Page 25 of The Blood Queen

Her gaze falls into a deadpan stare. “This is serious. You can’t go in there threatening them. We need them on our side.”

I don’t want to upset her. I don’t want her to worry about me.

“I’ll be good.” I smile. “Promise.”

She exhales, shaky and exhausted. “You can’t tell anyone what you are. Anyone. They’ll know you’re Leth, but they can’t know what kind.”

The words come in a barely there whisper, but they hit me like a shout.

Damn. Near forgot what this means: we’re not just walking into the Seelie Court to find allies against the High Blade. We’re walking in as Alyth, the barrier guardian, and me, a bloody Red Cap.

They’ll flay me alive and turn on her for bringing an enemy to their door.

I swallow hard, biting my lips together, and nod. “Yeah. No worries about that. Not gonna go parading it around.”

A small smile flickers at the edge of Alyth’s mouth. She faces the wall again and takes a deep, fortifying breath.

We set off, moving through the field toward the walled complex. The stalks turn out to be nettles and thistles, damn stinging things, but we walk through them regardless. They brush at us as we go, and at first, I think it’s the wind sending them back and forth, but one stalk tangles with the hem of my shirt and pulls. Another snags the edge of my boot. They’re barbed fingers stretching, tugging, and after a few paces of this nonsense, Alyth flares her hands, and a burst of wind flattens the nettles and thistles around us.

“The field makes passage difficult for those who aren’t full fae,” she tells me, walking with her hands up so the wind follows us, keeps the thorns from pawing at us. Sure. Magic nettles as a defense. Why not?

But the High Blade is full fae. So she’ll be able to just waltz right on up?

Some dodgy useless defense this is.

We curve around the wall until we come to a massive stone door. There’s not a bit of iron in the structure, and I realize that’s likely to be the case everywhere, fae hating iron and all.

Nothing happens for a moment, just us standing there in Alyth’s wind, the nettles and thistles bobbing and scratching toward us.

A crank begins to click, and the door lowers like a drawbridge.

Alyth doesn’t back up. We’re far enough that when the door drops, it lands right at our feet.

Jaw set, eyes fierce, she releases the wind spell and steps forward, onto the door.

For a moment, she staggers. The magic she used, the weight of this day. I go to catch her, but she waves me off, giving me a cutting glare that says don’t show weakness.

It’s not so different here as being captured by the High Blade or being in Mary’s court, is it? Everything can be used against us. Everything can be manipulated.

I follow Alyth into the Seelie Court.

Beyond the door is the first sign of life we’ve come across. The courtyard is vast and impressive, cobblestones polished to gleaming, a fountain spraying glowing turquoise water into the air. At first glance, it doesn’t look any different from the courtyard at Mary’s castle, but all the buildings are made of more than just stone and wood. Moss grows over the side of one; mushrooms take up one whole wall of another. Nature’s woven its way into every nook and cranny, and the air smells of petrichor and earth.

The buildings that line the yard are short squat things, taller ones too, and fae creatures mill about, same as the goblin market. Some look animal, while some look fully human if not for pointed ears or cloven hooves. Many are dressed in a sort of livery, finespun hunter-green tunics bearing a silver design that swims in my eyesight. I can’t catch the image; it shifts and changes on each bit of clothing until I give up trying to see it.

Off to the side, a ring of fae guards stands. They’ve got spears taller than I am posted at their sides, and their armor looks normal, same as everything in this blasted place. But it’s not just armor; it’s brown, so leather maybe, but set with the gold overlay of a leaf design, veiny branches swirling up and over the breastplates and pauldrons. Actual leaves grow out of the cracks in their armor, the hinges of their elbows, the gaps around their necks like a brace.

The guards surround a single standing stone. It looks like nothing much, but it must be a portal, and it lets out right here, behind the defensive walls.

Who in the blazes thought that was a good idea?

No one looks at us as Alyth walks purposefully across the courtyard, aiming for the tallest building, set at the back, behind a few other utilitarian ones. Must be the main palace. Who opened the door for us, then? Don’t they care we just walked into their compound?

I follow her.

We walk. I know we do. I feel my legs moving, look down and see the ground shifting under my boots.

But when I look at the palace in the distance, it doesn’t seem any closer. Like we’re walking in place.