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Morio poked me in the side. As he and Trillian began to bow and I started to curtsy, Queen Asteria waved her hand.
“We aren’t standing on formality here.” She motioned for us all to take a seat on the grassy circle comprising the center of the labyrinth. The grass was wet, but I ignored the chill. Feddrah-Dahns and his father remained standing.
After a moment, Queen Asteria said, “While the seals cannot repair the rifts, we’ve discovered that they can be used and if used correctly, we might be able to stabilize the portals.”
Open-mouthed, I stared at her. “And just who will be using them?” I finally managed to squeak out.
“The Keraastar Knights. The Knights of the Portals. I knew there was something special about Tam Lin, and then Benjamin, when I met them, and so I brought them here. My seers are searching for others with the same qualities. We looked into Venus the Moon Child and he, too, possesses the energy signature we’re looking for. These three have touched the hearts of three of the seals. They are now integrally connected to the gems.”
I began to breathe a little faster. “But they’re all human—well, Venus is a werepuma but . . .”
“And so shall be every one of the nine knights—or ladies. Or rather, they will all be from Earthside. Apparently, the imprinting forges a connection that cannot be broken. Very few possess the ability to imprint with the seals, but there are a few out there . . . And we need them here, to be trained as guardians.”
A thousand questions flashed through my mind. “Do they all have to have touched the seals at some point in their lives? Why can they wield them without worrying about corruption? What about the seal that Karvanak stole from us?”
“Patience, patience,” Tanaquar said. “What we’ve learned is this: Not all of the Keraastar will have had contact with the seals, but they all share the same energy signature in their auras.”
“They can touch them without corruption because they’ve faced quests for power before, and they chose not to act on that power. Even if they don’t realize it.” Queen Asteria let out a sigh. “But we must have at least seven of the seals for this to work correctly. Any fewer and the balance will be upset. We have only four. Shadow Wing has one. That leaves four in play. We must find at least three of them before the demons get there first.”
I stared at her. In the core of my gut, I knew they were treading on dangerous ground, but what could I say? I opened my mouth to ask another question but a sharp jab from Morio stopped me.
Feddrah-Dahns’s gaze flickered over to me, and as I stared back, I saw concern and doubt in his eyes, too. And in Mistletoe’s, also, although pixies could be very misleading. But both of them warned me with their gaze to keep my mouth shut. I glanced over at Trillian, who was staring coolly at Queen Asteria.
At that moment, Queen Tanaquar gave me a narrow smile and said, “The OIA is placing the authority in your hands to do whatever is necessary to find the rest of the spirit seals. You have full license and we’ll supply all the manpower you need. Fail, and we all fail.”
As I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, the royalty fell to talking. I took the opportunity to glance around. Feddrah-Dahns, Trillian, and Morio were all worried as hell but concealing it rather well. I could see the concern rolling off their auras in waves. My father, on the other hand, was gazing at Queen Tanaquar. Suddenly I saw it—a cord that held them together.
Hot damn! Daddy was doing the Queen of Y’Elestrial, and he hadn’t said a word about it.
Totally thrown for a loop, I busied myself with smelling the flowers on a nearby tribarb bush. Like a cross between a rose and a dahlia, they were autumn flowers and had an earthy, spicy scent. After a few minutes, King Upala-Dahns adjourned the meeting and he and the two queens headed back to the palace.
Eager to get out of earshot and discuss just what the hell Asteria and Tanaquar were up to with the spirit seals, and to ask why Morio had stopped me from questioning the plan, I urged my companions to hurry away from the gardens. I had a bad feeling about what was coming, and I really didn’t want to be standing in the middle of the road whenever it barreled my way.
CHAPTER 14
The minute we were out of earshot, I turned to the others.
“Okay, what the fuck is going on? We agreed the spirit seals should be kept in a secret place, safe from the world. So what happened? What the hell are they thinking? The power in those seals can warp those who wield them.”
Furious—and not quite sure who at—I sputtered as Trillian and Morio hurried me along behind Feddrah-Dahns. I glanced over at the unicorn. “How long have you known about this?”
“Only today, Lady Camille. My father didn’t tell me anything about this—I swear on my honor to you.” He looked as upset as I felt.
Morio glanced over his shoulder to make sure nobody was following us. “I stopped you from questioning their wisdom because if they know you disapprove, they may decide to just keep you out of the loop. And that would be bad. Very bad.” He let out a long sigh. “I think we need to find out what Grandmother Coyote has to say about this.”
“The price for that one’s going to be steep,” I muttered. “You’re right, though. We’ll head for Thistlewyd Deep immediately. They didn’t say whether the Black Unicorn knows about their plans but we can find out when we’re there. And as soon as we’re done, we’ll head home and talk to Grandmother Coyote. Getting home has just become a priority.”
I glanced at Feddrah-Dahns. “I wish you were going with us.” Everything had shifted with the revelation that Queen Asteria was mucking around with the spirit seals. It felt like we were on quicksand. I didn’t know who to trust, except I knew that I trusted the Crown Prince.
Feddrah-Dahns let out a snort. “Me, too. Let me see what I can do. The three of you stay together while I’m gone. Don’t split up. Go sit in the courtyard out front, in plain sight, and talk about anything except what we learned.” He glanced at Mistletoe, who was hovering near his ear. “Find Iris and bring her here. Then go to my quarters, my friend, and get my traveling gear ready.”
“My honor, my liege.” The pixie darted out of sight.
We split off and headed for the courtyard. I fiddled with the hem of my cloak, wishing to hell I could relax. But the news had me so worried that all I could think about was getting home. It hadn’t escaped my notice that none of the Earthside Fae Queens had been present. I wondered if they’d been invited, or conveniently overlooked. Immersed in thought, I sat on the grass a few yards away from the bench where Morio and Trillian sat, and played with the flowers, trying to quiet my mind.
Morio and Trillian made polite conversation, catching up on everything and anything except the demons. Morio had just launched into an exhaustively boring discussion about the problems he was having with his Subaru when a shadow crossed my path.
I glanced up to see a tall man in tunic and trousers staring down at me with a guarded look. There was something off-putting about him, and I was about to ask what he wanted when two other men stepped out from behind a nearby bush, daggers in their hands. They were aiming for me, that much was obvious.
