Page 38 of Be the Serpent

“Uncle Tybalt told me what happened,” she said, as she hurried toward me. “How’s Stacy holding up? Where are she and the kids? This place is a freakin’ maze, even by pureblood standards—uh, no offense, Queen Windermere.”

“None taken,” said Arden, who sounded like she couldn’t decide between shock and amusement. “I didn’t build it. I didn’t even plant the seeds.”

“They’re in the children’s quarters,” I said.

“I can take the young mistress to your friends, if you feel it would be appropriate to do so,” said Nolan. He was probably a little bit desperate to be out of this deeply alarming conversation. He’d been standing by quietly enough that, to be honest, I’d almost forgotten he was there. Not the worst attribute in a Crown Prince who wasn’t looking to inherit the throne anytime soon, really.

“Appropriate?” snapped Julie. “I’ll show you appropriate.”

“Julie.” I put a hand on her arm, trying to soothe her. “It’s okay. He wasn’t trying to be a dick. He doesn’t know us all very well.”

“I know you better than is perhaps optimal for my health,” muttered Nolan, probably more loudly than he’d intended to.

I ignored him. “He’ll take you to them. Nolan, you remember Juliet of the Court of Dreaming Cats. You met her at the wedding. She grew up with me and Stacy. We’ve been friends since we were just kids. Stacy will be glad to see her.”

Probably more so than she’d be to see me right now. Julie had a bit of a reputation as a street thug, but she wasn’t known as a constant magnet for chaos the way I was. I couldn’t see my presence as soothing.

“It would be my pleasure,” said Nolan, moving to Julie’s side and offering her his arm with an exaggerated flourish. She looked him frankly up and down, then smiled, slow and languid.

“You can take me anywhere you want, handsome,” she said, taking the offered arm.

I released her, stepping back. Julie likes to flirt. Men, women, it doesn’t matter—I’ve seen her flirt with and flatter a Bridge Troll to the point of convincing him that maybe the tiny, breakable cat-person would be a good choice for a coffee date. It’s as natural for her as breathing is for me, and Nolan was the kind of guy who deserved a little enthusiastic flirting-with. Being a Crown Prince could be a real limiting factor on a guy’s dating life, at least according to Quentin, who’d been warned extensively before leaving Toronto that he couldn’t trust the motivations of anyone who knew who he actually was.

And it was natural for me to be focusing on trivial things while under this much stress, and I knew it. It’s a tendency I’ve been wrestling with for as long as I can remember, like being able to step back and focus on the small will somehow make the large less massive.

Nolan transcribed a shallow arch in the air with his hand. Julie looked to Tybalt, and upon receiving his nod of approval, stepped through the portal that opened in front of her, vanishing at once.

Nolan moved to follow.

“Nolan,” said Arden, before he could. He glanced back at her. “Just . . . be careful, okay? We don’t know what’s really going on. I don’t want another of those Llangefni screens cropping up inside the knowe.”

Nolan nodded and once more moved to follow Julie through his still-open portal.

“Wait!” shouted Walther, seeming to realize what was happening. Like most of the people in the room, he’d been too stunned by standing there and watching me yell at Oberon to have reacted before this. He ran across the room to Nolan. “You’re going to Cassie?”

“I am.”

“So you could have taken me there anytime?”

“Hey, Walther?” I said. “Maybe let’s not start a fight with the Crown Prince in his own knowe, okay?”

Walther shot me a look so full of venom that if it could have done harm, it would have. It burned. “I just want to get to my girlfriend,” he said.

“I understand, but we still have to follow the rules.”

He snorted. “Because you’re always such a rule-follower.” Turning back to Nolan, he demanded, “Take me with you. I need to get to her, and there’s nothing I can do here. She has to be devastated.”

“Of course, Sir Alchemist,” said Nolan gravely. “You have my apologies for not offering before.”

He gestured to the portal, waiting for Walther to step through before he looked back at the rest of us, clearly waiting for another objection. Receiving none, he stepped through the portal, which closed behind him.

“What,” demanded Oberon, “did the little Queen just say?”

“Didn’t get around to that part when I was explaining why we needed to be here a little longer,” said the Luidaeg.

Tybalt didn’t look angry, just confused, which either meant he didn’t know what a Llangefni screen was, or that he didn’t see why having one in a knowe might be alarming. Either way, it was better than watching him realize I’d put myself in danger in his absence yet again. I’d take it.

Besides, I was basically waving a red flag at Oberon right now. Tybalt would have plenty of reasons to worry about me.