Rhys moved around me. “That tower room is not fit to house an animal, and there are plenty of warmer rooms in this wing where she can be kept. I’m taking her to one of those.”
“I will save you the trouble. I am here to bring the prisoner to the queen,” Bayard said, entering the tower. Aibel came behind him along with Conard. The tower suddenly seemed very small and cramped.
Bayard tensed, but there was no room in here to fight, even if he hadn’t been outnumbered three to one.
“Then I will accompany you to see my mother,” Rhys said imperiously.
“As you wish.” Bauchan reached around him and grabbed my arm in his steely grip. “But we will escort the prisoner.”
I looked desperately at Rhys before I was led from the tower. He gave my shoulder a quick squeeze and followed us. As we walked down the hallway, Kaelen and another of Rhys’s guards approached from the other direction. We’d been so close. If Bauchan had come a few minutes later, we might have made it out.
Kaelen and the other guard were expressionless as they fell into step with Rhys and Bayard behind me. My stomach was a solid lump of dread over what I was walking toward, but the presence of Rhys and his men told me I wasn’t alone anymore.
We stopped outside the queen’s quarters, and Bauchan exchanged a look with Aibel before he opened the door to push me inside. Rhys entered behind us, but to my relief, the rest of the queen’s guards stayed outside.
Bauchan put me in the same chair I’d sat on last time and took up his position behind me. Rhys stood rigidly beside my chair, the image of a protective brother, and it made the ice in my chest thaw a little.
Queen Anwyn swept into the room, and her graceful steps slowed when she saw Rhys. I couldn’t see his face, but whatever she saw in his expression caused her smile to falter.
“Rhys, why are you here? You know I don’t want you involved in this.” She spoke to him like he was a bothersome child as she walked to her chaise.
“I caught the prince taking the prisoner from the tower, Your Majesty,” Bauchan informed her. “He said he was taking her to another room, but I believe his real intent was to help her escape. Bayard was with him.”
The queen’s head jerked back. “Rhys, tell me this is not true.”
“It is,” he answered evenly.
Her shock morphed into a mask of anger. “You were going to free my prisoner? She tried to steal the ke’tain, and only the goddess knows what she planned to do with it. You would release her so she could attempt it again? She is a traitor to Faerie and Seelie. Why would you betray me for her?”
“What brother would do less for his sister?” Rhys asked in a biting tone that sounded like it came from someone else.
Queen Anwyn’s open mouth was the only change in her expression. “Sister?” She turned her glittering eyes on me. “What disgusting lies have you contaminated my son’s mind with?”
I sat up straighter, bolstered by his presence. “He’s not your son.”
Bauchan grabbed my hair and yanked my head back so fast I saw stars. “Hold your tongue, or I will rip it out of you.”
“Let her go,” Rhys demanded, but Bauchan only tightened his hold. Pain lanced through my skull, and I feared he was going to rip my scalp from my head.
Rhys spun to face the queen. “I know what you did, Mother. Silencing Jesse will not change that.”
“What do you think you know?” Her voice held a note of amusement as if she was humoring a teen that was acting out.
“I know you stole a baby from Patrick and Caroline James twenty years ago, and then you tried to have them killed when they discovered I was their missing son.”
Queen Anwyn scoffed. “Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds? I gave birth to you, Rhys. The whole court was witness to my pregnancy. How can you believe this half-breed traitor over me? She is lying to get you to help her escape.”
“I am not that gullible,” he retorted. “I could not believe it at first, but the more I heard, the more I knew it was true. Bayard believes it, too, and he trusts no one outside his friends.”
“If I did this horrible crime, where is the evidence of it?” she asked in feigned indignation.
Bauchan released me, and tears sprung to my eyes when I raised my head. I resisted the urge to rub my injured scalp as I met the smug challenge in her eyes.
“There is no evidence. Your guards took care of that. Just like they tried to get rid of my parents,” I said with all the loathing I’d kept bottled up inside me for months.
“How convenient that you have nothing to prove this outrageous claim.” She looked at Rhys. “You believe the word of someone you hardly know over your own mother?”
I shook my head. “I do have something to prove it.”
Her gaze snapped back to me. “And what is that?”
“Rhys. You changed his hair and his DNA, but you couldn’t erase who he is. He looks so much like a younger version of our father they could be twins.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “A physical resemblance? If that is all you have, you have nothing.”
“If it’s nothing, then why are you suddenly so desperate to seal the barrier?” I asked, satisfied when I saw that my change in direction had taken her off guard. “Rhys’s face is everywhere in my world. You know someone is eventually going to see the resemblance between Patrick James and the Seelie prince. People will talk, and the media will pick it up because they love a juicy story about a royal. The only way to stop the story from reaching Faerie is to make sure no one can travel between the worlds.”
The room was quiet for a moment, and then she chuckled. “That is quite the imagination you have. I see how you were able to convince my son to believe your story.”
“It is not a story,” Rhys said tightly.
She sighed heavily. “This is one of the reasons I did not want you to go to that world. You are innocent, and I worried an unscrupulous human would take advantage of you. I allowed you to go, and this is the result.” She pointed at me. “If I had known she would try to poison you against me, I never would have brought her into the palace. The only thing I can do now is prevent her from doing more damage.”
She exchanged a quick look with Bauchan, and he stepped out from behind me. He went to the door and opened it to admit Aibel, Conard, and three other males. It was her entire personal guard, and their arrival did not bode well for me.
I shot out of my chair, and Rhys moved to stand in front of me. “I am not going to let you hurt her.”
“You are still too young to understand the things we must do for the good of Seelie,” Queen Anwyn said with an indulgent smile. “Time will change that, but for now, I am afraid I will have to confine you to your quarters.”
Rhys stared at her dumbfounded. “You are going to lock me up?”
Her smile never faltered as she walked over to him. “It is for your own good. And you can hardly compare your quarters to a cell.”
“What of my guard?” he demanded.
“Bayard and the rest of your guard have been detained until they can prove themselves loyal to the crown,” Bauchan said with a vicious gleam in his eyes that chilled me.
Rhys took a step toward Bauchan. “If you have hurt them –”