Page 77 of The Innocent Sleep

“Oh, no, miss,” said the server. “This is a fancy night, as we’ve fancy people visiting. A King and Queen of another demesne, our Lord and Lady say. So while we’re not full formal, we are a bit nicer than we might otherwise be.”

She filled the rest of the glasses at our table and moved on, leaving October to stare after her in clear confusion. Something about that answer had been unexpected enough to be unsettling.

I didn’t have time to dwell on what that might have been, as the Satyr had reached us, silver cart heavy with offerings. “What would everyone like tonight?” he asked.

One by one, the others selected their entrees. I received a plate of spaghetti in a rich meat sauce, green peas on the side. Ginevra took a serving of what looked like butternut lasagna. October’s selection of salmon and risotto with asparagus pleased me, not only because it showed her taste in food remained the same, but because it meant she was eating, something which she was historically inclined to neglect when under any meaningful degree of stress.

“Your story is an interesting one, and has elements to recommend it,” said Simon politely, looking across the table at me. “And I do appreciate the aid you’ve given us thus far in resolving the current unpleasantness. What were you hoping our October could do to help you?”

“I can’t dispel the whole world,” said October, stabbing her salmon with her fork and not looking up. “It’s exhausting, and it hurts.”

“It wouldn’t be if you had access to stronger blood,” said Ginevra. “We didn’t come here to ask October to remove the enchantment from every person in Faerie one at a time.”

“Good,” said August sharply.

“We came here to ask her to help us remove it at the source.”

October dropped her fork, head snapping up as she stared at Ginevra, and for just a moment, there was a flicker of frustration in her eyes that I recognized, that look she always got when she was being asked to do more than she thought herself capable of. What she had never figured out, although the rest of us knew it well, was that she was capable of nearly anything.

“According to everyone I’ve spoken to about it, this spell was probably cast by Titania,” she said, voice low and tight with terrified frustration. “The Mother of Us All.”

“In name only,” said Ginevra, voice serene, even as she kicked me under the table to keep me silent. I shot her a wounded look. “Not every descendant line springs from her. Your own doesn’t.”

“She’s still the Queen of All Faerie!”

“And that gives her the right to remake us in her image? To destroy our lives and change our memories? She excised entire lines from Faerie. She exiled the Cait Sidhe to the Court of Cats and the Roane to the Undersea. What happened to the other shifters? What happened to the other fae she deemed ‘bestial’ and thus unworthy of a place in her Faerie? Where are they? The Cu Sidhe, the Swanmays, the Reynardine, they don’t have anything like the Court of Cats that can protect them, but she must have put them somewhere.”

October sounded almost desperate as she looked back down at her plate and said, “I’m just a changeling. I’m not setting myself against Titania.”

I couldn’t listen to any more of her putting herself down. If I stayed here any longer, I was going to make things worse by saying things she’d hear as unutterably cruel, even if they were nothing more than honest. I dropped my cutlery and stood, shoving my chair away from the table. “I can’t sit here and listen to this,” I snapped, and stalked away, heading for the far corner of the room, where the shadows were deepest.

If I took the Shadow Roads, Ginevra would be able to follow me. At the last moment I veered and went out the nearest door instead, heart beating like a drum, so hard I could feel every pulse through my entire body.

The door opened easily and I stepped through, only to find Arden already waiting for me on the other side. I stopped for a moment, taken aback, then continued stalking down the hall.

“It’s rude to follow people,” I said.

“Yeah, well, it’s ruder to walk out on a royal banquet without acknowledging your hosts, so I think we’re about even here,” said Arden, jogging a little to keep up with me. “You really sure you want to go this way? It’s going to dump us out in the chicken yard, and there’s only so much clucking a person can take before they start developing a real personal aversion to poultry.”

I stopped walking, turning to glare at her. “I want to go anywhere that isn’t back there,” I said, doing my best to keep my voice tightly controlled. I wanted to yowl and caterwaul like the cat I was, to protest the loss of my wife and child once again, when this time the only thing keeping us apart was my temper meeting her lack of memory, and the promise I had unwisely allowed Ginevra to extort from me.

Arden looked at me closely. “That’s not the full story. What am I missing?”

“We came here to free October from the false Queen of the Mists,” I said. “Golden Shore was not our planned destination this night. The intention was that once we were reunited with October and I could confirm for myself that she was well, Ginevra would convince her to go on a quest to find the missing sea witch. I was never going to accompany them.”

“Why not? You seem pretty possessive, and that’s me being nice about it. I could be a lot nastier if you wanted me to be.”

I took a deep breath. “If it were up to me, October wouldn’t be going on any quests or taking any risks until this was all over. Unfortunately, it has never been up to me. She’s a hero of the realm, named such by the Queen in the Mists, and some things are hers to shoulder, no matter what her loved ones wish.”

Arden looked dubious. “There is no Queen in the Mists.”

“There is when you sit your father’s throne. October restored you to your proper place, and you rewarded her with a position that offers some small protection when her nature attracts trouble like cream attracts cats. Titania can change what’s outside as much as she likes. She can’t change the fact that October’s a hero.”

“So why wouldn’t you want her to go?” Arden sounded more confused than anything.

“I have reason to be more concerned for her safety than normal, at the moment,” I said. January had confirmed that memories from this reality carried over when someone was restored to the proper one, and I didn’t want October to get mad at me for telling Arden she was pregnant. “Heroes can still be harmed. It’s why we’re constantly losing them.”

“Guess that’s true. You know, where I come from, girls generally don’t like it when you glare and yell at them.” She shrugged, opening the door to the outside. “You could try being nice to her.”