Page 33 of The Iron Raven

Faeries don’t forget, a deeper, more malicious side of me whispered.Or forgive.Maybe we’re not.

I shuddered and pushed that voice away. “So, yeah.” I turned to Nyx. “Just the two of us. First up, we head to Arcadia. The politics are ugly, but if we stay away from the court and the queen, we should be fine. For some reason, Titania is always so cranky when I come home.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Nyx commented, still with that faint smile.

“It’s a mystery,” I agreed. “But this time of year, I think we should first pay a visit to the Orchard. Best apples in all the Nevernever, and I’m an expert on the subject. Totally worth the experience, if you don’t mind dodging a couple greedy giants that refuse to share. But if you go when the sun is directly overhead, they’re usually asleep...”

I trailed off. For just a moment, a flicker of alarm passed over Nyx’s face, making me stumble to a halt. “Or maybe not,” I said. “I guess not everyone likes apples. Or giants.”

“No, it’s not that.” The hint of alarm was replaced by confusion; her brows drew together, frustration coloring her voice. “Something you said,” she muttered, “something about that scene, it felt wrong. I didn’t want to be there. Not because of the giants or Titania or anything about the Seelie Court. But for just a moment, I felt deeply unsettled, and I don’t remember why.”

A buzzing sound interrupted us. I looked up and saw a trio of the Tinkerer’s killer bee piskies hovering a few feet away, their large black eyes and copper skin glittering in the moonlight as they stared at me.

Between them, something dangled from a silver chain, throwing off shimmers of light as it swayed and twisted in the air. Glamour pulsed from it, an aura of hazy color and emotion, throbbing like a real heartbeat.

“Huh, that was fast,” I commented. “You know, if you guys opened up a sandwich shop, you’d be the most popular place in the Nevernever.”

The piskies ignored me. Buzzing, they floated closer and dropped the amulet into Nyx’s hands, where it flickered like a lost firefly. Carefully, she rose and draped the amulet around her neck. It gleamed brightly against the darkness of her leather armor, a silver heart with a crescent moon-shaped hole in the center. Pretty fitting, I thought.

The third piskie zipped up, closer to my face than I was comfortable with, and thrust a folded bit of paper at me, shaking it rapidly. I snatched it from the air before I suffered a paper cut to my eyeballs and flipped it open.

It was, as far as I could tell, a receipt for services rendered, with a large Paid in Full message scrawled near the bottom in red ink. I didn’t know if I was supposed to keep it, or if it was simply a formality, but I crumpled it and stuck it in my hoodie pocket. I’d worry about what the Tinkerer had said, and what I’d promised him, later. For now, we had what we came for.

Finally.

“Well,” I said brightly, glancing at Nyx. “Now that that’s out of the way, and we don’t have to worry about your skin melting off in the Iron Realm, are you ready to meet the queen?”

Nyx smoothly tucked the pendant beneath her armor and drew her cloak around herself as she rose. A breeze tossed her hair, making it flutter in the wind, and the moon emerging from behind a cloud cast a hazy circle of light around her as she gazed at me with a smile. “I believe the correct expression for the times isyesterday.”

I chuckled, feeling that odd twisting sensation in my gut again. “You know, for someone as ancient as you are, you certainly don’t sound like any Wise Old One I ever met,” I said as we started walking toward the bridge once more. “Shouldn’t you have more thees and thous in your vocabulary?”

Nyx offered a smirk that was entirely too familiar and pulled up her hood. “I’m a fast learner.”

Part Two

THE SUMMER COURT

Several years ago

Iwas in the middle of an elaborate scheme involving Titania and a dozen porcupines when the summons came.

“Message from His Majesty, King Oberon,” a nervous-looking satyr announced, handing me a rolled-up scroll. “He requests that you meet him in the throne room as soon as you receive this. You are required to stop whatever prank, plan, or plot you are currently involved in and obey the summons now. Any delay will be punished, as will any retaliation against the messenger.”

The satyr stiffened as a porcupine shuffled forward, curiously sniffing his hooves. “His M-Majesty cordially awaits your response,” the satyr went on, backing away as the rest waddled toward him with jumbled squeaking sounds. “If you do not respond by the time the sun sets this evening, Lord Oberon will assume you have deliberately disobeyed him and will take appropriate actions. Have a pleasant day, Robin Goodfellow.”

The satyr fled, causing the porcupine horde to chirp disappointedly and return to chewing on twigs.

I let out a sigh, feeling both amused and annoyed with the Seelie King. We had done this dance many times before, and his summonses had gradually become more and more specific as I continuously found loopholes to avoid having to do whatever he commanded. I peeked at the scroll and found that it basically said the same thing, with even more specifics and threats of retribution if I did not answer.

With a snort, I crumpled the scroll into a ball and gave it to the nearest porcupine, who happily began nibbling it to nothing. If I thought about it, I could probably find a way to get around the summons, but truth be told, I was looking for a reason to leave the Summer Court for a while. Lately, tensions had been high, as rumors surrounding Oberon’s recent trip to the mortal world had swirled through the court, incensing Titania and causing her to be even more unbearable. I hadn’t seen the queen so worked up in a long time, not since the famous Nick Bottom incident, and several of the common fey had already suffered her wrath and infamous petty temper.

Naturally I, being the good little Summer Court jester, had been planning something special to take her mind off her husband’s actions and turn her ire directly on me. This wasn’t for Oberon’s benefit; Titania could do nothing to him, but if she had another target for her loathing (and boy, did she loathe me with the passion of a thousand suns), she wouldn’t be such a terror to the rest of the court. Including those unfortunate enough to serve her directly.

I also suspected the Seelie King knew I was about to do something. Being one of the Erlking’s favorite lackeys, I was somewhat shielded from the queen’s retribution, but constantly explaining that he would not exile me for yet another fiasco was probably becoming tiring. Though, if the rumors flying around the court were true, Oberon had brought this on himself. Titania was famous for being a jealous shrew, but Oberon wasn’t exactly pure like the new fallen snow, either. This time, her anger might be justified.

Fair enough; I would go see what the Summer King wanted. Maybe this assignment would take me out of Faery for a bit, into the mortal realm. It had been a while since I’d seen the real world; a trip to the Alps or to a sun-drenched island across the sea sounded enticing.

Oberon was in the throne room, sitting on one of the living thrones growing from the center of the grove. Unsurprisingly, the identical seat beside him was empty. The Summer Queen was not speaking to Oberon at the moment, and while some might think this would be a pleasant thing, faeries did not take well to being ignored. The Seelie King would tolerate his wife’s cold shoulder for a little while, but he was even worse than Titania when it came to his wife paying more attention to things other than him. Eventually, he would become offended and force a confrontation, and that would not end well for anyone.

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