Her voice came as a whispered croak. “Adhna? You’re back?”
“I am, and I worried you had left.”
She pursed her lips. “But I’m right here!”
After shaking his head and stroking her head, he said, “You weren’t a moment ago, love.”
“I don’t understand. Is Rumann hurt? He looks like he’s been crying.” She reached for her son, nuzzling him for comfort.
“Rumann survived well enough. He’s fed and happier now. Let’s start by you telling me what happened.”
She told him of the Queen’s visit, her own inability to resist, and her subsequent obsessive examination of her actions. He shrugged with a sad smile. “A common reaction to meeting the Queen. She inspires uncertainty in others, robbing them of all confidence and poise. Either by magic or by words, she has the effect of stealing your belief in yourself. She doesn’t do it on purpose, mind you, but many mortals are thus affected.”
“Will this happen every time I see her? I’m to be her handmaiden! How can I tell stories or sing when I’m worried about every word?”
His smile grew more confident. “No, not every time. Usually just the first encounter is that bad. It may hit you from time to time later, but as you grow used to the effect, you learn how to push it away. I can teach you some tricks. Now, let’s get you a clean léine and a dip in the pond. You, my love, have a powerful odor just now.”
She sniffed at her own chest and grimaced. “Ugh. Yes, please. You might have to help me stand, though. I must have been here for days to be so stiff!”
Adhna helped her to the pond and told her of the court of Queen Áine. “She holds court, though sometimes she conducts business and other times entertainment. Often one morphs into the other. There are great balls and tiny gatherings, all on her whim. I shall prepare you for such a shift, as she’ll expect you to react to her desires. As her handmaiden, she will expect you to listen for gossip and report anything of concern to her.”
“What sort of things would concern her?” Clíodhna scrubbed the grime from her arms and legs, reveling in the cool pond. Several tiny Fae fluttered around her, playing in the splashes. A non-butterfly landed on Rumann’s nose. His eyes crossed trying to look at it.
With a bronze ewer, Adhna poured water over Clíodhna’s hair, the clean water sluicing out several days’ worth of neglect. Then he brushed it out again. “Anything against her rule or influence. Anyone complaining of how she rules her realm. Any complaints at all. In time, you’ll learn to sift out the petty complaints from the serious ones.”
She rubbed the water from her eyes and blinked at him. “Will she grant me that time?”
He shrugged. “There is little telling what she will do regarding you.” He stared at Rumann. “However, there is one thing I am dead certain of.”
With a nervous glance at her baby, Clíodhna shivered. “What?”
“Rumann won’t be safe in Faerie if you’re the Queen’s handmaiden. She is pleased there is a babe of the Fae, but will not tolerate a crying child around her.”
Fear seizing her, Clíodhna backed up several steps. “No! No, you can’t take my last child from me! I’ve lost all of them, and you can’t do that!” She reached for Rumann, and Adhna surrendered the child into her arms with a sad smile.
“The danger is real. Not only will you have little time for his care, but he will be a target for those that wish to influence the Queen. I cannot be with him at all times to protect him. If you have him at the palace, his screams will anger the Queen. His greatest chance is with a human family. Both the Queen and Bodach have less power in the human realm, and it will be easier to hide him there. I will find a couple who have lost a child of their own. They will be eager to raise any child. I’ll try to find someone near your own village.”
Clíodhna had no tears left. First her stillborn baby girl, then Etromma and Donn left in the human realm, and Aileran as well. Frustration and rage bubbled inside her at the injustice of it all as she held Rumann tight. “If he can be so easily hid, why can’t I?”
Adhna bowed his head. “You’ve a bond to Bodach now. His power and yours have intertwined, so he can find you anywhere. Rumann, however, has a chance.”
“No, it’s just not fair!”
Adhna hugged her and Rumann both. “I don’t like this either, Clíodhna. But the life of our son is paramount. We must keep him safe. Don’t you agree?”
Exasperated, she rolled her eyes. “Of course I do. I’m just not convinced we have to abandon him to make that true!”
“What would Bodach do if he found Rumann here alone?”
Clíodhna had no answer to that, not one she liked, so she sat in sullen silence. With a sudden thought, she asked, “What would Bodach do if he found Rumann with a human family?”
“He won’t. I can hide him with glamor in the mortal world.”
She gritted her teeth. “Very well. I grant leaving him here would be unwise, even in someone’s care. But why shouldn’t I bring him to court?”
“The Queen doesn’t like children, for all she’s thrilled one of the Fae has been born. She doesn’t tolerate such chaos in her court, and has made her position on this clear many times in the past.”
“Chaos? He’s just a child. How much chaos can he create?”
Even as she said the words, she realized their futility. One child’s cry could pierce the ears as well as the Faerie Queen on a good day. With a
