| |
WHEN THE SUMMER QUEEN had finished speaking, she was interrupted by the arrival of a messenger. He was a slim, golden creature – a small fairy page-boy with eyes like the summer sun, wearing a long scarlet tunic. I tried to use the time he spent whispering in her ear to gather my thoughts. I was nervous, of course – absolutely terrified! - but beyond that I was worried about myself. What could I have done, I thought? What had I done that was so wrong, so wicked, so dangerous that my own father would send me away beyond the Crystal River – and my mother, too? I, the fairy Queen had said, had trouble everywhere I went – it dogged my footsteps. Was she right? I thought of the Pixie King, of Kian, of Logan (and a lump rose in my throat when I thought of Logan) and at once I wasn't sure whether I could deny it.
The Queen looked up as the pageboy left. Her demeanor was expressionless, the marble countenance of a great Queen bearing secrets of state. “Well,” she said. “It seems that we will soon have a visitor here in the Summer Court, Breena. What think you of that?”
“I – I don't know, Your Highness,” I stammered.
She smiled a grim smile. “The Winter Court has sent us a letter.”
“What does it say?” I asked, too-eager, thinking of Kian.
“Well,” she said, “Let me tell you what it says. It offers me a very interesting deal. And I'm curious – Princess – should I take it?”
“What is it?”
“An exchange of prisoners,” she said. “Interesting indeed. The Winter Court has someone very intriguing they would like to offer me in exchange for the Princess languishing down there in the dungeons. They do say that it would be a peaceful exchange...”
I thought of Kian, of our nights and days together at the manor, and wished he were here alongside me, to talk of peace, of hope. We had promised each other that we would find some way, some how, to make peace between the two kingdoms; having seen the harsh ferocity of the Summer Court, my hopeful heart was slowly sinking. How silly must I have been to think that I – a mere girl of sixteen – could fight battles of centuries of fairy history. I swallowed hard.
“Who are the prisoners?” I asked.
“Funny you should ask,” said the Summer Queen. “Let's see.” Her voice was like clotted honey; it stuck in her throat. “Your opinion on this matter will indubitably be most, most entertaining. You see, the prisoner that the Winter Court wants is its oldest daughter, Shasta. Perhaps you remember her! You played with each other when the two of you were children, and we were not yet at war with the Winter Court.”
“And the other prisoner?” I said warily. I had once been the other prisoner; who else could it be?
The Summer Queen's lips closed in a smirk. “Your mother,” she said.
I gasped. My mother! I thought of her mysteriously vanished on the morning of my birthday – it seemed so long ago! - and my throat tightened. What would they do with her? She was my mother – my protectress – the idea that anything could have happened to her was still unthinkable to me.
“Now, I don't care a fig about your mother. She's nothing but a dangerous concubine – the Winter Court can have her for all I care! But there is one problem.” She peered at me. “Your silly father. As long as the favorite concubine of the Summer King is in the Winter Court, they have a huge hold of us – for you know he would fight a hundred thousand pixies to get to her, let alone some Winter fairies. And if the Winter Court has him, well...I have been ruling this court for years – but ruling without even the appearance of a king by my side! But the Summer fairies love their king and would not stand for any Summer royalty to be a prisoner of the Winter Court. They come in peace, they say, but I don’t trust them. We trusted them years ago when we allowed the Winter Court to visit us, only to be betrayed and tricked, attacked right in our own palace. That was what started this war.”
“Now, Breena,” she continued. “You think you have the right to take my place one day, don't you? Of course you do. You see, being a queen takes more cunning and wisdom, more strength to do the right thing for your people, and more fortitude than you would think. A queen should be the equal match of a king (in my case, even stronger) because of the enormous fate a queen controls for many. And a queen should be willing to sacrifice her life, and dreams for her kingdom. So why don't you give me the answer to this...conundrum? What would you do? Now be careful! I'm still Queen, and if I don't like your answer, I can always send you to the Pitchkey Dungeons. You'll be rat food there – if you're lucky.”
I stood limply before her, my mind cycling through centuries of fairy history, fairy learning, trying desperately to think what to do....