Lily leaned her head back and laughed. The sound of it was like eating hot cookies, melting into a warm shower, and snuggling a fuzzy puppy all at the same time. "Enough," she said. "Enough, come out. He is a friend."
And, just like that, faeries popped out of absolutely everything everything in sight. Elves, tiny humanoids no more than a couple of feet high, rose up out of the bushes. A serpent the size of a telephone pole slithered out of the bridge's rafters. Seven or eight silver-coated faerie hounds emerged from behind a stand of groomed arbor vitae. Two massive centaurs and half a dozen Sidhe of the Summer Court simply blinked into visibility from behind their veils. They were all armed with bows. Yikes. If I'd meant Lily any harm, my body would have resembled a feathery porcupine. The water stirred, and then a number of otters who were all too big to have been born this side of the last ice age came rushing out. in sight. Elves, tiny humanoids no more than a couple of feet high, rose up out of the bushes. A serpent the size of a telephone pole slithered out of the bridge's rafters. Seven or eight silver-coated faerie hounds emerged from behind a stand of groomed arbor vitae. Two massive centaurs and half a dozen Sidhe of the Summer Court simply blinked into visibility from behind their veils. They were all armed with bows. Yikes. If I'd meant Lily any harm, my body would have resembled a feathery porcupine. The water stirred, and then a number of otters who were all too big to have been born this side of the last ice age came rushing out.
"Ee-aye, ee-aye, oh," I said. "Uh, wow. All this for me?"
"Only a fool wouldn't respect your strength," she said. "Particularly now."
Personally, I thought she'd gotten to overkill about one elf after those bows, but I didn't want her to know that. "Okay," I said. "You touched me. Make with some answers."
"Certainly," she said. Then she moved her hand, and the open air suddenly had the enclosed feeling of a small room. When she spoke, her voice sounded odd, as if it were coming over a radio. She'd put up a privacy spell so that no one could listen in. "What would you like to know?"
"Um, right," I said. "Why did you touch my head like that? What were you looking for?"
"A disease," she replied. "A parasite. A poison."
"Could you repeat that answer, only without the poetry?"
Lily faced me squarely, her lovely face intent. "Sir Knight, you must have seen it. You must have seen the contagion spreading. It has been before your eyes for years years."
"I haven't seen..." Then I paused. My head started adding things together. "You... you aren't talking about a physical disease, are you?"
"Of course not," Lily said. "It is a kind of spiritual malady. A mental plague. An infection slowly spreading across the earth."
"And... this plague. What does it do?" I asked.
"It changes that which ought not change," she said quietly. "It destroys a father's love for his family by twisting it into maniacal ambition. It distorts and corrupts the good intentions of agents of mortal law into violence and death. It erodes the sensible fear that keeps a weakly talented sorcerer from reaching out for more power, no matter how terrible the cost."
I felt my head rock back as if she'd slammed a croquet mallet into it, and the bottom dropped out of my stomach again.
"Victor Sells the Shadowman," I whispered. "Agent Denton and the Hexenwolves. Leonid Kravos the Nightmare. My first three major cases."
"Yes," Lily whispered. "Each of them was tainted by the contagion. It destroyed them."
I put a hand on the rail and leaned against it. "Fourth case. Aurora. A champion of peace and healing who set out to send the natural world into havoc."
Lily's eyes glistened with tears. "I saw what it did to her," she said. "I didn't know what was happening to my friend, but I saw it changing her. Twisting her day by day. I loved Aurora like a sister, Sir Knight. But in the end, even I could see what she had become." Tears fell, and she made no effort to wipe them away. "I saw. I knew. In the end, you may have killed her, Harry. But you also did her a kindness."
I shook my head. "I... I don't understand why you didn't want to tell me about it."
"No one who knows of this speaks of it," Lily said.
"Why not?"
"Don't you see?" Lily said. "What if you had been tainted as well? And I revealed to you that I recognized what was happening?"
I kicked my brain into gear and thought. "Uh... then..." I felt sick. "You'd be a threat. I'd have to kill you to keep you quiet. Or make you the next recruit."
"Exactly," Lily said.
"But why suspect me me of being tainted...?" I heard my own voice trail off as I realized the only thing that could have moved Lily against me so strongly. of being tainted...?" I heard my own voice trail off as I realized the only thing that could have moved Lily against me so strongly.
"Be at ease," Lily said, and beckoned.
And freaking Maeve, the Winter Lady, strolled onto the far end of the bridge and sauntered toward us. She was dressed in leather pants of dark purple and a periwinkle sweater whose sleeves fell past the ends of her fingers, and her mouth was curled into a tiny, wicked smirk. "Hey, there, big guy," she purred. "Lily give you the skinny?"
"Not yet," Lily said. "Maeve, this isn't the sort of thing one should simply ram down another's throat."
"Of course it is," Maeve said, her smile widening.
"Maeve-" Lily began.
Maeve did a little pirouette that wound up with her toes practically touching mine as she smiled up at me, her too-sharp teeth very white. "Do you have a camera? I want someone to get a picture."
"Oh, dear," Lily said.
Maeve leaned in close, her smile widening. "Mab," she breathed, "my mother, the Queen of Air and Darkness, and your liege..." She leaned closer and whispered, "Mab has been tainted and has gone utterly mad."
My spine turned to brittle ice. "What?"
Lily looked up at me with a sad, sober expression.
Maeve let out a peal of giggles. "It's true," she said. "She means to destroy the mortal world, wizard, and to do it this very night-to unleash chaos and havoc that have not been known since the fall of Atlantis. And make no mistake, she will will destroy it." destroy it."
Lily nodded, her eyes pained. "Unless," she began. "Unless..."
I finished the thought Lily obviously did not want to complete. "Unless," I whispered, "someone destroys her first."
Chapter Twenty-five
This day had begun so simply: I'd nearly been killed at my birthday party and Mab had ordered me to kill an immortal. I'd survived the first, and if I'd had the good sense to shut up and do the second without asking questions, I might be somewhere reading a nice book or something, and waiting out the clock until it was Maeve-whacking time.
Instead I had this.
"I love watching him think," Maeve told Lily. "You can almost hear that poor little hamster running and running on its wheel."
"You clubbed him over the head with it," Lily said. "What did you expect?"
"Oh, this," Maeve said, her eyes sparkling. "Wizards are always so sure of themselves. I love seeing them off balance. This one in particular."
"Why me?" I said. I wasn't really participating in their conversation.
"You did did kill my cousin, wizard," Maeve said. "Aurora was a prissy little bint, but she kill my cousin, wizard," Maeve said. "Aurora was a prissy little bint, but she was was family. It makes me happy when you suffer." family. It makes me happy when you suffer."
I glowered at Maeve and said, "One of these days, you and I are going to disagree." I turned to Lily. "You say Mab wants to hold an Armageddon-thon, fine. How is she going to do it?"
"We aren't completely certain," Lily said, her eyes earnest.
"It's something to do with that island," Maeve said carelessly.
Gulp.
Wrecking someone's powerful and deadly ritual wasn't such a scary concept. I'd done that before, more than once. But somehow, knowing that it was Mab's Mab's ritual I was supposed to derail made this situation a whole lot worse. I'd ritual I was supposed to derail made this situation a whole lot worse. I'd Seen Seen Mab before, with the unadulterated perception of my Sight, and I remembered the kind of might she wielded with absolute clarity. Mab had the kind of power you had to describe using exponents. I felt like a man with a shovel and a couple of gunnysacks who has just been told to stop an oncoming tsunami. Mab before, with the unadulterated perception of my Sight, and I remembered the kind of might she wielded with absolute clarity. Mab had the kind of power you had to describe using exponents. I felt like a man with a shovel and a couple of gunnysacks who has just been told to stop an oncoming tsunami.
And Mab knew the place. She'd taken care of me for months months there. She knew Demonreach's strengths, its defenses, and its potential. Hell, I'd been her ticket through the door-in fact, I was the there. She knew Demonreach's strengths, its defenses, and its potential. Hell, I'd been her ticket through the door-in fact, I was the only only one who could have gotten her onto that island. one who could have gotten her onto that island.
"You know," I said aloud, "it's just possible that I made a mistake in taking Mab's deal."
The two Ladies gave me level gazes. Neither of them said, "Obviously," but it hung on the spell-muffled air nonetheless.
Then I had a thought. Cat Sith had lied to me very effectively only moments ago, because I assumed reasonable things and he allowed me to charge off down that line of thinking. This was no time to make a rookie mistake like that.
"Okay," I said. "I'm going to do something I know you both hate. I'm going to get direct. And I'm going to get direct answers from you, answers that convince me that you aren't trying to hide anything from me and aren't trying to mislead me. I know you both have to speak the truth. So give me simple, declarative answers, or I assume you're scheming and walk away right now."
That made Lily press her lips together and fold her arms. Her gaze turned reproachful. Maeve rolled her eyes, casually gave me the finger, and said, "Wizards are such weasels."
"Deal with it," I said. "Lily. Are you sure that this contagion you speak of is real, and works the way you say it does?"
Lily looked like opening her mouth exposed her taste buds to something foul, but she answered, "Absolutely."
"Are you sure Mab has been... been infected?"
"I am all but certain," Lily said. "But I have not examined her for myself."
"I have," Maeve said calmly. "While you and my people were putting on such a garish distraction at that dreary little celebration of your birth, Sir Knight." She stretched and yawned, making sure to pull her sweater tight against her chest. "That was the purpose of it, after all."
I scowled. "You examined Mab?"
"Yes."
"And you're sure she's infected?" I asked.
For just a fraction of a second, Maeve's smug exterior changed, becoming graver, more somber. In that instant, she and Lily looked as though they might have been fraternal twins. "With absolute certainty."
"And you're sure she means to attack the mortal world as you've described?"
That serious version of Maeve met my eyes. "Yes," she said. "Think, wizard. Remember your godmother, bound in ice at Arctis Tor. That was when my mother trapped her and spread the contagion into her. Think of the creatures of Faerie Wyld who have been behaving irregularly and unpredictably. Think of the strange conduct of some of the Houses of the White Court, changing their diets after centuries of stasis. Think of the Fomor, active and aggressive again for the first time in millennia." She stepped up close to me. "None of these things is coincidence. It spreads, a force that will upend the world and all of us with it. And what has happened until now is nothing nothing compared to what will come if Mab is not stopped before the sun rises once more." compared to what will come if Mab is not stopped before the sun rises once more."
Maeve stepped back from me, watching me, her exotic eyes opaque.
Silence fell within the little privacy spell.
Well, crap.
That was pretty much that.
Neither of the Ladies could speak a direct lie. I hadn't left them any room to dance around the truth. They were serious. I guess it was possible that they might have been mistaken, but they were damned well sincere.
"Neither of us can stop her," Lily said into that silence. "Even working together, we do not have anything like the power needed to overcome Mab's defenses, and she would never lower her guard for either of us."
"But for you," Maeve said.
"Her knight," Lily said, "her champion."
"She might not be quite so guarded," Maeve said, her eyes shining fever-bright. "You have power enough to smite her, if you strike when she is unprepared."
"What?" I blurted.
"What we ask you is not fair," Lily said. "We know tha..." She glanced at Maeve. "Well. I know that. But we have no other options."
"Uh, yes, you do," I said. "What about Titania? The Queen of Summer is an equal opposite, isn't she? Mab's mirror?"
The two Ladies exchanged a guarded look.
"Out with it," I said. "We're way past word games here."
Lily nodded. "She... refuses to act. I do not know why."
"Because she's terrified she'll be infected, too, obviously," Maeve snapped.
"Guys," I said. "I have seen seen what Mab is. Even if I catch her off guard, I don't have the kind of clout it takes to drop someone in her league." what Mab is. Even if I catch her off guard, I don't have the kind of clout it takes to drop someone in her league."
Lily blinked at me several times. "But... but you do. You have Winter."
"Which is meaningful because...?"
"Because she is is Winter," Maeve said. "The Winter within you is Mab and she is it. The one thing you can never protect yourself against is yourself. You of all people should know this, wizard." Winter," Maeve said. "The Winter within you is Mab and she is it. The one thing you can never protect yourself against is yourself. You of all people should know this, wizard."
I shuddered. I did.
"The Winter Knight is a useful weapon," Maeve said. "But it has ever been one with two edges. Mab stands no mightier than any of the Sidhe against your hand, Sir Knight."
I narrowed my eyes at Maeve. "Wait a minute," I said. "Why in the hell should I think you're trying to help me? Since when have you you cared about the mortal world, Maeve?" cared about the mortal world, Maeve?"
Her smile widened. "Since I realized that should my mother fall, I will have a very large and very exclusive chair to sit upon back at Arctis Tor, wizard. Do not think for a moment that I do it from the kindness of my heart. I want the throne."
Now, that that was a scary thought. Mab was a force of nature, sure, but she also acted a lot like one. She rarely took things personally, she didn't play favorites, and she was generally speaking equally dangerous to everyone. Maeve, though. That bitch was just not right. The thought of her with Mab's mantle of power was something terrifying to anyone with half a brain-especially the guy who would be her personal champion. was a scary thought. Mab was a force of nature, sure, but she also acted a lot like one. She rarely took things personally, she didn't play favorites, and she was generally speaking equally dangerous to everyone. Maeve, though. That bitch was just not right. The thought of her with Mab's mantle of power was something terrifying to anyone with half a brain-especially the guy who would be her personal champion.
"I don't dig the idea of serving you, Maeve," I said.
At that, the lazy sex-kitten look came back into her eyes. "I haven't yet begun to persuade you, wizard. But be assured that I would never, ever ever throw away a tool so useful as you would be, should you succeed." throw away a tool so useful as you would be, should you succeed."