Page 61 of The Innocent Sleep

She blinked. I blinked. She focused on Simon.

“Baron Torquill,” she said. “To what do we owe the pleasure? And where is your lady wife?”

“Amandine is aware that her services are not required on the Golden Shore,” said Simon. “I wouldn’t bring her here. I know how uncomfortable that would make many of the residents.”

“But you brought the girl,” said Arden, glancing past us to August. “Can she not do as her mother does?”

“She can,” said Simon. “But she never has, and she won’t be offering. Please. You know I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t an emergency.”

“You’re a traitor and a liar, and you’d do anything you thought you could get away with if it suited you,” said Arden. “Why are you here, Simon?”

“I need your help,” he said. “Yours and your brother’s. I’m sorry, Arden. I know I promised to leave you alone, but it’s October.”

“The month?”

“My younger daughter.” Simon managed to make the statement without raising his voice, although I saw his fingers flex, hands tensing as he tried to suppress his anger. “As you well know.”

“Oh, right, the changeling.” Arden shook her head. “She’s not with you—why?”

“She’s been arrested by the Queen of the Mists. For murder.”

“You mean the lady who took my father’s throne took your kid, too? Wow, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry you’ve chosen to remain part of a corrupt and toxic system, and now you’re finding out that sometimes, the hand that feeds you also starts beating the ever-loving crap out of you. For fun, even!” Her eyes took on an almost-manic gleam. “You didn’t have any issues with the Queen when your owner decided to put her in charge of things.”

“Arden, please. You were nowhere to be found. There were rumors that you’d killed the woman responsible for your parents’ deaths. The Rose of Winter only put forth an alternative, to keep the throne for you until you could be found to claim it—”

“And when we did come back, huh? When my brother and I washed the blood from our hands and the dust from our hair and came back to our Kingdom, to our birthright? Did she stand aside? Hmm, no. I seem to recall she didn’t. Instead, she tried to have us arrested, me for murder, Nolan for treason, even though the most treasonous thing he’d done was tell her guards to get away from his sister. So you’ll excuse me if I don’t really give a shit about your little problem.”

“She’s my sister!” shouted August, pulling away from Ginevra and rushing up to her father’s side. She stopped there, vibrating with rage as she glared at Arden. “She’s not a ‘little problem,’ she’s my sister. Would you want someone talking about your brother like that? Huh? Is he just ‘a little problem,’ or is he someone who matters?”

“You were the ones who decided it was just fine to treat changelings like they weren’t people who could matter,” said Arden, composure only flickering for a second.

“I wasn’t.” August stood up straight, glaring at her. “I didn’t have any part in that decision. She’s my sister. She’s trapped. She needs help. Father says you can help her.”

“Me, or Golden Shore?” asked Arden.

“Both,” said Simon. Arden turned to glower at him again. “I need to ask Their Majesties for permission to borrow you, and your brother, both. I know what you do for them—”

“You don’t know anything, old man.”

“—and I know iron has been a barrier for you in the past. If I can be allowed the use of one of your alchemical labs, and a few base materials that I know exist within the Kingdom, I can remove that barrier.”

Arden frowned, wary. “And in exchange?”

“I want you to go to the Queen’s dungeons and retrieve my daughter.”

“Your daughter, who’s been arrested for murder.”

“Yes.”

“Is this some sort of trap? We’ll step into the Mists and find ourselves surrounded? And who the hell are these people?” Arden waved a hand, encompassing the rest of us.

I bowed to her, deep and respectful. “Tybalt, King of Dreaming Cats.”

Ginevra, taking my cue, curtseyed and said, “Ginevra, Regent of Prince Raj of Dreaming Cats.”

“Sir Garm of Shadowed Hills,” said Garm.

“Grianne,” said Grianne. “Knight.”