plank by the time this has ended.'
'Yes, Majesty.'
'Are you fully staffed? Is your supply of understudies ample?'
'Yes, Majesty.'
'Be sure you have enough. This journey will take a toll on them. Don't spare your men, Wenner. Push them until they drop and then replace them. Make heroes.'
'Yes, Majesty.'
'We are to be on top of Selafae by dawn. You are dismissed.'
Wennet backed slowly from the throne room, nearly walking into a column in the process. One of the servants took him by the elbow and guided him out.
Mab waved her fingers in the air and slinked into a glamour that made her appear as she had when she was very young and very beautiful. The butterflies shimmered and changed colors to match her dress. She took one of them on her finger and brushed it against her nose. 'Come, darlings,' she whispered. 'We have an appointment with a gentleman.'
At the forward end of the Royal Complex was a small pleasure garden that Mab tended with her own hands, in the few idle moments she allowed herself during the day. Servants, ladies-in-waiting, and members of the Prefecture were strictly forbidden. Only one other held a key to the place, and as she entered the garden he was there, lying in the grass, his head propped on a pillow.
'Good afternoon, Hy Pezho,' said Mab.
'Majesty,' he said, rising to his knees. 'Thy glamour is radiant.'
'Do you like it?' she said. 'Is it what you might call… attractive?'
'Only if the petals of the rose are but attractive. Only if the flight of the dove is merely pretty.'
Mab let out a gay laugh and sat beside him. 'You are clever, Hy Pezho. We enjoy cleverness at times.'
'Whatever pleases thee,' said Pezho, pouring her a glass of wine from a bottle at his knee.
'Do not stand on ceremony here, darling. Save the proper forms of address for out there.' She waved her hand toward the towering spires of the Royal Complex.
'I am honored to speak to… you thus.' Hy Pezho smiled lazily.
'Come, kiss me,' she said.
'First, drink a toast.' He touched his glass to hers. 'To the Unseelie.'
'I will drink to that,' she said. She lifted her glass and drank.
Once she had drunk, Hy Pezho stood, tossing his glass on the ground. He began to chant in ancient Thule Fae, his throat growling with the gutturals of the language.
'Whatever are you doing, love?' said Mab, unconcerned.
'I am exacting my revenge,' said Hy Pezho, breaking his chant. He spat on the ground and made a sweeping motion with his arms. 'A fel-ala!' he cried.
There was a deep croaking sound beneath the floor as thick beams beneath their feet began to move. A whisper grew, rising in pitch and volume, like a fierce wind through a forest of trees. It became a rush, then a howl.
The garden soil split wide in an ugly crack, dirt spilling into the darkness. Beneath the imported earth, the city's lumber cracked and separated, creating a dark chasm that stretched along the length of the garden.
Mab did not move.
'A fel-ala em!' shouted Hy Pezho. He glared at Mab, goading her. She refused to move.
'Will you not even put up a fight?' he called over the noise.
Mab only smiled.
Inky tentacles appeared from the dark rift, spilling out into the verdant space. They were wet and irregular, like black sausages. One of them reached toward Mab and licked across her exposed ankle.
Something began to hoist itself from the abyss. It was black and misshapen, covered about its body with stiff red hairs that waved in the breeze. A single orifice masticated slowly, revealing uneven lines of sharp teeth.
The tentacles were everywhere, upending planters, splashing in the fishpond, crawling up the rose trellises. Soon the garden was full of them. They surrounded Mab like fingers and tightened against her flesh.
'I assume you have a speech prepared,' said Mab. She flattened her long skirt as much as she was able.
Hy Pezho was unnerved by her calm. He stuttered. 'I… I have come as the instrument of my father's vengeance,' he said. 'You had him murdered in his sleep. I have been waiting for this day for a very long time.'
Mab sighed. 'It's a shame you didn't know your father as well as I did. Perhaps you would not have bothered. Still, vengeance is an act with which I have a passing familiarity. Proceed.'
Hy Pezho stamped his foot. 'Must you always be so damnably composed? Can you never show a hint of fear, even as you are moments away from eternal torment in the belly of the fel-ala?'
'No, I would not give you that pleasure, even if it were the case.' Mab stood, and the tentacles fell away from her.
'How… the fel-ala is my personal wraith, my creation!' Hy Pezho called upon it again, but the creature refused to budge. Its glassy eyes moved back and forth between Mab and Hy Pezho.
'A bit of advice,' said Mab, closing the distance between them. She stood before him as though she were about to kiss his lips. 'When you seek to lure your enemy down a dark alley, it's best to inquire who owns the buildings on either side.'
With a wordless command, she set the fel-ala upon Hy Pezho. She watched as the tentacles embraced him, digging their tiny, sharp spines into his flesh and drawing out the blood and the animating spirit within.
'Bacamar!' called Hy Pezho, with the last of his breath. 'Save me!'
Bacamar floated down and alighted on Mab's shoulder.
'I have but one thing to say to you,' hissed Bacamar.
'Please,' gasped Hy Pezho. 'I cannot… the pain.' The color leached from his face and hands, turning them a dull gray.
Bacamar whispered, 'It is never wise to keep a lady waiting.'
They watched until he was dragged beneath the ground, through the chasm and into the nameless place where the wraiths make their home. Mab spoke a few words of Motion and the garden floor healed itself, coming together into a rough seam.
'Boys,' said Mab.
Chapter 34
Mauritane was reunited with Raieve, Satterly, and Silverdun at the rear gate of Geracy's palace, but the renewal of their acquaintance was a brief one.
'Get in,' said Eloquet, pointing at a covered delivery wagon parked at an angle in the alley. Mauritane helped Elice into the rear of the vehicle and the others followed him, including several of Eloquet's men. The remainder faded into the lush greenery that surrounded all of the homes at the valley's rim. Eloquet ordered one of his followers into the driver's seat, then hopped in the back himself. The wagon began to move with a lurch.
'There are Seelie Army posts everywhere,' said Eloquet. 'We can only assume that the Queen has prepared another offensive against us.'
Mauritane shook his head. 'Unless Her Majesty's opinion has changed on the subject, I doubt it. During my tenure as Captain of the Guard, she avoided the issue entirely.'
Eloquet nodded. 'She does not wish to anger those among the nobility who support our cause.'
Mauritane shrugged. 'In my experience, the Queen does not care whom she angers.'
'He's right, Mauritane.' It was Silverdun who had spoken. Mauritane looked at him, wondering when he had last heard the man speak. The cart jolted unsteadily with its heavy burden of Fae.
'He's right,' Silverdun repeated. 'Sympathy for the Arcadians and those in the Western Valley has grown steadily over the years as they find more and more converts among the highborn. My mother was one of
