The Winter Long
Page 23

“October, I would trust you to the ends of the earth with my child’s life and safety; should she ever be endangered again, Oberon forbid, there is no one I would rather set upon her trail,” said Etienne. “But the Fire Kingdoms will freeze before I allow you to babysit.”
I snorted. “Shows what you know. I’m good with teenagers.”
“Yeah,” said Quentin. “She hasn’t gotten me shot in ages.”
“Aren’t you helpful,” I said, glaring at him.
Quentin beamed.
Etienne looked between us, apparently bemused. “Your method of communication remains as irreverent as ever,” he said. “Chelsea woke me, but she has nothing to do with why I came to catch you. Is it true? Is Simon back in the Mists?”
“He came to my house,” I said. “He tried to talk to me. When that didn’t work out for him, he attacked Jasmine and ran. I’m going to the Luidaeg’s now to ask her what we should do, but I wanted to check on Sylvester first.”
“And because of their similarity in appearance, you felt the need to lay eyes upon him yourself, rather than using the telephone,” said Etienne grimly. It wasn’t a guess: he was the one who’d trained me, and he knew how my brain worked. “That makes sense, although it seems needlessly reckless. You shouldn’t be involved in this. Let Sylvester handle it.”
“Fuck. That. For one thing, I’m almost as mad at Sylvester as I am at Simon right now. For another, what do you want me to do? Wait for Simon to come back to the house and condemn us all to a new life in somebody’s fish tank? Nuh-uh. I’m willing to be patient when patience is called for, but that isn’t being patient, that’s being stupid.” I shook my head. “I’m going to the Luidaeg. She doesn’t volunteer information, but at least with her, I know she’s telling me the truth when she speaks.”
“October—”
“I know Simon was married to my mom.” Was still married to her, although I didn’t want to say that out loud; it was too disgusting to waste time thinking about. “Is there anything else you people haven’t been telling me?”
Etienne looked alarmed. He raised his hands, palms toward me. “Peace! I never spoke of it because they were separated, and I assumed you knew and didn’t want to discuss it. It would have been unseemly to bring it up.”
I stared at him, my anger taking on a new white-hot form. “Oh, my sweet Maeve, you thought Sylvester took me as his knight because of Simon, didn’t you? That was why you never believed me when I said I’d earned my post. You thought I was . . . I think I’m going to be sick.”
To his credit, Etienne looked ashamed. “I learned better.”
“Oh, oak and ash.” I closed my eyes for a moment, breathing in deeply. The situation wasn’t Etienne’s fault. He hadn’t done this to me. When I opened my eyes again, he was watching me warily, like I might bite. Forcing my tone to lighten, I said, “Look, I need to run, but once this is all taken care of, we should take the kids and do something fun. Hit Great America for the day.”
“What is ‘Great America’?” asked Etienne, dropping his hands back to his sides.
I smiled. “Ask Chelsea. I’m sure she’ll be happy to explain.” Great America was a local roller coaster park. There was no way Chelsea wouldn’t know all about it, and no way Etienne would be able to avoid an outing once he’d mentioned the possibility. Maybe using his teenage daughter against him was mean, but hell, people used my squire against me all the time. Turnabout was just fair play.
“I will do that.” His expression turned worried. “But please, I have to urge you, don’t go looking for Simon on your own. Whatever he intends can’t be good, especially not for you.”
“I won’t be alone,” I said, glancing to Tybalt, and then to Quentin. “I’ll have a King of Cats and a damn fine Daoine Sidhe illusionist with me. We’ll be all right. Also, I have no intention of fighting fair.” I didn’t say anything about my having thrown one of Simon’s spells back at him. My fingers still ached when I thought about it too hard. It wasn’t something I wanted to discuss with anyone until I had discussed it with someone who might actually be able to tell me something useful.
Etienne shook his head. “You are too cavalier about treating with the sea witch,” he said. “It makes me fear for your safety.”
“Like the Dread Pirate Roberts so often said, she’ll most likely kill me in the morning,” I said. I grabbed a handful of shadows, weaving a human disguise around myself as I continued: “Until that happens, she’s a pretty good ally to have. Hug Chelsea for me, okay? And we’ll talk about getting together soon.”
“I think I would like that,” said Etienne, inclining his head.
“Good. Open roads.” With that, I turned, and beckoned for Tybalt and Quentin to follow as I exited the knowe.
The moment of transition between Faerie and the mortal world was jarring as always. Paso Nogal Park was deserted this early in the morning, and we didn’t see anyone else as we made our way along the narrow walking path that wound down the side of the hill. Leaving Shadowed Hills was always easier than getting in. Maybe there was a deeper meaning to that, but if so, I didn’t want to think about it too hard.
At least my headache was almost gone. I always deal better with emergencies when I’m not actively in pain.
Tybalt put a hand on my shoulder when we reached the bottom of the hill, pulling me to a stop. “This is where I take my leave of you,” he said.
I turned to stare at him, all the tension I thought I’d lost in the snow flooding back again. “What?”
“I said—”
“I heard you.” I turned again, tossing Quentin my keys. “Go get in the car. You don’t need to hear this.”
He was a smart boy. He took off running, and he didn’t look back. I focused my attention on Tybalt.
“Why are you leaving me?”
“Duty.” The word was grim. “I need to notify the Court of Cats that there is danger in the city, and set them to watching for Simon. I’ll ask them to watch your house as well. He won’t take us by surprise a second time.” He smiled a crooked smile, clearly trying to get me to do the same; clearly trying to keep me from worrying.