Iron's Prophecy (The Iron Fey #4.5)(13)

“What’s going on?” I whispered to Ash, who was following the strange conversation with a slight frown. He sighed.

“They’re Aluxob,” he said, to my utter confusion. “Mayan nature spirits. They protect the ancient forests of the Maya, but are usually fairly tolerant of outsiders.” He shot a look at Puck. “Unless the trespasser does something to anger or insult them.”

“Ah.”

“What do you mean, ‘ah’?” Puck said, still keeping a wary eye on his former attackers. “I told them before, it was a teensy tiny misunderstanding with an old headdress and an ancient burial ground. How was I supposed to know it was so important?”

“Puck—” I groaned, but one of the small men had crept close, watching us carefully. As I waited, he gave a jerky bow.

“Goddess?” he asked in a clear, high-pitched voice. “You…goddess of place, yes?”

I looked down at the tiny men, keeping a straight face even as I recalled the line from a favorite movie. When someone asks you if you’re a god, you say…yes!

“I am Meghan Chase, Queen of the Iron Realm. What do you want here?”

“Command,” the Alux-whatever went on, pointing back to Puck. “Command this one. Return to us what was stolen. Return, and we go.”

Ash sighed and shook his head. I blinked at the midget, then turned to glare at Puck. “What did you steal?”

“I didn’t steal it,” Puck said, sounding affronted. “I was just borrowing it for a while. I was going to give it back.”

“Puck!”

“Okay, okay. Jeez.” Reaching back, Puck pulled a long feather out of his hair. It shimmered as it caught the light, a rainbow of different colors, shifting gorgeously in the wind. Begrudgingly, he handed it to the nearest little man, who snatched it from his fingers, scowling. “Man, take one feathered serpent’s wingtip and you’re marked for life. It’s not like they don’t shed them every decade or so.”

The Aluxob bared their teeth at Puck, bowed to me and, as quickly as they had come, melted back into the trees. We watched until their small forms had completely disappeared into the tangled shadows, leaving the three of us standing alone at the edge of the wyldwood.

For a few heartbeats, we just stared at each other. The last time I’d seen Puck, I had been normal Meghan Chase, the girl he’d looked after for years at the command of my father, Oberon. That was before I nearly died saving Faery from the false king, took the throne for myself and married Puck’s archrival. Before I became the Iron Queen.

Things were different now. After the final battle, Puck had vanished, first to help Ash in his quest to earn a soul, then disappearing from the Nevernever completely. No one knew where he’d gone, but I suspected he’d wanted to put some distance between us, take some time to think. I’d desperately hoped to see him again soon, if only to let him know how grateful I was. Puck had loved me, but he’d gone with Ash to help him earn a soul so that his archrival could return to the Iron Realm to be with me. Robin Goodfellow, for all his pranks and mischief, was the sweetest, most noble person I’d ever known, and I’d missed him terribly.

“Well.” Puck finally broke the silence, scratching the back of his neck. “This is awkward. And here I thought I would have to rescue you and ice-boy from something again. That’s normally how these little reunions go.” He gave me a sheepish grin and stood uncomfortably next to the bridge, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Not sure what to do here, your highness. I’d give you a hug, but that might not be proper, and bowing just seems weird. Think I’ll just stand here and wave. Or, I could give you a salute—”

Shaking my head, I walked up to him, reached out and pulled him into a hug. He hesitated only a second, then returned it tightly.

“Hey, princess,” he murmured as we drew apart, and I smiled at his old, stupid nickname for me. It seemed everything was back to normal between us, or at least on its way. His gaze flickered to Ash, who stood by calmly, watching us both. I spared a glance at my knight, but there was nothing cold or hostile in his expression. He almost appeared happy to see Puck. Almost.

“We missed you at the wedding,” he said.

“Yeah.” Puck shrugged. “I was in Kyoto at the time, visiting some old kitsune friends. We were traveling up to Hokaido to check out this old temple that was supposedly haunted. Turns out, a yuki-onna had taken up residence there and had scared off most of the locals. She wasn’t terribly happy to see us. Can you believe it?” He grinned. “Course, we, uh, might’ve pissed her off when the temple caught fire—you know how kitsune are. She chased us all the way to the coast, throwing icicles, causing blizzards…the old hag even tried burying us under an avalanche. We almost died.” He sighed dreamily and looked at Ash. “You should’ve been there, ice-boy.”

“So, how did you end up here?” I asked, promising myself to get the rest of that story out of him later. Right now, I needed to focus on what we were doing.

Puck scratched the side of his face. “Well, after the, erm, misunderstanding in Hokaido, I decided I should probably put some distance between myself and temperamental snow-maidens. So, I headed out to Belize and was poking around these cool Mayan ruins, when all of a sudden the oracle pops in outta nowhere, being all mysterious and spooky. I think she tried to scare me with the dust and the light show, but I’ve seen so many things jump out and go boo, it’s just kinda sad, now.”