Chapter 16
I Have a Dream
T abitha had no more desire to stay at the witch’s cottage. Summoning all the belief and magic she had left, she appeared in the White Palace in the back of a crowd of what must have been servants and lesser fae. They paid little attention to her, as everyone was focused on the people in the banquet hall who must have been of higher rank. They all sat at a long table covered with food that could only be dreamed about.
Tom was already seated there by the Queen.
Tabitha wanted to go to him, but before she could take a single step, the Queen started to speak.
Humans were fragile creatures, and the Queen still had to watch her human carefully. She was preparing to announce the coming of Spring to the whole court, but he was only picking at his food. “Tam’lin. Darling, are you not happy with the feast?”
Tam’lin’s hand was on a lock of his hair. One of the beads was missing. “I think I . . . I might have remembered something last night.”
The Queen put down her goblet, almost purring with delight. She had hoped that was what happened. “Did you? Oh, what fun.” It had been so long since Tam’lin had treated her with a story. She was tempted to keep it all to herself, but she was a generous queen. She clapped, calling for the attention of the rest of the table and beyond. “Everyone, Tam’lin is going to tell us another story of the human lands.”
The lavish feast forgotten, the fae and faerie creatures gathered close at their queen’s command in a delicate tinkle of bangled feet and the soft whisper of wings.
Even a few of the animal servants came in from the hall.
Human stories were their favorite, and they especially liked the one Tam’lin told about the shoeless prince—a stubborn cat who refused to talk or wear boots like a proper faerie beast.
When everyone had gathered, Tam’lin hesitated. “Last night, I was out walking in the woods—just walking. But there was a woman. I thought I knew her.”
“Your sister? Another member of your family, perhaps?” the Queen asked, beckoning for him to continue. “In our realm, it is said that mortals can even connect with the spirits of the dead if their bond is strong enough.”
But he shook his head. “I don’t think she was dead, and she wasn’t my sister. She was . . . different. She called me by another name, and I wanted . . . and I felt . . .”
The Queen’s smile instantly dropped. She stood, swinging about to confront one of her seated guests. “Pan’dryn, what is this? You said he didn’t have a true love, that he could be mine and dream of me alone.”
The stag-horned and white-haired fae prince fumbled amongst the cushions they all sat on, almost crawling back like a crab. It wasn’t surprising. Despite his boldness, he was still young—an upstart eager to make a place for himself within the Queen’s court—and there were rumors that he had recently lost the support of a dedicated human holding. “He didn’t have a true love. I checked when I first met him. And then he was a cat— ”
“And you thought a cat couldn’t find true love? Is that what you found in all your dealings with both men and beasts?” Her voice scorched through the room. There might have been some actual heat behind it. She had no desire to shield away all her power as she realized how she had been manipulated. The Queen had been so desperate to fulfill the prophecy that would restore more magic to their realm and so enamored by her human she had ignored what should have been obvious.
Tam’lin might have never cared for her at all without this prince’s interference.
But now she would set it right. “You have underestimated your subjects, Pan’dryn. And you have underestimated me. That alone will lead to your ruin.”
The fae prince cowered in response, and the Queen turned back to Tam’lin.
She pressed her face into a smile so she didn’t frighten him. “Come here, my darling. Tell me of the girl you saw, and don’t be afraid.”
Simple confusion appeared on his face, more than any fear. “She wasn’t like you,” Tam’lin was quick to reassure the Fae Queen. “She was . . . smaller. Weaker. And sometimes she was afraid. But she would always smile for me, no matter what else was wrong. I heard her sing when there were only the cats to hear her. And when she would speak to me—”
“You see? There is nothing to worry about, my queen.” The fae prince on the floor finally found his voice. “He might have formed his own attachment to this girl, but how could it possibly be returned? I swear, he was a cat, and he had no connection to her before then.”
The Fae Queen kept her frown. There had been a human girl smuggled into the start of Spring’s Celebration that was said to have come from the Summer Princess. That had been a lie. But the girl had returned to her own realm, and the Queen had been willing to forget the matter along with the other human children Tam’lin had released—assuming that he simply wanted to safeguard his favored position here. It was a spark of ingenuity and jealous affection she had even seen as sweet. But this was too much of a coincidence. “And why would he choose to form even a one-sided attachment to this girl if he agreed to your bargain as freely as you said he did?”
“It was a free bargain. He wished for the means to defeat an ogre who sent a plague to their lands. I gave it to him. I even allowed him to find and train his own replacement, fully compensating his kingdom for his loss. You know this is true. I cannot lie to you or anyone.”
Tam’lin frowned. “You broke our bargain, and your magic should be forfeit.”
He no longer seemed confused. He was determined. Focused. When had that happened?
“You become a white stag on the Wild Hunts when the rings are open,” Tam’lin continued. “My uncle, the former marquis, caught you and used a corrupted version of your power to start the plague. He even gave you my name because he hoped you would kill me—or at least remove me as the heir to the throne of Umbrae. But you wanted me as your pet instead—you gave me a part of your magic because you wanted me to hunt the marquis and free you by his death. I wanted the plague to end, so I agreed, but only if you agreed that no more harm should come to my family or my kingdom. But my uncle is my family—even if I never told you how we were related. Even if we both wanted him dead. You killed my uncle, and our bargain should be forfeit.”
Soft murmurs trickled through the fae at his pronouncement, and the Queen didn’t even look at the fae prince this time. She couldn’t.
She just pointed at the door.
“Leave me. Retire to your mother’s country until I can stand to see your face again.” She whirled to face the rest of her court. “All of you must leave me at once.”
The fae and their creatures all scattered. Dishes fell. Feathers and trinkets were left behind in their owners’ haste to retreat, but her human didn’t move. He rarely did anything unless the queen directly told him to, and she commanded his every movement when they were together.
But sometimes her attention was called elsewhere.
That was when he had walked and dreamed.
Once the hall was empty, Tam’lin still sat on his cushion and tried to make sense of everything that had passed. “Are you also angry with me, my queen?”
“Of course not, my darling.” Her voice was softer, but she brushed away a tear before it could form. She could see what had happened. Tam’lin’s heart had never been hers. Pan’dryn had merely made it seem that way. The fault lay with him, and perhaps herself for being foolish enough to believe him simply because it fit with what she had wanted to believe. “I could never be angry with you. The bargain you made with Pan’dryn was corrupted by his own deceit, and I have always known that you would leave me eventually. Humans are such fragile and delicate creatures. I should be grateful for the time we had together.” She stepped forward and cupped his face as if memorizing its shape.
Tam’lin tried to look at the ground. She lifted his chin up to face her, but it didn’t help.
His heart was far away from her.
The Queen let out a sigh in resignation. If things were as she now feared, then she had already lost. The human heroes spoken of in the old tales could be troublesome to the fae, but the heroines were far worse. True love was one thing that even she couldn’t fight.
“I cannot say if this counter-bond you made will be returned, but you will have your choice, my love. I cannot take it from you. I will not.” She dropped his face, her words becoming as firm as steel. “And when you see this girl again, this is what you must do . . .”
Tabitha couldn’t believe it. She had come all the way back to the Fae Queen’s palace, determined to help Tom, but the Queen was letting him go, all on her own.
Tabitha moved out of the crowd, ready to meet Tom when he left the palace, but that was not who she found first. The fair-haired queen appeared before her. “I thought I would find you here. I think it’s time the two of us spoke.”