Page 94 of A Court of Sugar and Spice
“It has taken me a long time to track you down, Clara.” Advancing, he extracts a pair of tiny tools from the cuff of his coat and unlocks my manacles. “And once I found you, I didn’t think I would be able to get into place. But it turned out to be poorly defended.”
“Thanks to Finias,” I say, nodding toward him.
But the chains between the columns hang empty.
On the floor lies a doll, a slim male faerie with cloth wings. The collar he was wearing around his neck has slipped off and lies beside him, no larger than a woman’s ring.
“No,” I breathe. “No, no, no—you cursed him?”
“I cursed every Fae in the entire complex,” says Drosselmeyer coolly.
“He’s one of the good ones.” Tears fill my eyes as I rush to the Finias doll and drop to my knees beside him.
“There are no good ones.”
“You’re wrong,” I snap. “You have to reverse this. Please. I could do it with my blood, but it won’t last. Please just fix him.”
“I can’t do that. Come with me, Clara. We need to find your sister and go home.”
“No.” I rise from the floor, holding Finias against my chest. “This faerie and his cousin Lir, the prince you cursed—they saved our lives. They are our friends. And you—you left us. You saw the rat-soldiers approaching, and you fled.”
“I was unprepared to battle the darkest of the Unseelie,” Drosselmeyer says. “When I saw the Rat King’s soldiers in the forest, I knew he must have conquered the Seelie part of the realm. I knew there would be more soldiers and monsters flooding the forest, and I knew I couldn’t fight them all. Your sister took my most powerful bombs with her when the two of you went through the portal—I had to return to my workshop and contrive a different solution. I designed a way to expand the effect of the curses I usually use. Instead of one Fae at a time, I can now curse many. Necessity is the impetus behind brilliance.” He smiles, clearly pleased with himself. “Never fear, my dear, I always intended to come back for you and your sister.”
“By the time you returned with your bombs and curses, we might have beendead,” I retort. “Leaving us was cowardice on your part—admit it.”
Drosselmeyer’s eyes narrow. “So you think I should have charged to your defense immediately, at great risk to myself, after you betrayed me? Two girls I barely knew, whom I took into my home for your father’s sake, and you turned against me the first chance you got. You didn’t ask me about my work, or stop to think that perhaps, just perhaps, I might have a good reason for what I was doing.”
“A good reason?” I vent a hard laugh. “What possible ‘good reason’ could there be for capturing the Fae and cursing them? Enslaving them?”
“They are wicked, all of them,” he seethes. “Seelie and Unseelie alike—wild and cruel, careless and murderous. Your father used to hunt them with me, when we were young. Your father and I met at boarding school, you see, and we discovered that we had both witnessed the savagery of the Fae. My two little sisters were stolen away and replaced with pixie changelings, who then tore out the throats of my parents. Your father watched a pair of Seelie Fae lure his mother, his father, and his older brother into a dance circle in the forest. The Fae plied them with drugged wine and raped them over and over while they were dazed and pliant. Stories of Fae cruelty and cunning abound in our world, Clara. And these are the creatures you would defend?”
“They aren’t all like that,” I say. “Finias isn’t—he wouldn’t—” But I pause, because I don’t truly know what Finias is capable of, or what he may have done in the past. I only know the person he is now.
“Wrong has been done,” I continue. “But that doesn’t mean you have the right to capture and enslave Fae who may or may not be as cruel and wicked as you think. Did you try to select Fae who were evil, or did you simply hunt and capture any who happened to be around when you stepped through the portal?”
For the first time, Drosselmeyer looks uncertain, perhaps even guilty. He doesn’t meet my eyes when he says, “I began by seeking revenge on the cruel ones. Those are the stone statues in my gallery—the first Fae I hunted down. But my methods evolved, and as my curse-casting skills improved, I suppose my goals changed as well.”
“You liked hunting them,” I say softly. “You enjoyed the thrill of it, the triumph. Like some men enjoy hunting beasts. And then you realized you could use them in your house. They could serve you.”
“Financing my work has occasionally been difficult,” he admits. “Especially when my buyers don’t see the value of certain pet projects of mine. To fund those, I needed to save money elsewhere. With the automatons, I could avoid the cost of keeping servants. The ones I didn’t need as servants became part of the dollhouse—very popular with my clients.”
“And what of Lir?” I ask. “The Seelie Prince you captured? Why did you take him?”
Drosselmeyer pinches his lips together and shakes his head. “Vanity, I suppose? I happened to open a portal near the gardens where he was reading. He had sent his guards away so he could have privacy. I’d seen him before during my hunting trips—captured a few of his best warriors, in fact. But finding him in that spot, alone and unprepared—it was the best kind of luck. I shot him with a bolt that stunned him instantly and negated his magic for a short time. Then I took him with me and stripped him of all his power. I, Drosselmeyer, a human scientist—I captured the future King of the Seelie Court.Ibound the most powerful being in Faerie. It was my crowning achievement. So yes—when you freed him, I was angry. Disappointed. Vindictive, perhaps.”
It’s probably the nearest he’ll get to acknowledging any cowardice or vengeful intent on his part. I let my tone soften a little, because whatever his faults may be, he did come looking for us. “And how did you find me?”
“I did a spell to track you, using samples from your hairbrush and Louisa’s.” He pulls up his sleeve, showing a strange, shifting map delineated in thread-thin black lines on his forearm. “The map will vanish once I’ve found you both. See, there is Louisa. Wait—” He frowns, peering at the lines. “That’s very odd. Just moments ago she was here, near the Ravine—and now she’s moving dreadfully fast in this direction.”
Hope flutters in my chest. “She was with Lir, helping him break his curse at the Unending Pool. Maybe they’ve done that, and they’re heading this way.”
“Then we should go.” Alarm blooms in Drosselmeyer’s eyes. “The Fae Prince will be looking for revenge on me.” He unslings a weapon from his back—something like a hand cannon. “I have a few of those stun-bolts that temporarily remove a Fae’s magic, but I doubt he’ll let me get close enough to use them this time. The portal is in the corridor just outside this room. Come, Clara. Quickly.”
“So you’d have me flee with you, and you’d leave Louisa here, with the Fae folk whom you claim are so dreadful?” I glower at him. “No. I’m not a child you can command; I’m a grown woman. I won’t go with you. In fact, I don’t plan to leave at all.”
Drosselmeyer hisses his frustration through his teeth, casting a frantic glance at the map on his arm. “This isn’t you, Clara. They’ve bewitched you somehow. Your father always said you were the careful, reasonable one—he said except for your artistic affinities, you had the best sense. Louisa is foolish and flighty, but you—”
“I’m strong,” I cut in quietly. “Stronger than I ever realized, with more freedom than I’ve ever had. I’m not bewitched, but I won’t go back. I’m staying here, with him.” I touch the tiny carved face of the Finias doll. “If you won’t lift his curse, I’ll travel to the Unending Pool myself and free him. He is someone I need, someone who cares about all of me, including the parts I don’t let anyone else see. He’s someone I love.”
