"And now you do dirty work for her son," I said. My voice was carefully neutral, almost pleasant.
"At least he sought us to do his work." The anger in that small, delicate figure was frightening. Her rage made her take up more space than mere physicality could explain. She was truly regal in her rage.
"I offer you what the queen will not. I offer what the prince will not."
"And what is that?"
"Royal blood, blood of the very throne of the Unseelie Court. Ally with me, Queen Niceven, and you will have such blood. Not only once, but many times more."
Her eyes became narrow little slits again, glittering with a fire colder than the diamonds on her crown. "What would either of us gain from such an alliance?"
"You would gain the ear and the aid of my allies."
"The goblins have little to do with us."
"And what of the sidhe?"
"What of them?"
"As ally to one of the heirs, you would gain status. They would no longer be able to dismiss you, for fear that you might bear a grudge and whisper it back to me."
She kept those glowing eyes on me. "And what would you gain from this alliance?"
"You would spy for me, as well as for the queen."
"And Cel?"
"You would cease to spy for him."
"He won't like that."
"He doesn't have to like it. If you are my ally, then to injure you is to insult me. The queen has decreed that I am under her protection. To harm me now is a death sentence."
"So he insults me, then you step in. Then what?"
"Threaten to bring your entire court out here to Los Angeles, out here to me."
She shivered. "I would not wish to take my people out into the city of men." She spoke as if there were only one city of men, the city.
"You could live in the botanical gardens, acres of open land. There's room for you here, Niceven, I swear it."
"But I do not want to leave the court."
"Wherever the demi-fey travel, faerie follows."
"Most sidhe do not remember that."
"My father made sure I knew the history of all the fey. The demi-fey are the most closely allied with the rawness that is faerie, the very stuff that makes us different from the humans. You are not leprechaun, or pixie, to pine and die away from faerie. You are faerie. Is it not said that when the last demi-fey fades, there will be no more faerie upon the earth?"
"A superstition," she said.
"Maybe, but if you leave the Unseelie Court and the Seelie Court retains its own demi-fey, the Unseelie will be weakened. Cel may not remember that bit of our lore, but the queen will. If Cel insults you enough for you to pack your belongings, the Queen will intercede."
"She will order us to stay."
"She cannot order another monarch to do anything. That is our law."
Niceven looked nervous. She feared Andais. Everyone did. "I do not wish to anger the queen."