in her plain gray robes, with not a single jewel or a spark of glamour to adorn her, she had a regal dignity. “It is our shame to have forgotten nearly all we once knew of our own heritage. And you are the first male of our kind that any of us Oakenfolk have ever seen.”
The robin ruffled his feathers and became Rob again. He moved toward Valerian-but then a shrill voice rang out from the back of the crowd:
“It is not your place to speak to him, Healer!”
Inwardly Linden cringed as Bluebell came marching up onto the landing from the other side, her skirt gathered primly in one hand. Her hair was piled high atop her head, and the glittering circlet woven into it could only have come from the Archives-a treasure to which she had no right. She glanced imperiously at the faeries blocking her path, but nobody moved until Mallow barked, “Make way for the new Queen!”
Reluctantly the others shuffled aside and Bluebell swept through. “On behalf of my people I welcome you, stranger,” she said. “And I trust you will forgive their unseemly curiosity-”
“Stop talking rubbish, Bluebell,” said Thorn. “You aren’t any Queen of mine, and if you interrupt Valerian again, I’ll stuff you in a sack and sit on you.”
“Thorn,” said Valerian quietly, “there is no need.”
Rob stepped up to Valerian and bowed. “Your Majesty,” he said, “I have an important message to deliver. May I speak with you and Linden alone?”
Bluebell opened and closed her mouth, like a baby bird deprived of its worm. Then she spun around, thrust her way back to the Stair, and disappeared. Only Mallow remained, her gaze fixed on Rob with a mixture of loathing and hunger. “You’re making a mistake,” she told him huskily. “Valerian’s not a proper Queen-she’s not even a proper faery. She’s just a Healer who’s gotten above herself, and a half-human one at that.”
Her last words hit home: Rob stiffened. But he did not move from Valerian’s side, and Linden gave him a grateful smile.
“It’s good to see you again,” she told him. “But how did you find us here?”
Rob glanced back at the crowd of Oakenfolk. “I think,” he said, “that story would be better told in private. Is there somewhere else we can go?”
“Children…of…Rhys,” muttered Timothy as he typed it into the library computer. Since he didn’t have a card, he’d had to fill out an application to use the terminal, and they’d only allowed him half an hour. But if the Blackwings were on their way, he couldn’t afford to spend more than a few minutes here in any case. He needed an answer now.
Peri sat beside him with tight lips and folded arms, still furious after what Rob had done to them on the road. The car had been only a little scratched, but she’d hated having magic used against her that way. And once they started driving again, and Timothy explained what Rob had told him about the Blackwings and the Empress-he’d never seen Peri look so savage. No wonder the faeries called her Knife.
“Well?” she demanded.
Timothy did not reply; he was busy scanning the page he’d just found, which claimed to be an online dictionary of the faery folk. Sure enough, there was an entry about the Children of Rhys, but it was only a couple of lines and didn’t tell him anything he didn’t know already. Except…he studied the screen a moment, then went back to the search engine and typed in the Welsh version of the name: Plant Rhys Ddwfn.
Now that was more like it. The first link he found was an excerpt from a book of Welsh legends, and there was a whole story about a farmer named Gruffydd who had found the Children with the help of some magic herbs… Timothy read the page from top to bottom, then got up quickly and went to the library’s help desk.
“Could I send a few pages to the printer?” he asked. “We’re in a hurry.”
“Please make yourself comfortable,” said Valerian as she ushered Linden and Rob into the Healer’s quarters. She gestured to the sofa, but Rob remained standing, looking around the room with an expression Linden had never seen on his face before: There was wonder in it, and even a hint of envy.
Of course, thought Linden. Compared to the squalid, barely furnished apartment Rob had shown them last night or the shabby disorder of the hostel, Valerian’s rooms must have seemed like paradise. The chairs were not only sturdily built but attractive; Thorn had learned a great deal from studying Paul’s books on design. Wink had taken scraps of fabric from the House and sewn draperies and cushions in serene patterns of blue. Twig-framed pictures of medicinal plants hung on the wall, drawn by Knife with a very fine pen, and by the door a glass jar held dried herbs that Valerian had arranged herself.
“I apologize that I cannot receive you in the Queen’s chambers,” said Valerian, evidently misunderstanding Rob’s reaction. “But her quarters seem to be under dispute at the moment.”
“Yet you have magic,” Rob said as he sat down, “and this Bluebell does not. Why not bend her and her supporters to your will-or at least punish them as their disloyalty deserves? Do you want your subjects to perceive you as weak?”
“I want my people to accept me willingly as their Queen,” replied Valerian, “not bow to my rule out of fear. I may not be able to persuade them all to follow me. But if most of them do, that will suffice.”
“Easily said when your enemies have little power,” countered Rob. “But if your plan to restore the Oakenfolk’s magic succeeds, then they will soon have as much magic as you do. What if they attempt to overthrow you and take the throne by force? Will you not regret your mercy then?”
“Perhaps,” said Valerian, unruffled by Rob’s challenging tone. “But I would rather risk losing my throne than claim it as a tyrant.” She rose from the sofa and opened the window, inviting fresh air into the dusty-smelling room. “You must be parched after your journey; may I bring you a drink of water or some berry wine?”
Rob looked startled. He glanced at Linden, and she could read the question in his eyes: Is this a mockery? Or is your Queen truly offering to serve me?
“You should try the wine,” Linden reassured him. “Queen Valerian makes it herself, and it’s very good.”
“Then I will do so,” said Rob. He took the cup that Valerian handed him and sipped it, then set it aside and said, “But I am not here as an idle visitor. A few moments ago I met the human boy on the road, and what I told him then, I tell you now: You are all in grave danger.”
Valerian caught her breath. “The Empress?”
“Indeed. As I feared, Veronica has gone to her and told all she knows, and now the Empress has sworn to capture Linden and Timothy and make an example of them. She has sent two of her deadliest hunters-the Blackwing brothers, who take the form of ravens-to track them down, and if you do not act quickly, they will find the rest of you as well.”
Valerian’s brow furrowed with anxiety. “Can we not hide the children? Or send them elsewhere to safety?”
Rob shook his head. “There is no safe place for them anywhere. Every faery under the Empress’s rule-and there are hundreds of us scattered throughout this land-knows what Timothy and Linden look like, and we have all been told to report the instant either one of them is seen.”
“How?” Valerian demanded. “How could one faery become powerful enough to control so many?”
“The Empress began her rule long before I was born,” said Rob, “but I know this much. She asked her first followers to share with her a single drop of their blood in token of their loyalty. Then, using an ancient magic, she used that blood to bind them to her service. She sent her servants to recruit other faeries by the same means, and those in turn enlisted more, until all but a few of our people belonged to her-and those who resisted did so at the cost of their lives. So how can any of us stand against her now, when she has tasted our blood and knows all our true names?”
Linden was horrified. To know a faery’s true name was to have absolute power over her, which was why most faeries lived their whole lives and died without ever sharing that secret. To think of the Empress ferreting out those precious names with dark magic, and using them to control faeries like Rob against their will-it made Linden feel sick.
“I have served the Empress all my life,” Rob continued, “but not by choice, and I know others who would also be glad to escape her rule. Still, as long as she holds our names, we dare not rebel openly against her. Yet among the Children of Rhys, it is said, there is a white stone that gives a new name to any faery who holds it. If someone could find that stone and bring it to us, we would be free.”
His musician’s hands spread in a pleading gesture. “For years I have sought the Children of Rhys, but all my
