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An hour later, after the idea had been talked and argued through, and Yuen had secured Dearborn’s and the mayor’s approval, my mother opened the door of my father’s office to the fairy queen who stood in the hall.
Her hair fell loose in waves over pink scrubs, and she was escorted by Delia on her left and Kelley on her right. The vampires in the room looked curious. The shifters still looked dubious. The humans looked amazed.
Claudia tossed her head. She might have been physically and magically weak, but the woman knew how to get attention.
Since she was in my father’s House, he and Yuen had decided my father would take the lead. While the rest of us looked on, he stood with his hands in his pockets, wearing his coldest—and, to my mind, scariest—expression.
“Claudia,” my father said.
“Bloodletter. I am being held against my will. I wish to be released.”
“Excellent news, as we are here to offer you the terms for your release. Your protégé has tried again to shift the green land to Chicago. Thus far, he’s tried and failed. And, as a result, he has spread, shall we say, bubbles of your world around ours. Theo,” he prompted, and Theo sent images of the affected areas to the wall screen.
Claudia’s gaze flicked to the grasses that waved in the pockets of Chicago. Her eyes widened instantaneously. “He is no protégé of mine.”
But the lie showed clearly in her eyes.
My father didn’t comment on it. “Ruadan is destroying our world. He kidnapped my daughter this night in an effort to try it again. He was thwarted, and your castle was damaged in the process.”
Her eyes flared. “He dare not.”
“Oh, he dared,” my father said. “And now he will be stopped. You can assist in that process, with a result that is beneficial to your interests, or we can do it without you.”
Silence fell heavy, a curtain drawn forward, interrupted only by thetickof the clock on the other side of the room.
“How do you propose to stop him?” she finally asked.
“You will send a message to Ruadan that you were captured by vampires and cruelly treated. You now see that he was correct, that the fairies must bring the green land here, whatever the cost. After studying theEphemerisyourself, stolen from the Cadogan library, you have identified the optimal location for the process. You will wait for him there, and you will work the magic together and rule as king and queen.”
Her eyes were hard. “I am queen of the fae. I rule with no man.”
“Get it, girl,” Petra muttered.
“You don’t have to rule with him,” my father said coolly. “You only need tell him that you will. The humans will arrest him and his allies. You will be returned to your castle to live in peace with the fairies who chose not to join him.”
“I owe you no boon.”
“My daughter was kidnapped by one of your people,” my father reminded her. “A boon is owed, as you will recognize. But moreover”—my father moved closer, and there was no mistaking the cold anger glinting in his eyes—“you will help stop Ruadan, or you will lose what’s left of your people and your kingdom. You help us, and you will regain them. And we will deliver him to you to be punished as you wish.”
Yuen hadn’t been thrilled about that part of the plan, but he knew my father would need room to negotiate.
Claudia walked to my father’s desk, ran a fingertip across a chunk of quartz that held down papers. “And what do you seek in return for delivering him to me?”
“You will reverse the damage he’s done.”
“I could tell you that’s impossible.”
“You’re a powerful queen,” he said. “That would be a lie.”
She lifted her gaze to him again. “I could betray you.”
“You could. But you won’t. You may not like or respect us, but you hate him more. He has sought to depose you. To harm your subjects. To ruin your castle. To destroy your world. To harm what you have built here. You have no love of Ruadan.”
A pause. “They will be suspicious.” She looked at me. “You told him that I believed he was wrong? That he would harm this world?”
I glanced at Yuen, my father, got their nods before answering. And when I did, said, “Yes. But he didn’t believe me. And I think you could convince him pretty easily that I was lying to drive a wedge between you. That you weren’t sure it could be done, but theEphemerischanged your mind.”
