“Ouch.” I mock grimaced. “Well, it’s nice to feel so wanted.” The Exile Queen narrowed her eyes, looking a bit more dangerous, and I grinned back. “Sorry to burst your bubble, Lea, but I was here first. If ice-boy wants me to leave, he can say so. Otherwise, I’m not going anywhere.”
I wasn’t anyway, and they both knew it, but Leanansidhe looked at Ash. When he didn’t say anything, she huffed. “You both are impossible,” she stated, throwing up her hands. “Oh, very well. Stay or go, darling, it makes no difference to me. In fact…” She stopped then, midgesture, regarding me with a faint smile that made me nervous. “Now that I think of it, this might be for the best. Yes, of course. This will work out nicely.”
Ash and I exchanged a glance. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like what’s coming next?” I muttered. He shook his head, and I sighed. “Okay, enough dancing around. For the ten-million-dollar question—what exactly did you lose, Lea?”
“A violin,” Leanansidhe exclaimed, as if that were obvious. “It is most upsetting, and I have been a broken wreck because of it.” She sniffed, clutching at her heart. “My favorite violin, stolen right out from under me.”
“A violin?” I echoed, making a face. “Really? You’re calling in a favor for that? What, you don’t want to wait until you’ve lost a pipe organ or something?”
Ash regarded her solemnly. “You want us to find the thief,” he said, and it wasn’t really a question.
“Well, not really, darling.” Leanansidhe scratched the side of her face. “I have a good idea who the thief is, and where they took my precious violin. I simply need you to go there and bring it back.”
“If you know who the thief is, and where they took the violin, why do you need us?”
Leanansidhe smiled at me. It was a very evil smile, I thought. “Because, my darling Puck,” she crooned, “my precious violin was stolen by Titania, your Summer Queen. I need you and the Winter prince to go into the Seelie Court and steal it back.”
* * *
Oh, fabulous.
“Well,” I said cheerfully, “is that all? Steal something back from the Queen of the Seelie Court? I was just thinking we needed to go on a suicide mission, right ice-boy?”
Ash ignored me, typical of him. “Queen Titania has your violin?” he asked, incredulous. “Are you certain it was her?”
“Quite certain, darling.” Leanansidhe pulled a cigarette flute out of the air, puffing indignantly. “In fact, this was right after you went back into the Nevernever. The jealous shrew made quite sure I knew who was responsible. She still believes I stole her wretched golden mirror, all those years ago, and has never forgiven me for it.” Lea paused then, and looked right at me. “I do not know how she has come to think that, pet, do you?”
I blinked innocently. “Why are you looking at me, Lea?” I asked, batting my eyelashes. “Is this the face of such a dastardly villain?” Leanansidhe sighed.
“Anyway,” she continued, turning back to Ash, “that is the situation. And as I cannot go into the courts any longer, I need someone who can. That’s where you two come in.”
“I cannot just walk into Arcadia,” Ash said. “I will be trespassing, and by law the Summer King may have me executed if we are discovered. You know this.”
“I know, darling,” Lea placated. “But I suspect you’ll be able to come up with something. Especially if you have Master Goodfellow with you.” She smiled and puffed a smoke rabbit at me. “Unless, of course, he is not up to the challenge. Unless he’s afraid of his terrible Summer Queen.”
“Oh, please. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” I told her, raising an eyebrow. “I’m not dumb enough to fall for that, Lea. Who do you think you’re talking to, anyway?”
“I would think this is right up your alley, darling,” the Exile Queen returned. “Sneak the Winter prince into Arcadia, right under Titania’s nose? Steal something from the bitch queen’s room, only to hand it over to her rival? It has ‘Robin Goodfellow’ written all over it.”
Yeah, it did, didn’t it? This sounded exactly like one of my pranks, and truthfully, under other circumstances, I’d be more than eager. Titania wasn’t fond of me, and the feeling was mutual. Any chance I got to annoy, irritate or piss off the Summer Queen, I’d jump at the opportunity. It wasn’t that I hated her, she was my queen after all, but she really needed to lighten up. Besides, I’d heard about what she did to Meghan the first time they met, and that needed a little payback. No one turns my Summer princess into a deer and gets away with it, even if it is the Seelie Queen. Even if Meghan would never know that I’d defended her.
Right now, however, I understood Ash’s impatience. The vow he made to Meghan, his promise to return to her, didn’t really have an expiration date, but I figured it would be a long, arduous adventure without all these annoying side quests. We needed to be searching for a certain obnoxious furball, not pranking the Seelie Queen, no matter how entertaining that sounded.
Except, Lea really wasn’t giving us a choice.
“So, if you two could get right on that—” she smiled, waving her cigarette flute at us “—I’d be ever so grateful. When you have the violin, just meet me back here, darlings. I’ll have my spies monitor your progress. But now, you must excuse me. I’m afraid I left Razor Dan in charge of security while I was gone, and I must return quickly before he or his motley eats someone. Good luck, pets! Don’t get yourselves turned into a rosebush!”
Another swirl of glitter and lights, and the Exile Queen was gone.
Ash sighed. “Don’t say anything, Goodfellow.”
“What? Me?” I grinned at him. “Say something? I’m not the type who would point out that, for once, this absurd situation isn’t my fault. Of course, I know better than to make deals with crazy Exile Queens with goddess complexes. And if I did, I would expect them to call in the favor at the worst possible time. But I’m certainly not one to rub it in. That would just be wrong.”
Ash pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m beginning to regret inviting you.”
“You wound me deeply, Prince.” I laced my hands behind my head, enjoying myself. “Especially since you’re gonna need my help to get into Summer. Don’t think Oberon and Titania won’t notice a Winter prince strolling right into the heart of Arcadia. You’d stick out like an ogre in a china shop.”
He scowled, whether from the seemingly impossible task of sneaking into Arcadia or because I just compared him to an ogre, I didn’t know. “I assume you have a plan?” he muttered, crossing his arms.
I shot him an evil grin and was rewarded by his brief look of trepidation. “Please. Did you forget who you’re talking to, ice-boy? Just leave everything to me.”
Chapter Two
FOR OBERON IS PASSING FELL AND WRATH
It was twilight when we crossed the barrier from the mortal realm into the wyldwood. Then again, it was always twilight beneath the wyldwood’s huge canopy. Sunlight couldn’t penetrate the thick branches of the trees rising hundreds of yards into the air. Unlike the vivid brightness of Summer and the frigid harshness of Winter, the wyldwood was eternally dark, tangled and dangerous. It was constantly changing, so you never knew what you’d run into next.
I loved it. Even though I was Summer, this felt more like home than anywhere else.
“Here we are,” I said, stepping beneath a pair of cypresses twisted together to form an arch between the trunks. Around us, the murk of the wyldwood closed in
, though a few lone will-o’-the-wisps bobbed through the leaves, looking for lost travelers. Thick black briars crawled between trunks, creeping along the ground as they strangled the life from all other vegetation. “Arcadia isn’t far. I would’ve used the trod that takes us through the quartz caverns, but I’m afraid a lindworm has taken up residence since the last time I was there.”
Ash looked around, always alert, and raised an eyebrow. “You do realize you’ve brought us right into the middle of hedge wolf territory.”
Inwardly I winced. I was hoping he wouldn’t notice that small fact. “Well, we’ll just have to sneak through nice and quiet.”
“Hedge wolves don’t have ears,” Ash continued. “They hunt by sensing the vibrations in the ground. And in the air. They’re probably listening to us right now.”
“Do you want to reach the Summer Court or not, princeling?” I challenged, crossing my arms. “This is the quickest way.”
A rustle in a bramble patch drew our attention, and we caught a glint of a baleful green eye as something huge and bristly drew away into the shadows.
“And…there it goes to alert the rest of the pack.” Ash glared at me. “Why do things always happen when I’m around you?”
“Just lucky, I suppose,” I said cheerfully, as we hurried away before the rest of the pack could arrive.
* * *
It didn’t go as well as I planned. Hedge wolves were ambush predators, though certainly not the nastiest monsters we’d ever faced. But they were tricky bastards, and had the bad habit of looking exactly like an innocent briar patch until you were right up on them and then boom, you had this big, wolf-shaped bush lunging at your face. We dodged, ducked and slashed our way past the first dozen or so, avoiding the spiky bushes of death that leaped at us with no warning, or lunged out from the briars. Unfortunately hedge wolves also had the audacity to learn from past mistakes, and they started using strategy and group tactics against us.
We stepped into a clearing just as one of the bristly creatures slid into the brambles ahead of us. As we eased forward, tense and wary, four bushes around us sprang to life and charged. Ash and I spun, going back-to-back instinctively as the spiky creatures lunged from all sides. Ash’s sword lashed out, slicing one from the air as I stabbed upward with my dagger, caught a hedge wolf under the jaw and hurled it into its friend. The last wolf met a sudden end on Ash’s blade, but then without warning, another pair of brambles unfurled and lunged, catching us by surprise this time. I felt the spiky body of a huge wolf slam into me, knocking me flat, as the second wolf chomped down on the prince’s sword arm.
I felt a flash of cold behind me and winced. Ice-boy’s temper had finally snapped. From the corner of my eye, I saw the prince step forward, pushing his arm farther into the wolf’s jaws. There was another flash, and the hedge wolf stiffened as icicles burst out of its muzzle, punching through its jaws like giant needles. Ash grabbed the wolf’s muzzle with his free hand and yanked it down with a loud crack, snapping its jaw like a frozen twig. The wolf yelped, curled in on itself and stopped moving.
I scowled at the wolf above me, holding those nasty teeth away from my face. “Ugh, my friend, you really need a breath mint,” I told him, sending a pulse of glamour into the brambly monster above me. “Let’s see what we can do about that doggie breath.”
Vines grew from the wolf’s thorny head, slithering over its face. They wrapped around its jaws like a muzzle, clamping them shut, and the wolf’s eyes got huge and round. Whimpering pathetically, it leaped away, clawing at its face, and ran off, disappearing into the woods.
Dusting myself off, I climbed to my feet. “Well, that was…interesting,” I ventured, deliberately ignoring Ash’s glare. His sleeve was tattered, and blood smeared his forearm up to his elbow. “I don’t remember hedge wolves ever doing that before.”
“If I didn’t need you to get into Summer…”
“Oh, but you do,” I reminded him, grinning. “Let’s not forget that, huh, ice-boy?” His expression darkened even more, but he turned away.
“Come on,” Ash said, his voice even colder than normal. “We don’t have time for your idiocy now.”
“That’s what I like about you Winter fey…you’re all such scintillating wits, such clever purveyors of words, such wise and frolicsome—”
I ducked as a pinecone zipped by my head with enough force to have done more than muss my hair. A chuckle escaped me. “Always good to know you care, ice-boy.” With a quick laugh I sprinted ahead, hoping to get out of range of any colder—and sharper—missiles that might be coming my way.
* * *
After the fiasco with the wolves, we separated for a bit, with the frosty prince vanishing into the surrounding woods to clean and bind his arm while I made camp. We couldn’t wait for a later time. It was never a good idea to tromp through the wyldwood bleeding; you’d attract everything—and I mean everything—in the area. Besides, night was falling, and if we ventured any farther, we’d cross into the Fen Marches. Barghests and bog wraiths roamed those swamps at night, looking for victims, and though I wouldn’t mind the challenge of crossing the swamps without being eaten or drowned, we had a mission to complete.
So, I found a grotto surrounded by glowing blue-and-orange fungi and carpeted in moss, cleared out a space and made a fire. Spearing a couple wild mushrooms I’d found earlier, I held the stick over the flames, leaning back contentedly. Ash hadn’t returned, but knowing ice-boy he’d probably go hunting once he was done with his arm. I wasn’t worried; he’d find this place when he was ready.
I snorted, rolling my eyes. Unless the stubborn idiot decided to strike out on his own again. Hopefully he’d learned his lesson the last time he’d tried something like that.
A weight settled in my gut. I hadn’t meant to think of that night, but now that I had, there was no use trying to forget. I gazed into the fire, letting my eyes unfocus, and the memories came creeping back.
It was an evening much like this one, in a place surrounded by glowing flowers, except it was Winter’s territory and not the wyldwood. They hadn’t seen me, hadn’t known I was awake, but I had watched Ash and Meghan that night; listened as he told her he was leaving, alone, to retrieve the Scepter of the Seasons. I’d listened as he told her to go home, back to the mortal world, to forget him. I’d watched both their faces, Meghan’s streaked with tears as she tried to be brave; Ash’s torment carefully sealed away. I’d said nothing, done nothing, as he’d broken her heart, turned away and walked out of her life.
And…I’d been glad.
I scrubbed a hand over my face, disgusted with myself. I’d been glad, because Ash had crushed my princess’s heart, because he was gone, and perhaps I could finally get her to look at me. I had been too patient, biding my time, waiting for the day the princess would open her eyes and see her faithful Puck as something more than a goofy friend. I would be more than her guardian and champion and the jester who made her laugh. I would be her everything, if I could.
With a sigh, I yanked the mushrooms from the fire and bit into them aggressively. After Ash had left, I’d tried to mend my princess’s shattered heart, the one the stone-cold ice-prince had broken so efficiently. And for one blissful moment, I’d thought I had a chance. The memory of Meghan’s kiss was seared into my brain, and I would never forget that day, one of the happiest moments of my life. But, against all odds, Meghan and Ash had found their way back to each other, defying every court of Faery to be together, and I was left behind.
In the end, I’d lost her.
So why the hell am I still here?
“Goodfellow.”
I jerked up. The deep voice wasn’t Ash’s; it was far too low and powerful to belong to the frosty ice-prince. I knew it instantly; it was a voice that could command entire forests and woodlands, a voice that I had obeyed long before I ever met the mercurial prince of Winter.
Oberon stared at me over the fire, his eyes glowing amber in the shadows, the expression on his narrow face making the very ground quake in fear.
“Hello, Robin,” Oberon murmured, unsmiling. “I fear we must have a little talk.”
Aw, crap.
* * *
I stood warily, careless grin firmly in place, lacing my hands behind my head. Anyone else would’ve bowed or knelt or curtsied or at least nodded respectfully, but I’d known the Seelie King for such a long time, such formalities between us were completely useless. If I made any show of respect, Oberon would know something was up. As well as I knew him, the Summer King knew me just as well.
“Why, Oberon.” I nodded, still smiling. “What are you doing here?” I eyed his armor and the great bow across his back. “Out for a little hunt? All by yourself? And you didn’t invite me along? I’m hurt.”
“Dispense with the foolishness, Robin.” The Seelie King waved a hand, and thunder rumbled in the distance. Between us, the campfire flared like it wanted to jump out of the pit, and the plants surrounding us went nuts, writhing and twisting and dancing like they were ecstatic to see him. Such was the immense power of the Summer King. “We both know why I am here, I think. Where is the Unseelie prince?”
“Prince?” I frowned, though my heart started racing under my shirt. How had Oberon learned about Ash so quickly? We weren’t even in Arcadia yet. “Why would you think I know anything about the Unseelie prince?” I asked, adopting my best innocent expression. “We’re supposed to be enemies. In case you haven’t heard, he made this teensy little oath to kill me someday.”