There was a murmur of shame from somewhere at the back.
“Nor are christenings, and the tradition of Godparents, with all that entails. Instead we have a naming ceremony, something that will be strange and new to many of us, me included.”
I looked around the faces, seeing many I did not recognise.
“All of you have just participated in a ritual of power. You are the new members of a new court, formed tonight on the solstice, sealed in blood, bound with power. That’s one ritual completed. Now we have a different ritual, which is no less powerful, when we give my son the name by which he will be known. Names have power, which I think you all know, and by giving him his name we acknowledge him as a member of this court, even before he goes through the ritual you have all been through. He will be the first child of this court, but not, I think, the last.” I smiled then, at Lesley, who smiled as she handed out champagne.
“Names are important,” I said, “not just because they give us a measure of identity, but because they are symbolic. When we say the name, Blackbird, we invoke the symbol of the Lady of this court, and in doing so we acknowledge her power and influence. When I came to choose a name for our son, I wanted it therefore to symbolise something for him, and for us. Our court stands between the human world and the fey world, and each of us straddles that divide. We all know, some of us to our cost, what that means.” I glanced at Angela.
“I could have chosen a fey name — there are some I admire, some I find inspiring, but everyone else in this court has a human name, some of us more than one.” I nodded to Blackbird. “At the same time I wanted to choose a name that recognised the spanning of these worlds and acknowledged the dual nature of all of us here.
“There was a man who spanned those worlds. He connected the human world to the world of the Feyre, though whether he truly knew what he was doing, I do not know. He chose to weld the fate of fey and humanity together and the choices he made hundreds of years ago are the reason we are here tonight. He rose from being a no one, hunted and persecuted, to being a king. He was born a bastard, and he became known as the Conqueror. It’s a strong name, and my son will need to be strong. He had enemies, as does our son. The difference was the people around him. I hope you will be the friends and supporters that our son needs as he grows.” I held the baby up high, so that they all could see him. “I give you…”
Through the crowd gathered around the long table, someone was moving forwards. There was a flash of blue as she pushed her way forwards, her mass of curls wild and unruly. She pushed through the gathered rank at the front and stopped in front of them all, breathless. She was holding a pair of high-heeled shoes in her hand, swinging from the straps, and her feet were bare and dirty. When you looked at her dress, the bottom of it was stained dark where it had soaked up water.
“You’re late,” I told her in a low voice. “I will speak to you later.”
“You don’t understand,” she said, leaning forward to put her hand on her thighs and catch her breath. “You’ve got to get out.”
I sighed. “No amount of dramatics is going to get you out of this one, Alex. You’re in deep trouble.” I lifted the baby high and called out to the assembled court. “I give you, William, first son of the Court of the Gifted, may he live in happiness and peace.”
“To William!” they shouted, raising their glasses, trying to ignore the theatrics from my daughter.
“You have to leave!” Alex shouted at them. “Go now!” The room fell into an uneasy silence.
“Alex, that’s enough,” I said to her.
She ignored me. “You’ve all got to get out!” she said. “While you still can.”
“Alex!” I shouted.
She turned to me. “It’s a trick, don’t you see? This isn’t Grey's Court, it’s a trick to get you all here. You’ve got to get out, while there’s still time.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Blackbird.
Another figure pushed forward through the crowd, slowly this time. They parted around her, and there were murmurs of unease as she advanced through them. Finally she stood beside Alex, looking up into her face. Alex looked down on her with a mixture of revulsion and fascination.
“So this is the girl,” said the spindly figure in her crackly voice. She reached up with her oddly formed hands — no thumb but a little finger at each side articulated inwards. The wispy material of her sleeve fell back revealing alabaster skin so thin it was as if you could see the bones beneath. Alex stepped back to avoid her touch.
“Kareesh,” said Blackbird. “What are you doing here?”
TWENTY-ONE
“I thought you’d be taller,” said Kareesh to Alex. “So many of the young ones are tall these days.”
“Who the hell are you?” said Alex, staying out of reach.
“Pretty, though,” said Kareesh. She spoke to me. “She has your eyes.”
“I came to see you,” I said quietly to Kareesh. “Gramawl is looking everywhere for you. We need to talk.”
“Too late for talk,” said Kareesh, hobbling towards Alex who backed steadily away into the people behind her. “The girl has it right. You should listen to her.”
“What is this about?” asked Blackbird.
Kareesh turned her glass-black stare on Blackbird. “Ah, girl, a Lady at last and so beautiful. So sorry it has to be like this.”
“Like what?” said Blackbird.
Kareesh turned her gaze back on Alex. “Tell them,” she said.
Alex stared at her, mute.
“Tell them,” she insisted.
“I was with Tate. He recognised the house. It’s not what it appears to be.”
“What were you doing with Tate?” I asked her.
“Not now, Niall,” said Blackbird.
“What do you mean, not now?” I asked Blackbird. “What do you know about this?”
“You have to listen!” Alex shouted over us. “It’s called Grey’s Court now, but it was the Wraithkin Court. The National Trust doesn’t own it. It belongs to the wraithkin. It is the home of the Seventh Court!”
Murmurs spread throughout the crowd, between those who didn’t know what the Seventh Court was, and those who did.
“It can’t be,” said Blackbird. “We beat the bounds. The wardings — I’d know.”
Kareesh spoke. “Not for centuries have they been here, not since they were exiled — nigh a thousand years. In all that time it has lain fallow and empty. No one renewed their wardings, no one beat the bounds of the court. It has all but been forgotten, but for a few of us who remember.”
“I knew I felt something,” said Blackbird in disbelief. “I didn’t know what it was.”
“It was a trick,” said Alex, “to bring you here. Can’t you see?”
“We have to get everyone out,” I said to the assembled company. “Everyone down to the Way-node in the village,” I told them. “Go now! It doesn’t matter where you go, just get out! We’ll find you later.”
The doors behind us that led to the garden room drew back and opened wide. I caught Blackbird’s hand and drew her away as the doors drew back into the darkness beyond and figures emerged. We pressed back into the crowd behind us, facing the doorway.
“I think you’ll find,” said a voice I knew well, “that the Way-node in the village is not the safe, happy place it once was. Anyone who wants to leave is going to have to run, and keep running.”
“Raffmir,” I said.
He moved to one side of the door, another wraithkin I did not recognise moving to the other side. In between them was someone I had only ever seen once before once, at the High Court of the Feyre.
“It’s been a long time since the Wraithkin Court had visitors,” said Lord Altair.
“You…” said Blackbird. “You should not be here.”
“Why so?” asked Altair. I was struck again at the rich musical tone of his voice. It had timbre and lightness where you would have expected something harsh and mean.
“You are banned from this world,” she reminded him.