Drink Deep by Neill Chloe

Author:Neill, Chloe
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: NAL
Published: 2011-10-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

THE MAD HATTER’S TEA PARTY

We lifted our hands into the air.

“We can hardly say no to such a sweet invitation,” Jonah dryly said.

The fairy dropped his sword just enough to allow us to pass, while the one behind us poked us in the back like cattle until we maneuvered in the door. Once in the tower, they shut and bolted the door again and took point beside us, katanas at the ready.

I’m not sure what I should have expected to see in a fairy queen’s abode in the top of a tower. Ancient, dreary furnishings encased in a thick carpet of dust and spider silk? A broken mirror? A spinning wheel?

The round room was larger than it should have been given the narrowness of the tower, but it was tidy and decorated with simple hewn wooden furnishings. A canopy bed sat across the room, its round, fluted columns wrapped in flowering vines that perfumed the air with the scents of gardenias and roses. A giant table of rough-hewn, sun-bleached wood sat nearby. There were draperies of cornflower blue silk along the walls, but not a window to be seen.

What I thought was a delicate chandelier hung from the ceiling; on closer reflection, I realized it was a cloud of monarch butterflies. There were no bulbs in the chandelier, but it glowed with a golden, ethereal light.

And katanas weren’t the only weapons in play. As I suddenly heard the echoing sound of a lullaby played on an antique child’s instrument, the pressure in the room changed. A panel of wispy fabric was moved aside on the canopy bed . . . and she emerged.

The fairy queen was pale and voluptuous, with wavy strawberry blond hair that fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were dusky blue, and she was barefoot, dressed in a gauzy, white gown that left nothing of her curvy form to the imagination. A crown of laurel leaves crossed her forehead, and a long, ornate locket of gold rested between her breasts.

She walked toward us with shoulders back and an unmistakably regal bearing. I had the urge to genuflect, but wasn’t sure of the etiquette. Was it appropriate for an enemy of the fairies, for a bloodletter, to bow to their queen?

She stopped a few feet away and I felt the rush of dizziness again. I pushed it back and focused my attention on her face.

She looked us over, and after a moment, raised her hand, palm out. That being their cue, the guards lifted their swords.

“And you are?” she asked, a soft Irish lilt in her voice.

“Jonah,” he said, “of House Grey. And Merit of House Cadogan.”

She linked her hands together in front of her. “It has been many years since we allowed bloodletters to cross our threshold. Perhaps the riddles are not as strong as they once were. The magic not as concealing. The guardians not as careful.” Her eyes darkened dangerously, and I decided I had no interest in crossing Claudia.

“We have need to speak to you, my lady,” Jonah said.

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