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I scoffed. “Elsewhere certainly has a hereditary royal family.”
“No, we don’t,” he said sharply. “That’s not how it works and was never meant to be. Our courts are ruled by the right of power; it’s simply that there has never been a stronger force in courts above the wall.”
I didn’t feel like arguing that with him. He was not currently making a very good case for himself, given that technically he’d lost the throne to me but had made no move to leave. The entire Everlast family—save for Bael—was simply carrying on as if nothing had happened and things would eventually return to as they had been before. “Fine. And in Underneath, is it the same?”
“No. They have power struggles often among creatures of all races, not just Fae. There have been dragon kings and banshee queens, and I believe there was a leshy ruler a few centuries ago. At one time, their leadership shifted at least twice a year.”
“At one time?”
“There has been only one king for several decades now, as no one has been able to unseat him, but that’s not the point I was trying to make.” He glanced at his cousins as if trying to communicate something to them without words.
Aine picked up the story. “The original king who built this palace was not High Fae,” she said carefully. “He was rumored to be a Dullahan.”
Oh. It dawned on me that they didn’t know I’d heard the legend of their curse or of the Unseelie King. They wouldn’t know I’d heard about their ancestor and Queen Aisling already, and I had a feeling that perhaps I should not reveal the fact that Bael had told me.
“Do you think that’s true?” I asked.
Scion shook his head. “Most likely not. I’m not sure how any High Fae could breed with something that is almost entirely smoke, but the rumor is enough to be frightening to some.”
I sighed, collapsing back into my chair and rubbing my temples. I wasn’t sure which I preferred—this, where I was allowed to sit in the room among them, or the silence and torment I’d experienced before. It seemed as if the choice should be obvious, but the overwhelming pressure of all this information made me long, in some ways, to go back.
And that was without even considering everything…else.
“May we revisit the issue at hand,” Thalia said tersely. She was the only one who had not moved much from her original position in the room, still hovering quite close to the wall, but now she moved away from it and began to pace. “This history is all well and good, but Aine is right; Ambrose was the only one with the ability and motivation to bring any of the afflicted this far south.”
I was not sure I understood what motivation they were referring to, but I would far rather believe that Ambrose Dullahan had summoned these creatures than that somehowI’ddone it. Still, something didn’t sit right. “I did not think it was the goal of the rebellion to destroy the continent, merely to liberate it.”
Everyone glared at me, but for once, I didn’t back down. What were they going to do?
No one had ever come through on a threat to whip me or cut off a limb, and they were not allowed to kill me between hunts. Moreover, if Thalia was to be believed, Scion’s inscrutable mood had yet again shifted. Now, perhaps he didn’t want me dead, anyway. Scion could try to imprison me again, but Bael would find me soon enough.
It was all quite liberating, actually, and I nearly laughed.
There was nothing they could do to me.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” Scion growled.
I merely smiled. It was hard to rise to his bait now, with my new armor of temporary protection surrounding me. “At least you know where he’s going next,” I said offhand.
“What do you mean?” Scion asked.
“He said he would see me in Inbetwixt, and he didn’t…does that not mean that he still will?”
Scion gave me a long, searching look that felt as if I were being examined from the inside out. My heart sped up, and I stiffened under his gaze, realizing that perhaps I’d made a mistake.
Had they not just said that Ambrose was a seer? Or had Bael told me that?Where did I hear that before?
Scion clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes, then released a sigh of resignation. He tore his eyes from mine and looked from Aine to Thalia, curiously ignoring Gwydion altogether. “It seems the only option is that she must return to Inbetwixt.”
The finality of his words echoed through the room, and I startled.
“Wait!” I rushed to say. “That’s not what I meant.”
Aine ignored me. “Agreed. Perhaps we should send guards?”
“No,” Scion replied. “I’ll go.”
“What did you just say?” I gasped, my voice trembling. My hands balled up into fists. “You must be out of your mind if you think I am going anywhere with you.”
