Midnight Enchantment (28 page)

He knelt beside her. “The Shadow Queen has all the pieces and the book.”

“Where is my mother?” The words came out sounding weak and thready. She felt sick.

“Safe. Sleeping. She was up all night. We put her in one of the guest rooms here in the tower.”

Sleeping. Okay, it was better that way. She wasn’t ready to face her right now anyway. Elizabeth drew a shaking breath. “Why are we going up instead of down? Shouldn’t you be taking me to the dungeon?”

He cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Your mother wouldn’t give up the pieces until the queen promised that you wouldn’t be punished for what you did. You’re safe.”

Of course she did.
Protecting her little girl to the bitter end. She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. My mother is going to die.”

“I’m sorry it has to be this way, Elizabeth. It was Thea’s choice, in the end, to bring the pieces here. Just remember that.”

Fury rose up in her, made her stomach feel hot, but grief tamped it all back down again hard and fast. Grief was stronger than rage, maybe. “Of course she turned the pieces over. She’s selfless that way.”

The elevator reached the fiftieth floor and dinged open. Niall helped her stand. She knew she should have been protesting this.
He was taking her to see the queen. There was no other reason they’d be on this floor. Yet the grief stole not only her rage, but her will, too. So she allowed him to lead her down the corridor to the ornate double doors of the queen’s receiving chamber.

The Shadow Guard on either side of the entrance widened their eyes as they recognized her and one snarled as she passed, but they didn’t leap to take her into custody, so Niall had probably been telling the truth.

They entered the room. A blond woman in a huge Victorian-style, silver and gold gown stood at a table with a handsome dark-haired man whom Elizabeth recognized as Gabriel Cionaodh Marcus Mac Braire, the Shadow King. They looked up as she entered and their faces went stony as recognition bloomed.

“Please meet Elizabeth Cely Saintjohn, asrai, and former keeper of two pieces of the
bosca fadbh
,” Niall announced.

The Shadow Queen moved toward her, her expression stormy. “Please come here, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth moved toward her, uncaring of what they thought of her or what they intended to do with her. Her mother was going to die.

“You are very good at keeping things hidden.” The queen’s voice had a steely quality. Had the temperature dropped in the room suddenly? It felt a little chilly.

“I had a reason,” she answered, her voice breaking.

“I know you did.” Aislinn’s voice softened. “Sometimes when you’re trying to protect those you love, others get hurt in the process. Sometimes there are hard choices to make.” Aislinn’s gaze met Niall’s before returning to Elizabeth’s. “I’m not saying I condone what you did, but I do understand why you did it.”

“I know where the Summer Queen is. I can lead you right to her.”

Aislinn studied her for a moment. “I thought you were allied with her.”

“I only agreed to hide the pieces to save my mother. The Summer Queen is a dangerous, selfish woman who cares about no one but herself. I would really enjoy seeing you take her down.”

Gabriel stepped forward. “Actually, we’ve known where she is hiding for some time. Our concern was the pieces. Now
we have reason to believe she’s moved from her caves to the city, along with Gideon Amberdoyal. They plan to attack the Black Tower.” He paused. “Tomorrow.”

That reached through the numb cloak that had settled itself around her shoulders. She knew how powerful the Summer Queen was, and allied with the archdirector of the Phaendir…She glanced at the pieces of the
bosca fadbh
lying on the table. “And you’re not worried…?”

Aislinn smiled, and all the warmth fled, not only from her expression and voice, but literally from the room for a moment. It made Elizabeth gasp. “The Black Tower is able to handle whatever that bitch wants to throw at us.”

“You’re free to stay in the Black Tower, Elizabeth,” said Gabriel. “The queen has issued an edict that you’re exempt from punishment. Anyone who tries to harm you will suffer the wrath of the Shadow Queen.” He turned, and he and the queen went back to the table. It seemed like a dismissal to her.

Niall drew her away. “Come to my apartment. You look exhausted.”

She nodded, glancing back at the king and queen. They were about to ensure the death of her mother, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

NIALL’S apartment was decorated in a comfortable fashion, leather couches strewn with pillows and blankets, hardwood floors covered with thick area rugs. It was clear he didn’t care much about decorating, but the space was definitely made to be a place for him to take his ease and relax.

He ushered her into the living room, sat her on the couch, and tucked a blanket around her. “You’re freezing,” he chided her when she tried to push it away.

She noticed for the first time that he was right, she was freezing.

“It’s shock. You looked like I detonated a bomb on you in the elevator,” he said, sitting down beside her.

“I never expected this to happen.” Her voice sounded wooden. “I never expected my mom to go dig the pieces up and bring them straight to the queen.” She paused, grief welling. “She just signed her own death certificate.”

“I wish I could make all of this go differently.”

She said nothing for a long time, curling her icy hands into the soft blanket. “Speaking of bombs, shouldn’t the Black Tower be evacuated? We’ve seen firsthand what Amberdoyal’s magick can do and now that he’s teamed up with the Summer Queen…”

“The warning was given right after you arrived. The queen ordered that all children are to leave the tower, along with everyone who wants to leave voluntarily. It’s sad because traditionally the Black Tower has been the safest place to be in the city. People have been coming here for sanctuary, even knowing that the Summer Queen and Gideon are teamed up in their bloody, unholy alliance.”

“Yes, but that magick.” She shuddered. “Like lightning bolts from Danu, herself.”

“Not Danu, Labrai.”

She nodded.

“But don’t forget, Aislinn is a powerful queen. She looks all soft and friendly and, honestly, she
is
soft and friendly most of the time. But when she wants to kick ass, watch out. She can command the goblins and, between herself and Gabriel, they have the power of the sluagh. Caoilainn and Gideon had better be planning their attack very carefully.”

“The Summer Queen thinks Aislinn is too young and fluffy to be a threat.”

“The Summer Queen is an idiot.”

Her breath shuddered out of her, and she allowed her head to drift down and rest on Niall’s shoulder.
Surrender.
She closed her eyes. She’d lost. “It’s over.”

“No, Elizabeth, this is only the beginning.”

AISLINN and Gabriel were still staring down at the pieces on the table, frowning, as Niall reentered the room.

“Where’s the woman?” asked Gabriel as he approached the table.

“Sleeping in my apartment.”

“You have a soft spot for her, don’t you?” he asked, studying his face.

Niall shrugged. It was more than just a soft spot, but he wasn’t about to admit that out loud. Not now, not to them.

Aislinn pushed the pieces closer together, lining up the grooves on each side like a puzzle. When she had the pieces in their respective spots and all she had to do was push them together to fuse them, she drew a breath and stepped back.

“It feels like there should be a ceremony or something,” said Gabriel, taking his wife’s hand.

She nodded. “Or at least that more of us should be here—Aeric, Emmaline, Charlotte, Kieran, Ronan, Bella…everyone.”

Niall stared hard at the pieces. “It’s better not to create a fuss. Right now we’re the only ones who know that we have all the pieces. That’s a good thing. We don’t need any more excitement.”

Aislinn nodded, saying nothing for a long time. Finally, she drew a breath. “There are three of us, so let’s do it together. All of us take a piece and push them to the center.”

They positioned themselves around the table and each one of them touched one of the pieces.

Gabriel looked up at both of them. “Ready?”

“No,” said Aislinn.

Niall stared hard at his piece. “Let’s do it anyway.”

The three of them pushed the pieces together. A bright flare of light pushed them back as the pieces seared into one smooth metal object with jagged sides—the
bosca fadbh
.

“There it is.” Aislinn pressed a hand to her mouth.

Niall squinted down at it. “Doesn’t look like much.”

She lowered her hand. “It’s just a means to an end. A key.”

“Speaking of the end.” Gabriel walked to a nearby wall and pulled off a painting that had a safe hidden behind it. Producing a key, he unlocked the safe and took out a book wrapped in red velvet. So that was where they’d been keeping the Book of Bindings; Niall had always wondered.

He unwrapped the book, tossed the velvet to the couch, and laid it on the table. It was an unassuming tome, clearly old, with a worn, red leather cover. At the back would be the portion of the book that was locked, with a grooved indention where the
bosca fadbh
fit. The rest of the book was filled with fragile vellum pages with spells handwritten in Old Maejian.
“If we can open it up and work the spell inside right now, before the Summer Queen and Gideon attack, we can save some lives.”

Aislinn nodded and opened the book, her long fingers flipping through page after weathered page of various spells. This was the book where Aislinn had first come across the magick that had pointed out her necromancy to her. She reached the end of the book, and that’s where Niall saw the indention where the key was supposed to go. It made his stomach clench.

The legend was that the back of the Book of Bindings contained magick to break the warding, but no one really knew for certain. They might unlock the back of the book and find something else in there, recipes, or a spell to shear sheep, or some other useless thing.

Even though that was his worst fear, Niall didn’t really believe that would happen. After the war between the Phaendir and the fae, the ancients had gone to a lot of work to hide the
bosca fadbh
. There had to be some kind of powerful magick contained in there. Whether or not it was powerful magick that would knock down the walls of Piefferburg remained to be seen. If not, many, many expectations and hopes would be dashed.

“Niall, you do it,” Aislinn said.

He jerked in surprise. “Me? Why me? Are you afraid the book is booby-trapped or something?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. I was simply trying to bestow an honor on you.”

He thought of all the ways he’d misled Aislinn in recent days in order to protect Elizabeth. He didn’t deserve any honors. “I think the Shadow Queen should do it.”

“I agree,” replied Gabriel.

“All right.” Aislinn stepped forward and picked up the
bosca fadbh
. Holding the object over the book, she said, “Freedom for the fae.”

“Freedom for the fae,” chorused Gabriel and Niall.

“May this key unlock a new era of peace and happiness.” She slipped the key into the grooved section of the book, and then backed away, shielding her eyes.

Nothing happened.

Aislinn straightened, frowning. All of them took a step
toward the book. The key lay harmlessly in the grooves, but the book was still locked.

The bottom dropped out of Niall’s stomach.

Oh,
Sweet Lady…
the
bosca fadbh
didn’t work.

“WAIT,” said Aislinn. “There’s writing, but it’s not in Old Maejian.”

Niall took a step forward, stomach roiling, fists clenched. Writing was slowly appearing on the blank page above the
bosca fadbh
. It was written in a glowing, flowing script, but in a language he didn’t recognize. It looked a little like some mutated form of Old Maejian, perhaps the language they knew as Old Maejian had originated from. Ancient Maejian?

“Can you read that, Aislinn?” Gabriel asked.

“Maybe, give me a minute.”

“How could you possibly read that?” Niall asked, studying the odd symbols.

She shrugged, leaning over the book. “I don’t really know. It first happened when I came across a necromancy spell in this book. It was in Old Maejian, back when I didn’t speak it. I didn’t understand what it was I was reading, I just read it anyway.”

“That makes no sense at all.”

“I think it must have something to do with my magick.”

“Maybe it has more to do with your bloodline.”

She looked up at him. “Maybe.” Her blood was Unseelie
royalty. It made sense she’d have the power to read an ancient fae tongue.

Leaning over the book again, she squinted, her mouth working and no sound coming out. Finally, she spoke. “It says we can’t open the book until the sun is at its highest point in the sky and no shadows mar the land.”

“Noon.” Gabriel rubbed his chin. “Great. It’s just after one in the morning right now. We’ll have to wait almost twelve hours to open the book. So much for doing this before the Summer Queen and Gideon launch their attack. So much for saving lives.” His voice came out as bitter and as angry as Niall had ever heard him.