So I suspect you will need this more than I will.” He stepped around Veronica’s motionless body, took Timothy firmly by the wrist, and let the cross fall into his hand.
“What…” said Timothy.
“Do not wear it openly,” Rob said, “but keep it against your skin. It will be of little use as a weapon with so many of my people around you, but it will shield you from the Empress’s power until we can find a way to free Linden.”
So Rob was on their side after all. Timothy had begun to doubt it, but the cross in his hand was proof enough. He looked down at himself helplessly for a moment-T-shirt too thin, no pockets in the boxers-then bent and tucked the cross into the side of his sock, folding the thick ankle band down to hide its telltale shape.
“I wish that your quest had succeeded,” said Rob. “Then I and my allies could fight openly in your defense. Still, we will do what we can.”
Timothy hesitated, then took the plunge. “We didn’t fail,” he said. “Linden has the Stone of Naming in her pocket.”
Rob caught his breath. “You found the Children of Rhys?”
“We did, but they wouldn’t help us. We were lucky to come away with the Stone.”
“Luck indeed,” murmured Rob appreciatively. “Well, then, we have only to find a way to get it from her, in full view of the Empress and a hundred or so others. You’re the one with the creativity, human-have you a plan?”
The Empress lounged upon her throne, watching her faery subjects with hooded eyes as one by one they stepped up to the platform and knelt before her. The room was filling rapidly, and in desperation Linden felt around her cage, searching for a catch, a crack, any weakness that might let her escape. But the bars were too narrow for her to squeeze past, too strong for her to bend, and though she had tried to make herself smaller, she could not. She could think of one other possibility, but she was afraid to try it-the cage looked too strong to break easily, and what if she ended up crushed into this tiny space?
“No song for us, little bird?” taunted a voice, and she turned to see Byrne Blackwing grinning at her. Corbin leaned against the wall just behind him, with a half smile on his lips that chilled her more than his brother’s open mockery.
“I may be in a cage,” Linden retorted with all the boldness she could muster, “but at least I’m not the Empress’s slave.”
The amusement went out of Byrne’s face, and he started forward. Corbin caught his arm; he snarled and threw his brother off, and Linden shrank back-
But then a door on the other side of the hall crashed open and Rob stalked in, dragging Timothy behind him.
Timothy’s wrists were lashed together with rope, and dried blood streaked his face. He was limping a little on his right side, and his head hung down as though he were exhausted. But when he saw Linden’s cage he looked up sharply, and his gaze met hers with a fierceness that stopped her breath.
“Stay,” said the Empress as Timothy and Rob reached the foot of the platform. Linden’s heart thumped as Rob turned his head toward her, but his gaze only flicked over her indifferently before returning to the Empress.
“Human,” said the Empress to Timothy, “you are no subject of mine, nor do I wish to claim you. But you have given help to those who would defy me, and for that you must be punished. Kneel.”
“I’d rather stand, thanks,” said Timothy, but Rob grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him onto his knees. With a little, surprised-sounding grunt he went down and crouched at the foot of the platform, hunched over his bound hands.
The Empress rose fluidly and addressed the gathered faeries, her voice ringing out across the room: “You all know the law: It is forbidden for a faery to keep company with humans, or give them aid or comfort. Yet the young rebel you see in this cage before you”-she swung around and pointed at Linden-“dared to assault Veronica, one of our own people, and deprive her of her rightful human prey. She helped the human boy to escape from Sanctuary, and then she enlisted him to help her seek out other faeries and persuade them also to rise up against me.”
All the faeries’ eyes were on Linden now. She searched the crowd of dim faces for signs of sympathy, but though some looked apprehensive and a few even sorrowful, no one moved. The Empress went on:
“I offered her a chance to repent of her crimes, but she spurned it. Such rebellion, such willful perversity, cannot go unpunished. And the punishment I have chosen, for both this faery and the human she has so foolishly befriended…is death.”
Linden wrapped her arms tightly around her ribs, trying to hold in the fluttering panic. She had heard the Empress speak of execution; she’d had ample time to consider what that meant; and yet hearing the words shocked her all over again.
“Your Majesty!”
The voice was Timothy’s. “Before you carry out the sentence, I’d like to say a few words.”
The Empress let out a short laugh. “You, a mere human, address my court? Do you imagine yourself so clever, or so eloquent, that with just one speech you can win my people to your cause?”
“No,” said Timothy, with surprising meekness. “I mean…just to Linden. I’ll talk quietly if you like, so the rest of your subjects don’t hear. But if you’re going to put us both to death, can’t I at least say good-bye to her first?”
“You are in no position to ask for favors, boy,” said the Empress coldly, and began to turn away. But then Rob spoke:
“My Empress, I would ask that you grant his request for my sake, if not his own. I am curious to know what this human thinks is so vital for him to say-and surely you have nothing to fear from words?”
“Fear!” Her tone was acid. “As if a human could threaten me! Very well, my Robin, for your sake. But”-her hard gaze turned on Timothy-“be brief, boy, or I will burn out your tongue.”
Timothy bowed his head for a moment. Then he looked up at Linden and said, “There’s a Bible verse that says, ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.’ I know that’s probably not a popular proverb among faeries, but what I mean is, I’ve learned a lot from our friendship, and I’m grateful for that.”
Despite the dread churning inside her, Linden was touched-but also baffled. Why was Timothy quoting the Bible? Either he’d changed his mind since the last time they talked, or else…
“And there are other verses that make me think of you, too,” Timothy went on more quickly as the Empress began to tap her foot. “Like, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news,’ because that’s what you were trying to do for your people. And I know you thought you were too young to make any difference, but as Jesus said, ‘The least of you shall be the greatest-’”
His words ended in a choking gasp as Rob grabbed the back of his neck and pushed his head nearly to the floor. “I beg your pardon, my Empress,” Rob said. “I had thought he might tell us something useful. Forgive my poor judgment.”
Timothy had been trying to give her a message, Linden realized. But what? Why had he chosen those verses?
Iron! What if he’d found some, to replace the key he’d lost in Wales? But even if he had, why go to the trouble of telling her about it? She was a faery: She couldn’t touch iron without losing what little magic she had….
“Enough of this folly,” snapped the Empress. She raised a hand toward Linden’s cage, sparks of baleful light flickering around her fingertips. “As Empress of all Faery, I proclaim Linden of the Oak to be traitor and rebel, outcast and Forsaken, and worthy of no better fate than death. So be-”
Her words ended in a gasp as Timothy leaped up from his crouch, sprang onto the platform, and hurled himself at her. She staggered back into the throne, which toppled over with a crash, sending the two of them tumbling onto the floor. But somehow Timothy had got his wrists free, and while he gripped the Empress’s throat
