The Queen's Librarian (26 page)

“Right.” Lucas tilted his head. “Can you tell me why you and Mister Scontun are suddenly apparent allies?”

Mister Scontun started blathering in his own language again, with several words Lucas caught smattered in, among them things like “trickery” and “conspiracy” so Lucas didn’t have much hope that this trucelike pause was going to last much longer.

Until Slade jolted, said, “
Ma
? Die saneslaut scontun de Cráwa ai?” and his eyes widened as Mister Scontun nodded frantically. “Master Tripp,” Slade said, still looking at his father, “I really think you ought to—”

“I really think you all ought to
stand down
!” Dorset boomed from the doorway and glared around the room when all eyes turned to him.

He really was quite impressive with his wide shoulders and his stern expression and his livery that notched up his inherent dignity like a knight from a tale. If he was maybe a few years younger and Lucas was maybe a few years older, he might think about—

All right, wow, where had that come from? Maybe Lucas was more tired and scattered than he’d thought.

“Cráwa, your staff,” said Dorset and calmly held out his hand.

Shockingly, Cráwa merely lifted an eyebrow and handed it over.

Dorset narrowed his eyes at Slade and Mister Scontun. He pointed the staff at them. “Douse that magic.”

Again, he waited calmly while Slade and Mister Scontun did what they were told, Mister Scontun with a quick glance at Cráwa first, and Slade with a somewhat meek look at Laurie. Which brought Dorset’s attention to Laurie. This time, he only had to lift an eyebrow, and though Laurie rolled his eyes and sighed, the glowing in his palm sputtered and vanished within an instant. With one last disapproving glance around, Dorset nodded then backed a step into the hallway and dipped his head.

“Your Majesty.”

It took a moment for everyone to remember themselves and bow as the Queen swept in, because… well, because
the Queen
swept in.

Regal, as always, even in the middle of the night, in silks and precious metals and jewels. Lucas had spent more time around the Royal Family than probably anyone else of his station, and though he actually thought of the Queen as “Auntie Meryl” in his head and remembered a boyhood full of chasing the Prince around the keep and sneaking frogs into the Crown Princess’s wardrobe, he’d never seen the-Queen-his-cousin looking anything less than utterly royal. The Prince Consort, on the other hand… well. The Prince Consort was… unique. In a good way. But still.

“Thank you, Dorset,” the Queen intoned and nodded her head so the circlet atop it caught the light and winked a little slyly. “Oh, do
rise
,” she said with an exasperated sigh, and as they did, she turned and called, “Come along, Vessa dear, and bring Mister Parry with you, there’s a love.” With a tiny little click of her tongue and a pat at The Royal Thigh, the Queen called Bramble over to stand beside her, and she even managed to look regal while stroking his ears and avoiding slobber.

Princess Vessa entered, towing a flushed Parry behind her like a reluctant pet. More silk whispered against the stone floor, and now the room was full of more gold hair than Lucas thought he’d ever seen in one place in his life. A slightly older, more feminine version of Laurie, Vessa, but where Laurie tended toward the impish—or maybe that was just the way Lucas thought of him, when he deigned to put it kindly—Vessa was striking with her sculpted features and a regal bearing like her mother that she could don and discard at will. At the moment, she was wearing it with vigor.

“Oh look,” said Laurie and scowled as his sister smirked at him, “Vessa and her breasts are here,” then, “
Ow
!” when his mother whacked him—quite regally, mind—in the back of the head.

“Ooh,” said Alex and then dropped the look of appreciation he’d been giving Vessa when he caught Lucas’s glare. “What? I’ve never met the Crown Princess. She’s… you know….” He waved his hand. “Pretty.” A pause. “If… I mean, if you like that sort of thing. With the… curves and the… um. Hair, and. Yeah.” He gulped. “Actually, not nearly as pretty as I’d thought at first.”

“Oh shut up,” Lucas grumped.

“Is this your Mister Booker, then, cousin?” Vessa asked, giving Alex a rather obvious and approving once-over. An eyebrow went up. “Well done, you.”

Alex’s posture went from rigid to flirty, because he was a Booker and he just couldn’t help himself. “Well, h’llo, there, Majesty,” he said with a grin.

“Oh shut
up
,” Lucas said again.

“My, Lucas.” Vessa peered around at the mess everyone had made of his Library.
The Queen’s
Library. Right. “Had ourselves a bit of a tantrum, did we?”

“It was
them
!” Lucas barked and pointed at every one of them in turn. “
All
of them! Every. Single.
One
. And
look
!” He waved frantically at the shelf behind the upturned table. “Restoration Studies! L through
R
! All the way through
R
, Vessa!”

“Oh, poor dear,” the Queen cooed at him, and to her credit, she looked like she truly did feel bad about it. But still. She’d
cooed
. “We’ll see what we can do about your budget so we can replace them after all of this is over, yes?” She didn’t wait for him to reply. “Mister Parry has been telling us quite the pretty tale,” she said with hard looks all around. “I should like to hear it from beginning to end, if you please.”

Everyone started talking at once. The Queen merely lifted an eyebrow. Dorset looked incensed and outraged that anyone would dare. Vessa caught Lucas’s glance and rolled her eyes. Then she put her thumb and index finger between her teeth.

Lucas knew what was coming, so he covered his ears. So did the Queen—regally, of course. The rest of them didn’t do so until the high, shrill whistle nearly split their eardrums. Bramble whined and the Queen shushed him with more stroking.

“Vulgar, dear,” she told Vessa, “but wonderfully effective.” She puffed a sharp sigh. “Right, then. I think Mister Parry has told me enough that I can figure the rest out.” She looked at Mister Scontun. “It seems there were some regrettable and questionable translations between my grandmother and your people concerning an unfortunate flood many years ago?”

Mister Scontun peered at Slade and gave him a nod. Slade stepped forward with a slight bow and cleared his throat. “Yes, Your Majesty, that is how we currently understand things.”

The Queen turned her attention to Slade. “And this misunderstanding not only resulted in a rift between our people, but also produced this book that so many have been after?” Her glance roved over to where Lucas still had the book clutched to his chest. “Oh, well
done
, Lucas dear.” She waved him over. “Come, then, let me see.”

“Majesty,” Cráwa put in, warning.

The Queen lifted an eyebrow and Cráwa shut his mouth. Lucas peered up at his aunt as he sidled in close to her.

“Impressive,” he said under his breath.

“You should see when I’m compelled to stop him from turning Laurie into something untoward,” she muttered back. She paged through some of the book as Lucas peered around her shoulder. There wasn’t a whole lot to it—several sets of pages that looked like long, intricate spells, and then some babble about buried gold and treacherous royalty who tried to steal it. The Queen shook her head. “If I never hear the name ‘Booths Brinley’ again for as long as I live, I shall be a happy woman.”

“You and me both,” Lucas agreed and then paused. “Um. I mean man. A happy
man
.”

“Yes dear,” said the Queen and snapped the book shut. “So. I am willing to accept responsibility for the apparent treachery of one of the Realm’s subjects for our part in this… business. Will that do?”

Though the look she gave both Slade and Mister Scontun was merely expectant, Lucas supposed he could see how they might interpret it as a little bit scary. The Queen
did
have a way about her, he thought, as he watched Mister Scontun and Slade both gulp and sheepishly duck their heads.

“Ma,” said Mister Scontun, which Slade translated into “Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am. That would be lovely, ma’am.”

“I would also be most pleased if our two worlds could once again work in harmony with one another.” The Queen looked directly at Mister Scontun. “We shall see about opening further portals as soon as treaty negotiations are through, but in the meantime, I shall only approve the use of the Circle in Orchard Downs for the purpose. Is that clear?”

“Ma,” said Mister Scontun and, “Yes, ma’am,” said Slade.

Lucas tried not to sigh. That would mean more upkeep and more expenses, and he knew very well that treaty negotiations could go on for-bloody-ever. God, he was going to have to hire someone, wasn’t he? He’d never have time for maintaining the Circle if people were actually going to use it, for pity’s sake, but how was he supposed to tell
the Queen
that her decree was somewhat inconvenient for him, “favorite nephew” or no?

“To that end,” the Queen went on, “the customary gifts your people bring with them—”

“Augh,” Lucas accidentally blurted, and when the Queen paused with a pained look at him, he waved a hand. “Well, it’s only that they
bury
it. And, you know—
resodding
!”

The Queen raised both eyebrows this time. Lucas didn’t detect the same
why is this simple life form making noise at me?
look that she’d been pointing at the others, but he still found himself blushing and shifting uncomfortably.

She turned to Mister Scontun. “How about we don’t bury them anymore? I’m not quite certain where that one came from, but it’s really quite a lot of trouble, don’t you think?” She waited until Mister Scontun and Slade both agreed, and then she nodded. “Good. From now on, you’ll simply hand the gifts over to Mister Tripp here.” She set a hand on Lucas’s shoulder. “He’ll see that half goes to the Crown, as it should”—her mouth pinched—“and the other half shall go to Rolling Green.”

Lucas jerked his head up. “Wait, what?”

“It’s what Mister Parry has been trying to accomplish all along, dear,” the Queen told Lucas quietly while Alex glared and Parry alternated between glaring back and waggling his eyebrows at Lucas. “It’s why he opened the Circle in the first place and why he introduced Clara to… Declan, is it?”

Slade’s eyes were wide. “Um. Not really, Your Majesty, but that will do.”

“Gold,” Parry put in. “It’s like fallen leaves over there, Lucas, and it’s worth very little to them. I’d only meant to let one or two through and let you find the gold when you went to take care of the Circle—you’d never have had to know where it came from—but then….” He shrugged and gestured at Slade. “Well, then, I quite liked him, and I knew Clara would too, and he’s
rich
, Lucas, at least in our world, and I knew you’d like
that
, so—”

The Queen delicately cleared her throat and Parry shut his mouth with a
clack
and bowed his head.

It didn’t quite work on Alex, though. “Why would you do that for Lucas?” he asked Parry suspiciously. “What’s in it for you?”

Lucas turned to Alex and boggled. “You’re going to play at being jealous now? You were
just
making eyes at Vessa!”

“I wasn’t!” Alex looked wounded.

“Yes you were,” Laurie put in.

Alex sputtered. “That’s just how my face looks when I meet new people!”

“That’s true,” agreed Slade. “I thought he was flirting with me at first too.”

Lucas decided not to even address that one. Or think about it. He turned to Parry. “Why
would
you do that for me?”

“You were my first kiss.” Parry’s voice was resolute. “And I was yours.” Lucas wasn’t sure but he thought Parry hid a smirk when Alex choked. “That means it’s supposed to be fate. We’re supposed to be together.” He scowled at Alex. “Even if
he
won’t go away.”

“Yes, well,
he
won’t!” Alex snapped and tried to step around Lucas.

Lucas held him back, but he rather thought it was Vessa’s magic eyebrow that kept Alex from actually lunging.

“Um,” Lucas said to Parry, “I really don’t think that’s what it means.”

“Sure it does. Fate. Destiny. I read it”—Parry waved his hand around—“somewhere.”

“Oh, well, if
that’s
the case,” Alex scoffed.

“Lucas,” Parry said patiently. “Our lands share a border. It used to be the same land. We’re both youngest sons. You were my first kiss and I was yours.
Destiny
.” He threw his hands out with a
what more do you need?
expression that would be funny if Lucas wasn’t so discomfited and really, sincerely surprised, because Alex muttered about Parry and his attentions all the time, and yet Lucas had honestly had
no bloody idea
.

“Um,” said Lucas and shook his head. “Really not what ‘destiny’ means, Parry.”

“Wow,” Laurie put in. “This isn’t awkward.”

“At all,” Vessa agreed.

“But you told me to look for my heart’s key!” Lucas told Parry. “
Alex’s
name. Surely you know there can never be anything between—”

“Yes, yes, you think you love
that
one,” Parry said with a roll of his eyes at Alex. “You wouldn’t have gotten the clue if I’d said ‘find the pillock who won’t get out of the way’ would you?” And then the smirk was back. So were the waggling eyebrows. “I can be patient. You’ll come around.”

Lucas stared. Actually, everyone did.

“Wow,” said Lucas after a moment. “You really are married to your own ego, aren’t you?”

“All very romantic, I’m sure,” the Queen intoned, bored, “except for the fact that Mister Parry had intended to talk Lucas into acquiring the rights to the Circle for himself, thus cutting the Crown out of what is rightfully the Crown’s.”

“Oh, but he’ll need it, Majesty,” said Parry earnestly. “Have you
seen
the way his mother and sisters spend—?” He shut right up when he caught a good look at the Queen’s face and realized he was, in fact, talking cheek about the Queen’s family.