The Shadowed Path

8. Reine-2

John trotted after me. "Is she all right?"

"Yes, but I need to ask you some questions." We arrived at my room, and I unlocked the door. Everything was as I'd left it, thankfully. I locked the door and put a Quiet spell on the room so no one would overhear us.

John rubbed his left ear. "What sort of questions?"

"Was there anything interesting or unusual about Kestrel's birth?"

"What? No, she had a normal, healthy birth."

"What about afterward? Did she seem to be one way, and then suddenly shift in behavior or demeanor after you put her down for a nap or left her alone?"

"No, not at all. And honestly, Beverly was so protective of her she brought her everywhere, even into the bathroom. She never left either of our sight and slept in the same room with us until she was almost a year old."

I tapped my lips. I was missing something.

John sank to the bed. "You don't really think she's a changeling, do you? She looks just like Beverly did when she was young."

"No, but I had to ask."

He sat there, gazing at his hands, for a whole minute before saying anything. Then he looked up at me, his forehead lined and the corners of his mouth tense. "You're sure the court physician will help us? That we'll find our answers, and Kestrel will be able to claim her magic?"

I sensed another layer to his questions, so I asked, "What are you really worried about, John?"

"My daughter," he snapped immediately, but his brief look to the side gave away the partial lie.

"That's not all, is it?" I decided to approach him as I would a nervous patient who dreaded getting the results of their labs. I sat beside him, not too close. His fear radiated from him like a whine, and underneath, an old wound thrummed like a plucked bass string. "John, I know this is difficult. If there's something you're not telling me about Kestrel, it could hurt her. And all of us."

"I don't know anything with certainty, so I can't say. She's not the only one this would affect, although…" A sigh lifted and dropped his wiry shoulders under the fleece he still wore. White embroidery outlined the letters C, and underneath it, DC, while the P lay hidden after the first C in navy blue thread, a good reminder that this man, this scientist, wouldn't endorse knowledge without proof and also could keep secrets for a long time.

"Then when you're ready, please tell me first. That way I can figure out what to do."

He shook his head. "I thought Ellerin was in charge of this mission."

"He may be, but I'm a Fae princess, so my authority overrules his."

John chuckled like he didn't believe me, but he said, "I need to remember that. To not underestimate you. Lawrence made that mistake, didn't he?"

The gargoyle's name lanced through me. "I've already eaten my feelings about that tonight. Literally, in fact. I'm not discussing him."

John stood. "I could tell something was up, and I know that you hurt him. It was in his voice when he called to let me know the soul-eater had been defeated. Know this—I don't trust Ellerin, and I don't trust you. I'm here to help Kestrel, and I'm not going to reveal my past secrets and pain so you can use them against me later." He walked out, and the door slammed behind him.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked the tree beside the bedside table. It shook its leaves at me, but I didn't know what it meant. My backpack tumbled to the floor from where I'd set it on the antique bureau, and the two wrapped journals spilled out. "Oh, right. Thanks. That's what I originally came in here for." I closed my eyes, searching. My sense that helped me identify and find other Fae, which I affectionately referred to as my Fae-dar, found Ellerin in the hallway outside Kestrel's room.

“John's upset,” I told him via secret conversation. “Please head him off. I still have important business with Kestrel.”

“You ask a lot, Princess.”

“I know you've dealt with worse.”

“You don't know what you're asking.”

Of all the times for him to be difficult… “Just please do it.”

“Your wish is my command.”

That last thought came through with a full dose of male Fae irritation. Well, screw the males. I'd had enough of their attitude, and that included Lawrence. I grabbed the journals and headed up to Kestrel's room.