troubling you about my proposal, planeweaver?” the king asked, that dazzling smile pressing down at me through the mirror.
I opened my mouth twice before words came out. “Your offer to let me speak to anyone I wish in your court is generous. But you have mentioned nothing about guarantees of my safety in your court. Nor of my freedom to leave again after I enter.”
“Clever girl. And they say you’ve only known your heritage a few moons, so either you’re a quick study or you’ve had an interesting few months. Okay, come to my court and I will grant you safe passage for”—he paused, considering—“three days and nights. If you wish to leave, I will let you, but after the cold halls of winter, I think you will find summer quite refreshing.”
Three days was much more than I needed. Especially since time in Faerie would climb closer and closer to parallel with the mortal realm as the longest night and solstice approached. We only had a few more hours before the festivities would begin, and that would complicate everything.
It was a good offer. The king was being generous with both protection and safe passage. He really was quite different from the Winter Queen. Far kinder, fairer.
I opened my mouth to agree, but a wave of cold magic shot up my hand, so frosty it seemed to burn my fingers where Falin’s gloved hand touched mine. I yelped, whirling on him as much as I could in the confined space. He just stared at me, his features carefully blank. I narrowed my eyes and then realized what I’d been about to agree to. The king’s glamour was affecting me more than I’d realized. There was no way I was walking into the summer court alone.
I turned back to the king, my smile carefully in place. I was going to have to examine everything I felt around this fae. He could manipulate me far too easily.
“I would require Prince Dugan and the Winter Knight to accompany me.”
“No.”
No negotiation, just a no. Behind the dazzling smile that kept trying to bespell me, the king’s expression was hard. I fought to keep my own expression friendly. We needed to speak to Lunabella. The king wasn’t our only avenue, but he was the only one that didn’t involve bloodshed.
“I would be happy to meet with Lunabella on neutral ground,” I said, and then added, “She should be at the revelry tonight, won’t she?” I smiled more brightly. The king didn’t need to know that our business with Lunabella would be complicated by waiting for tonight. Of course this could simply result in him forbidding her from attending the solstice celebration, but it was a calculated gamble.
To my surprise, the king laughed. A full-bellied laugh that caused his head to tilt back. I glanced at Falin and Dugan, but they both looked as perplexed as I felt.
“Your mortal upbringing is showing, little planeweaver,” the king said, and his green eyes crinkled with mirth. “You ask for something and want instant gratification. The revelry is in mere hours. I could hardly plan an adequate visit for you before that time.”
“A room to speak in would be sufficient.”
“Then how would I entice you to my court? No, you must see us in all our splendor.”
Well, crap.
“Then I would be willing to visit your court twice. I can come now to speak to Lunabella and in the process see what the true nature of your court is. Kind of like popping over to a friend’s unannounced and learning if she only scrubs her toilet when she knows guests are coming,” I said, with a vague gesture to the toilet under my foot. It was spotless, but that had more to do with having a brownie for an office manager than anything to do with my own personal habits. “And I would visit again at a later date, for the three days you have requested. At that time you can try to impress me to your heart’s content. But both times, I require an escort of my choosing.”
The king sobered, the mirth bleeding from his features. “You have flipped the tables. You have taken my offer of hospitality and twisted it until you are gracing us with your presence. Do you think yourself so valuable?”
Falin’s grip tightened to the point of pain and Dugan watched me from the corner of his eye. I considered the king. His face was open, inviting, but waiting. Would he fall on the side of