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I expected him to be surly or object. Instead, he smiled widely, bowed, and said, “I would be honored, but Beatrice cannot come here.”
I’d expected that. Hell, I’d expected a fuss over him attending the wedding over in New Orleans, so I was pleasantly surprised by the king’s reaction. I shrugged. “No Grannie Bea, but my mother will be here, and I warn you now: she has Opinions.”
The king ofElphamegave me a look. “I would expect nothing less from the woman strong-willed enough to raise you, Geneviève Crowe of Stonecroft.” Then he motioned toward the world beyond Eli’s home. “Now, go deal with the dead woman. She’s begun to vex me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
I feltlike Eli and I ought to gather possessions or . . . something, but I’d brought no weapons. We had nothing near us but the wrecked remains of his home.
“Open it.” Eli motioned to the air in front of me.
I glanced at Eli. I’d been toElphameand back a few times, but only the fae could open a passageway. I’d waited, captive in that only someone else could open this door.
“Think of home. Then part the veil.” Eli motioned to the nothingness in front of us.
I thought of my home, not in the Outs, but the city. The sheer determination to overcome any obstacle, the music that seemed to rise up from the very soil and river that made this city, the vibrancy of her people, the assault of the scents of chicory coffee and liquor and the flowers that were trapped in the humid air. I thought of New Orleans, and as I reached forward, my city in my mind and heart, I grasped the air itself and tugged.
The sensation was that of damp silk sheets in my hand, and I almost let go. Instead, I folded the air back as if it was a curtain, and I was opening the fabric to let in the light.
I stepped through, and Eli came with me. We were standing on the street in front of Eli’s house. It was near dusk, possibly thirty minutes until sunset.
As I glanced over my shoulder, I could see the fields ofElphame. Trees. The brighter air.
“Let go,” Eli whispered. His hand was on mine, unfolding my fingers, releasing the veil that I’d parted. The glimmering opening slipped away, like a curtain still; this time it was the curtain closing the play.
“So . . .” Beatrice was there, looking like a warrior goddess. She had on honest-to-Pete leather trousers and a tunic top with metal shin guards and a shirt of chain—one that was hand-fashioned for her body by the look of the fall of the precise interlocking circles—over her clothes. She had a vicious looking sword at her hip, poleax in her hand, and a gun holstered on her other side. The gun was one I would like to study one day. It was antique in the way of museum pieces, but it gleamed like new.
“Ahalberd?” Eli said.
Beatrice smiled. A poleax—or halberd—was a fierce looking thing that combined the reach of a staff with both spear and axe tips. It was heavy, brutal, and intimidating. Of course, my dead grandmother had one at the ready.
“So, you are wed, then?” she asked me.
“We’ll have a ceremony here,” I answered.
“And one inElphame.” Eli motioned for her to walk with us. As we approached the gate, it slid open for us, but rather than lead us to the house, Eli followed a stone path that took us to a grotto to the back of the house.
Oaks and willows surrounded a small pond, offering both shade and privacy despite being in the city. When I’d first seen his home, I was struck both by how unassuming it was, how natural the grounds were, and the sheer size of the lot. The Garden District had once been the home of wealthy 1800s Americans, then in the later 1900s and early 2000s, more than a few celebrities bought homes here. Actors. Musicians. These days, it was still well-patrolled, gated, and secure.
But now that I knew that myspousewas the heir to the throne ofElphame, a number of things made more sense.Eli didn’t buy things to scream status. He bought land because the fae were of the earth, and he bought the finer things in liquor and food and fabric because the fae had a fondness for decadent tastes.
“Wool gathering?” Beatrice said mildly.
“Sorry. I’ve changed, and—” I shrugged “—adjusting.”
Beatrice propped her halberd against a tree. “I’d seen news. And then you vanished. I had worries. Lauren was most insistent I locate you.”
“It’s been maybefourhours.”
Beatrice gave me a look. “Which is a month in the fae lands. That was a long time. And you know Lauren does worry.”
“How is my mother?”
“Ordering my household around with the cheer of a retired general,” Beatrice said with an odd catch in her voice. “I think Eleanor has decided to switch her loyalty, and Sir George offered Lauren a half-chewed turtle. My daughter is rather hard to refuse.”
“Ergo you battering the gates ofElphame?”
Beatrice shrugged. “How am I to know what devious things Fergus has done?”
