Once Broken Faith (October Daye #10)(134)

“You won’t be able to,” she said. “If you try to say the words, your tongue will stop in your mouth. If you try to give your crown away, your fingers won’t let go. You’ll die before you step down without my consent. But you’ll have your brother back, and I’ll never ask you to do me any favors. Not unless you ask me for something first.”

The vial in her hand continued glowing. If I took it, I could save Nolan, but I’d never be free; I’d be queen until I died, or until the Luidaeg didn’t need October’s full attention anymore. That could be centuries. No more exits, no more escapes. If I didn’t take it . . . Walther was an excellent alchemist. He might be able to find a way to save my brother. The future wasn’t set yet. I could still have my freedom and my family. It would be a risk. It would be a gamble. It wasn’t an impossibility.

It was more than I could afford to risk. Still . . . “Is there any chance you’ll give me permission in the future, when the region is stable, when I have a named heir standing ready?”

Her smile told me she understood what she was asking of me; there was mercy in her eyes, and a kindness that reminded me of Marianne’s hands moving through my hair. “Ask me in a hundred years,” she said.

I nodded once and took the vial. It was surprisingly heavy, like it was filled with liquid mercury. Her smile turned from sympathy to pleasure.

“Do we have a deal, Queen Windermere in the Mists?” she asked.

“We do,” I said.

The air turned electric around us, making the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end. The charge only lasted for a few seconds. When it passed, my headache was gone and the vial in my hand was no longer glowing. I looked at the Luidaeg, eyes wide.

Her smile continued to blossom, becoming a grin. “You did something I wanted you to do, and you didn’t whine nearly as much as I expected,” she said. “I’m allowed to do favors. Now get the fuck out of my house, and if I see you before a hundred years have passed, I reserve the right to stab you in some nonfatal spot.”

“Why nonfatal?”

“Because guaranteeing myself a stable monarchy only works if I don’t go killing the monarchs.” She pointed to the door. “Get out.”

I got out.

Madden was right outside the door. Walther and Cassandra were a short distance away, standing close together. I wasn’t sure Walther realized how close, or that he’d positioned himself to protect her from anything that might come bursting from the apartment. I swallowed a smirk. Cassandra would be pleased when she figured out how well he was picking up her signals.

“Ardy!” Madden rushed to meet me as the door slammed shut. “Are you okay?”

“Better than okay.” I held up the vial. “We have our solution, and the Luidaeg threw in a fix for my magic-burn. We’re going home.”

I started to sweep my hand through the air, and stopped when Madden grabbed my wrist. I turned. He was staring at me, clear concern in his wolfish eyes.

“Ardy, what did you pay?” he asked, voice low.

I didn’t have to think about it before I smiled at him, and said, “Only what I deserved.”

He looked confused. But he let me go and took a step back, allowing me to open the gate that would return us to Muir Woods. The smell of blackberry flowers and redwoods washed over us, and we stepped through, all four of us, leaving the shadows of San Francisco behind.





NINE


It was past sunrise by the time Walther was done verifying that Nolan was stable and feeding him the potion from the Luidaeg, one slow sip at a time. Both Walther and Cassandra availed themselves of the hospitality of my house for a few hours, sleeping until midafternoon, when they woke, showered, and left, both of them riding on a yarrow branch that Walther produced from inside his jacket. I excused myself from Nolan’s bedside long enough to wave farewell.

Cassandra hugged me before leaving, surprising us both, and whispered, “I’ll be back,” in my ear.

I was still smiling about that when I returned to the room where my brother slept and sat down next to the bed. I had a book. The kingdom could get by without its queen for a few more hours. After all, it was never going to lose me again. Not for at least a hundred years.

Time passed, seconds blending into minutes into hours. Nolan stirred. I looked up from the page, trying not to let myself hope, trying not to let myself want.

His eyes were open. He was looking at me, confusion writ large across his features.

“What in the world,” he asked, “have you done to your hair?”

I dropped the book as I fell upon him, laughing and crying in the same breath, and I gathered my brother in my arms, and we were finally, finally home.