Page 88 of Night and Silence

“Preferably before the sea witch decides what her demands are regarding the traitor,” said Tybalt. We all looked at him. He shook his head. “Time is inconsequential when you’ve experienced as much of it as she has. Gillian is a Selkie child now, and hence of her protectorate. This false Queen harmed one of the Luidaeg’s own. The sea witch is likely to demand recompense, and I would prefer we had all the slices of the story before that occurred.”

There was a chilling thought, and one that hadn’t previously occurred to me. “We move,” I said firmly. “Arden, please. The gate?”

“Wish I’d known becoming queen would involve playing taxi service quite this often,” she grumbled, and swept her hand through the air. The portal opened, glittering the purple-black of her hair around the edges as it showed us a view of the royal knowe of Silences. The colors were unusual, showing how much of a strain it was for her to transport us this far.

I offered her an appreciative nod and stepped through, Tybalt and Quentin close beside me. Madden, as the actual representative of Arden’s Court, brought up the rear. Given how concerned he was about Arden presenting a diplomatic beartrap through her mere presence, I wondered what he’d think of Quentin’s true rank. It was probably best if he never found out, all things considered. It would just hurt the poor man’s head.

Unlike Arden’s knowe, which had been built in and among the redwoods like a Tolkien calendar painting, the knowe of Silences was a solid, imposing structure of stone, freestanding, constructed to stand up to anything the weather might have to throw at it. Heavy walls surrounded a central courtyard paved in red brick, dominated by a golden fountain of dancing Tylwyth Teg and stags, surrounded by a filigree of yarrow branches.

The formerly featureless walls were a riot of night-blooming flowers and alchemically useful herbs, as if we had stepped into a garden in the process of breaking free of its gardeners. Walking toward us across the brick was Queen Siwan, her arms outspread in welcome. The resemblance to Walther was unmistakable, from her golden hair to the vivid blue of her eyes, and I spared a moment to wish he could have come with us. It would have been nice for him to see his family.

“Lord Madden,” she said. “Sir Daye. Your Majesty.” She finished with a low curtsy to Tybalt, not acknowledging Quentin at all. He didn’t seem to take offense, and neither did I. Some courtesies are basically scripted. “You honor me with your visit. I am so very sorry for its necessity.”

“So are we,” I said, before she could get much deeper into the formalities. “I’m sure Madden wants to hear you make every apology under the sun, and I bet if he looks real deep in his bag of tricks, he’ll find a few apologies he can say we need to make to you. Is Marlis available? She can show us to the place where the false Queen is supposedly sleeping, and I can verify whether or not it’s her.”

Siwan showed no surprise at my bluntness. Instead, she smiled, and said, “That sounds fine, and as expected. Marlis is waiting for you inside.”

“Excellent,” I said, and bowed shallowly before taking my leave, Tybalt and Quentin making slightly more formal bows before they hurried to keep up with me. Siwan might dress more like a steampunk pinup model than most of the queens I’ve known—she’s a practicing alchemist, and it turns out leather is better for playing with fire and caustic chemicals than, say, diaphanous spider-silk draperies would be—but she’s still a queen, and queens like their formalities. If I wasn’t imagining things, Madden had even looked relieved at the idea that I was going to go do something else. I have a tendency to mess up formal events.

As promised, Marlis was waiting just inside the entrance, a smirk on her face. Like Siwan and Walther, she had blonde hair and blue eyes, although hers were both a few shades darker, and she was dressed a little more formally than was standard for her brother or her aunt. “Did you leave or get sent away?” she asked.

“Left,” I said.

“I owe Walther a dozen of Aunt Ceres’ lavender cookies,” she said, and started walking, leaving the rest of us to catch up. She glanced at me as I pulled up level with her. “You really think we lost her?”

“It’s that or there are two of her running around,” I said. “I’m not trying to get you in trouble, but I’d really prefer the option that means we’re only dealing with one of her.”

“I can see that,” she said. “How’s Walther?”

“Good. We keep him busy.”

“That’s good.” She nodded thoughtfully. “That’s real good.”

I didn’t say anything.

The Kingdom of Silences—which overlapped with much of the human state of Oregon—had been one of the false Queen’s victims, back when her claim to the throne had been unchallenged. She hadn’t liked the way our neighbors to the north had been questioning her policies, and so she had declared war, crushing their forces, deposing their royal family, and placing her own puppet king upon the throne. Walther had been the only member of the extended royal family to escape from the new regime. He had created a new life for himself, finding his own way in the world, while Marlis had been compelled by loyalty potions brewed by her own hand to serve the man who had destroyed her family.

On some level, I think she’d believed that if they ever got their kingdom back, Walther would come home and stay, the way things had been when they were children. He hadn’t. He was never going to. To her credit, she was sad but not angry. Sometimes we have to let our loved ones make their own way in the world.

Tylwyth Teg can fly, using bundles of yarrow twigs as their brooms. As a consequence, the knowe was built something like the staid interior echo of a roller coaster, all high arches and winding stairs. Marlis led us patiently along them all, keeping her feet firmly on the ground until we reached the dungeon.

A single sniff of the air told me what had happened.

“We need to tell Arden to triple the guard on Dugan’s cell,” I said, walking toward the “Queen” who slept on her cold stone bier. The closer I got to her, the stronger the smell of cinnamon and cardamom became. How had no one seen this but me? It was so obvious. “Until we have him locked behind so many wards that the air goes stiff, we can’t be sure he’s still there.”

But no. It was obvious to me because I could smell the framework of the spell, pick the traces of it out of the air, where they should have been safely hidden. Dugan had done his weaving with every expectation that it would pass muster for years. He hadn’t been counting on a literal bloodhound.

She looked perfect. She looked peaceful. She looked exactly the way she had the last time I’d been here. Whoever Queen Siwan had on staff assigned to dusting the sleepers was clearly taking their job seriously. I looked at her impassively for a long moment before pulling the knife from my belt, ramming it into her sternum, and slicing her open to the navel.

Marlis gasped. Even Quentin made a small, startled sound of dismay. Only Tybalt was silent as the false Queen’s “skin” parted and allowed a cascade of dead leaves and dried flowers to come pouring out. I shoved my hand into the wickerwork of her rib cage, feeling around for her heart. It wasn’t there. My fingers brushed against a smooth, hard rind. I grabbed it, ripping out the small pumpkin that had been nestled where her heart should have been.

“Dugan made the change in late October,” I said, holding it up for Marlis to see. “Did you have any members of the household staff quit abruptly around Samhain?”

“A kitchen boy quit right after the holiday,” she said, sounding horrified.

“He probably spent a month weaving this damn thing, then used blood magic to make it feel like her and flower magic to make it look like her, and we fell for it.” I dropped the pumpkin to the bier and turned toward King Rhys. There was no shroud of magic hanging over him. He felt like a sleeping man under an elf-shot enchantment.

Still, better safe than sorry. I picked up his hand and poked him in the thumb with the point of my knife, only slightly disappointed when he started to bleed and I didn’t need to do any further testing.