Chapter 39: Dinner and Disgust

Dinner, as it turned out, was venison, cooked rare, whipped potatoes, and a bloody looking vegetable dish that I refused to try. Ellery whispered that it was red from beets, but I still wasn’t taking any chances. Conversation was formal and sparse while we ate, although Queen Esmeralda tried to draw me out a number of times.

I was so on edge from the ominous tension that hung in the air that I was not my most charming. The majority of the Council members all seemed to be uncomfortable as well, but not because of me. Over dessert, which was dark chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, it became apparent as to why.

“Your majesty? If I may speak freely?” the Head of Security asked. His long brown hair was worn in an assortment of braids, and he had wrinkles in between his eyes. Even the Court Astronomer, who, I had been informed, was five hundred years old, didn’t have wrinkles. I wondered what could be causing him such distress, but I didn’t have to wonder long.

“You may, Tarquin.”

He glanced at me and Ellery before speaking. “I regret to inform you all that our scouts have reported that the enemies of the Unseelie seem to be mobilizing. I am afraid that now that the Duchess of Thorns is almost of age and has found her Other that they intend to strike before they can mark each other.”

Queen Esmeralda drew in a sharp breath. “You have confirmation of this, Tarquin?”

“We do. Just last week we apprehended an Incubus who was trying to enter the Duchess of Thorns’ bedroom, intent on marking her. Yesterday we captured a Satyr with the same goal.”

Queen Esmeralda shattered her wine glass with one hand. “They turn against the House they have pledged loyalty to? In an effort to do to Ellery what was done to my Rowan? I will kill them.”

“I thought that whoever, or whatever, attacked Princess Rowan died.” Eight heads whipped in my direction. “If that’s true then why are these other beings attempting what he attempted?”

The High Cleric gave a bark of laughter. “You’ve already sampled everything the Duchess of Thorns has to offer. Surely you know the answer.”

He was a tall, lean Fae, with black hair that hung to the top of his ass, and while his facial features should have made him handsome, the sour expression he had sported for the entire dinner ruined any semblance of attractiveness.

“Alastair!” Queen Esmeralda admonished. He stopped speaking, but smirked at me. I decided to find a way to have him executed once Ellery was queen.

Ellery finally said something, but chose to ignore Alastair’s repulsive comment. “My Other is right. If my mother’s attacker perished the night I was born then why have I been pursued my whole life? What do we know of the bastard? Maybe he isn’t dead after all.”

This set off murmurs amongst the council and I noticed that Alastair flinched at Ellery’s words. Tarquin answered.

“Rowan burned her attacker to a crisp that night. We know very little about who or what he was. Even his ultimate motives are speculation.”

“What do you propose we do about keeping Ellery safe, Tarquin?” asked Queen Esmeralda.

“I feel that it would be prudent for the Marking Ceremony to be conducted this Winter Solstice.”

“Absolutely not. Ellery is not yet eighteen. I was marked at age fifteen and it has prevented me from engaging with the human realm causing a terrible rift.”

“I dislike the idea as well; your majesty, but I see no other recourse. As long as they remain unmarked they are capable of being compromised.” His tone and facial expression were tinged with regret.

“Could Ellery just mark me? That way, even if someone else managed to mark her, she could still only bear my children.”

“That isn’t how marking works,” groused Alastair. “The female must be made fertile before she can claim the father of her future offspring if she wishes to give birth to an actual living child.”

“Well excuse me for trying to come up with a solution that doesn’t require Ellery to spend the rest of her life looking like a seventeen year old girl and getting pregnant before she’s graduated high school. It seems to me that even if we did this that these bastards would simply go after any daughters we might have.

I balled up my napkin to keep from pounding the table. “They didn’t give up when they failed with Rowan; I doubt they’ll give up when they fail with Ellery. And you better believe that they will fail.”

Alastair was about to reply when Tarquin tried to calm everyone down. “The future Duke of Thorns does raise a valid point, your majesty. These efforts are persistent and relentless. I confess I am at a loss.”

Queen Esmeralda sighed. “As am I.” She sighed again. “Let us leave this discussion for another time.”

“Shall we discuss the Twelfth Night Ball instead, your majesty?” asked Alastair.

“An excellent suggestion, Alastair.” She turned her attention to us. “On Twelfth Night we will be having a masquerade ball in honor of you finding your Other, Ellery. You must open the ball with the traditional court dance. I trust you remember it?”

“I do Mathair Mhor, but-”

“But what Duchess?” snapped Alastair. “Do you wish to bow out of this honor as you have bowed out of so many others over the years? You refused to take part in the Blessings of Blooms with all of the other Unseelie females born the same year as you, and you did not take part in Flowing of the Waters upon your fifteenth birthday as you should have. I am beginning to think you hold no respect for our traditions and ways.”

“Alastair,” snapped Ellery, “the Blessing of Blooms is an antiquated and disgusting ritual, one that you resurrected, and one that my mother also refused to participate in. As for the Flowing of the Waters, I was ill and could no more have submerged myself in an icy river than I could have flown to the moon.”

Before they could argue further I interrupted. “Let me see if I understand. You want to throw us a ball on Twelfth Night, and not just any sort of ball, but a damn masquerade when not five minutes ago the head of security confessed that the enemies of your kingdom are redoubling their efforts to kidnap and rape Ellery? What part of that sounds like an intelligent plan?”

Alastair visibly bristled. “Crown Princess Ellery has clearly failed to teach you the importance of Unseelie traditions, not that I expected her to when she values them so little herself.”

I stood up. “No tradition is more important than her safety.”

Queen Esmeralda threw her hand up to stop our argument.

“Ellery’s Other raises a valid point, Alastair. Her safety is of utmost importance, but I also recognize the sanctity of the Twelfth Night Ball. Perhaps a compromise can be achieved. They shall open the ball with the traditional court dance, and then remain seated in their thrones for no more than a half an hour. We need only imply that their desire for one another is what caused their early departure and everyone will be appeased.”

Alastair’s expression showed that he was not impressed by this suggestion. “May I speak freely, your majesty?”

Esmeralda nodded in assent.

“Crown Princess Ellery demonstrates a bias towards the Seelie and Human realms. If she remains only for slightly over a half an hour at the ball thrown in her honor it will only further the rumors that she will subvert the best interests of the Unseelie in favor of others.”

“I do not have a bias!” Ellery hissed. “There are many Unseelie traditions that I love and admire.”

“Name one,” snarled Alastair.

“That every queen is allowed to name her own High Cleric when she ascends to the throne.”

Alastair’s face contorted with repressed rage. “Your majesty, I will not stay here and be insulted. The only amount of time I will accept for them to remain at the ball is two hours and they must dance with all of the council members and their Others as per tradition.”

With that he stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.

Queen Esmeralda turned to Ellery with a defeated expression on her face. “Must you antagonize him? Had things been different he would have been your father.”

“All the more reason for him to stop being a pervert.”

“Perversion doesn’t exist in the realms of the Fae. Perhaps Alastair is right and you have lived in the human realm far too long.”

Ellery stood up and slammed her hand on the table.

“Dreaming about fucking the woman who might have been his child is beyond the pale, even here. I love you, but you are blind to his true nature. My Other and I will be returning to our home now. We will stay for the two hours requested at the Twelfth Night Ball, but no more, and I will not dance with Alastair. Good night, Mathair Mhor, council members.”

She nodded to them all and held out her arm for me to escort her from the table. I took her elbow and we left the dining room as a deep silence settled around us.

When we were safely out of the Unseelie realm and ensconced in our apartment I asked the questions that were burning me up. “Do they really think that Alastair was intended to be Rowan’s Other? What about your grandfather? Where is he? What is the Blessing of the Blooms?”

“Alastair claims that Rowan was his Other, but I’ve never believed it to be the case. His personality is too revolting, no matter how pretty his face is. Now that we know what we know about the mark behind Jojo’s ear I am positive he’s been lying in order to gain special privileges.”

She buried her face in my chest. “I hate him. Just being in the same room with him makes me feel dirty and sick.”

“I can see why. Something about him smells wrong. He doesn’t smell like the rest of the Council members.”

“Really?” Ellery’s eyes lit up. “I wonder what he’s hiding.”

“We’ll find out. I have a feeling that he’s behind all of this in some way.”

“I’m so glad you were with me.”

“I’m never going to let you go there alone.” I held her close and felt her relax. “Is your grandfather dead?” I asked softly.

“Maybe. Mathair Mhor hasn’t found her Other. One of her courtiers was teasing her, saying that he would mark her so she’d never age, and while they were laughing and joking and running around he accidentally did. He was banished from Court.”

“So your grandfather?”

“Mathair Mhor refused to pick a suitor, saying she wanted to wait for her Other, but when her parents became ill she finally acquiesced. She selected a handful of courtiers and slept with them all so that no one could be sure which one was the father.”

“Yikes.” I thought that over and asked, “and the bloom thing?”

Ellery’s face darkened. “The Blessing of the Blooms is when all female Unseelie born in a year come to the sacred temple on the last night of the year they turn thirteen and wait topless for the High Cleric to anoint their breasts. Then they are expected to walk from the temple to the palace for everyone to witness.”

Bile rose in my throat. “That motherfucker!”

“It is supposed to bring blessings to the Unseelie and increase fertility. Birth rates amongst the Unseelie are very low and have been for a century. That’s his cover story for why he brought it back.

“in reality fertility rates are low because the Unseelie have isolated themselves so much that without an influx of other magic they will begin to die out in the next generation. There were only fifteen Unseelie born the year I was, and only four were female. No amount of molestation will change that.”

“That realm is profoundly fucked up isn’t it?”

“It is.” She leaned against me and sighed.

“Let’s go to bed then, Princess.”