Once Broken Faith (October Daye #10)(120)

“You did,” I said, unable to smother my amusement completely. It was sort of a relief. Humor makes the bad times easier to bear, even if it never lasts long enough to make a real difference. “Don’t worry. We don’t have any rules against that. I think because my father probably didn’t realize that humans had profanity. He was sheltered like that. Also, that’s exactly what October said when she met the High Queen. Clearly, you know her.”

“Ah,” said Master Davies. “Queen Windermere in the Mists, I’d like you to meet my friend Cassandra Brown. Cassandra is a student here.”

“Not one of his,” she hastened to clarify. “Nothing inappropriate is going on. We were just catching up.”

“Brown,” I said. “Are you related to Karen?”

Cassandra looked startled. “She’s my sister. How did you . . . ?”

“She came to my conclave. She seemed nice. A little shy, but I’d be shy, too, if I had one of the First accompanying my every move. Are you an oneiromancer?” Karen Brown’s powers were the kind that appeared only rarely, and even more rarely in changelings.

“No, ma’am. I mean, Highness. I mean . . .” She stopped, a frustrated look crossing her face. “I have no idea how to do this. I’m just a changeling. I’m not supposed to know how to do this. If I leave right now, will you pretend this never happened?”

I paused. Something about her tone told me she was holding something back. It might be nothing. So many things were really nothing, when looked at in the light of day. But if there was a chance she was withholding information that the alchemist had shared with her . . .

“I’m afraid not,” I said. “I need you both to come with me.”

“Cassandra’s not part of this,” protested Master Davies.

“My brother is unwell,” I said. “That means my heir is unwell. The security of the kingdom requires you both to come with me now.”

“Toby’s not even here,” muttered Cassandra. “How the hell am I in trouble when Toby’s not even here?”

I ignored her and swept my hand in an arc through the air, opening a portal to the upstairs hallway of my knowe. I didn’t want to drop us in the receiving room, where my servants might see. Most of the household staff was on loan from the local nobles, and that meant if I wanted to keep Nolan’s condition a secret, I needed to keep them from suspecting anything. The alchemist reappearing after I’d dismissed him would certainly be suspicious enough to make people start talking.

Master Davies looked at the portal with dismay. Like Cassandra, he couldn’t believe this was happening to him. Unlike Cassandra, he’d been raised in a royal household, and knew better than to express his displeasure aloud.

Belatedly, I realized I didn’t remember his first name. I was already falling into the habits of queenship. And if it got me my brother back, I didn’t care.

“After you,” I said.

Master Davies paused to pick up the valise containing his alchemical supplies before stepping through the portal. Cassandra exhaled when she saw him appear on the other side, casting one last, anxious glance at my face before following him through. I went after her, and the portal closed behind me.

The servants had been here recently. The hallway smelled of wood polish and fresh blackberry flowers. Master Davies shoved his hands into his pockets and released his human disguise, adding the scents of ice and yarrow to the mixture. Mostly yarrow. He didn’t remove his glasses. I knew they were cosmetic, but they seemed to be making him feel better, and I didn’t want to push it. I was already pushing him hard enough.

Cassandra, in contrast, was looking around with open-mouthed amazement. She reached up to push her hair behind her ears, releasing her illusions in the same gesture; they dissolved in a wash of grapefruit and turpentine, revealing the tufts of black-and-brown fur crowning her dully pointed ears. I frowned. I’d never seen ears like that anywhere in Faerie, and while I might have forgotten many of the points of queenly etiquette, I’ll never forget the nights I spent with Marianne, her calm, steady voice drilling me on the things I’d need to know to recognize all the denizens of our vast and varied land. Whatever her heritage was, I didn’t know it.

Master Davies cleared his throat. “Your Highness? Where is your brother?”

“This way,” I said, and pulled my regard away from Cassandra’s ears as I turned.

The room where Nolan slept was a short distance down the hall. The lock was open; the knob turned easily under my hand. I pushed the door open and stepped aside, letting Master Davies get a look at his patient.

Nolan was exactly where I’d left him. His chest rose and fell with more vigor than was normal for a victim of elf-shot, but that was the only indication that the cure had been administered; from the way he was lying there, he might as well have still been under the original spell.

“Your Highness.” Master Davies’ voice snapped me out of my contemplation of my brother. I turned to him. He looked at me gravely. “I need a sample of your brother’s blood to determine what’s happening. Is this going to distress you? Do I need to ask you to leave the room? I will.”

He had that authority. Alchemists and healers could command monarchs in the course of treating their patients. It was a small twist in the archaic rules that bound us all, intended to protect our healers from the wrath of people like me. I stared at him, not sure whether I should be grateful that he was worried about my delicate sensibilities, or whether I should start screaming and never stop.