After all, he owed her a favor as payment for releasing Noli from the Otherworld after she’d eaten faerie food.
A bargain he regretted every single day because of the pain it caused Noli.
“Stiofan, you’re late.” His mother, the high queen, sat at a small table near the window, taking a sip from a teacup shaped like a flower, pinky up. LuLu, her silly mechanical lapdog, lounged on a purple pillow near the purple fire burning in the ostentatious gilt fireplace. Today the queen’s ridiculous dress looked entirely made of pink silk spheres, ribbons, and pieces of old clocks. A tiara made of golden spires gleamed in the light streaming in from the window atop her blonde coif. Little mechanical roses decorated her hair, opening and closing, as if blooming over and over in an unending summer.
Steven sunk into the uncomfortable chair, belly full of led, sword bumping at his side. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”
“Never mind.” She waved him off with her hand. “Please, have some tea.”
A nameless servant in purple and gold poured him a cup of tea and brought him a plate of pink and green cakes. No mechanical walking teapot today? Then again, the queen saved her toys to impress people, and she hardly needed to impress him.
She took a sip of tea and shot him an expectant look, the cup poised between her hands. “Stiofan, I have something I need you to do for me.”
The words made him jolt back in his chair as if he’d been punched in the stomach, even though he knew this was coming.
“You’re calling in the favor I owe you?” Part of him twitched as he prayed to the Bright Lady it was that and not some royal order. A direct order from the high queen was not to be disobeyed.
“Indeed.” She sighed and leaned back in her chair, one head going to her forehead dramatically. “I’m bored, Stiofan. Bored, bored, bored.” Her hand flung out. “Your quest is to find me an amusement. Something I’ve never seen before, that is diverting, and I will adore.”
Or perhaps Noli was right and his mother truly was insane.
“Of course, Your Majesty, if that is what you wish.” He waited for her to add limitations, but wasn’t about to ask outright. The last thing he wanted was for her to set him up for failure, like requiring him to only walk backwards or perform the task blindfolded.
“Yes, it is. Magnolia may not come with you—and you have one mortal month.” Her blue eyes shone with joy as she took another sip of tea.
“As you wish.” His stomach didn’t unknot. There were benefits and detriments to Noli not coming with him. Still, he worried about her being on her own, and what her mother—or his father—might do with him gone. His father had made it clear on multiple occasions that in his opinion sprites were as unacceptable as consorts or wives for princes as mortals. He took a bite of green cake. These were Noli’s favorites. Perhaps he’d bring one back for her.
“Speaking of Magnolia, a sprite would make a dreadful queen.” His mother’s lips curved into a cruel smile as she cradled her teacup in her hands. “I’d hate for blind love to distract you from your goals.” She set the cup on table. “Therefore, I’m going to do you a favor, since I’m your mother and I love you.”
The cake stuck in his throat, foreboding coating him like oil. “Truly, there’s no need. Noli won’t distract me from my goals, and besides, I’m not quite—”
“Oh, stuff it, Stiofan.” She held up her hands and looked at the ceiling as if calling on the Bright Lady for help. “You’re nearly a man, so act like it. I can’t believe your father has permitted such dreadful habits. I never should have allowed you to go into the mortal realm with him in the first place. Before you begin your quest, you’re to end this nonsense with Magnolia—
And that includes breaking the stone in her sigil. Again, what was your father thinking?”
Terror rooted him to his chair. “Is that really necessary?”
Breaking the stone in her sigil broke the magic which offered her the protection of his family, of the House of Oak. Severing the magic would leave her unprotected and physically hurt her, not to mention that he had no interest in ending their relationship—which went far beyond the promise he’d made to her.
“Yes, and it’s a direct and immediate order. Understood?” She eyed him, probably hoping he’d disobey so that she could punish him.
“Of course, Your Majesty.” Every fiber of his being screamed in protest and the words tasted foul in his mouth. It would be his death to break that order. “If that is all, I should be off.” He stood, wanting to put as much distance between him and this woman as possible.
She nodded. “Of course. Also, you are to say nothing about my order or your quest to Magnolia, and you’re brother isn’t to speak to her about it, either. Truly, son, it’s better this way. She’s a sprite, and a rather pretty one. I’m sure she’ll find someone else to take care of her.”
Bile rose in his throat at the thought. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
With a small bow he left the room and made his way down the hall of the high palace without watching where he headed.
“Stiofan, my have you grown,” a male voice boomed from behind him.
Steven’s entire body went on alert as he turned around to face his uncle, resisting the urge to put his hand on the hilt of his sword in defense. “Uncle Brogan.”
“Will you and your brother be staying here in the Otherworld with your mother or are you returning to the mortal realm?” Uncle Brogan stood before him in green and brown finery, a crown of golden and green enameled oak leaves on his head—a crown that should still grace his own father’s.
“I have obligations in the mortal realm. I have not yet asked my brother about his plans.” Steven tried to keep his voice neutral. One day he’d take back his father’s kingdom.
Uncle Brogan’s eyebrows rose. “You and your brother are quite welcome to stay with me at the palace, your father was exiled, not you.”
He looked very much like Steven’s father with same broad-shouldered frame, regal nose, and strong chin. But he had James’ mop of curly dark blond hair.
“I appreciate the offer.” Steven wouldn’t take it. The offer didn’t extend to his uncle’s green eyes. Uncle Brogan was far too much like Steven’s own self-serving, calculating mother. While V and his brother lived they posed a threat to their uncle’s throne.
He gave his uncle a little bow. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Steven exited the high palace as quickly as he could without drawing notice. As soon as he reached the bridge that separated the palace from the wildwood, he took off in a run.
Steven kicked the ground with his shoe as he walked down the street toward his and Noli’s houses, darkness falling around him. The order weighed down on him like an anvil. Of all the cruel things.
His mother thoroughly enjoyed being cruel. “What do I do?” He kicked the ground again. Then there was the matter of his quest which, as he considered it, wasn’t going to be as easy as he first thought.
Raking a hand through his hair, trying to comb it into neatness from its usual mess, he trudged up the steps to Noli’s house, worn and dilapidated despite the paint and repairs they tried to do on their own. As he knocked on the door, his chest went so tight with anxiety he could hardly breathe. How would he tell her? Even if he couldn’t say his mother ordered him, Noli would understand, wouldn’t she?
She had to. After the quest he’d figure out a way for them to be together again.
No one answered the door. He tried again. Nothing. He went through the gate at the side of the house into her backyard; she was probably pruning the roses or fixing something. Empty.
He let himself into the backdoor of the house. “Noli, Noli are you here?”
Something that didn’t smell appetizing bubbled on the stove. She wasn’t in the kitchen, but he could hear someone moving around in another room. In her mother’s sewing room, Noli sat on the floor, in a rather fancy dress. An engine on her lap and magnifying goggles over her eyes, she attacked the hunk of metal with a screwdriver. Around her waist was that silly corset tool-belt Charlotte had made her with loops and pockets for her tools.
