You mean my brother. I bit my lip to keep myself from saying those words to her. Anyone else might believe her act as the doting mother and selfless monarch, but I knew what she was. And as the missing pieces began to fall into place, I realized her true motive for taking the ke’tain. She did want to coerce Unseelie into closing the barrier, but not for the good of Faerie.
Twenty years ago, she’d taken a human child, secretly made him Fae, and passed him off as her son and heir. When he announced he was going to the human world, she knew there was a risk, however small, of someone discovering his real identity, and she would do whatever she could to keep her secret safe.
What I still didn’t know was why she had stolen my brother. She didn’t hide her revulsion of humans. Why would she convert one and raise him as her own child? What was I missing?
“That brings us to our current dilemma. After all that has happened, Unseelie is still unconvinced we must close the barrier. And now they insist it is healing faster than expected.” Queen Anwyn sat up and fixed me with an accusing stare as if she somehow knew I was behind that. “The only way to change their minds is to take the ke’tain and force their hand.”
“You can’t do that.” I tried to stand, but Bauchan’s hand clamped on my shoulder, roughly pushing me down into the chair.
“Don’t you see what will happen if you take it out of Faerie again?” I asked her. I thought about everything I’d done to restore the ke’tain’s power. It had pulled energy from the other ke’tains, and I didn’t know if they had enough power in them to do that again so soon without weakening them too much.
She looked at me like I was a simpleton. “The ke’tain will stay in our world. I don’t need to change the balance of magic this time because people already know what could happen. Their fear will drive them to do what needs to be done.”
“They won’t close the barrier if they think the ke’tain was taken from Faerie,” I said.
She nodded, looking pleased with herself. “That is why it will be found along with the thief. We were going to pick a random person from Unseelie and make it look like they were the culprit. That was until your timely capture in the temple. Your mysterious ability to get past the temple wards and your unwillingness to explain it make you the perfect suspect. Add to that your escape from the cells, and no one will believe you are innocent. I could not have planned it better myself.”
A sour taste filled my mouth because she was right. It didn’t matter if Lukas believed in me or if he told his father about my goddess stone. The evidence against me was damning. Not that it would matter to me because I’d be dead. There was no way Queen Anwyn would let me leave Seelie alive knowing what I did.
I lifted my chin, refusing to show her my fear. “Is that why you had me brought to your quarters? You wanted to tell me about your plans and gloat?”
“I do not gloat.” Piqued, she stood so she could look down at me. “I told you all of this so you would know you have nothing to gain by not cooperating with me. Whether it happens today or in a week, I will have the ke’tain in my possession. How you spend your last days does depend on your cooperation.”
She smiled at her head of security behind me. “Bauchan has creative ways of extracting information. If you wish to die with all of your body parts intact, you will tell me what I want to know.”
I swallowed convulsively as cold spread through me. It was one thing to endure the dannakin, which didn’t cause any real physical damage. I could not hold out against the kind of torture she was talking about.
A door opened on the right side of the room, and I started as Queen Anwyn turned that way. I followed her gaze and gasped when Prince Rhys strode into the room.
“Mother, I know you asked me to stay at the mountain house, but I –”
The prince stopped walking so fast he nearly tripped. His stunned eyes met mine before they went to Bauchan and then the queen. “Mother, what is going on? Why is Jesse here?”
Before anyone could speak, he took a few more steps into the room and caught sight of my shackled hands. His nostrils flared, and he started toward me. “What is the meaning of this?”
Queen Anwyn moved with surprising speed to intercept him. “Rhys, what are you doing home?”
“I think my question is more important, don’t you?” He pointed at me and demanded, “Why do you have Jesse in shackles?”
She let out a pained sigh. “I didn’t want you to see this. I know you are fond of Jesse, and I wanted to spare you.”
He shifted his gaze back to her. “Spare me from what?”
“Come sit down.” She took his hand and led him over to sit beside her on the chaise. “Bauchan and the Unseelie head of security were summoned to the temple two days ago. They caught Jesse in the act of trying to steal the ke’tain.”
“That’s not true!” I cried and winced at Bauchan’s bruising grip on my shoulder.
Queen Anwyn went on as if I hadn’t spoken. “She was taken to Unseelie and questioned, but she refused to talk. I learned she was going to be released because she is Prince Vaerik’s lover, and I could not let such an injustice stand.”
Rhys gave me a confused look, and I shook my head. His expression said he didn’t want to believe what she was saying.
“You abducted her?” His tone was incredulous when he faced the queen. “Mother, what are you thinking? You have to send her back.”
A tiny spark of hope flared to life in my chest. She had sent him away so he wouldn’t know what she was up to. Now that he was here, could he actually intervene and help me?
“I did what is best for Seelie and Faerie,” she said as if she was speaking to a child. “When you are king, you will understand the difficult decisions we have to make for the good of our people.”
I don’t know who was more surprised when he retorted, “I hardly think starting a war with Unseelie is good for our people.”
It was clear from her expression that she was not used to him challenging her. It took her several seconds to recover. She let out an indulgent laugh. “War? It’s not like we stole the consort. And she will be returned to them after we interrogate her.”
Rhys did not look convinced. “You could have done that in Unseelie. You did not have to bring her here.”
“I tried to question her, but Korrigan allowed his son to stop the interrogation before she could answer me,” Bauchan said. “The safety of the ke’tain is too important to risk her going free before we know what she was planning to do with it.”
“It was Jesse who returned the ke’tain to us,” Rhys reminded him. “Why would she want to steal it?”
Bauchan’s fingers dug into my shoulders. “That is what we want to know.”
The look Rhys gave me was pleading. “Jesse?”
“I didn’t. I…”
“You see?” Queen Anwyn laid a hand on Rhys’s arm. “She will not even tell you the truth, and you are friends.” Her lip curled slightly on the last word. “A few days in the tower with no food or water will make her more willing to talk.”
“The tower? With no food or water?” Rhys stared at her aghast, and I realized how naïve and sheltered he was if he thought that was so awful. He had no idea what happened in an interrogation or how cruel and ruthless the queen and her guards could be.