Wondrous Strange

Auberon stood, rich garments falling in regal folds all around him. “I do not wish to quarrel with you, Kelley. I merely tell you this to save you further hurt. It is not within Sonny Flannery to love a Faerie queen. He cannot rise above his upbringing; and if you remain as you are, he will begin to resent that which you are. It is inevitable. If you retain your birthright, my dear girl, you will lose him. Maybe not at first and not all at once, but you will. But I can make it so that you need never see that coldness creep into his gaze.”

“Get out.”

“Consider my words.” Auberon turned to go, but hesitated. “You have your mother’s eyes, you know…”

“Get out,” Kelley said again through clenched teeth, closing her eyes as she turned away from him. When she opened them again, she was alone in her dressing room-shaking, a sticky mess of hot glue pooling on the counter in front of her.

“Kelley?” Sonny appeared at the door of her dressing room. “Are you all right? He didn’t…hurt you, did he?”

Sonny…

She had seen how he’d reacted to her in the alleyway. In those brief moments when she’d felt…strange. She remembered the look in his eyes and she could not, in her imagination, convert that expression into one that could convey love. What if Auberon was right?

“Kelley?”

She thought suddenly about the rest of the cast and crew. If Auberon had been in the theater…“Is everyone okay?” She started for the door.

“They’re fine. Bob is out there right now making sure.”

“He’s one of them, isn’t he?” She felt for the charm around her neck, remembering Bob’s words to her yesterday. “Bob…”

“He used to be called Robin. Among other things.”

“Oh, God…,” Kelley whispered.

“He’s sort of the reason you’re in this world in the first place. Actually…we both are, it seems.”

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“I didn’t either, until he told me just now. Emma-your aunt-once went by another name. Emmaline Flannery.”

“Flannery? But…” Kelley understood then. “It was you. Em took me because Auberon took you.”

“Like I said”-Sonny smiled gently-“the Fates have an odd sense of humor.”

“You look like her,” she said. “Now that I know. I can see her in you. All that stubborn Irish crazy…”

There was a sheen to Sonny’s gray eyes. “I’d like to meet her.”

“You will.”

Sonny cast a glance in the direction of the high window. “It’s getting late.”

“It keeps doing that…” Kelley sighed. “You’re going to leave soon.”

Sonny nodded mutely and helped Kelley to her feet. He stood looking down at her and then took her face in his hands. Turning her head slightly, he ran his fingers through her hair, lifting back the loose auburn curls that fell around her cheeks. “You have his ears,” he said, running a fingertip over one subtle point.

Kelley shivered. “And my mother’s eyes, apparently.”

“Did he say who-”

“No. And I didn’t ask.”

Sonny lowered his hands and they stood there, inches apart, for an awkward moment. Suddenly he gathered her into his arms and held her in a tentative embrace. Kelley felt her heart swell. “I have to go now,” he murmured into her hair. “But…please be careful tonight. While I can’t be there to protect you. Be careful.”

XXVI

“I only need to know two things,” the Fennrys Wolf growled, stalking back and forth in front of the other Janus. “Where do you want me, and how do I kill whatever needs killing?”

“Well, that’s just it, Fenn,” Sonny tried to explain. “The answers to your questions are: We don’t know, and we don’t know.”

The Wolf rolled his eyes at that and retreated to perch on the back of a bench. The thirteen Janus had gathered after daybreak and a successful night’s hunting at Sonny’s request in a tucked-away bit of the park that offered enough seclusion for the Guard to assemble without the police thinking they were some sort of gang.

“By now, all of you have been made aware of the possibility that someone is trying to wake the Wild Hunt, right?” Sonny looked from face to face. “The likeliest suspect, of course, is Queen Mabh, although a visit I had from one of her Storm Hags seemed to indicate that it may have been a mistake on Mabh’s part to release the kelpie into this realm. Or maybe she’s had a change of heart.”

“Mabh doesn’t have a heart,” Ghost said quietly.

“Good point,” Aaneel agreed. “I can’t help but think that she’d just laugh and kick her feet with glee if such a thing were to come to pass.”

“Well…whatever game she’s playing,” Sonny said, “we’ve got more pieces on the board to worry about than just the Queen of Air and Darkness.”

Maddox snorted. “I’ll say. Tell ’em whom we stumbled across, Old Sonn.”

Sonny took a deep breath and said, “The stolen child.”

The circle of changelings stared blankly at him, as if he’d suddenly spoken in an incomprehensible language.

“Auberon’s daughter?” Sonny prompted. “The lost princess. The reason the Gates were shut. The reason for us. I know where she is.”

“Who is she?” Aaneel asked.

“She’s…seventeen,” Sonny said. “An actress. Sweet. Happy. And up until-well, up until I told her-she had absolutely no idea of what she is. Let alone who.”

“How is that even possible?” Bellamy glanced back and forth between Sonny and Maddox. Beside him, his sister’s brow was creased in a frown.

“She’s been kept well hidden with the help of a powerful talisman,” Sonny explained.

“Does Auberon know?” Beni asked.

“I didn’t tell him-”

“Don’t.” The interjection came from Cait.

“Why the hell not?” the Fennrys Wolf snapped, his pale eyes fierce.

Cait ignored him. “The poor girl! If Auberon finds out about her, he’ll want her back. The Unseelie Court is such a cold and joyless place.”

“Cait’s right, Sonny,” Camina agreed, the frown still shadowing her brow. Her eyes were troubled. “Don’t tell him.”

“Have you two gone insane?” the Wolf asked, pulling out a thin-bladed dagger from his boot and testing the sharpness of the edge against his thumb. “It’s the king’s bloody kid. Unless you’ve all forgotten, we serve at the pleasure of the king.”

“We’ve never had much choice in the matter,” Cait said, her cheeks coloring with emotion.

The Wolf scoffed at that. “We might not like it much, but that’s the way it is. Serve or die. I say let the bastard take her. Maybe it will end the nonsense of guarding this damnable Gate. And then we can all go home.”

“Home, Fenn?” Maddox suddenly rounded on him. “What is that exactly? Where is it? And when? We’ve none of us homes now but this. This here and this now. We had our homes taken from us.” He turned to face the rest of the Guard. “I’ve seen this girl, and she belongs in this realm. Would you have the Faerie king take her away from everything she has ever known?” He turned back to the Fennrys Wolf. “Would you honestly wish our fate upon her?”

There was a murmur among the circle of Janus, and Fennrys spun the knife in his hand and returned it to his