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"How did you guess?" Silarial asked.
Roiben walked to Kaye and put his hand on her arm. She jumped, shifting away from his touch. "I should have guessed sooner. Very clever to glamour her so thoroughly.”
Kaye felt sick thinking of the way he'd kissed Silarial. She wanted to slap him. She wanted to spit in his face.
"But how did you choose her from among my other maidens?”
He took Kaye's hand and turned it over so that the Queen could see the reddened half-moons where Kaye's nails had dug into her flesh. "It was that, really. I don't know anyone else with that particular nervous habit.”
Kaye looked up at him and saw only a strange human face reflected in his eyes.
She snatched her hand away, rubbing it against her skirt as if she could rub off his touch. "You're not supposed to see me until I can solve your stupid riddle.”
"Yes, I deserve whatever scorn you heap on me," he said, voice soft. "But what are you doing here? It's not safe.”
His lips were still kiss-reddened and it was hard not to concentrate on them. "This is where I belong, isn't it? This is where I came from. The other Kaye is home now, like she always should have been. With her mother, Ellen.”
He looked momentarily furious. "What did Silarial make you promise for that?”
"It must suck to love her, since you don't trust her at all," Kaye said, tasting bile on her tongue.
There was a silence, in which he looked at her with a kind of terrible desperation, as though he wanted very much to speak, but could not find the words.
"It doesn't matter what he thinks of me or of you," Silarial said, coming close to where Kaye stood. Her words were soft, spoken with great care. "Use his name. End the war.”
Kaye smiled. "I could, you know. I really, really could.”
He looked very grave, but his voice was as soft as the Bright Queen's. "Will you rule over me, Kaye? Shall I bow to a new mistress and fear the lash of her tongue?”
Kaye said nothing. Her anger was a live thing inside of her, twisting in her gut. She wanted to hurt him, to humiliate him, to pay him back for everything she felt.
"What if I promise that I won't use the name, won't even repeat it?" Silarial said. "He would be yours alone to command. Your toy. I would just advise you how to use him.”
Kaye still said nothing. She was afraid of what would come out if she opened her mouth.
Roiben paled. "Kaye, I . . ." He closed his eyes. "Don’t," he said, but she could hear despair in his voice. It made her even angrier. It made her want to live down to his expectations.
Silarial spoke so close to Kaye's ear that it made her shiver. "You must command him, you know. If not, I would threaten your mother, that human boy of yours, your changeling sister. You would be persuaded. Don't feel badly about giving in now.”
"Say you won't repeat it," Kaye said. "Not just 'if I promise,' the real oath.”
Silarial's voice was still a whisper. "I will not speak Roiben's true name. I will not bid him with it, nor will I repeat it to any other.”
"Rath Roiben," Kaye said. He flinched and his hand went to the hilt at his belt, but it stayed there. His eyes remained shut. Rye. The word was poised on her lips. Rath Roiben Rye.
"Riven," Kaye finished. "Rath Roiben Riven, do as I command.”
He looked up at her, quickly, eyes widening with hope.
She could feel her smile grow cruel. He'd better do what she said, right then. If he didn't, Silarial would know that Kaye had spoken the wrong name.
"Lick the Queen of the Seelie Court's hand, Rath Roiben Riven," she said. "Lick it like the dog you are.”
He went down on one knee. He almost rose before he remembered himself and drew his tongue over Silarial's palm. Shame colored his face.
She laughed and wiped her hand against her gown. "Lovely. Now what else shall we make him do?”
Roiben looked up at Kaye.
