Sirensong

disapproval. She had brought the bomb from Avalon and had planted it under Elaine’s chair, but she truly was the helpless tool Titania imagined me to be. If I gave her up, then Titania might well kill her. And if she didn’t, the Erlking would start circling her like the hungry shark he was.

But if I didn’t give her up, my father and I were both going to die, and who knew what Titania would do to my friends.

Titania cocked her head, looking curious. “Can you prove it?” she asked me.

I hesitated, hating the thought of throwing Elizabeth to the wolves. My throat tightened, and I felt like a gutless wonder. She might not be a friend of mine, but Elizabeth was a child.

“You have no choice, Dana,” the Erlking said. “This can only end in disaster for you if you refuse to unmask the real culprit.”

He was right, and I knew it. It wasn’t like I had enough bullets to shoot my way out of here. And even if I summoned my magic and unleashed my deadly spell, there was a gauntlet of Knights and trolls I’d have to make my way through before I escaped the palace a second time.

I wanted to scream with anger and frustration, but I didn’t. Too many people’s lives depended on me, and I couldn’t afford to take a single false step.

“It’s Elizabeth,” I said, the words tasting bitter on my tongue. “And I can prove it.”

There was no sign of recognition on either of their faces. But then why should Titania or Arawn know the name of one insignificant servant in Henry’s entourage.

“She’s one of Henry’s servants,” I explained. “And she’s just a kid,” I hastened to add. “He beats on her, and she’s so terrified of him she’d do anything he told her to.”

I’d thought Titania’s eyes looked cold before. I’d had no idea what cold was until I saw the way she looked at me now.

“You lie,” she said simply, but there was so much fury in her voice that I almost pulled the trigger in preemptive self-defense. It was no surprise that she didn’t like hearing her son might have been involved with the whole plot.

“You said you can prove it,” Arawn said, sounding surprisingly cautious, like he was afraid Titania was about to explode or something.

I nodded, too intimidated by Titania’s glare to force out any words.

“I refuse to believe it,” Titania spat. “This is your father’s doing. He wishes to discredit my son, and—”

“If she thinks she can prove it, then let her try,” Arawn interrupted. “If your son is innocent, then there is no harm done. You can punish Seamus to your heart’s content, and you can leave Dana to me, which I assure you she would find a more than adequate punishment.” He winked at me, like he thought this was all some kind of joke. It made me want to shoot him, though I knew it wouldn’t do any good.

Titania speared me with her ice-pick eyes. “Very well. You have my leave to try to ‘prove’ my son was behind this. And woe unto you and everyone you care about if you fail.”

Yeah, no pressure or anything.

“Give your weapon to Arawn,” she ordered. “I will not be threatened in my own home.”

Arawn took a couple of cautious steps toward me and held out his hand.

I did not want to give him my gun. True, I knew it wasn’t enough of a threat to get me out of here with my skin, but it made a nice security blanket. Even though my arms were quivering with the strain of holding it up.

Arawn sidled closer, though he made no attempt to take the gun from me by force. His voice dropped to a barely audible murmur.

“Give me the gun. It is hardly your only weapon, and it isn’t even your most fearsome one.”

I blinked at him in surprise. Just when I thought I had him all figured out, he’d go and surprise me like this. He was talking about my mortality spell, and instead of blurting it out and revealing my secret to the Queen, he was taking pains to keep it between us. I was sure it was for his own benefit somehow, rather than for mine, but I was grateful anyway. I also knew that once again, he was right. So I flicked the safety back on and forced my cramped fingers to release their stranglehold on the gun. Then I handed the gun to Arawn butt-first, and I was left with no defenses save the one I doubted I’d be willing to use.

Chapter Twenty-One

As soon as the gun left my hand, I braced myself for an attack, feeling naked and helpless without it. Titania looked at me like I was a cockroach she wanted to stomp, but she didn’t try to call magic and she didn’t give the Erlking permission to take me. Either she was being honorable, or I had awakened a kernel of doubt in her with my accusations. I didn’t much care which.

“Show me your proof,” she commanded.

“First, we have to figure out how far away from a mortal object I have to be before it goes poof.”

Titania’s brows drew together ever so slightly, and I realized she might not be familiar with the mortal version of modern English.

“Before it disappears,” I clarified.

“This resembles more an escape plan than proof of my son’s guilt,” she said.

I rolled my eyes at her. “Yeah, because I came bursting into your bedroom in an attempt to escape. If I wanted to escape, I wouldn’t be here.” I could tell she didn’t appreciate my sarcasm, but I didn’t have it in me to apologize. Maybe this wasn’t an appropriate way to speak to the Queen of the Seelie Court, but I’d been through too much to stress about etiquette.

“There are about ten thousand Knights and a couple of trolls outside your door,” I continued, since she didn’t look convinced by my reasonable argument, “and you’re worried I’m going to try to escape from under their noses?”

“They did not stop you from entering.”

Arawn held out his hand again. “Give me the brooch. If you don’t have that, I think we can all feel secure that you will not try to escape.”

I wanted to hand over the brooch even less than I’d wanted to hand over the gun, but it wasn’t like I had a lot of options. If Titania decided she didn’t want to hear what I had to say, she could condemn me in a heartbeat and there’d be nothing I could do to prevent it.

To my shame, my hand was shaking when I laid the brooch in Arawn’s palm. One by one, Titania was stripping away my defenses, and I was letting her. But what choice did I have?

“I believe you are telling the truth,” Arawn said as he took the brooch. “As long as you are telling the truth, you have nothing to fear.”

I met his gaze for a moment, surprised by this hint of humanity. He was a stone-cold killer, a skilled manipulator, and if not exactly a liar, then at least a deceiver. But he was the closest thing I had to a friend right now, and wasn’t that a sorry state of affairs?

I looked away quickly and started unfastening my watch. “So, um, I’m going to put this on the far side of the room.” I held up the watch for Titania to see. “Then I’m going to back away until whatever happens to mortal stuff when there’s no Faeriewalker around happens.”

I waited for Titania’s approval before moving, because I suspected she had an itchy magical trigger finger. She pursed her lips like she wasn’t happy with this idea, but nodded curtly.

“Proceed.”

There was no furniture in the room except for the huge bed, and like in the hallway, there was a carpet of white rose petals. They looked for all the world like they were loose, fresh from the flower and scattered willy-nilly. And yet when I stepped, they didn’t move, nor did they look crushed. Maybe they were just a pretty illusion, although considering the rose-scented air, I thought they were probably real.

Titania shadowed my movements, and I felt her eyes on me. The sensation made me shiver, and my skin prickled with goose bumps. Not the magic-induced kind, but the creeped-out kind. I set the watch carefully on the floor, then began backing away.

I started to sweat when I was about halfway across the room. The watch was still there, and I couldn’t help