Between Burrow and Sky (The Barley Queen Quintet #2)

Chapter One

Their rule was a strange one, indeed.

A queen. Two princes. Both by Thumbelina’s side almost at all times, guiding her. Teaching her. Advising her. And then, because the two other courts immediately insisted upon equivalent representation, regular meetings with them all. A council of sorts.

The meetings began weekly, shortly after Ina’s coronation.

Then, at times, they would meet multiple days in a row to discuss particularly important topics – such as the aftershocks of an entire kingdom of fairies being stuck in their creature forms for several weeks because of Ina’s rage.

Though they’d succeeded in reversing her anger-magic, the effects were lasting.

And so they met. First in the burrow court.

Then in the sky court. Then in the marsh court.

Then in the canopy court. Sometimes out in a garden.

Sometimes in a throne room. Sometimes at the large dining table in Prince Derran’s chambers, if only because it was convenient and always held the queen’s favorite pastries.

After a month, though, it became a chore to choose a meeting location. It was no longer a gracious invitation but a struggle to decide who ought to have the longest journey simply to be in the room with the queen. That was when Ina decided a formal meeting room was in order.

She had it built as close to the middle of the four courts as fairies could measure, hanging from the thick branch of a tree.

To a human eye it might have looked like something between a birdhouse and a beehive, near the top of the tree, shielded by leaves and branches.

Yet inside stood a beautiful chamber, ordered with a round table – something she had read about in a story long ago – and several chairs she had chosen specifically for their comfort.

The first meeting in the new council chamber was to be held on a bright summer morning. Ina arrived before the others because she wanted a chance to sit in the queen’s chair and get used to it before anyone saw her fumbling about awkwardly to figure it out.

The sitting practice did not help her nerves.

The chair was well made, which only made it worse.

Someone had taken pains with it. The willow had been bent and polished.

The cushion was new. It sat at what could be considered the head of the table, furthest from the doors, half a finger’s width taller than the rest, as if no one would notice her unless the chair made a point of it.

On the table lay a stack of papers at each place, notes and reports and complaints and various other points of order.

They were each held down by a cluster of raw gemstone, courtesy of the burrow court, each a different color matching the wings of the respective ruler that would sit before them.

Hers was a quartz that cast thin rainbows on the paper where sunlight threaded through the gems.

She nudged it sideways.

Then she put it back in the corner where it had started.

Then she decided she was being foolish and sat down.

“You seem to be struggling.”

Derran stood in the doorway, watching her with that look he had when he was amused and meant to stay that way. He shut the door behind him and came in, blue wings folded closed. He was dressed like a prince for council, though not so grandly as he might have been. He hadn’t bothered with a crown.

“I’m not struggling,” Ina protested. “I’m… adjusting.”

“To the chair?”

“To everything.” She waved vaguely at the table and papers and gemstones.

He came to stand beside her, picking up the cluster of raw sapphire that sat atop his own bundle of papers and turning it over. “Being queen is an adjustment.”

“You could pretend it looks natural.”

“It doesn’t yet,” he said with a teasing grin. “But I expect you’ll improve with repetition.”

She gave him a flat look.

His smile changed then from teasing to reassuring, seeing she needed it, and he placed a gentle hand on her back. “You are a natural queen. It’s only you that doesn’t seem to see it yet.”

Karai came in through the other door before she could answer. He took in the room in a glance – the table, the seats, Derran standing too close to her for formality, touching her in a way that suggested tenderness, and Ina looking like she’d had a bolt of electricity pass through her.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, an eyebrow rising.

“The chair.” Derran grinned again, removing his hand from her back as if it had appeared there of its own accord and he was simply correcting its error.

Karai walked over, in perfect control of the neutral expression on his face, and examined the chair. “It is a bit taller than the others. Have you considered ordering it beheaded?”

Derran laughed, the surprise in him apparent at Karai making a joke.

Ina did not find it funny. “I’m considering ordering both of you out.”

Karai scooted the chair a little closer to the middle of the two on either side of it, and took his own seat, voice dripping with sarcasm. “How devastating. A day without Eogan.”

Derran raised his eyebrows and made a face of agreement – he wouldn’t have minded avoiding the canopy court prince himself, though he also couldn’t help quipping, “Nearly as devastating as a day without you.”

Karai gave him a flat look. “Charming.”

Ina sat back and pinched her lips together at that, trying not to smile. “I hate both of you.”

“Fortunate,” replied Karai, lips curling downward in something that wasn’t quite a grin. “It would complicate the meeting if you liked us.”

His tone suggested sarcasm again, though this time there was the tiniest hint of something else too – an edge that suggested an ongoing dilemma, perhaps because she liked them both all too much, and had been avoiding them both because of it.

The door opened again before she could come up with a clever retort.

Eogan entered first, shining in a scarlet outfit edged with bronze that reminded Ina of autumn leaves, every part of him neat in a way that looked like effort spent while pretending no effort had been spent. Two attendants followed him.

Ina stopped looking at Eogan and looked at them, suddenly leaning forward in her chair as if she meant to stand.

Their hands were bound in front with cord.

They looked at the ground, as though they had just endured something they didn’t want visible in their faces.

They wore sleeveless brown tunics, and on each of their shoulders, a dark mark puckered, surrounded by red skin.

A brand. A new one, clearly applied shortly before their arrival.

A queen of the night flower. A mark, she had learned in the past few weeks, for fairy prisoners.

Derran’s mouth was suddenly agape, disturbed more than shocked. Karai’s expression changed too, brow furrowing before easing back to control.

Eogan took his place at the table as if nothing in his entrance called for explanation.

“I have brought a matter for judgment,” he said, his r’s switching to w’s in that pompous way of his.

Ina did not sit any further back. “You brought prisoners.”

“They are not prisoners yet.”

“They appear to be getting a strong start.”

The attendants kept their eyes lowered. Ina knew them. She remembered them from the canopy court. She remembered the two of them taking her after Eogan’s order to drop her off on a toadstool. She remembered their argument, their distraction, and her resulting escape.

She looked at the canopy court prince. “Seriously, Prince Eogan. What is the meaning of this?”

“These two were among those who carried out orders given against you,” he said. “I’ve marked them and brought them here because I do mean to have them imprisoned. As a token of apology to your Majesty.”

Derran’s eyebrows could not have gone further up his forehead. “You branded your own attendants with the prisoner mark and brought them to our council meeting… as an apology?”

“Yes.”

“That does sound like you.”

Eogan ignored him. Karai rested an elbow on the table and said, “Imprisoned for what?”

“For their part in any harm done to the queen during her… visit to the canopy court last autumn.”

Ina stared at him. “They did not harm me, and it was not a visit.”

He inclined his head. “Yes, your Majesty. You were taken.”

“I was kidnapped,” she said. “By your command, if I recall correctly.”

Eogan said nothing, though he waved his hand as if the fact of his command was a mere inconvenience.

Karai tipped his head forward, quiet even in his disbelief. “So let me see whether I understand this. You gave a bad order, and now you mean to punish the men who obeyed it?”

Eogan scoffed. “It’s not punishment for obedience. They should have known better than to leave the queen alone at the top of a tree. She could have fallen.”

Ina tsked her tongue, but before she could answer, the door opened again. The two regents of the marsh court had arrived. Lord Lugomir came in with his wife, Lady Jasenka, beside him. Both stopped when they saw the two attendants.

Lugomir’s gaze moved to their shoulders. Jasenka’s went straight to Eogan.

“We are late, then,” she said.

“Only for the punishment,” Derran replied with a snort.

Jasenka took her seat. “Then perhaps not late.”

Lugomir stood behind her, asking uncertainly, “Should we… wait outside until the example is finished?”

Jasenka barely disguised the roll of her eyes.

“No,” ordered Ina. “Stay.” Lugomir sat. She looked at the attendants. “Your names.”

The first one swallowed. “Faro, your Majesty.”

“Mikel,” said the second.

Ina nodded. “When Prince Eogan ordered you to seize me and leave me on a toadstool, did either of you think it was a bad plan?”

Mikel glanced at Faro, then answered as if he was asking a question. “I thought it was an… unusual plan, your Majesty?”

Derran couldn’t help a short laugh.

Faro looked as if he wanted the floorboards to open under him. “I didn’t really understand what he meant by toadstool, your Majesty.”

Karai lowered his head and rubbed a thumb once over the edge of the table. Jasenka’s mouth twitched. Even Lugomir turned his face aside.

Ina continued, remembering their conversation clearly in her mind, “Did either of you mean to harm me or even follow that instruction?”

Mikel sighed. “No, your Majesty. We meant to put you in the canopy court dungeon instead.”

Faro agreed. “To wait for your wings to grow.” He gestured at the wings now at her back.

Ina looked back at Eogan. “There. You see?”

Eogan’s face stayed still. “I see two men who failed to do their duty, then.”

“And what did you do?” Ina said, actively fighting against the urge to roll her eyes.

He did not answer.

Jasenka folded her hands and chimed in then with a soft but charming voice. “Eggy, darling, be merciful. If I punished every servant who obeyed a poor instruction from someone above them, I’d have no household left.”

Lugomir looked at her. “That many?”

She did not look at him, though they could hear the smile in her voice. “More, on certain days. Regardless, Eggy, you must understand that it’s your role to guide them and teach them, not just imprison them when they don’t read your mind.”

That earned another quiet laugh from Derran.

Eogan’s attention stayed on Ina. “I mean only to apologize to your Majesty.”

Ina leaned forward, thinking quickly through the most gracious response. “And I appreciate that, Prince Eogan. The past is the past, and I do not blame you or them for any of the actions taken last autumn. They are not to be imprisoned.”

Eogan looked at her. “You would let them go.”

“Yes.”

“They were part of it.”

Clink. A crack appeared in the glass in front of Ina. Eogan’s eyes widened.

“So were the doors in your palace,” she snapped, finally having had enough. “Shall we jail those too?”

Derran looked down at the table. Karai’s mouth moved, though he managed not to smile openly.

Ina went on. “They are attendants. You told them to take me. They took me. The fault is yours. It does not become theirs because you decided you dislike it now.” She looked at the marks on their shoulders. “And that shouldn’t have been done either.”

“It can be undone,” Eogan huffed.

“Then undo it,” she replied with command in her tone.

He was quiet, though his lips had the slightest curl – something between disapproval and his own amusement. Ina wondered for a moment if this had been some kind of test from the canopy court prince.

Then Lugomir set both hands on the table, calling her out of her own thoughts. “The queen has ruled.”

“The burrow court agrees,” said Karai evenly.

“The sky court agrees,” said Derran. He leaned to Jasenka and muttered, just loudly enough for them all to hear, “Though I admit I was curious how much worse this was going to get.”

Jasenka thinned her lips to avoid an outright smile and turned her head to Eogan. “The marsh court agrees too. Will the canopy court join us all?”

For a breath, Ina thought the canopy prince might dig in simply because he had been pushed.

Then he bowed his head respectfully. “Yes.”

“Good,” said Ina. “Untie them.”

One of Eogan’s guards, who had remained outside, came in and cut the cords. Faro and Mikel bowed so quickly they nearly knocked themselves off balance.

“See to the marks today,” Ina said.

“It will be done,” said Eogan.

“Thank you, your Majesty,” said Faro, clasping his hands in front of him.

Mikel bowed repeatedly as he backed up. “Thank you, your Majesty. I really did think the toadstool was a poor choice.”

Eogan placed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, a gesture Ina recognized from its regular occurrence when he was irritated. “Go away,” he told them.

They went. The door shut behind them.

Derran sat back. “Well. This has been useful.”

Ina looked at him. “How?”

“We now know three things,” he said. “You are merciful. Eogan is not good at punishment. And nobody from the canopy court should be allowed near mushrooms.”

Karai let out a breath through his nose. Lugomir’s mouth twitched. Jasenka looked down at her hands.

Eogan sat without a word, though Ina could have sworn his eyes glimmered with laughter. Still, the more obvious look on his face was one as though he had no wish to ever hear the word “toadstool” again.

Jasenka settled in her chair. “Now that justice has been served and fungus avoided, may we hold the council?”

Ina looked around the table.

Derran looked pleased in the way he did when he thought she had done well and had sense enough not to say it in front of other people.

Karai had gone still in that watchful way of his, though Ina saw the glitter in his eyes and knew he was pleased too.

Lugomir looked oblivious to any tension in the room.

Jasenka already looked halfway into the real business of the day.

Eogan gave a half-smirk, and Ina was convinced again that the whole thing had been some sort of test.

She put both hands on the table.

“Yes,” she said. “Let’s begin.”