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“Conserving energy,” Thalia said. “I wasn’t there, of course, but I can only assume that’s what it was. Moving through the shadows at such a distance is difficult, nearly impossible for most. Bringing a second body along would add to that. None of us have infinite energy, not even Bael, so if he’d already been using a lot of magic, he was probably trying to get you both closer to the castle before traveling. Good thing, too, since you both passed out when you got here. I’ve never seen Bael collapse from anything, least of all shadow walking.”
I sucked in a breath. “Is he alright?”
She paused. If she said he was having a “bad night,” I thought I might scream.
“Yes,” she said after a moment, seeming to choose her words carefully. “Bluntly, I suspect if you want to see him, all you would have to do is cooperate with Scion, and he’ll give you anything you want.”
I startled. “What makes you say that?”
“You have been asleep for just over a day, and you have not seen how the castle has been turned upside down. There werethreehealers.”
“So?”
She tied some kind of knot with the still-hanging straps near my shoulder. “I just think it’s interesting that anyone who would claim to want you dead would put out a moratorium on anyone harming you, then allow Unseelie healers into the high court palace.”
“What moratorium?”
She smiled slightly. “You didn’t hear? No one is supposed to harm you. It’s put quite a damper on the hunting season.”
My stomach lurched, and I suddenly remembered how everyone had looked at me in Inbetwixt. I knew something was strange. Even the Fae that approached me in the woods had said they weren’t there for me, only the crown…
“But that’s illegal,” I spluttered.
“Yes.” She smiled. “It certainly is, but I do not think he cares.”
“Why the fuck would he do that?” I demanded.
She laughed, presumably at my use of foul language, but only shrugged. “You would have to ask him.”
I was certainly not going to ask. If Scion wanted to make the hunts into a stroll through the woods, that was his prerogative; it wouldn’t make him king. I would still give the crown to Bael in just over a month, and then…what.
Would I still leave?
Thalia and I fell silent again, and I watched her in the mirror, now untangling the mess I’d made of my hair and rebraiding it to fall smoothly over the open back of the gown. My thoughts raced, unclear and as impossible to unravel without assistance as the straps of the dress. “May I ask you something?”
“You may, but I may choose not to answer,” she replied.
It was such a typical Fae response that I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “You are Gwydion’s mate, correct? But how can he marry you, then?”
“Should I take that to mean that someone has been telling you stories?” She paused her braiding and met my eyes in the mirror, cocking her head. “Bael, perhaps?”
I flushed slightly and nodded. “I only wondered…I just…”
In truth, I’d wanted to know if there was some way around their curse, but the way she was looking at me gave me the impression that no matter what her answer was, I would not like it.
“I am not,” she said simply, returning to her braid. “His mate, that is.”
I thought back, trying to remember if anyone had ever actually told me she was or if I’d just assumed. I couldn’t recall. “Then why…”
“You’re awfully bold to ask for secrets without offering any in return, you know.”
“I didn’t get the impression that you would care much for my secrets.”
“True,” she sighed, sounding impossibly bored. “It’s been a long while since I told this story to anyone, and I doubt we have time to get into every detail.”
I didn’t care—any details would be more than enough for me, and perhaps my face told her so because she sighed again and obliged me as she resumed brushing my hair.
“I believe I told you before that I was sent to the court to marry Scion, but that’s not the whole of it,” she began. “In truth, I was sent in order to keep me away from my mate.”
