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Aeval inclined her head. “The matter must be grave indeed, for you to approach me. What is it that only the Queen of Night can help you with?”
I quickly ran through the incident at Tangleroot Park. “And whatever it was sucked Chase right in. We need your help. Whatever it was felt heavily Fae to me. I don’t know how—or, even if—we can reopen the portal. I doubt Chase can get out on his own. We need help rescuing him.”
Aeval rested her hands on her knees. She gazed into my eyes. “You would use your marker to save your friend?”
“Yes, but there’s more to it than that. This portal—we need to know where it leads, because I have the feeling that isn’t the last we’ve seen of it. So far, we don’t know if anything came through, but I have a nasty premonition that next time it opens up, something might enter this world. And whatever it is, I have a feeling we’re dealing with a Big Bad here.”
“Really? As in . . . demonic?”
I thought about it for a moment. My sense wasn’t that we were dealing with demons with this portal, but something else. “No, I don’t think it’s a demon. But the siren song . . . the sense of heavy Fae energy—it made me nervous.”
“You really think there’s something that big back there?” Aeval never fidgeted, but I could tell I’d piqued her interest. “Elder Fae?”
“Perhaps. I wouldn’t be surprised. Aeval, Chase is one of our closest friends. And he’s one of the best allies the OW Fae can claim. We have to save him.” I let out a slow sigh. “Are you willing to help?”
I waited. Aeval would help or not as she chose. Making one last plea, I held out my hands. “For some reason, I think you’re the only one who can aid us with this.”
Another moment passed, and then the Queen of Night gave me a slight nod. “I will come with you and examine the energy signature. But we will go there my way. It won’t take as long. I sense you are tired, Camille. You smell like the Northlands and your aura is diminished this evening.”
She rose and called for her guard. With five stalwart Fae attending us—all as dark and pale as their queen—we left the palace and walked across the snow-covered square to a twin pair of oak trees. A portal—similar to the one we’d seen in the park—shimmered between them, and the crackle of energy woke me up.>With so many of the portals that connected the realms going rogue, and the veil separating Otherworld from Earthside tearing in places, I wondered how long it would be before everything imploded and the two worlds spiraled in on each other again.
When Otherworld had split off during the Great Divide, the yawning chasm in the astral plane had eventually created an unnatural tension that kept stretching, pulling at the edges of the veil. But the spirit seals had kept everything neat and tidy and divided. Until now.
“What do you think will happen if the worlds come back together again? From what Aeval has told me, it was a cataclysm when they split—earthquakes, volcanoes erupting, unnatural weather in the areas least hit by the ripping of the fabric of space and time.” I glanced over at Delilah. “I think I’m scared that it’s already happening, and if it’s inevitable, if the spirit seals fail, then what does the future hold for both of our worlds? There are so many more people now. Thousands could die.”
She pressed her lips together and stared at the window. “I don’t know,” she said after a moment. “We can speculate all we want and we won’t know if we come up with the real answer. I guess . . . we won’t know until it happens. If it happens. Earthside is already crowded . . . can you imagine the mess if all the people back home were dumped into this space? And what will happen to the landscape? I just can’t imagine it.”
I clucked and lightly pulled on the reins to slow the horse down. We were almost there. “You’re right, of course. How can we possibly envision what it would be like? We can guess, but too much thinking about it is going to drive me nuts. Anyway, here we are . . . the Court Barrows.”
The palace was beautiful, but less ostentatious than anything back in Otherworld. Nestled beneath a giant barrow mound, the palace held three courts—one for Aeval, one for Titania, and one for Morgaine. The grass over the mounds was rich and green under the snow, and the towering firs around the palace stood sentinel, watching over the land.
During the spring, the barrow mound would abound with flower gardens of all kinds, and huge, sweeping ferns, and at the center of each barrow—atop the central point—stood an oak tree. They were growing faster than any normal oak, fed by magic and the strength of Faerie.
As we pulled up close to the guards stationed in front of the Court of Darkness, I sucked in a deep breath. Within a week, I’d be pledged to this land, pledged to Aeval. And my father would forever disown me.
“I have no choice,” I whispered to the trailing flakes that lightly kissed my collar as I slipped out of the buggy. “The Moon Mother wills it . . . and I am her daughter.”
“What?” Delilah glanced over at me. “Camille, are you okay?”
I shivered, pulling my cape closer around me. “I don’t know. Things are changing for me, Kitten. I’m worried I won’t be up to the challenge.”
“Well, worry about that when it comes. Because if I can face my training as a Death Maiden, you can face it as a priestess. Even though it means you’re going to have to cozy up to our cousin Morgaine.”
And with a grin, she shot a snowball at me.
The snow hit me square in the face and broke me out of my reflection. I snorted, then dashed it away and headed for the entryway. She was right. We had work to do. Now. Chase was depending on us. And that was as close to wallowing in depression as I was going to let myself get.
“Come on, Kitten. Let’s go have tea with a Fae Queen.” I motioned to her and she fell in beside me as we entered the Court of the Three Queens.
Chapter 4
The inner halls of the palace were earthy, reminding me of Queen Asteria’s palace, with tree roots winding their way through the walls and sparkling crystals jutting through the soil. The dirt was so compact and smoothed over that it looked like Venetian plaster, and the chambers were lit by a glimmering luminescence, a pale light that might have been green, might have been white, filled with sparkles that danced like electric synapses.
Members of the court—probably servants—quietly passed by, some carrying bowls of fruit or trays of bread, others carrying notebooks and clipboards. One, in an odd juxtaposition, rushed by, a short sword in one hand, a net-book in the other. I wondered just how they were powering it and if it had Wi-Fi. But everything all fit, somehow, this new emergence of the Earthside Fae into human society.
I motioned to one of the guards. “We need to speak with Queen Aeval.”
He raised his eyebrows, but kinked his finger and motioned for us to follow him. “I assume you don’t have an appointment?”
