“I’m looking for a mirror, one lost in your world centuries ago.” The Grey paused as if waiting for a reaction and got none. “It’s very valuable, and you shall help me find it.”
Caspian was willing to bet that the mirror he’d picked up at the garage sale wasn’t the one the Grey wanted, otherwise they wouldn’t be having this one-sided conversation. The Grey would have merely taken it and left. This Grey knew about the Window. Was he the one Dylis had warned about? However, the Grey didn’t know that Caspian knew as much about the Court as he did.
“What does it look like?” If he spoke carefully and gave no real answers, perhaps the Grey would leave, perhaps Dylis would show up… hell, perhaps his father would show up and kill the Grey. All unlikely outcomes. The best he could hope for was politely refusing and hoping the Grey left without doing more damage.
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t need you, would I?” The Grey took a couple of paces and kicked a chipped cup. It spun across the tiles and smashed against the wall sending shards across the kitchen floor.
Caspian’s fingers curled at his side, but he forced himself to remain still. He couldn’t react. The Grey was trying to goad him.
“What makes you think I’ll help you?” Caspian knew he was on dangerous ground, baiting the Grey, but he wouldn’t stand for such a blatant invasion in his home.
Before Caspian could even track the movement, the Grey had closed the distance and snagged a handful of Caspian’s hair.
Caspian bit back a curse but didn’t struggle. If he got angry, he’d make mistakes and he couldn’t afford to make mistakes with this Grey. This close he could see the fine lines of desperation etched around the man’s eyes. The too sharp jut of his cheekbones. Recently banished but trying to hold onto his looks and power.
A human would have looked into those pale bottomless eyes and done whatever was asked of them. The magic slid over Caspian’s skin and fell away without leaving a trace. He drew in a breath and looked steadily back. He wouldn’t show even a glimmer of fear, even though his stomach writhed with ice-cold snakes.
“You will help me because you don’t have a choice.” The Grey glared at him, and again Caspian felt the shimmer of magic as the Grey tried to enchant him.
This time the magic didn’t roll away quite so easily. If the Grey kept going there was a chance Caspian’s defenses would crack. And he’d thought all that time with Dylis learning how to be safe around fairies was a waste. Now he wished he’d paid greater attention and been a better student instead of just doing enough to get her off his back. As he stared down the Grey, Caspian was sure he could see subtle changes; a deepening of the lines, a dulling of his skin, and a fraying of his clothing. Every time the Grey tried to enchant him, every time he used magic, he was losing a little more. Soon he would have to choose. Stature or looks or power—and even then a Grey couldn’t live forever. Cut off from the magic of the Court, they were condemned to a powerless and slow and ugly death. The thing all fairies feared.
Caspian waited until the Grey stopped trying to enchant him, then he crossed his arms and smiled like he hadn’t noticed the magic gliding over his bare skin. “I need more information.”
He had no idea where to even start looking.
The Grey’s jaw worked as he considered what to say next.
Caspian was just as curious about how much the Grey would reveal as he was about the mirror. It must be something very special for a Grey to come to him for help. Did he not fear that Caspian would go directly to Court with this news—or was he aware that Caspian never went near Court?
With a snarl the Grey released Caspian and stepped away as if touching a human would infect him with mortality. “The mirror is fairy-made and very old. It hasn’t been seen in over a century. I hope to find it and return it to your grandfather.” The Grey folded his hands in front of him and tried not to look desperate.
The act would have worked better if he hadn’t started off by destroying the tea set and being haughty and rough.
While he would have liked to laugh and tell the Grey no outright, he didn’t. He was having a conversation with a Grey and so far hadn’t agreed to anything and he still had his soul. He was winning, and hopefully he could end this his way and with no nasty side effects.
“You hope to buy your way back to Court.”
“You’re a little too perceptive for a human.”
“I’m a little too fairy to be human.” Every word out of Caspian’s mouth was carefully spoken so it couldn’t be misconstrued.
“You have psychometry, you can read objects. Find me the Window.” The Grey thumped his fist on the kitchen counter.
“Why?”
The Grey blinked, startled as if no one had ever questioned him before. “Because I said.”
Caspian shook his head. “You have no authority over me, and I don’t make deals with fairies.”
The Grey nodded, his pale eyes cold and calculating. “Not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But you will help me find the mirror I seek.” Then he turned and walked down the hallway and out the door.
For several heartbeats Caspian didn’t move. His breaths were shaky as he let the tension go. He’d survived—that was a small victory. He curled his fingers and forced movement though his limbs. Slowly he picked up the larger pieces of the tea set and placed them on the kitchen counter, then he swept up the shards and spilled sugar and put them in the bin. As he worked he became aware he was being watched.
Dylis. She could go back to Annwyn and stay there. He ignored her the way he wished he’d ignored the Grey as he filled the little teapot. A hairline crack ran up the side. It wouldn’t last. Dylis was silent for once, as if she knew that speaking first would be the wrong thing to do. He took a breath and forced calm into his voice.
“Who was he?” Caspian didn’t turn to look at his godmother.
“Shea ap Greely.”
“And who the hell is he?” Caspian rounded on Dylis.
Dylis cast her gaze over the damaged cups as if debating how much to tell him. With a muttered curse she sat on the counter. “The ripples in the river of souls were caused by the Queen’s not-so-subtle affair with Shea.”
Now he was getting the full story out of Dylis instead of a hint designed to spike his curiosity. “And he got banished for it while she still gets to be Queen.”
Dylis nodded. “Annwyn needs both King and Queen.”
Caspian’s jaw tensed. “So she gets away with cheating.”
“Don’t put your values on us. She and the King have both had lovers. When you live as long as we do, being faithful literally is an eternity. What matters is love. The very idea of sharing power is enough to make most of us swear off the very mortal affliction.” Dylis glittered with fury as if all her power was trying to burst out of the tiny body she chose to wear in the mortal world. “Shea stole her heart from the King.”
The Queen was no longer in love with the King; she was in love with Shea. That was what caused the ripples on the river of damned souls. Caspian didn’t want to be caught in a power struggle between the King of Annwyn, the Queen, and her lover. No wonder the Prince was concerned. There was no way that was going to end well for anyone.
A sigh slipped past his lips. If the river broke its banks, there would be plague the likes of which the world hadn’t seen since the Black Death.
A squabble and a hundred died.
A fight and thousands died.
If the King and Queen separated, the world was fucked.
“Finding the mirror will calm the river?” While he could turn his back on fairy politics, he couldn’t walk away when their bickering bled through and started killing humans.
“It will help.”
He nodded. “And where were you while Shea was trying to trick me? I thought you were supposed to help me with this stuff.”