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“It is as before. Their Sixth is a statue inside.”
“Then another has removed his collar and must be feeding. There is no other explanation. It would explain why they’ve retained their strength for so long.” She pauses and frowns. “They have resisted our attempts to draw out the Wild Hunt before. The exhibition was concocted for this reason alone. But to reveal a baby? Why now? What changed?”
“They sponsored a Shadow.”
She looks at me as if I’ve gone mad. “The devils have never been interested in such matters. What has prompted this risk?”
“I don’t understand either. They chose a Nothing with a face as ugly as my left testicle.”
The blood drains from her face, and I fear I have been too distasteful with my words.
“I apologize, my queen. I did not mean to offend you.”
“Tell me what she looks like,” she whispers.
She?I straighten. How does she know the gender of the Nothing?
“She is ugly,” I scoff. “What more do you need to know?”
“Do not test my patience,” she hisses and glances somewhere I can’t see. Her breath hitches. “Be quick. My nightmare is closing in.”
I am thrown. I thought I was her trusted advisor, that she kept no secret from me, but clearly, I am still not trusted enough for her to reveal everything.
“Puck!”
“Uh...” I mumble, swiping my fingers over my hairless brows. “She has silver hair, faerie ears, yellow eyes, yet she is mortal. No doubt about it.”
Horror fills her eyes. She starts pacing, babbling reassurances to herself I don’t quite understand.
“We are almost out of time,” I prompt.
Her delicate features harden into the sharp, ruthless queen to whom I pledged my life.
“If the public discovers what we harbor in their midst,” she says, “they will know the truth about the war and turn on us. This chaos is exactly what Oberon hopes for, what we strive to suppress. You must neutralize the one who has slipped his chains.”
“Understood.” I lick my lips, darting a glance at the timer. “Who is the Shadow, my queen?”
“Exactly what you said. An ugly Nothing.”
“Then why do the Knights of the Queen’s Hive insist she lives at the keep?”
She freezes. Blinks. The nightmares must be terrifying this year. That she refuses to let me reveal the extent of her suffering is a travesty, but questions of her fitness to rule would be raised.
Titania shakes her head and starts babbling again. “No. She is nothing. They will not see the truth. So long as she believes she is ugly, she is in the dark. Yes, yes. Then how can it be light when they see her face?” She laughs manically. Flinches. Twitches. To me, she says, “She is the key to baiting the rogue. Ensure she remains a Nothing.”
“And Sylvanar?”
“Do what you must.”
“My queen, you have my word.” My lips stretch into a wicked smile. “I will neutralize the threats, and your dearest court will be none the wiser. When you wake in spring, all will be in harmony, and your trust in my worthiness to serve will be unequivocal.”
She steps toward me and reaches out. “My dearest Puck. If you can do this, you will be worthy of more than serving. You will be?—”
A nightmare rips her away, screaming in terror.
Chapter
Forty-Three
