Page 15 of Sons of Sorrow
“My apologies, oh summoner,” he whispered. “Mother and Yvette made me promise not to tell you. This is why we had to sneak in through the back way.”
Finally my mouth split into a grin. “You guys did all this? For me?”
Sylvain nodded. “And Satchel helped, too. As did the palace pixies.”
He pointed at the ceiling. There they were, dozens of pixies with tiny wicker baskets hanging from their arms, sprinkling us with a gentle rain of tinsel and streamers. For us. For me? What had I even done to deserve this?
Queen Aurelia rose from her throne, extending her arms. “Approach, Lochlann Wilde.”
And so I did, stopping a few feet away to kneel on the carpet leading to her royal seat. The queen scoffed, lifted her skirts, and closed the space between us in a few determined strides. She placed her hands on my shoulders and forced me to my feet.
“Don’t be silly, young man. Here.”
Queen Aurelia, supreme ruler of the Autumn Court, gathered me up into a warm embrace, party hat and all. I held my breath, unsure of how to react, but went with my gut. I relaxed and hugged her back. It seemed like the right thing to do.
When we pulled apart, I realized I had something strapped to my chin. I frowned, felt at the top of my head, and laughed.
It was a party hat.
7
Minutes later,my head was still on my shoulders, even after I’d dared to hug a fae queen. The entire party had moved from the throne room to the nearest banquet hall. Returning Queen Aurelia’s sentimental gesture hadn’t been some breach of royal protocol, after all.
She was a completely different person from the haughty, terrifying woman who had confronted me in her strange confession room, her personal chamber of screens and secrets. I couldn’t believe that this was the same person who’d cautioned me to eventually break things off with Sylvain, who all but suggested that her son deserved a better partner than just some feeble human.
Without words, without any grand speeches, Aurelia and her court had told me everything I needed to know. They were grateful for the Wispwater, both the first load we’d brought in for the court alchemists, and the additional deliveries Sylvain and I brought each time we visited. They were grateful for the certainty of safety, should another of their number become infected by the Withering.
But most of all, they were grateful for Queen Aurelia’s survival and recovery.
“I had nothing to do with that,” I muttered to Sylvain, even as I gratefully accepted the plate full of snacks and desserts he’d handed me.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” boomed a familiar voice from my side. “You’ve done plenty, dear friend.”
I flinched in surprise, but immediately found myself grinning at the welcome sight of Dulcifer, one of the court alchemists, Sylvain’s favorite. He wrapped me up in a caramel-scented hug, clapping me hard on the back before pulling away. Lots of hugging in the Court of Autumn that day.
“You and your winged and many-legged companions were very much responsible for reversing the effects of the Withering on our queen,” Dulcifer said.
He meant Frederick and the kraken, who had pelted the transformed Queen Aurelia with salvos of Wispwater phials both from above and the ground.
“Right,” I said, “but you nursed her back to health.”
Dulcifer spread his arms wide open. “Then we are both responsible. We all are, are we not? Come. Enough with all this pointless accounting, and let’s celebrate.”
I looked Dulcifer over, admiring the golden leaves embroidered onto his deep red coat, an interesting change from the scorched leather apron I saw him wearing when we first met. Slick tailored pants tucked into some badass leather boots, too. I squeezed the front of my arm and chuckled.
“You’re all so sweet for putting this together. I just wish I was dressed a little more appropriately.” I cleared my throat, cutting my eyes pointedly at Sylvain. “I realize it was a surprise, but maybe someone could have given me a bit of a heads-up.”
Sylvain frowned. “What in the world are you talking about, Lochlann? You look perfect. What is so inappropriate about what you’re wearing?”
I tapped my foot, waving my hands from my shoulders down to my toes. “Come on, Sylvain. You said that the courtiers would find my Earth clothing novel and all, but it would have been nice if I was wearing something a little more — a little more — ”
My voice faltered. I could have sworn I’d put on jeans and a jacket back in Sylvain’s bedchambers. And what the hell happened to my sneakers? I rubbed my eyes, blinking at the sight of me. Snazzy leather shoes, the ones I saved for more formal events. Dark pleated dress pants. And a glimmering, gauzy fabric that hung down to my knees, soft as silk, sheer as mist, imbued with the gleam of moonlight.
I gasped and smacked Sylvain in the shoulder. He yelped, then massaged the sore spot, chuckling.
“How?” I asked. “Explain! Did you glamor my clothes? Sylvain, that’s so — that’s so sweet.”
Sylvain winked, then kissed me on the cheek. “All part of the plan, oh summoner. I thought you might enjoy wearing the moonlight coat that I bought you. I did say that we should save it for a special day.”
