Page 76 of A Divided Duty

“Hello,” I said, once we were positioned well and truly in front of the Gwragen. “Sir October Daye, Knight of Lost Words, Hero of the Realm, here to see Her Majesty, Queen Windermere in the Mists.”

The Gwragen blinked, then raised an eyebrow, looking pointedly at Chelsea.

“This is my squire, Chelsea Ames,” I said, automatically reaching for the excuse most likely to let her into the building. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her making a little fist-pump gesture, and winced. It had been a convenient excuse. She couldn’t possibly intend to hold me to it, could she?

Could she?

“The queen is currently in her chambers, and is not receiving visitors at this time,” said the Gwragen. “Please consider returning tonight, after sundown, when she may be willing to consider seeing you.”

“I’m really sorry, but this is important,” I said. “It’s hero business. You know, safety of the realm and all that nonsense. Please, just let us in. I promise Madden will let us see the queen.”

“The Seneschal is not available at the moment.”

Of course he wasn’t. Unlike most purebloods, Madden had a day job in the human world: he was one of the managers at a little bookstore café down on Valencia Street. He genuinely seemed to enjoy his work, and he brewed an incredibly good cup of coffee.

Which meant he was in a place that definitely had a phone. I took a step backward, holding my hands up like I was conceding the point. “Of course,” I said. “My apologies for bothering you.”

She nodded, then returned to leaning on her spear, effectively dismissing us.

I couldn’t even entirely blame her: we’d never been introduced, and one scruffy, bloodstained changeling, accompanied by a girl barely out of her teens, didn’t exactly scream “potential danger to the entire kingdom.” Still, I’d have to talk to Arden, and possibly Lowry, about getting a proper introduction to any new members of the guard. My job meant I needed to be able to come and go without stopping to explain myself every single time.

As I was apparently going to need to do now. “What are you doing?” demanded Chelsea, voice a low, angry whisper. “You can’t just give up! We need to get inside!”

I looked at her blandly. “Do you know why we’re here?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No,” she admitted. “But if you were willing to ask me to bring you here, that means this is important. We need to get Raysel back. That means you don’t get to give up until we do. She matters more than following some stupid hierarchy. And why is Faerie still a monarchy, anyway?”

“Because no one’s ever been able to explain to Oberon why it shouldn’t be,” I said, digging my phone out of my jacket pocket. There were bloody fingerprints on the screen from where I’d called Etienne before. “You want to give it a try, you can be my guest.”

Chelsea was one of the few people who didn’t live with me full-time who knew that Oberon was actually back, and I wasn’t making an idle comment when I suggested she try convincing him to convert us to another form of government. She paled, shaking her head, but stopped arguing with me, which was all I’d really been hoping for.

“Thought not. Now hush and give me a minute to deal with things,” I said, and raised the phone to my ear.

“Borderlands,” said a pleasant female voice after the third ring. “What can I help you find today?”

“Hello, Jude,” I said, identifying the voice as the general manager. “Is Madden available?”

“I’ll check. May I ask why you’re calling?”

Jude was a perfectly pleasant woman. I’d spoken to her a few times, usually when I was looking for Madden. She was also completely human, and didn’t know anything about what her café manager did in his off hours. How she would have handled things if I told her that he spent his spare time serving the queen of Northern California, when not turning into a dog and going for runs along the beach, was a question far too complex for my paygrade.

“Just a question about the oat-milk brand they’re using in the café these days,” I said.

“Let me see if I can get him for you; please hold,” she said, and there was a clatter as she set the phone down.

Chelsea, meanwhile, was watching me with wide eyes. She opened her mouth and I held up a finger, signaling for her to be quiet. She settled again, shooting me a sullen look. I shrugged. She could learn to be patient if she was going to insist on following me around all the time.

There was a click, and Jude’s voice returned: “He’ll be right with you,” she said.

“Appreciated,” I replied.

There was a soft scraping sound as she handed the phone off, and then a friendly male voice was speaking in my ear. “Borderlands Café, this is Madden, how can I help?”

“Madden, it’s Toby,” I said. “I’m at the knowe, and the guard on duty doesn’t want to let me in to see the queen. If I give her the phone, can you explain why she’s making a massive tactical error?”

“The new guard, and female—do you mean the Cobylnau with the rainbow hair, or the Gwragen with the possum?”

“The Gwragen,” I said, shooting a look back over my shoulder at the guard. She was still leaning heavily on her spear, and her eyes were literally closed, shutting us out entirely.