The Realm—Maeve’s Lobby
Later
She laughed as the conga line wound its way through the lobby ballroom. This was the most fun she’d had in—well, she didn’t know how long. The conga line broke up, and everyone went back to dancing in pairs. She was momentarily lost without a partner until someone took her hand and she turned to face him. He was very attractive. She thought she could get lost in the swirling quicksilver colors of his eyes.
“Hello there, handsome,” she said. Rising to her toes, she put her hand behind his head and pulled him to her for a deep kiss. His lips were cool and dry against hers, and at first he resisted the kiss, but then with a soft sigh he gave in and kissed her in return. It only lasted for a second before he jerked away.
“Emily Drake!” he said, sounding shocked.
Emily? That name sounded familiar. Emily must be someone she knew. She looked around for this Emily person, sure she’d recognize her if she saw her, but she didn’t see anyone who looked like an Emily. She did, however, see a tall, handsome man with silvery eyes and hair. “Dance with me,” she said to him, taking his hand.
He pulled his hand out of hers, grabbed her by both shoulders and gave her a quick shake. “Emily! Please! You didn’t eat or drink anything, did you?”
Wait, she was Emily? Oh, yes, that did sound right. “I’m Emily!”
“Yes, you’re Emily. Did you eat or drink anything?”
“No, I’ve been too busy dancing.” She plucked one of his hands off her shoulder and tried to lead him to the dance floor. “Let’s dance.”
He refused to budge, and although he was terribly skinny, she couldn’t move him. “Now is not the time for dancing.”
“You’re Eamon,” she said, coming gradually to her senses. “You let them take me away.” She felt like she was waking up the morning after taking a double dose of allergy medicine. It took awhile for anything to make sense, and her tongue was so thick and heavy in her mouth that she couldn’t express herself. She swayed and leaned against Eamon for support. “What happened to me?”
“You must have fallen into the enchantment.”
“All I did was dance.”
“You quit fighting. That is enough. Even I have to fight to maintain my independence in this court.”
“They said it would be easier if I quit fighting.”
“Who did?”
“The other human girls. I was acting like I was giving in so I wouldn’t be turned into a slave.”
“Perhaps you should act without immersing yourself so thoroughly in your role.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind. Oh, and sorry about the kiss.”
“There is no need to apologize for that,” he said solemnly, but when she looked up at him, his lips twitched ever so slightly.
“Don’t laugh at me!” she warned. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the enchantment, but it had felt like a really good kiss. Her body grew warm and tingly all over, just thinking about it. And then she remembered what had happened before she started dancing. “Sophie! She’s what this is all about!”
He glanced around surreptitiously, then pulled her under the staircase where they were out of Maeve’s view. “What do you mean?”
“Maeve announced that she’s going to take some lost throne, and I think she needs Sophie to do that, possibly because of some information she needs to take the throne. I was just the bait so she could catch Sophie.”
His reaction was violent enough to scare her. His eyes went dark, almost black, and his skin lost some of its luster. “She can not be allowed to succeed,” he said in a low hiss.
“How do you lose a throne? That’s not something that can just fall behind a bookcase.”
“You may have noticed that the geography of the Realm shifts?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s how an entire palace could be lost. When the last queen left, those of us in the palace were cast out, and we couldn’t find our way back.”
“You said ‘us.’”
“I was a scribe in the court.”
“So you know about the queen and the palace and the throne, and all that?”
“I barely remember it.”
“You worked for a queen in a palace, and you don’t remember it?”
“It was hundreds of years ago, and we prefer to live in the present.”
“Maybe it’s like some Sleeping Beauty thing where a spell was put on the palace, and you have to find it to take the throne, and then throw in a little King Arthur, so there’s some test you have to pass, like pulling a sword from a stone.”
Before he could comment on her theory, the front door flew open and one of the wild fairies rushed inside. He was breathing heavily from a combination of exertion and excitement. “It worked!” he panted. “She’s here! In the woods nearby.”
Maeve bounced to her feet. Gesturing toward the door, she shouted, “Go! Bring her to me!” An army of guards rushed for the door.
Emily turned to Eamon and clutched the lapels of his tweed jacket. “See? She wants my sister. I just don’t know exactly why.”
“I may have an idea.” He looked uncomfortable, twitching his shoulders like he had an itch. “After you were taken from the library—”
“No thanks to you,” she interrupted.
“—I went into the human world and encountered your sister.”
“And you survived? I’m impressed.”
“I think …” he trailed off, then tried again, “You may not be a changeling.” He leaned very close to her, his nose almost touching hers. “But your sister is.”