Page 46 of Till Kingdom Come

“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long,” I said, by way of greeting.

“Not at all.” He glanced around behind me. “Will Prince Bracca be joining us?”

“No. He left to go back to his kingdom earlier today. He had duties to attend to there.”

“I see. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him. Do you know when he’s returning?”

“No, not exactly, but it won’t be too long.”

“Well, I hope you’re a little hungry. I have a very good cook.”

I smiled, mostly to be nice, and opened my napkin. I wasn’t hungry at all, but soon the servants brought in some simple but delicious dishes for us to sample, and I wound up eating much more than I’d planned. Afterward, we had some red wine and sat back in our chairs to socialize a bit. I was feeling uncomfortable without Bracca there to act as a buffer. I was still intimidated by consorting with all these kings. But I had to learn how to talk to people and this was a perfect opportunity. I drank my wine and tried to relax.

Hendris took a sip from his glass as well. “Has Prince Bracca decided who the last member of our Regent’s Council will be yet? Has he perhaps gone to arrange that?”

“I’d rather not discuss it,” I said softly, turning my gaze to the fire. “Not because it’s a secret—it’s just that I don’t know very much, and I might get it wrong. I don’t think Bracca would like it if I speculated.”

He gave me a little smile. “And you always do whatever Prince Bracca likes?”

I didn’t answer, concentrating on my wine instead. I thought it was a rude question. Or maybe I disliked it because it was true.

We were both silent for a minute. The clock on the wall was ticking loudly. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, Killian, but I was wondering how long it has been since you last saw your mother?”

I glanced up at him in surprise. “My mother? I haven’t seen her since I was five when she left me with my stepfather. I thought you knew that.”

“Not for sure. I knew only that Brendan’s son was missing and had been for years. I thought you might have been living with her before you came here.”

“No. It’s been about sixteen years, give or take a few months, since she abandoned me.”

“Abandoned you? You sound bitter.”

I shrugged. “I suppose I am.”

“Did you ever hear from her in all that time? Did she try to contact you?”

“No, I’ve never heard a word from her. Why do you ask?”

“Curiosity. Forgive me. I knew her a little. And Brendan was my uncle. I knew a little of their story.”

“You knew my mother?”

“Only a bit. I was young myself when she arrived, but she fascinated me. She was incredibly beautiful, you know. Even among the other Fae.”

“She was Fae?”

“Oh yes. She was a witch, born into a royal family.”

“A witch?”

“Her father is the witch king.”

“But I never heard of any kind of witch king or any kingdom either. Witches aren’t Fae.”

“Some are, of course. Not the mortal witches—the Wise Women, and not the Wiccans, who celebrate holidays and do rituals. They’re all mortal too. No, I meant the Fae witches. They’re magical beings, from a small Fae tribe to the west, in the Ensorcelled Mountains. Their magic is powerful and can be either dark or light.”

I was surprised and he smiled at me. He got up and went over to a large, ornate cabinet in the room. We were dining in his private quarters, and so he had some of his personal items in the room. He opened the doors and shuffled some papers inside it, and then brought out a map that he laid out on the table beside me. “This is a map of the Liminal. Here is where we are,” he said, pointing to a country near the top of the map. His long, elegant fingers traced south, and he said, “Here is the Fairy Kingdom. And over here,” he said, tapping a small group of mountains far to the west. “These are the Ensorcelled Mountains, where your mother lived. She could be living there now, in fact.”

He went back to his chair and sat down.

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