Bourn’s Edge (22 page)

The real James Farley bowed his head and hunched his shoulders. Tremors shook his frame. He was clearly terrified. Cassie made a choking sound in her throat, and Tarian could see that she was distressed on his behalf.

“Well?” Angor gestured towards the doll in Tarian’s hand.

“A moment. I must remove the protection.” She didn’t tell him that she was transferring it to James.

When she had finished, she handed Angor the doll. Seconds later it was a pile of ash. With a grim smile he brushed a stray white flake off his tunic and directed a servant to sweep up the mess.

“Is James ours now?” asked Cassie.

“Yes,” said Tarian.

At that Cassie rose and crouched beside the kneeling man. In spite of the stench and grime, she put her arm round his shoulders and said, “You’re safe now.” From his amazed expression, he had never seen another mortal before. “We’re taking you home,” continued Cassie, smiling encouragement. He turned a baffled glance in Angor’s direction.

“Will you tell him he doesn’t belong to you anymore or shall I?” asked Tarian, annoyed at Angor’s silence. He shrugged.

She stood up and squared her shoulders. “Pigboy.” Her commanding tone hooked James’s wide-eyed attention at once. “Your master has sold you, and now you are mine.” She glanced at Angor. “Is that not so, my lord?”

For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he gave her an ironic smile and inclined his head. “It is so.”

“From now on you will answer to the name James Farley.” James mouthed the name. “Come with me, James.” Tarian beckoned. “Now.”

Her tone brooked no disobedience, and he scrambled to his feet and hurried to her side. Cassie followed.

“Are we leaving now?” she asked Tarian in a low murmur.

“As fast as we can.”

“Good.” Cassie gave the watching Fae a resentful glance. “They’re getting off too easily. Can’t you hide an ill luck attractor somewhere? If anyone deserves a plague of flies, this lot do.”

Tarian stifled a smile. “They’d only destroy it.”

“But they should be punished for what they’ve done.”

“They will be. But not by me.”

Cassie looked a question, but Tarian shook her head. Now was not the time. She gave Angor a half bow. “My business here is concluded, my lord, so I will take my leave of you.” She glanced at Ysbail. “And of you, my lady.”

Ysbail’s dark eyes were malevolent. “I do not think we shall meet again,” she said. “You have left it too late.”

Tarian kept her expression neutral. “You may well be right.”

She turned on her heel and strode towards the exit. And after a moment, Cassie and James followed her.

“WHAT DID SHE mean, ‘left it too late’?” asked Cassie, as Tarian helped her up onto the stallion’s back. “Please tell me she wasn’t talking about Mab.”

“I fear she was.”

The lack of a saddle and reins didn’t daunt James, and he was eager to mount the mare. Anwar and Drysi hadn’t scared him either—he had smiled and petted them. Yet whenever Tarian addressed him he trembled like a leaf. It made a kind of sense, she supposed.
Unlike my kind, beasts treat him kindly
.

She mounted up behind Cassie, settled her arms around Cassie’s waist, and urged the stallion forward.

Cassie clutched Tarian’s wrist. “I thought you said this place was miles from Mab’s domain.” She sounded tense.

“The Queen is the most powerful of us all,” reminded Tarian. “She can travel hundreds of leagues in seconds.”

Cassie’s grip tightened until it was almost painful. “What are we going to do?”

“Return to the crossing.”

Tarian checked on James’s progress. His expression was dreamy, his lips curved in a half smile. Satisfied, she faced front one more and kneed the stallion into a canter.

THEY WERE GALLOPING past the ruined watchtower when the air above the track ahead began to shimmer. Cassie gasped as an archway appeared out of nowhere. For a moment it remained empty, then through it came four riders.

The first was unknown to Tarian: a herald wearing the livery of Queen Mab and carrying the Queen’s narrow white pennant. After him came three much more familiar figures. Einion was wearing a russet-coloured tunic and breeches, over which he had thrown a cloak of forest green. Cadel’s silver armour was dazzling in the sunlight—purely for show, of course. And bringing up the rear on a magnificent charger was the Queen herself, dressed in a gown of midnight blue with a silver girdle.

Einion’s gaze softened when he saw Tarian, and he gave her a brief, sad smile. The look Cadel threw her was not so friendly, but then, during their last encounter, she had smashed his head to a pulp. As for Mab . . . The Queen’s eyes were unreadable as they met Tarian’s.

Cassie moaned low in her throat.

Tarian instructed the stallion to halt and called the dogs to heel.

“What are you doing?” hissed Cassie, twisting to look at her.

“We cannot escape her. It will only anger her further to try.”

“But—”

“Hush,” said Tarian. “She would use you against me. I won’t risk that.” Her resolve hardened. “Leave Mab to me. And try not to draw attention to yourself.”
Whatever happens, I will make sure you and James get back to your own world safely
.

She slid off the stallion’s back and turned to help Cassie down. The mare halted too, pawing the ground while her rider sat transfixed by the sight of the proud and beautiful Queen.

“Get down,” Tarian told him. Trembling, James obeyed.

She called the two horses to her and whispered words of release. They startled and tossed their heads as they came back to themselves, and stood, the whites of their eyes showing, taking in their surroundings.

“There, there.” She stroked a quivering flank. “I no longer have need of your services. Accept my grateful thanks and go.”

For a moment longer they stood, eying the dogs, though Anwar and Drysi had sunk to their haunches at Tarian’s command and were no threat. Then, with an exchange of whinnies, they galloped off down the hill, manes streaming out behind them. She extended her senses after them, smiling at the exuberance and exhilaration that flowed back to her.

A distant shimmer on the heathland below caught Tarian’s eye, and her smile faded.
So near and yet so far
. With a sigh, she turned to face the Queen.

Chapter 10

Dismayed, Cassie watched Tarian drop to one knee in front of the Queen’s horse.
Why isn’t she running? Or putting up a fight?

Mab’s expression as she gazed down at Tarian’s bowed head was unreadable. Cassie bit her lip. Would she be open to persuasion to give Tarian a second—or was it third?—chance?

Who am I kidding? This is Mab we’re talking about, and Tarian disobeyed her explicit instructions
. Cassie swallowed, her mouth dry. I
can’t lose her. She’s meant to outlive me, not the other way around
.

At Mab’s signal, the herald dismounted and knelt on all fours. She used his back as a dismounting block, straightened her gown, and stalked over to Tarian. Cadel and Einion dismounted too. Cadel looked down his nose at Cassie and made a point of ignoring her, but Einion threw her a look of apology.

“A seat, Einion,” commanded the Queen.

With a bow and a gesture, he materialised a plush red chair at her elbow. She smiled at him and made herself comfortable on it. And all the while Tarian knelt in front of her, not moving a muscle.

“I’m glad to see your manners haven’t deserted you, Tarian,” said Mab at last.

“Indeed, your majesty.” Tarian kept her head bowed.

“I was surprised to hear of your return.”

No one would have guessed from the conversational tone that Mab was discussing a matter of life and death.
Tarian’s death
. Cassie had never witnessed an unmaking, but Tarian had told her what was involved. What had she said? That the body collapsed in on itself? A shiver ran down Cassie’s spine, and she felt sick.

“Look at me,” ordered Mab.

Tarian raised her head, and the two Fae locked gazes. Cassie wondered if they were remembering how things had once been between them. A pang of jealousy shot through her before she remembered that Mab had wiped all that from her memory. Would that act of forgetting help or hinder Tarian?

“At our last meeting, did I not make it clear what would happen to you if you were to return?”

“You did, your majesty,” said Tarian.

“Yet here you are.” Mab’s voice had gone hard.

Cassie’s palms felt clammy.
Don’t just kneel there. Tell her it was my fault
. But Tarian remained silent.

“Be merciful, I beg you,” blurted Cassie. All eyes swivelled to regard her, and she remembered Tarian’s instruction not to draw attention to herself.
Oh well!
She fought not to hunch her shoulders.
In for a penny
. “She only came back because of me, your majesty.”

“And who said
you
may speak?” Mab’s tone could have curdled fresh milk.

Cassie gave a nervous curtsey. “I apologise, your majesty, if I am breaking court protocol or something. But if Tarian won’t speak up for herself, I must.” She ignored Tarian’s warning glance. “She was reluctant to come back, but I persuaded her.”

“You?” barked the Queen, eyebrows raised. “I remember you, mortal.” She paused. “Are you always so careless of your champion’s welfare?”

Her remark bit Cassie to the bone, and she flushed. “It appears so, your majesty.”

Silence followed her pained admission, then Mab said, “What could you possibly have said or done that made Tarian agree to risk her life?” She sounded genuinely curious.

Cassie took a breath before answering. “I told her about the changeling.”

“Changeling?” Mab’s face darkened. She gestured at James, who until now had seemed beneath her notice. He went rigid, his eyes rolling in panic.
What is she doing to him?
wondered Cassie. After a moment James staggered and blinked at his surroundings with a look of dazed relief.

“You told the truth, it appears,” said Mab.

Cassie nodded. But Mab was no longer addressing her.

“He was stolen from his parents,” said Tarian. “A doll left in his place.”

“I saw the abductors’ faces in his mind.” Mab frowned. “Angor and Ysbail seem bent on causing me as much trouble as they did my father.”

“They’ve mistreated him for years,” interjected Cassie. “You only have to look at him.” She trailed off as Mab’s eyes pinned her. “We were only doing what’s right, your majesty. How can it be fair to penalise Tarian for that?”

Mab’s gaze lingered on her before returning to Tarian. “Do you agree?” she asked softly. “Should rescuing this mortal exempt you from punishment?”

Tarian replied just as softly, “No, your majesty.”

Her words made Cassie gasp. What was Tarian playing at? Mab’s reply gave Cassie her answer.

“A wise decision.” Mab gazed at the ruined watchtower, her expression distant. “For you know as well as I that a Queen’s authority rests on the obedience of her subjects. And those who flout it must be punished.” She came back to herself, and her voice hardened. “As must those who created a changeling against my express orders.”

For a moment Cassie pitied Angor and Ysbail, but only for a moment. An idea had come to her. “Your majesty,” she said, before she could think twice.

Mab turned an irritated glance her way. “How Tarian puts up with your babbling is beyond me. You are worse than a whining pup. What is it
now
?”

“This is my fault, your majesty.” Cassie tried to slow her racing pulse.
I know you wanted me to stay out of this, love, but how can I?
“I should pay the price, not Tarian.”

“
You?
” Mab’s exclamation drowned out Tarian’s protest. “Do you wish me to unmake you instead?”

“No!” yelped Cassie, before continuing in a more measured tone. “I have no wish to die before my time. But I could be your servant. Your lady in waiting, perhaps.”

Mab arched an eyebrow. “And never see your beloved Tarian again?”

Cassie hadn’t considered that.
But if you unmake her I’ll lose her anyway
. “If it will save Tarian’s life, then yes, your majesty.” She refused to meet Tarian’s eyes.
This is hard enough as it is
.

“I confess, I have no great desire to unmake my former champion,” said Mab. “But someone must be punished.” She pursed her lips and gave a small nod. “Very w—”

“I won’t allow such a sacrifice.” Tarian’s words drowned out the Queen’s.

“Won’t allow?” Mab’s back straightened, and her eyes gleamed. For a moment Cassie feared it was with fury, but Mab’s next words disabused her. “I was wondering where that spirit of yours had gone.” Her lips twitched with what looked like amusement.

Tarian got stiffly to her feet. Her glance flicked between Cassie and Mab. “Pardon my presumption, your majesty. May I offer a compromise?”

A sense of foreboding stole over Cassie.

Mab inclined her head. “I’m listening.”

“Take my immortality from me.”

Cassie’s gasp joined that of all the riders. From Cadel’s expression, even he considered this fate worse than being unmade.

“Your immortality,” repeated the Queen, startled. “You would forfeit that for a mortal?”

Tarian squared her shoulders. “I would, your majesty.” She smiled at Cassie. “But only for this particular mortal.”

Tears pricked Cassie’s eyes, and she bunched her hands into fists.
I can’t let you do this!
But what choice did she have?

“What you suggest is possible,” mused Mab, her gaze turning inwards, “but seldom done. I believe the last occasion was five centuries ago, during King Kynan’s reign. His great friend, Talyessin, betrayed him and should have been banished for it. But even after such treachery, Kynan could not bear to be forever parted from his friend.” She looked at Tarian. “It is written that later he regretted his decision.”

Tarian remained silent. Mab began to pace.

“To remove immortality requires a great working, a spell that only those of royal blood have the delicacy and power to cast.” She halted in front of Tarian, brows knitting. “Are you sure you desire this? I deem it a fitting punishment given the severity of your crime, but once done it cannot be undone.”