To Catch a Queen (11 page)

The ornate crown of the fairy realm sat on the seat of the throne, the throne and crown encased in a shimmering, translucent dome. Sophie stood in front of the throne, facing the room, and held out her hands. Michael took an involuntary step backward when the room filled with ghostly figures.

“This is what it usually looks like,” Sophie said. “Though the people are somewhat more substantial.” With a sidelong glance and a slight smirk, she added, “But not much.”

“There’s Jen!” he said, pointing. He wanted more than anything to go to her, but he reminded himself that it wasn’t real. Even in this ghostly form, she looked more like the wife he remembered than the woman he’d seen on his last visit to the Realm. Whatever Sophie had been doing, it must have been working.

“She’s there with her usual friend,” Sophie remarked. “I think she’ll be safe as long as she’s with him.”

He nodded even as he felt like he was being stabbed in the gut at the sight of his wife with another man. “How long ago was this?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Time is funny here, and it doesn’t correspond to our time. But it was the last occasion when there were people in this room. This is a kind of echo of their psychic energy, for lack of a better term.”

“And you can do this how?”

She sighed. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. I just do it. I didn’t even know I knew how to do it until it came to me, so I’m assuming it came with the crown. I don’t even know if I can do it anywhere else.” She waved a hand, and the people moved in double time, like a film being fast forwarded. She slowed the image back to real time when all the people clustered in front of the dais, listening to someone speaking.

Both Michael and Sophie turned to see an image of a tall, white-haired woman standing beside them, clearly orating. “Can you get sound on this thing?” Michael asked.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think so.”

The woman, apparently having finished her speech, moved down the dais steps and through the crowd toward the front doors of the palace. The crowd, including Jennifer, streamed after her like a wake. “Hmm, I guess Maeve was the only one who fell into the trap of the feast,” Sophie remarked.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember the banquet table laid out here? Eating or drinking would trap someone in the palace, just as eating or drinking in the Realm traps you here. I know Maeve dug into the feast, but I didn’t see whether anyone else did. It’s a pretty common trap in stories. I thought most of the courtiers stayed because they had to, but apparently they wanted to.”

“What about that woman in the image? Do you think she’s the impostor?”

“I think that’s Niamh. She and her consort, Fiontan, have their own court. It’s as good a place as any to start looking for Jen.” She headed down the steps, but he called her back.

“Won’t you need your crown?”

“I’m probably better off staying incognito.”

“But to defeat the impostor, won’t you need to prove you’re the queen?”

“I’m not worried about that at the moment. It’ll be easier to sneak in and get Jen without drawing attention to myself.”

He hated himself for what he was about to say, but he knew he’d hate himself even worse if he didn’t say it. “I think this impostor queen is a bigger priority. You saw those lunatics at the market. If she’s stirring up something like this Hunt, that could threaten our world. We have to stop it.”

“The deadline for Jen is tighter. I can deal with the impostor once Jen is safely out of the way.”

“If this impostor is kicking people out of the Realm, Jen might be sent out, and I’ve seen what that looks like. It’s not pretty. I’d rather her be safe here than losing her mind out there. Once everything’s okay, we can get her home.”

She regarded him for a long moment, and he thought her eyes might have grown just a little brighter—with tears, or magic? Then she gave him a tiny smile. “It might not be an either/or situation. We could find Jen and the impostor in the same place. At any rate, I don’t know that bringing the crown to the impostor would be a good idea. It’s safe here, but if someone vanquishes me and takes it, they might become the rightful wearer, and then we really
would
have a mess. I’ve got the power of the queen, whether or not I have the crown, and here no one can get to it. Even if someone manages to vanquish me, they’d have to find the palace, get inside, and break the barrier to get the crown.”

“Okay, then, you know what you’re doing. Lead on.”

He and Beau followed Sophie down the dais steps. It seemed like a mile between them and the doors, but finally they were there. Sophie gestured at the giant doors, but nothing happened. Scowling, she stepped forward, put her hand on the handle, and leapt backward with a yelp. She tried again, and shook her head when the doors remained shut.

Michael went to put his shoulder against the door. “I know a thing or two about getting through doors,” he said, but she pulled him back.

“Trust me, you don’t want to do that.”

“So we’re trapped in here?”

“There’s always the kitchen. Come on.”

He could have used a rest and maybe a snack, but he wanted out of this place, so he followed her through the heart of the palace down to the lower level. The door through which they’d entered was closed, and Sophie’s gesture didn’t open it. Michael nudged her aside and gave it a good kick, but it didn’t budge and a shock went up his leg.

Sophie put her hands on her hips and glared at the closed door. “Okay,
now
we’re trapped,” she said.

Bethesda Terrace

1:25 a.m.

Emily tried not to panic. Even if Sophie had been kidnapped by the creepy fae gang that thought this Wild Hunt was a great thing, the ones she needed to worry about were the fairies. Sophie was probably more dangerous as a captive than as an enemy in open warfare. The last person to take Sophie prisoner was currently a slave in the fairy queen’s palace, and that happened before Sophie had much practice using her magical powers. Sophie loved both Michael and Beau, and she wouldn’t let anything happen to either of them.

That didn’t make it much easier for Emily to wait for the enchantresses to assess the situation and make a decision. “If we went now, we might be able to catch  them,” she said to Eamon.

“We do not know where in the Realm they might have gone,” he told her somberly without turning his eyes from where the enchantresses and a couple of fairies who must have been guards or security officers were attempting to interrogate a prisoner.

The prisoner ignored their questions, instead singing an eerie song to himself. “Again, again, the Hunt will ride again,” he sang, occasionally interrupting the song for a shrill giggle.

When the waiting grew too much for Emily, she stalked over to the enchantresses, grabbed Amelia’s arm and said, “We need to help Sophie.”

“Her disappearance may have nothing to do with this,” Amelia said, her voice tight, like she wasn’t sure she believed it herself. “She and Detective Murray were likely to go into the Realm tonight, no matter what, to find Jennifer.”

“Well, even so, she’s going to need help. Saving Jen, finding and stopping this impostor, and making sure this Hunt thing doesn’t happen are a bit much to take on all at once, even for Sophie. You said this was your jurisdiction.” She gestured toward the prisoner. “Let’s do something, then. I know I don’t exactly qualify for Sophie’s role in your magical trio, but I can still help.”

“That may just be tradition,” Athena said. “We don’t know if virginity is actually a technical requirement. In the old days, they may have assumed that any adult woman would be married, and motherhood would be inevitable without reliable birth control methods, so any unmarried woman might work as a maiden.”

Even in the tense situation, Emily couldn’t help but smile. “I meant that I don’t have Sophie’s magical powers.”

Athena flushed crimson. “Oh, dear, apologies for the assumption.”

Emily really had to fight to keep from laughing. “So, let’s go into the Realm.” She turned to Eamon. “That would be your part in this. You can take us, can’t you?”

“It is possible. But are you sure it is safe for you?”

“Safe? Not likely, given the impostor and the Hunt. But I’m not jonesing for the Realm, if that’s what you mean. I’d rather not go, but my sister’s in there, and she needs my help. Look what she did for me.”

He addressed the enchantresses. “You agree with this?”

“This is our job,” Amelia said with a nod.

“Where in the Realm should we go?”

That was a real stumper. On her last visit, the Realm had been a dream—or nightmare—landscape that shifted and twisted around itself. It was impossible to map, and that made it impossible to know where to go. But thinking about her last time gave her an idea. “What about the free fae?” she asked Eamon. “Wouldn’t they be most resistant to a ruler?”

“That’s who we usually work with,” Athena said, nodding. “Their agenda fits most closely with ours.”

“I know of some common gathering places,” Eamon said.

“Then what are we messing around for? Let’s go!” Emily said, grabbing his hand.

“Not so fast,” Amelia said. “How prepared are you for an extended time in the Realm? Do you have food or other supplies?”

“Oh, right,” Emily said, resisting the urge to swear. Eating or drinking could trap her in the Realm, and she didn’t want to go through that again.

“We have some weaponry and herbs, but we’ll at least need water,” Amelia said. “We have supplies at the shop.”

Emily bit her tongue before blurting that it would take too long. Their shop was almost at the river, and cabs would be scarce at this time of night.

Athena turned to Eamon. “Do you know of a gateway in Riverside Park?”

“Yes, there is one.”

“Then you’ll come with us. You may not be able to go into the shop, but we won’t take long.”

The four of them trooped out of the park, and Amelia apparently had the same knack as Sophie for summoning a cab out of thin air. Emily waited outside the iron-laden shop with Eamon while the sisters gathered supplies. He hadn’t even made it to the steps before he started shaking and sweating.

“You think I’m nuts, don’t you?” she asked him.

“Plumb loco,” he agreed with a smile. “But I do not believe you are wrong. If there is an effort by any ruler to subjugate the fae, the free ones will resist. They are also more likely to have human mates who might be targeted.”

“Human mates? You mean captives?”

“Not every human in the Realm went unwillingly or stays unwillingly.” He glanced away from her. “Fae and humans do often find love with each other.”

“And I guess they’d have to live in that world. The Realm’s not too bad for humans if you don’t have anything to lose here, but this world would be rough for a fairy.”

He didn’t comment on that, and the sisters came out of the shop a moment later, laden with bags. Eamon and Emily took the two largest bags, and the party set off down the street toward the river.

“This is where Sophie would come in handy,” Emily remarked as Eamon sought the gateway. “She just goes into the Realm from anywhere.”

“Sophie is queen of the Realm,” Eamon said absently, his attention focused on his task. “I do not have her power.” He grinned abruptly. “Ah, here it is.”

They all held hands and stepped forward. Emily felt something shift. She remembered the sensation of falling between one step and another from the last time. She hadn’t realized that she’d closed her eyes until she opened them and saw that she was in a different world.

They’d gone from the middle of the night to a strange eternal twilight, but without a visible sun. The colors were so intense that they brought tears to Emily’s eyes, and the sound of distant music wafted through the air, like there was some kind of cosmic Muzak being played.

“We should probably head toward the music,” Emily said. “Wherever music is, that’s where fairies will be.” She was a little surprised by how much she wanted to reach the music so she could dance to it. Maybe she wasn’t quite as cured of the fairy craving as she’d thought. Or perhaps it was just that she was a professional dancer and this music was very danceable.

The party began heading in that direction. Amelia and Athena appeared in awe of their surroundings, which Emily found amusing. They knew so much, but they didn’t have a lot of experience with actual fairies in their Realm. Eamon also looked out of place here in his old-professor attire, even if he was the one native to the Realm.

They hadn’t been walking long when another sound drowned out the distant music—something that sounded like a military marching cadence. That was unusual in Emily’s admittedly limited experience in the Realm, and a glance at Eamon confirmed her suspicions. He was looking around anxiously. A squad of fae men in medieval-looking military livery appeared, and as soon as they spotted the humans, they headed toward them at an alarmingly rapid pace. Emily started to run, but in a heartbeat she and her party were surrounded, with no way out.

“More humans,” one of the soldiers said with a sneer. “Corrupting our Realm, are you? Well, enough of that!”

The Palace

Soon Afterward

Sophie was glad that Michael didn’t ask the usual useless questions that tended to come up in this sort of situation, like “We’re trapped?” or “How can we be trapped in your palace?” Instead, he stayed quiet and let her think, not even asking her what they could do. If she needed any additional reason to love him, that was one right there.

But this was no time to contemplate the merits of a man who was off-limits to her. She needed to find a way out of here. It came back to the crown, she was fairly certain. The first step anyone in her position would take would be to put on the crown that gave her control over the palace. Maybe that was what her unseen opponent wanted, for her to take the crown out of its protective bubble. That meant that option was off the table unless she got desperate.

“Is there anyone Beau could kiss?” Michael asked with a wry grin. A kiss from Beau, as Sophie’s mortal protector, had already broken one spell.