“What?” May and I said in unison, turning to stare at him.
“That’s still creepy,” muttered Raj.
“I need to go to Saltmist and check in, or the Duchess may decide that I’m siding with the land and banish me from the Undersea. I don’t think we want that. I
I’d been expecting this. I’d been waiting for this. It still stung. I bit my lip before saying, “If you’re sure —”
“He’s sure,” said Tybalt. I shot a glare his way. He shrugged.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” said Connor, and kissed me.
There was a desperation in his embrace that was almost chilling. Whatever else was going on, Connor was a lot more scared than he was letting on.
I touched his cheek when he pulled away. “Be safe.”
“You, too,” he said. He glanced around the room. “It was good to see you, May. Tybalt, Raj . . . good night.”
“Bye,” mumbled Raj, looking mortified.
“Open roads, Connor,” said May.
I walked him the two steps to the door, opening it again. “Open roads, Connor. Try not to get yourself killed out there. If you do, I’ll kick your ass.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” He kissed my nose and was gone, pulling the door shut with a final-sounding click.
I locked the deadbolt and turned to look at Tybalt, raising an eyebrow. And I waited. His satisfied expression faded by inches, replaced by apparently genuine awkwardness.
“I didn’t say he had to go,” he said.
“But you jumped on the idea with both feet. What are you doing here, Tybalt? Is this your way of returning all those messages I left you? Because, seriously, I would have been happy with a phone call.”
“I was busy.”
The last time I’d seen him, his Court was in chaos following the deaths of several of his subjects, including Raj’s mother. I softened slightly, but kept frowning as I said, “Your timing sucks, Tybalt. Just so you know.”
Tybalt narrowed his eyes, expression going from awkward to challenging. I met his gaze and held it. He looked away first. “A messenger came to my Court with news of the war. He said you seemed determined to involve yourself. It . . . concerned me.”
“Well, at least now I know what it takes to get your attention.”
Tybalt’s head snapped around. “Thorn and tree, October, that isn’t fair.”
“But you ignoring me is? You’ve got a weird definition of ‘fair.’ All I wanted was to know that you were okay.”
May coughed. “Okay, I’ll be in my room if you need me. Please don’t need me. Also, Toby, remember that the curtains aren’t stain-proof, and Raj, if you need to hide, feel free to join me.” She vanished down the hall. Her door slammed a moment later.
“I . . .” Tybalt sighed. “You’re right. I apologize.”
I stopped. Of all the things he could have said, I don’t think anything could have surprised me more than a simple—and apparently sincere—apology. “Accepted,” I said. Glancing toward the hall, I added, “I think she’s battening down the hatches back there, in case we’re about to start throwing things.”
“Really?” Tybalt’s eyebrows rose. “Should we smash a few plates and scream before we have an actual conversation?”
“I don’t think we need to go that far, but I want to get some real clothes on before we continue. Can I trust you two not to break anything?”
“Yes,” said Raj, immediately.
“You might have an easier time trusting us if we continued while you changed,” said Tybalt, allowing his eyes to travel the length of my body.
I snorted, spreading my arms to give him the best possible view. “Go ahead and laugh, because this is your only shot. You’re staying out here while I get some pants on.”
“I had no intention of mocking you. I think you look lovely.” He hesitated a moment before adding, in a softer tone, “Whether you believe me or not, your mother was never as fair a child of Faerie as you are right now.”
“I . . .” The blush raced up my cheeks and the edges of my ears, leaving them burning. I let my arms drop to my sides, barely keeping myself from folding them over my chest. “I have to go change,” I managed, and turned to scurry down the hall.
My cheeks stayed hot even after I was in my bedroom with the door closed. I stripped off the spider silk dress, letting it puddle on the floor while I fumbled with the thigh sheath. Once that came loose, I pulled my jeans on and fastened my usual knife belt around my waist, sliding my knife back into its customary home before putting the Luidaeg’s shell in my pocket.
Sneakers and a long-sleeved red cotton shirt finished the change. I snagged a hair tie from the dresser on my way out of the room, snapping it around my wrist before beginning to pull pins out of my hair. Stacy’s handiwork was good—too good. I was still trying to restore my hair to its normal disarray as I emerged from the bedroom, swearing under my breath all the while.
Quiet voices were coming from the kitchen as I walked down the hall. I had to smother a smile as I realized that Raj was tutoring Tybalt on the way I like my coffee. That would have been funny no matter what. It was made funnier by the fact that I wasn’t sure Tybalt knew how much time Raj has spent at my place since I saved him from Blind Michael. He wasn’t around as much as, say, Quentin, but he still spent enough time sitting on my couch and hogging the TV remote that I’ve occasionally threatened to charge him rent.
I stopped in the kitchen doorway, watching Tybalt pour way too much sugar into a mug of coffee. “That’s good,” I said, before he could experiment with adding anything else. “You can stop there. Unless you’re making coffee for a hummingbird.”
Tybalt whipped around like he’d done something wrong, mild disappointment crossing his face when he saw my clothes. He picked up the mug and held it out in offering, saying awkwardly, “I made you coffee.”
“I see that.” I stopped fussing with my hair long enough to take the mug. Tybalt still looked uncomfortable. I took a sip of coffee to reassure him, and managed not to choke as the hot sugar sweetness of it hit the back of my throat. “It’s very good,” I said, coughing into my hand.
Tybalt looked relieved. “The principle was simple.”
“Ye-ah.” I put the mug on the counter in what I hoped was a nonchalant manner. For a moment, the three of us just stood there, looking at each other. I blinked, finally registering how underdressed Tybalt was, even by his own eclectic standards. His jeans were tattered, and there were stains on his white silk shirt that could have been pasta sauce but were more likely to be . . . for my own peace of mind, I decided to view them as pasta sauce.
“So why are you really here?” I asked. “I understand worrying about the war, but shouldn’t you be consulting with someone who has, I don’t know, an army?”
“That
My stomach flipped over. “. . . Oh.”
Mortal geography and Summerlands geography aren’t always a perfect match, but the major things, like coastlines, usually translate. The mortal doors to Goldengreen are anchored on the edge of the cliff behind the Palace of the Legion of Honor, and the actual buildings that make up the estate are right on the water. The knowe has no natural defenses, and the inhabitants aren’t exactly warriors.
“My people will stand with yours, if you’ll have us. One Cait Sidhe is worth ten of any other breed.”
I gaped for a stunned moment before stammering, “Oak and ash, Tybalt,
“We’ll have to fight, no matter what, if this war gets bad enough. We have too many friends among the Courts to simply close our doors until the chaos passes,” Tybalt said. “If we fight with you, at least we’re fighting for something.”
“And your people are okay with this?”
He blinked, looking bemused. “Why wouldn’t they be? I’m their King.”
“Right.” I rubbed my forehead. “The offer is very kind.”
