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From his favorite violet pillow, Darling sent a question about Isabel.
“Yes, you would have liked her. Though she’s all cat with nothing…extra about her.” I picked up my hairbrush, working out the snarls I’d put in. I would get back to them. If they weren’t all dead. To Isabel and my mother. If I could face down Rogue and Falcon, then I could break up with Clive in person. Maybe I’d apply for jobs at another university, move up. Back in the world I belonged to, where things made sense. My heart felt satisfyingly hard again. Impervious. “And I’ll tell you what—if this Titania took Dragonfly and is punishing her because that silly little faerie let me down somehow, then I’d like her to come here and explain.”
A frisson ran over the room. If a wave of energy that felt like blistering drought could be called that. The cheerfully noisy camp fell silent.
Starling’s face whitened. “What have you done, Gwynn?”
I hadn’t meant to make the wish. I’d gotten caught up in thinking in my old ways. It wasn’t even really a clear wish, but I could feel it manifest. As if something had been waiting for the opportunity to pounce. Be careful what you wish for, all right.
We pushed out of the tent and into the deathly silent camp. Not a fae, pixie, page or Brownie was in sight. Only Titania riding up the velvety green hill to see me.
She rode a white horse with a cotton-candy-pink mane and tail. Titania herself—she could be no other—was naked, her voluptuous body featureless as a Barbie doll’s. Long silver hair flowed over the horse and trailed on the ground behind.
Her pale eyes fixed on me.
Parching heat flowed out of her, prickling my skin. I wished a protective wall between her and us, just in case. She smiled at me, sweet, charming, and canceled it. She tore the magic out of me, making me gasp out loud.
All around me, the thoughts had stilled. Like the endless buzz of cicadas ceasing before a storm, the eerie silence filled me with dread.
“Lady Sorceress.” Titania’s voice filled my mind, a symphony of bass chords and high flutes. Her pretty lips never lost their smile. “You asked for an explanation.”
Well, holy shit. I grasped for words that flew away. I reached for the silence Marquise and Scourge had taught me. Nothing. Everything in me wanted to scream and run away.
She put long fingers to her lips, as if to stifle a giggle. They had several extra joints, a spider’s hand.
“I’m missing my maidservant, Dragonfly.”
“She broke her oath to you. That makes her mine.”
“It was a mistake.”
The heat roared up. I tried not to flinch. Behind me, Starling whimpered. Darling pressed against my ankle, but not a whisper of thought came from him.
“I do not make mistakes, Sorceress. Oaths and oathbreakers are mine. Isn’t that so, Lord Darling? How do you enjoy your new body?”
Darling pressed against me, shivering.
“I meant that it was my mistake.”Your highness.How does one address a deity?
The heat dropped a little. My face felt burnt.
“You make many mistakes, Sorceress.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been watching you. I suspect you’ll be mine as well.”
“I’ve obeyed my agreements.”
That yellow gaze burned through the dark shadows in my mind.
“Barely.” Her doubt hummed through me. “Dancing the edge. Foolish human girl. Rogue is a fool, to rest so much on one so…unreliable.”
“I never asked to be here.”
“Didn’t you?” She spun her segmented fingers in the air and Dragonfly appeared on the horse in front of her. The girl stared at me in mute terror. “This game will be over too easily, Sorceress, if you lose so soon. So, here’s a caution for you.”
The spidery hand closed on one of Dragonfly’s silly wings. With a sickening crunch, Titania pulled it off, dripping goo trailing. She tossed it at my feet while Dragonfly screamed piteously. The second wing followed.
