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“But…what about the rabid animals?”
“I though the Wild Hunt were dealing with that?”
“What about my shoes?” Destan asks, sounding on the edge of despair.
I fold my arms across my chest. “Destan, if you want to tell Ruskin we can’t do the one job he’s given me because you’re worried about ruining your shoes, then be my guest. But otherwise, find something sensible to wear, or don’t, and let’s go.”
“It’s times like these I really wish I could lie and say I hate you,” he says and sighs.
“Thanks, Destan. See you in ten.”
Chapter 13
“This is a terrible idea,” Destan says as we pick our way past the last of the Low Fae dwellings and step onto the proper trail to the woodland.
“If you have a better one…” I say. “In fact, why don’t we just pop over to Styrland now? I can find bluecups like that.” I snap my fingers. “And we’ll be back in no time.”
Destan scowls. “Nice try, but even you know we’re not allowed in the human realm except on market days. It’s in Ruskin’s treaty.”
I dodge a nasty looking patch of nettles which Destan swats aside with the ornately carved walking stick he’s brought.
“Ruskin’s treaty?” I say. “But the treaty’s been around for?—”
“Two hundred years? Yep, he put it in place when the High Queen got sick.”
I’ve heard dark stories of the time before the treaty, when fae could come and go as they pleased and terrorize humans as the mood struck them, but those tales are so old they always felt like no more than myth to us.
“And who on earth is the High Queen?”
“Her Majesty Evanthe, Ruskin’s mother, ruler of the Seelie Court,” Destan says like clockwork, but the list is recited with a tinge of sadness.
“She died?” I ask, trying to unravel it all, thinking of my own mother, which inevitably has me thinking about Dad, and worrying about him.
Destan makes a noise and I look over to see his face twisted in discomfort.
“You look like you’ve stubbed your toe.”
“It’s just…we don’t generally talk about it.”
“But if Ruskin’s still only a prince…”
“He’s Crown Prince, and Prince Regent,” Destan says, as if he hopes this will explain it without having to go deep into detail. I’ve read enough borrowed history books that it’s at least helpful.
“So, Queen Evanthe, she’s still alive, then?”
“Yes.”
“But she’s sick. Too sick to rule. So, Ruskin took over?”
“Yes.”
“But Ruskin isn’t all Seelie, is he?” I say, not needing Destan to answer, but he does anyway.
“No, he’s not. But what does that matter?” He sounds cross.
“I was just trying to understand what Galaphina was on about. And the horns,” I say, making the shapes on my head with my hands. “They’re kind of hard to ignore.”
Destan says nothing, just scowls at me as we step over a fallen log.
