Kieran looked confused, as if he was thinking very hard. “I would say I do not believe it, but you have spoken too much truth today, my queen, for me to doubt this. And you do not like Galen enough to lie to save him.”
“We never lie, Kieran.”
He bowed. “I meant…”
“I know what you meant.” She leaned back against her chair, almost cozily, like a cat settling in. “What did Cel’s people tell you that made you agree to do this traitorous thing?”
I expected Kieran to argue, or fight her, but he simply answered. “That the green man would bring life to her.” He nodded at me, since he could not point.
Andais looked at Dormath. “And what did Siobhan tell you?”
“That the green man would return life to the land of faerie.”
Kieran’s face showed his panic. He tried to fall to his knees, I think to bow lower, but hands caught him, kept him on his feet. “That is not what I was told, my queen, I swear it. I would never destroy a chance for our court to be brought back to what we were, never.”
“Dormath,” she said, “explain to Kieran the wording of the prophecy that Prince Cel paid the human psychic for.”
Dormath bowed to her, then said, “The green man will bring life back to the land of faerie. The ruler is the land, and the land is the ruler. Their health, their fertility, their happiness, is the health, the fertility, and the joy of the land itself.”
“Well put, Dormath, and very true. If you killed Meredith’s green knight, and he was destined to be the king who brought back children to the sidhe, then what would you have done to us, Kieran, Madenn?” She didn’t wait for them to answer. “By killing him you would have destroyed all our hopes and dreams.”
“But it is Mistral and Meredith who have begun to awaken the dead gardens, and the magic of the guard. He was with her when the ring chose Nicca and Biddy,” Kieran said. “It is Mistral who sits in the consort’s throne, not the green knight.”
“True enough, and perhaps the ring has chosen the storm lord to be her king. I myself interpreted the term ‘green man’ to mean any of our green gods, but perhaps I have been too literal. Green man can be another name for god, or consort.” She shook her head. “I do not know for certain. I do not know if it is irritating or reassuring that prophets still speak in riddles even in this very modern America.” She turned to me. “Go help Nicca and Biddy make the child you saw. But abide by my rules; if I find you have given him first to Biddy, I will be cross. But take Galen and one other green man to your body this night, as well.”
“What of the traitors, Aunt Andais?” I asked.
“You go try and make babies; I will tend to them. I will give you a united court, Meredith. It will be my first and last gift to you.” She put a hand in front of her face and said, “Leave me, take the guards who are green men with you, but leave me the ones who are not.”
Frost’s hand tensed on my shoulder, and I must have made some small sound of protest, because she looked up at me. She glanced at Frost and Doyle, and anger filled her eyes. “Take your Darkness and the Killing Frost. They are yours, but I will need some of the guards to help me punish the traitors.”
“And Biddy and Nicca,” I said quietly.
She waved her hand impatiently. “Yes, yes, now go.”
Frost’s hand eased up on my shoulder. He gave a small nod. I got up, bowed to the queen, and we moved toward the doors, leaving her to punish the traitors. She probably wouldn’t kill them, but she’d make sure they regretted their actions. Of that, I had no doubt. I shouldn’t have looked back, but I did. I saw Crystall, Hafwyn, Dogmaela, and others try to control their faces. Mistral and Barinthus were among the unreadable.
I stopped. Frost grabbed my shoulder, and Galen still had my hand. They tried to get me moving again, but I balked. I couldn’t save everyone, I knew that, but…
Doyle didn’t try to stop me, he simply looked at me with his impassive face. He would give me room to rule. I spoke with Frost and Galen’s hands tight against me. The tension in Frost’s hand was almost painfully tight.
“May I take a healer with me, my queen, just in case there are any more emergencies? We sent for a healer when Galen was injured but the healer never arrived.”
She nodded, but her attention was already fixed on her victims. She stood above Kieran, one hand idly stroking the blond hair that he had so carefully braided back behind his head. “Yes, take any but my own healer.”
“Hafwyn,” I said.
She couldn’t keep the relief off her face as she started across the floor.
The queen called after her. “Meredith, if you wish a healer you must take one who still has their powers.” She actually put her hands on her hips as if she was impatient with me.
“Hafwyn healed Galen and Adair.”
She was looking at me now, paying attention. “Healed them how? She lost her ability to heal years ago.” She managed to look both irritated and relieved. “She is one you brought back into her powers tonight.”
“No, my queen, Hafwyn has always been able to heal with the laying on of hands.”
“I was told that she had lost her ability to heal,” the queen said.
“Hafwyn,” I said, “did you ever lose your ability to heal?”
She shook her head without turning around to face the queen, as if she was afraid to look away from me, or afraid to look back.
“Then why is she a guard?” the queen asked. She came down the steps, and I felt everyone around me tense. We could have left, gotten away, and I was putting us all at risk. But for the first time ever Andais seemed willing to hear awful truths about Cel. I wasn’t sure how long this new mood would last, and there were things that would happen only when she was willing to believe Cel was a monster.
“She healed someone Prince Cel had forbidden her to heal. He told her that from that day forward she would bring death only, and no longer be allowed to heal.”
Andais glided across the floor toward us, her dress making a hissing sound. Hafwyn paled. “Is this true, Hafwyn?”
The guard swallowed hard and turned around to face the queen. She dropped to one knee without being asked or told. “Yes, Queen Andais, it is true.”
“You had the ability to heal grievous wounds by touch and he forbade you to use your gift?”
Hafwyn kept her face down, but answered, “Yes.”
Andais looked at me. “She is yours, but I cannot allow you to strip Cel of all his guards. Even a queen cannot help another sidhe break their vows of loyalty and service.”
“Hafwyn breaks no vow coming to me, for she made no vow to Prince Cel. I am told that many of the prince’s guard made no new vows to Cel.”
Something passed through Doyle’s eyes that let me know he at least understood why this was worth the risk.
Andais frowned at me. “This cannot be true. Cel offered my brother’s guards a chance to join his service after Essus’s death. They made vows to serve Cel.”
Hafwyn abased herself lower on the floor, but said, “My queen, Cel told us you gave us to him. He did not ask our permission or if we wished to serve him. He told all of us that our vows had been made to a prince, and he was a prince.”
“He said you all chose to serve him,” Andais said in a voice gone hollow with surprise.
Hafwyn kept her face pressed to her hands on the floor, but she answered. “No, my queen.”
Andais looked at Biddy. “Did you give your vow to Cel?”
Biddy shook her head. “No, and he never asked for it.”
Andais turned back toward the throne. “Dogmaela, did you give oath to Prince Cel?”
“No, my queen,” she said, eyes wide, and face a little frightened.
Andais screamed, a loud, sharp, inarticulate scream that seemed to hold all her frustration. “I would never have given my brother’s guard to anyone, not even my own son. All those who did not make oath to Cel are free to choose to leave his service.”