creature lived forever, not even the most powerful of the Fae.

"What can I do, for you and for Earth and Faerie?"

"I mourned your exile, my little Reine, but I allowed it to happen."

Now the ache of betrayal flooded through me. "Why?"

She leaned forward and placed a hand on my head. Love and regret flowed through her hand to me. "Because I foresaw what was coming, and I knew the next Queen of Faerie needed to have a wider perspective. I could have sent you to study in the Earth realm, but you needed to struggle and learn from a place of needing to survive, not of privilege."

That honest Fae impulse compelled me to say, "But Faerie did support me, at least mostly."

"It supported you for my ends—to have you continue your journey as a healer, to meet many others, both humans and other creatures, to give you just enough but still leave room for you to sink or swim depending on how you allocated your resources."

"Suddenly my almost four centuries in the Earth realm feels like a big test, not an exile."

"And that's what it was, mostly. You still failed to protect your brother, leaving him maimed. And now you put me in a difficult position, bringing him here."

"I didn't bring him. He followed me, although I'm not sure why."

She c****d her head at me. "There are still dark forces at work in my court, ones that will see the light Fae infiltrated and destroyed. I was serious when I said that the actions and ambitions of humanity have had their effects here. Some Fae have taken the example of human power too seriously and have decided to model themselves after it."

"That's…not good."

"No, and alas, they are still hidden, which means they have the blessing and backing of someone very powerful."

"What does this have to do with Rhys?" But pieces were slotting into place in my mental game of Fae Tetris, and I continued before she could answer. "My mother sent him to me. He delayed the vampire team from reaching me as I battled the soul-eater. He brought Lawrence here, for what? To distract me?" I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes. "Gods, how could I have missed all that?"

"Because after all these years, all these troubles, you still love your little brother. And that's something else that's been lacking in the Court, that I cannot bring myself to do—to show mercy and allow someone the chance for redemption."

I removed my hands from my eyes, but the dizziness of the revelations remained. "And what about my mother, the Crown Princess? I don't think she'll be too happy if I try to hop over her to be queen." The words left behind a stifling sensation. "And what if I don't want to be queen, at least not yet?"

"What is it the humans say, 'duty calls?'" She sighed. "Maeve is most definitely a creature of Faerie, and I have neglected my duty in training her to be a good queen because she and I have and lack the same qualities. That's why I let her choose an unconventional way to have you—I hoped you'd be different, and you are."

"What do you mean, an unconventional way?" My head spun. "I thought my father was one of the male consorts in your court."

She smiled. "That's a secret for you to find out in its own time."

"Great, so I'm the result of a breeding project plus a four-hundred-year behavioral experiment." My identity and reality had already been shifted enough, but I had to ask, "Is there anything else?"

She placed a hand on my cheek and raised my head so I looked at her. "I know about the vampire's bite." She placed a hand over the spot. "Now it is hidden so that no other Fae will sense it. Hurry, Granddaughter. If I die and your mother becomes queen before you arrive and petition me in person, you know what will happen."

"She'll kick me out again, or worse. She won't let me go somewhere I could plot against her. The asylum…"

She nodded. "One of my biggest regrets. Again, the mistakes of humanity infecting us without our realization until it was too late."

I would also petition for Olred's release, but I didn't say so. While my grandmother seemed to be in an expansive mood, she was still Fae, and therefore would be hiding many things from me. I took a deep breath. "I will hurry to you as best I can. I have lost my guide."

Now she moved her hand to my chest. "At the risk of sounding too much like a Faerie godmother in a fantasy tale, have faith in yourself and follow your heart."

The scene faded around me, and I woke to find myself surrounded by the angry faces of several of the winter gnomes. Behind them, the silvery light of dawn illuminated the trees.

Something told me today would be a very interesting one.