Ashes of Honor

THIRTEEN

LI QIN TOOK A BREATH, composing herself. “This isn’t new,” she said. “This is old. This goes all the way back to when Faerie was first setting roots into the mortal world.”

I frowned a little. “Sorry, but I have no idea what that means. I skipped my remedial Fairyland history classes.”

“I see why Jan liked you.” Li Qin picked up her teapot. She set it on the counter and reached for a towel. “The Summerlands are the only realm of Faerie directly connected to the mortal world. That’s why all knowes are anchored there. It’s like building houses by digging holes in the skin of an orange—they touch on both the orange and the air, but are really suspended between them, fully part of neither. Do you understand?”

“No,” I said.

Quentin shook his head. “My theory lessons haven’t gotten that far yet.”

“All right, then, to put it more simply: knowes and shallowings exist because the Summerlands are connected to the mortal world. Normally, teleporters move through the space between the anchors, and that makes the ties between worlds stronger by making the open spaces part of the binding. Like a spider weaving a web around a few solid sticks. A teleporter who’s ripping through, on the other hand…” Li Qin knelt, beginning to wipe up her spill. “She’s forcing her way through the places where the worlds are directly connected, and that can damage the connections. A knowe can exist severed from one world, provided it has a sufficiently large foundation in the other. A knowe severed from both worlds will crumble, and anyone inside will be lost forever.”

“Wow,” I said. “That’s basically the cherry on top of this week’s sundae of suck. Got any more good news for us?”

“Duchess Riordan has recently withdrawn the majority of her forces from our border,” said April.

I paused, trying to catch up with her change of subjects. “What does that have to do with anything?” I asked finally.

“It changes the status quo. Changes, while interesting, often have negative consequences.” April vanished again, reappearing next to Li Qin. She grabbed a towel of her own and dropped to her knees. “Riordan has never, in my records, committed to a troop movement of this size without royal orders or intent to commit invasion.”

“…Huh.” I refilled my coffee cup, using the action to buy me a few seconds to think.

Tamed Lightning is a relatively new County; April is only its second regent. It was formed by taking unclaimed land from between two Duchies, Shadowed Hills and Dreamer’s Glass. Sylvester, who ruled Shadowed Hills, didn’t mind. Treasa Riordan, the Duchess of Dreamer’s Glass, minded a lot. She didn’t approve of anything that encroached on her borders, or made her plans for long-term expansion more difficult. She was paranoid, greedy, and aggressive toward her neighbors—in short, a classic Daoine Sidhe regent. There’s a reason they hold so many fiefdoms. They’re good at it, sure. But they’re also willing to step in and take what they want, when they want it, without caring who gets hurt in the process.

To illustrate my point: January O’Leary died partly because she was blind to what was going on in her own fiefdom and partly because she knew that if she took herself out of harm’s way, Riordan would steal her lands. Walk away for a minute, walk away forever. April was right. There was no way Riordan would be moving her people without a good reason.

“April,” I said, slowly. “Do you think you could take a charm to Dreamer’s Glass for me? I don’t need you to find Chelsea, but I need to know if it changes colors.”

“I am sorry, but I cannot.” She straightened and tossed her tea-soaked towel onto the counter, where it landed with a splat. “Riordan has warded the boundaries of her land against me. I can enter only when I am physically transported, and once inside, I cannot return to my primary server through normal means. I dislike travel on her land for that precise reason.”

“That, and the part where she’d hold you hostage if she thought she could get away with it.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “We need to get into that Duchy.”

“Perhaps I can help with that,” said Li Qin. “I am still afforded certain privileges there, much as it pains Riordan to extend them to me.”

“Why?” asked Quentin. “I mean why privileges, not why is Riordan a pissy bitch. I mean, we knew that part. She’s a pissy bitch because she’s a pissy bitch.”

“The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club,” I muttered.

Li Qin smiled sadly. “I am the widow of the former regent of Tamed Lightning. By tradition, all neighboring fiefdoms owe me seven years of hospitality, should I choose to claim it. That includes Dreamer’s Glass.”

Quentin frowned. “But I thought January was the only—ow!” He turned to frown at me. “Why did you kick me?”

“Because otherwise you would have eaten your own foot,” I said. I turned back to Li Qin. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“You said that already,” she said, not unkindly. “Still, I would be glad to accompany you to Riordan’s Court, if you think it would assist.”

“I do.” I topped off my coffee before I stood. “April, can you do me a favor and watch for signs of someone you don’t know teleporting into Tamed Lightning? Her magic smells like sycamore smoke and calla lilies. It’s pretty distinct.”

“I can,” she said. “What shall I do if I am able to locate her?”

“Try to intercept her, if you can. See if you can convince her to stop running.” I wasn’t sure Chelsea was capable of stopping. Still. If April could manage it—if she could match her jump for jump, at least within the range of the ALH servers that allowed the cyber-Dryad to take solid form—it would be a huge step toward ending all of this.

“Understood,” said April.

“I need to get my purse and some slightly less insulting clothes,” said Li Qin. “Can you wait here for me?”

“Unless Chelsea appears in the cafeteria, we’ve got nowhere else to go,” I said. I paused. “Besides, there’s a phone call I should make.”

Quentin gave me a curious look. “Who?”

I unzipped the top pocket on my leather jacket and extracted my cell phone. “I need to let Tybalt know what’s going on,” I replied.

“I will keep Quentin entertained until your return,” said April. Knowing her, that could take the form of anything from math problems to violent video games. Knowing Quentin, he could take it. I nodded to her and walked out of the cafeteria a few steps behind Li Qin.

Once we were out in the hall, she turned left, vanishing. I walked over to the far wall and leaned against it. The Court of Cats doesn’t have telephone service, and reaching their King can require some pretty circuitous tactics. Flipping my phone open, I dialed the house.

The phone rang three times before a sweet female voice said, “Hello?”

“Hey, Jazz.” May’s girlfriend, Jasmine—Jazz for short—is a Raven-maid, a diurnal skinshifter. Unlike the rest of us, she doesn’t get cranky when she’s forced to stay awake past dawn. “I need you to do me a favor.”

Her tone shifted, becoming all business. “Sure, Toby,” she said. “What do you need?”

“I need to get a message to Tybalt. Can you flap over to Golden Gate Park for me?”

“Of course.”

“Great. Tell him we followed Chelsea’s trail to Fremont but lost track of her before we got here. Quentin and I are heading into Dreamer’s Glass. Riordan has been behaving oddly, and I want to find out whether that’s due to her having something to hide, as opposed to her usual bat-shit crazy. I think I’m going to need backup. I bet he’d like some things to hit.”

There was a pause before Jazz said, “Are you actually asking for backup?”

“I just said that, didn’t I?”

“Oh, thank Oberon. I’ll tell him. Where should he meet you?”

I decided to leave that one alone. “Tell him to head for the main building at ALH Computing. I’m pretty sure he can’t get in via the Shadow Roads, but he’s been here before—he should know where to come out. I’ll tell Countess O’Leary that he’s coming. She’ll know when we’ve been gone for long enough to need someone to extract us.”

Was I being paranoid in assuming there was a chance Riordan was going to try to detain us against our will? Yeah, probably. That didn’t mean I wasn’t also right.

“I will,” said Jazz firmly. “Open roads and kind skies, Toby.”

“Open roads,” I said, and hung up.

Quentin and April were sitting at the table when I returned to the cafeteria. He was busy shoving sandwiches into his mouth as if he had no idea where his next meal was going to be coming from. She wasn’t eating; instead, she was solemnly explaining the plot of a movie that sounded like the sort of thing May likes to watch on Saturday nights when there’s nothing better for her to do. Giant mutant fruit bats featured heavily.

Both of them turned when I stepped into the room. Quentin swallowed, not bothering to chew, before asking, “Did you get through?”

“Jazz is taking him a message and letting him know we may need backup. If all goes well, we won’t wind up stranded in Dreamer’s Glass while Chelsea brings the world down around our ears.”

“You always say the most optimistic things.” He stood, pausing only long enough to shove his last two sandwiches into his coat pockets. “It was good to see you again, April.”

“It was good to see you as well.” April didn’t stand; she just disappeared and reappeared next to me. “I am glad you were able to meet my secondary parent.”

“Me, too,” I said. It was odd to think of Li Qin as having been married to Jan, largely because it was hard to imagine Jan being married to anyone not made of circuitry and computer code. I guess we’re all more complicated than we look on the surface. As for why Quentin, who had been a Ducal page, hadn’t known about her…Li Qin didn’t seem to have a title of her own. Right or wrong, that would have made her irrelevant to the local political structure. If she hadn’t been married to Sylvester’s niece, he might have heard of her anyway, but Sylvester was oddly protective of information where Jan was concerned. That particular quirk kept finding new and surprising ways to bite us in the ass.

The door opened, and Li Qin stuck her head into the room. “Are you ready?” she asked. She had changed into her “slightly less insulting clothes,” leaving her ready for either a Renaissance Faire or a semiformal Court appearance, depending on how you looked at it. She was wearing a floor-length red brocade skirt a few shades darker than her rose-pink peasant blouse, with a waist-cincher corset in a red so deep that it was almost black. Her hair was loose around her face, hanging down below her shoulders, and she was wearing an illusion that made her seem human, adding whites to her eyes and slightly softening her face.

I blinked. Quentin blinked, too, and he said what I was thinking: “How did you lace yourself into that thing without help?”

“Velcro,” said Li Qin serenely. “If you would come with me, I’ll take you to the next stop on your chaperoned tour of the South Bay.”

“I always enjoy visiting crazy despots,” I said. “Let’s roll.”

“Bye, April,” said Quentin.

“Good-bye,” said April, and disappeared.

We didn’t see anyone as we walked back to the parking lot. The engine had barely had time to cool off. Li Qin took the front passenger seat without comment, apparently assuming that as navigator, she got to ride shotgun. I raised an eyebrow at Quentin. He shook his head. Even after all his time with me, my squire still had sufficient manners not to argue with a lady.

“Head for San Jose,” said Li Qin, once I was in the car with the engine started. “I’ll tell you where to turn when we get closer.”

“Got it.” I pulled out of the parking lot, the shadows of the eucalyptus trees ringing the company grounds dancing over my windshield like ghosts. The portcullis was up when we approached, and it dropped only after we were safely through. Quentin and I both sighed with relief.

Li Qin watched this with clear, if tired, amusement. Then she said, “I understand you were made Countess of Goldengreen?”

“Yeah, but I gave the title up. Dean Lorden is in charge of the County now.” More power to him. I’d hated being a Countess. I wasn’t equipped for it, and if I’d kept my fiefdom, I would probably have done some serious damage. Dean, on the other hand, was raised in a noble household. His mother, Dianda, was the Duchess of Saltmist, and when she wasn’t playing scary mermaid games, she ran a pretty good Duchy. She’d taught her sons to rule, even knowing that only one would ever inherit in the Undersea. Lucky Dean, he tripped over one of the rare land nobles who wanted her holdings about as much as she wanted a hole in the head. Maybe less.

“Good,” said Li Qin. “The fact that you had power and chose to give it up will tell Riordan that you’re either without ambition or dangerously unbalanced. Either way, you should be interesting enough not to throw out unheard.”

“What about me?” asked Quentin.

“You’re my squire, so clearly your folks are cool with you hanging out with a loony slacker,” I said amiably. “That makes you pretty harmless, politically speaking.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” said Quentin.

“For today, embrace it,” advised Li Qin. “It may be what makes this a fruitful meeting.”

“Good old Duchess Riordan.” I shook my head. “That’s the problem with feudalism. You never get to vote the crazy ones out.”

“Don’t,” said Li Qin, with sudden sharpness. I glanced her way, surprised. She shook her head. “Don’t make the mistake of writing Treasa Riordan off as crazy. If you want madness, visit the Court at Golden Gate. Riordan has something a lot more dangerous.”

“What’s that?” asked Quentin.

“Ambition.” Li Qin said the word like it was coated in poison, something to be thrust away as quickly and as firmly as possible.

“Charming.” I glanced Li Qin’s way again as I drove. She was frowning. “Sorry.”

“I offered,” she said.

“Still.” I sighed. “So, new topic. Not to be rude or anything, but I’m pretty up on my fae taxonomy, and I’ve never seen a member of your race before. What are you?”

“That’s because not many of us live in North America, and most of the ones who do are in Southern California, Montreal, or Texas. We had a colony in San Francisco, but we moved to more stable ground shortly before the 1906 earthquake.” Li Qin shook her head. “We’re called Shyi Shuai. We…read luck, for lack of a better way of putting it.”

That explained how they’d been able to move to stable ground before the earthquake, rather than joining the exodus from the Bay Area that followed it. “Huh,” I said. “Neat.” I meant that, too. Now that I had the taste of her bloodline filed in my memory, I’d be able to identify any other Shyi Shuai purebloods or changelings I might encounter. “Who claims you?”

“Maeve,” said Li Qin. She gave me a sidelong look. “Now, to be polite, I must ask you the same question. Your squire is Daoine Sidhe. April informs me you’re not, although she says you once told her you were. What are you, and who claims you?”

“In my defense, I wasn’t lying at the time; I was misinformed,” I said. “I’m Dóchas Sidhe. My mother, Amandine, is our Firstborn, and Oberon was her father, so I suppose technically he claims us. No one else has put in a bid, anyway.”

“Dóchas Sidhe?” Li Qin frowned. “That’s familiar, somehow.”

“What? Where did you—”

“I don’t know. I think…the Library. I came here from Southern California a long time ago, to study there. I wanted to chart the genealogy of the Shyi Shuai in North America. I think that’s where I heard that name before. I’m sorry.” Li Qin shook her head, frown deepening. “I don’t really remember. It was a footnote, if that.”

“Right,” I said, and fell silent, pondering. The Libraries are the repository of fae history, going all the way back to the beginning. They’re invaluable resources…if you can get a pass, something that’s not always easy. I’d never even bothered to try. The librarians don’t let many people past their doors, and as a changeling, I was automatically at the bottom of their list.

Quentin’s had time to learn how to recognize my “I’m thinking, leave me alone” silences. He leaned forward, poking his head over the back of the seats, and asked Li Qin, “So why’d you stay up here, if you just came to study?”

“The usual reason,” said Li Qin. “I met a girl. Fell in love. Decided to stick around while she did a variety of insane, occasionally impossible things. Got married. Adopted a Dryad. Did my best to live happily ever after.”

“Oh,” said Quentin. Then he asked the one question I wasn’t sure how to word: “Why weren’t you here?”

“Because Jan asked me to leave,” said Li Qin. “The situation was…complicated. My luck was tangled, and everything I could see, or get Yui to scry for, said it was tangled because it contained a potential death—my death. We agreed it was best for me to go and see some family in Montreal while I worked past the knot. By the time I heard what had happened, it was too late. I couldn’t even come to the funeral.”

Yui had been Tamed Lightning’s Kitsune alchemist. If she told Jan that Li Qin had to leave or die, Jan would have listened. I still winced. “I—”

“Please don’t say you’re sorry for my loss.” A smile ghosted across her lips. “Twice was more than enough.”

“I lost my boyfriend recently,” I said quietly. “It’s not the same thing, but it’s in the same family. I can’t imagine losing a spouse.”

“Pray you never have to,” she recommended, and turned to look out the window, plainly signaling that she wanted a break from the conversation. It was something I was more than happy to give her.

Connor was a Selkie, and I was a relatively weak changeling when we met. We always knew we wouldn’t have forever, even if everything in the universe went our way—and that’s something that never happened, for either of us. I lost him too soon, but I always knew on some level that the loss was coming. Jan and Li Qin were both purebloods. They had every reason to think they had forever, or at least the next best thing. Losing her like that must have seemed impossible. Sadly for all of us, it wasn’t.

“Take the next exit and follow the signs to the Museum of Science,” said Li Qin, breaking the silence that had fallen over the car. I nodded and followed her directions.

Downtown San Jose looked disturbingly like downtown in a hundred other American cities, a mixture of towering office buildings, obscenely large hotels, green patches of park, and museums meant to titillate and enthrall the tourists, causing them to spend more money before heading for home. The Museum of Science fit right in, tucked as it was between a chain restaurant and a park that promised dire fines for anyone seen walking a dog.

“Pull into the parking garage, and head for the lower level,” said Li Qin.

A machine at the mouth of the garage gave me a piece of paper with a timestamp on it and lots of small print telling me how much it would cost if I lost my ticket. I was starting to think San Jose existed solely to charge me for things I didn’t know were against the rules.

The parking garage was about half-full, but I drove past the open spots on the first two levels anyway, heading for the bottom. “Now what?”

“Now drive into that wall.” Li Qin pointed at a patch of blank concrete.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I sighed, and hit the gas. There was a faint electric tingle as we passed through the seemingly solid stone and into the Summerlands. I immediately stepped on the brake, looking around. “Um.”

“Weird,” said Quentin.

“Welcome to Dreamer’s Glass,” said Li Qin.

We had driven out of a parking garage and into…a parking garage. This one was constructed in what seemed to be a natural cavern; the walls I could see were ragged stone, and the ceiling was so high it disappeared into shadow. Globes of glowing witchlight floated about twenty feet up, casting their rays down on the jarringly mundane grid of white lines painted in the middle of the cavern floor, marking out the parking spaces. Most of them were full.

“You want to park in one of the spaces marked with a poppy,” said Li Qin. “Riordan is very touchy about people using their assigned spaces.”

“Poppy meaning…?”

“Visitor, not hostile, not yet allied, still has to pay for parking.”

I sighed. “Wow. I love hospitality.”

No one came to greet us as I parked the car. That made me more nervous. Everything I’d ever heard about Dreamer’s Glass told me we should have been surrounded by an army by now. Instead, we were alone.

“I don’t like this,” said Quentin.

“You’re not meant to,” said Li Qin. “Just drop your human disguise and get out. It’ll all be clear in a moment.”

“I hate it when people say things like that.” I let my illusions go as I opened the car door. From the sudden blend of scents in the air, I knew Li Qin and Quentin were doing the same.

I had barely finished standing when a man appeared in front of me, tall, thin, and translucent as clear water poured into a human-shaped mold. He was holding a sword as clear as the rest of him, its point only a few inches from my throat. I froze. I could see more of the spun-glass fae appearing out of the corner of my eye. They weren’t teleporting. They were just becoming visible.

“Guess we got that army after all,” I said, and breathed in sharply, hoping it would be taken as a sign of fear.

The sword at my throat didn’t waver. “What is your business?” demanded the man, in a voice only slightly more substantial than the rest of him.

“We’re here to request audience with Duchess Treasa Riordan,” I said. I knew the taste of his heritage, even if I couldn’t see him clearly: Folletti. Their race hailed from the Cloud Kingdoms, where it was easier for someone who was essentially a living piece of the wind to get by. They only came to land to sell their services to the highest bidder. In this case, it must have been Riordan. Somehow, knowing that she had invisible guards didn’t make me feel any better about being there.

Li Qin walked around the car to stand beside me, unbothered by the translucent men with swords. “I am allowed, under the mourner’s flag, to visit these lands and claim hospitality.”

“Well, sure, honey, but that doesn’t mean you get to go bringing guests.” The new voice was female, more solid than the whispering tones of the Folletti. I turned to see a Daoine Sidhe woman in jeans and a black T-shirt with “The Careful Application of Terror is Also a Form of Communication” printed across the front. Her only jewelry was a ruby choker, red against the white of her throat. “Sergio, you can take your boys and go back on patrol. I’ve got these ones.”

“Yes, Your Grace.” The Folletti in front of me slid his sword back into an unseen sheath, sketched a bow, and vanished. The other Folletti did the same. My hair was ruffled by a sudden wind, and the taste of their presence vanished from my mouth.

“Hello, Treasa,” said Li Qin. “You’re looking well.”

Duchess Treasa Riordan looked more than well. Like most Daoine Sidhe, she looked radiant, even dressed like she was getting ready to make a munchies run before a night of cramming for exams. Her shoulder-length hair was a shade of red so dark it verged on black and shattered the light into prismatic shards when she moved. Her features were exquisite, and her figure could have convinced a fashion magazine that jeans were the only appropriate attire for the season. Gorgeous isn’t uncommon in Faerie. Still, I sometimes think I see certain people so often that their beauty stops affecting me the way it should. I wasn’t having that problem with Riordan. Just looking at her made my heart hurt a little bit.

“And you’re looking like you’re taking advantage of mourner’s rights. I’m counting your hours, Li. One minute over, you’re on my land, your ass is mine.” Duchess Riordan said this as calmly and pleasantly as a normal person might ask her guests if they wanted a cup of coffee.

“I am aware,” said Li Qin, taking it in stride.

“Just so we’re all on the same page here.” Duchess Riordan turned to me and Quentin. Her eyes were an impossible shade of frosted lilac, like flowers that had been left outside during a cold snap. “And you are?”

“October Daye of Shadowed Hills, Your Grace.” I bowed. Being a knight means I don’t have to curtsy unless I want to. Bowing was equally appropriate, and it would hopefully make me look like I was a little dense when it came to courtly behavior, rather than making me seem rude. Riordan was an unknown factor.

“Really? You’re Amandine’s daughter?” Riordan’s frosty purple eyes searched my face with new intensity before she passed judgment: “I thought you’d be taller.”

“I get that a lot,” I said, even though I didn’t. Quentin moved to my other side. I gestured to him with one hand. “This is my squire, Quentin.”

“Milady,” said Quentin. His bow was deeper than mine and scrupulously formal. He was a Ducal page before I acquired him. Certain habits die hard, and no matter how hard I try to shake them out of him, I have to admit that sometimes they come in handy.

“Hmm,” said Riordan. The look she gave him was as assessing as the one she’d given me, but it was the sort of assessment most people reserve for livestock and expensive appliances.

Quentin was growing up. He was handsome enough, if I stepped back and forced myself to think of him that way, but that wasn’t what mattered. What mattered was that he was a pureblood Daoine Sidhe, trained in the courtly arts, and approaching marriageable age. For a woman like Riordan, the fact that he came from a family low-ranked enough to allow him to be squired to a changeling—and one from an unknown bloodline, at that—was probably a bonus. What I knew about her told me that she wasn’t a woman who shared power well.

I wasn’t the only one who understood what that look meant. Quentin swallowed hard, looking uncomfortable, and shifted to put himself just a little bit farther behind me. Smart kid.

“Now, then. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you as soon as you pulled in, but I was just wrapping up a raid when the border alarms told me we had company.” A smile spread across Riordan’s face. I didn’t trust it one bit. “I’m glad to see Sergio and his boys didn’t damage any of you. Folletti can be so endearingly enthusiastic, don’t you think?”

“Raid?” I asked.

“You play World of Warcraft?” Quentin asked, almost at the same time.

“Sure do, sugar. On the internet, nobody knows that you’re an all-powerful faerie monarch, now, do they?” Riordan’s smile turned briefly more believable.

“All-powerful” was stretching things a bit, but hey. We were in her domain; if she wanted to be delusional, I wasn’t going to argue. “Your Grace, Li Qin is here because I wanted to request an audience with you. We’re trying to locate a missing changeling. I was hoping one of your people might have seen her.”

Riordan’s eyes narrowed. “Are you implying something, honey?”

“No, not at all. I just figured someone as connected and well-informed as you would be aware of anything strange that happened in your Duchy, and there are signs she went this way, at least for a little while.” I was laying it on a little thick. That probably wasn’t a bad idea.

“Hmm,” said Riordan, managing to sound interested and annoyed at the same time. It was a neat trick. “All right, then, if you were willing to endure her company,” she waved a hand at Li Qin, who held her silence, and her small, polite smile, “just to see me, I suppose I should let myself be seen. Li can show you where I keep the guests I don’t feel like dealing with. The Folletti will escort you to my receiving chamber in twenty minutes.” She turned to walk away.

“But you’re here now,” I protested, before I thought better of it.

Riordan looked back over her shoulder at me, and winked. “Gotta log off, honey. Otherwise, the guild will get annoyed with me, and you’re not worth that much. Ta-ta.” That appeared to finish things, at least for her; this time when she walked away, she didn’t look back.

“That was…” I said, and stopped, unsure how I could finish that sentence without bringing the Folletti down on my head. The fact that Riordan had left us standing in a big, empty room potentially full of invisible men who were hanging out just outside the range of my ability to find them wasn’t escaping me.

“I usually go with ‘bracing,’” said Li Qin. “Jan usually had a few other things to say, but she was smart enough to save them until we were home. Still, we have permission to be here now. Come on. I’ll show you to the foyer.”

Li Qin was short enough that keeping up with her was easy. Keeping myself from walking too fast and leaving her behind, now, that was hard. It didn’t help that Quentin was practically glued to my side, looking around as though he expected Riordan to leap out and propose shacking up at any moment.

“So,” I said, as we walked. “That was different. Given the way you’re dressed, I expected something a little more, you know. Traditional.” Probably including the traditional changing room just inside the knowe, where I could have cast an illusion over my own jeans, jacket, and T-shirt.

Li Qin laughed. “Riordan is very traditional, at least when it comes to making sure her guests know who’s in charge. If I dressed like this every day, she’d expect me to wear casual clothing when I came to see her. She wants people to be uncomfortable. That way, they never forget she’s in control.”

“Cute,” I said.

“Believe me, you’ve only scratched the surface.” We had reached the wall of the cavern, which looked like smooth, unbroken stone. After our arrival from the parking garage, it wasn’t really a surprise when Li Qin just kept going, disappearing into the gray without a ripple. I looked at Quentin, shrugged, and followed her through the wall.

The cavern-slash-garage was huge the way mountains or oceans are huge—naturally, and without trying to make a point through sheer size. That was the only thing it had in common with the hallway on the other side of the wall.

The entry hall of Riordan’s knowe was decorated in what I could only describe as early Victorian bordello as reinterpreted by the creative team behind the Lord of the Rings movies. The globes of glowing light from the cavern were here, too, dancing a slow weaving pattern between chandeliers laden with candles that burned a steady green. At least they didn’t flicker. Hanging tapestries covered the walls, all depicting Riordan. Riordan sitting in a throne during formal Court, looking majestic and wise. Riordan on a white horse, leading a charge in some unidentified battle. Riordan in a meadow, gazing thoughtfully off into the distance.

“Whoa,” I said. “Medieval political propaganda.”

Quentin didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. The way he was wrinkling his nose said everything for him.

Li Qin chuckled. “It takes most people like that the first time. When Jan started sending me here to negotiate for peace along our borders, I thought she was mad at me. This way.” She started down the hall. The thick, ornately patterned carpet muffled her footsteps entirely.

That carpet…the pattern was vertigo-inducing enough to make my stomach turn if I tried to look at it while I walked, leaving me with a choice between the horrible tapestries—bad—and the dancing globes of light—just as bad. I settled for staring straight ahead, trying not to look at anything but the back of Li Qin’s head.

Maybe talking would help. I cleared my throat and asked, “So she just lets you run around the knowe? Even though you’re from Tamed Lightning?”

“When January was alive, refusing me a host’s courtesies would have been an aggressive act. Riordan is never aggressive unless she’s confident of having the upper hand. We were always small, but an unprovoked move against us would have brought Shadowed Hills into the fight, on our side. She wasn’t going to risk it.” Li Qin kept walking. “Now that I’m a widow, etiquette states she can’t refuse me any privilege I had while I was still the wife of a Countess. It’s a useful, if slightly stupid, arrangement of manners.”

“Seven years from the death of a spouse or child, if you’re the parent or consort of a noble,” said Quentin. I glanced his way. He shrugged. “There’s a book we have to memorize.”

“Yet one more reason for me to be glad I was never a child of the nobility.” Daughter of a Firstborn, yes; noble, no. My mother doesn’t have a title. I guess no one ever thought she needed one.

“Here we are.” Li Qin stopped at a door that would have been almost tasteful, if it hadn’t been for the gilded crown molding that surrounded it, like a giant picture frame. It swung open at her touch, revealing a room that appeared to have been decorated entirely in white velvet. Six shades of white velvet. It was like a whipped cream explosion.

“Wow, this just gets classier all the time.” I started toward the door, and froze. The air currents in the hall had shifted when Li Qin opened the new room; not much, but enough that the natural airflow was bringing me different scents.

I smelled sycamore smoke and calla lilies.

“Chelsea,” I whispered.

“Toby?” Quentin looked at me, eyes wide. “What’s up?”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I dug a hand into my pocket, pulling out the Luidaeg’s Chelsea-chaser. It was blazing a bright fire-engine red. Quentin gasped, pulling out his own charm. It was the same color.

“She’s here.” I looked up, toward Li Qin. “Can you cover for me?”

“Until the time of your audience, yes. After that…” She shrugged helplessly. “I’ll do what I can, but I don’t recommend attracting the attention of her guards.”

“Yeah, I’ll do my best.” I reached into my other pocket, dug out the car keys, and tossed them to Quentin. “You know what to do.”

His mouth dropped open as my meaning hit home. “You can’t seriously mean to—”

“Go running off alone so that if one of us winds up getting snagged by Riordan’s invisible goons, the other one can keep looking for Chelsea and Raj? Yeah, I can.” I forced a smile. It didn’t feel sincere. I didn’t care. “Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? You keep Li safe. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

With that, I turned and walked away, letting the Luidaeg’s charm lead me deeper into Riordan’s knowe, where hopefully, Chelsea—and through her, Raj—would be waiting.