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“In what way?” I tried to keep the question neutral, so as not to bias such a good source of information.
Nancy cocked her head at my own belly. “If you end up in the family way, you might end up wishing yours had tossed you overboard, if you get my meaning.”
“Can you be specific?”
“Do you want a tour, dearie? Of the kitchens and such like? I’ll show you my little brewery too.”
Okay then. I followed her into the kitchen while the others danced and drank. Darling trotted along at my heels, waving his tail with interest. I considered making him stay behind but he gave me an owlish glare and I figured he might as well know all my secrets. He was my Familiar, after all.
The kitchen astonished me, with all the fittings she’d managed to cobble together. A small room served as the refrigerator/freezer—cool on one end and icy on the other. “Magic, you know,” she explained cheerfully. “This was my most expensive bargain, but well worth it.”
“What did you trade for it—do you mind saying?”
“Oh, quite a few things. Let’s just see.” She strode over to a little desk under the kitchen window and opened a sort of ledger of accounts. In it were listed names, items and exchanges, marked complete or not. “They can’t read, see. Had you figured that out?”
I was frankly surprised that she could and wondered who she’d been. Probably a housekeeper, with her management skills.
“Beer. Beer and food. Aha!” Her finger pinned the page. “Sixty-seven instances of beer and food for parties of no more than ten.”
“That is expensive.”
“This party—” she jerked her head at the revelry in the other room, “—is on the house for Lord Rogue. In exchange for the opportunity to meet you.” She closed her accounts book with a snap. “Come see the brewery.”
And here I’d contemplated what it was that Rogue did all day—apparently he got around. “They all seem unduly drunk on your beer.”
Nancy widened her cornflower-blue eyes in innocence. “Such a surprise that my brew affects those with fairy blood differently that pure humans. How was I to know?”
“But the soldiers—aren’t they human?”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head tightly. “More like us, yes, but never think it. The magic, it’s a pestilence. It infects everything, after a time.”
I might have imagined it, but for a moment her gaze touched on my temple and skittered away. The brewery equipment was housed in another building out back, taking us farther away from the others. “You should know, dearie. Lord Rogue drove a hard bargain. He only agreed if I promised to tell you that you should have his child as soon as possible. So, here I am, telling you so.” She nodded crisply, checking the obligation off in her mind.
I let the irritation burn a little, to clear my mind.
“But I have another story to tell you.” She led me through the warren of tanks and supplies, pointing to things, as if explaining the brewing process, but speaking of something else entirely. “Some years back, when Billy was still toddling about, a grand lady stopped to stay the night with her party. She was nigh to bursting with child and said she traveled to her lord’s castle, for the lie-in.”
“The woman from 1927?”
“You’re a smart cookie. You pay attention. I like that. Yes, Lady Cecily—cute thing she was. Saucy with it. Had a handmaid with her as you do. Nasty piece of work. Lady Incandescence. You know her?”
I did indeed. Though I usually thought of her as Nasty Tinker Bell. “And her lord—who was that?” I found myself hoping and praying that it wouldn’t be Rogue. Please not Rogue.
“A Lord Fafnir—know of him?”
I breathed a sigh of relief and shook my head.
“Well, you wouldn’t, given what happened.”
At the dark warning in her voice, my stomach congealed. This would be the moment in the horror movie when I couldn’t bear to watch. The dread became too much to face. “Tell me she lived.”
Nancy pressed her lips together. “No, dearie. I’m sorry. You would have liked her too.”
“What happened?” Feeling a little faint, I sat on a bench. Darling sprang up next to me and bumped his head under my hand.
“She went into labor early. I tried to help—I’ve done a bit of midwifing in my day—but that Incandescence locked me out of the room. Then Fafnir appears on my doorstep, sword in hand, and nearly tramples little Billy in his stampede to Cecily’s room. I hear her screaming, begging him not to. Just bloodcurdling, I tell you, I—” She took a look at my face and stopped herself. “Well never you mind that bit.
“Next thing I know, all goes quiet. I mean, bad quiet. And them two come down with the baby all wrapped up in a blanket. I didn’t stop them.” Nancy shook her head, anger at herself written all over her.
