Once Broken Faith (October Daye #10)(126)

“But you recognized her from Jack’s description,” I guessed.

“Exactly. I mean, how many grumpy, stressed-out brunettes named ‘October’ can there be in the world? I’m hoping the answer is ‘one.’ Any more than that would be too many. Jack said she was visiting his advisor, so I went to welcome said advisor to the ‘October Daye Occasionally Ruins My Life’ club, he asked if I wanted to grab a beer, and we’ve been hanging out ever since.”

It was difficult not to look at her, look at him, and see the age difference as a problem. It would have been, in the human world—assuming it had even been possible. The word for humans as old as Walther is “dead.” But Faerie has different rules, and she hadn’t actually said her interest in him was romantic. She’d just chosen clothes that would draw attention to her figure and a human illusion that would call attention to her eyes. Both of those could have been coincidence. I didn’t think so. And it was none of my damn business. I was Queen, not babysitter to the kingdom.

“He seems nice,” I said neutrally. “He’s a good alchemist. I don’t think I’ve ever known someone who could accomplish what he’s been able to do already.”

“You mean despite things not working exactly as you want them to.”

I glanced at the kitchen Hobs. They were still hard at work, but I knew they were listening. That was one thing Marianne had worked hard to drum into my skull, reinforced by years of working retail in the mortal world: the staff was always listening. Especially if it looked like they weren’t. I would forget that at my own peril.

“Yes,” I said, keeping my tone forcibly light as I turned back to Cassandra. “Even despite that, he’s done amazing things. A cure for elf-shot is just . . . I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime. And him living in the Mists means it reflects well on me that he accomplished it, even if he was in Silences at the time.”

“Are we, like, friends with Silences now?”

“I probably shouldn’t send October to visit any time soon, but I think we are.” I took another bite of sandwich, and swallowed before saying, “We put the rightful ruling family back on the throne. We corrected a profound wrong. The whole coast is healthier now, and Queen Siwan is grateful for our help, even as she hopes that we don’t need to do any more diplomacy in her presence for a long, long time.”

Cassandra leaned closer, lowering her voice conspiratorially as she asked, “Did you do that on purpose? Send Aunt Birdie because you knew she’d mess things up in the best way possible, I mean?”

“Honestly, I was just mad that she’d touched me without permission.” I smiled wryly. “I guess I’m getting used to this queen thing after all.”

“What?” Cassandra blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, I know this is all ‘poor little rich girl’ of me, but . . . I gave up expecting to be Queen in the Mists a long time ago. I’d adjusted to the idea that I wasn’t going to have the opportunity, and then I’d adjusted to the idea that I wasn’t going to have the responsibility. I figured I’d spend the next few centuries selling books, or whatever comes after books, and not worrying about anything outside my immediate sphere. When October showed up at the bookstore where I was working, I hated her a little. She forced me to take a job I’d given up on wanting.”

“That must have been hard,” said Cassandra.

“You know what’s funny? The hardest thing is remembering not to thank people.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Come again?”

“I worked in retail. ‘Thank you, have a nice day’ is such an automatic thing for me that I might as well have a pull-string in my back. I thanked the staff something like a dozen times my first week here. They were all volunteers, half of them were from the old Queen’s Court, none of them had any idea what kind of ruler I was going to be, and I was thanking them. Some left as soon as I said the words. I don’t think they’re ever coming back.”

“I . . . wow.” Cassandra began to laugh helplessly. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but holy shit, Toby actually did it. She went and got us a changeling queen.”

I blinked. “Come again?”

“You don’t sound totally pissed. That’s a good sign. Look.” She took a deep breath, getting her laughter under control. “You’re a pureblood, absolutely. I mean, if you weren’t, there’s no way you’d be Queen now. It’s a pretty simple logic problem. But you have the same problems interacting with fae society that I do. It’s not natural to you. You’re not really a changeling. That doesn’t mean you’re one of them.”

This time, my blink was slower, and accompanied by another bite of my sandwich. Chewing gave me time to think. “Huh,” I said finally. “I . . . that makes a lot of sense. Maybe if I think about it that way, I won’t feel so damn out of place all the time.”

“I live to serve.”

“Good, because I want you to come work here.”

Cassandra’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t mean it literally.”

“You need to learn to watch your mouth around royalty, then.”

“I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t have picked that lesson up in elementary school.” She shook her head. “I can’t come work for you. I have college, I have a job—”