door still open in your grotto?"
No. It was closed when I was brought here. The cave remains, but the Cairn is gone.
Lady Darksome… "Then I'll have to just send Bastien back with Ivan." I held up the knife and looked at Bastien. "Will you do that? This should send you right back to the barn. All you have to do is get him to a hospital."
Bastien shook his head. "No, chérie. Then you will be trapped here. Doesn't the staff move with the traveler?"
I swallowed and took in a deep breath before I answered. "Yes. But I'll find some way back. I can't carry Ivan around looking for Crwys and neither can you."
"I'm not leaving you here alone."
"What is that?" Tzariene said in a sharp tone that reminded me a lot of Medbh. She pointed at the knife in my hand, and I wondered if she could see something about it I couldn't.
"It's a staff of rowan."
"Let me see it," Tzariene held out her hand.
Again, I hesitated. I really, really wanted to trust her but damn it, she was a freak'n Faerie! And you should never trust them!
"I will not take it, Samantha Hawthorne. I need to touch it."
I looked at Hob. When he nodded, I felt a little better.
A little.
I stood and held the knife out to her handle first. Not that there was any danger of cutting the Faerie. The thing didn't have any real sharpness to it to begin with. It was made of wood, after all. Which was why I was shocked when it flashed an angry red at her touch.
And apparently, so was she. Tzariene pulled back and held her hand to her chest and I thought I saw and smelled smoke. Uh oh. I made a Faerie queen mad now!
The rowan wood is dangerous to Faeries. Tzariene knew this.
"Then why did she touch it?" I blurted out.
"Because…" she said as she held out her hand and I saw her blackened, charred fingers. "I…had to know if it was also…a weapon. Something that could be used in battle."
Lord and Lady! I pulled the knife away and held it behind my back. "Tzariene, I'm so, so sorry."
"It will heal, once I regain my power."
"She took your power?" This amazed me. Brendi had come that far in her transformation into a Faerie? How did she do that?
"Yes, while I was confined within these iron bars. I can't move past them. So I spend my time in this lovely grotto, toying with the Sirens," she nodded to the knife. "You can't use that here, in this place, Samantha."
"It won't work?"
"It will work, but its use will also alert everyone that you're here. Brendi will be able to pinpoint your exact location and find you."
My shoulders slumped as I looked at the knife. "What am I going to do? I can't leave Ivan here. What if I have to use this in a hurry? We have to be together in order to make this work. And he can't follow us, not like this."
Bastien put his hand on mine and I looked up into his golden eyes. He looked sad and very tired. Dark circles hung under his eyes. I could feel through the link, though it was just he and I sharing that link, that Bastien LeBlanc wanted to do more.
Then he looked away from me. "M'selle, is there nothing that can be done for the young man's eyes?"
"What are you asking me?" Tzariene's tone strengthened and her voice lilted just a bit too…much. I looked from her to Bastien.
"I am not asking. I sense there is more you could do, but you are…waiting for something." He gave her a light bow.
Waiting for something? I refocused on Tzariene. "What is he talking about?"
Now, the Tzariene I was accustomed to seeing reared her ugly little deal-making self as her lips tilted to one side in a smirk. "You still have one thing to ask of me."
Of course. Tzariene wanted to dispense with her payment. As long as she did that, I would be required to fulfill my bargain. To slay the Dragon. The Summer Queen was no fool, even as a captive—if that's what she really was.
I had split that payment into two. I asked for information, which she had given me. I had one request left to make. "If I ask for his sight to be returned, you will grant it."
"I have no such power, but there is something in the palace that can return his sight. It will