Two #3
“Not spy-spy. Just sort of look in and see what’s up.
” She shrugged. “It takes a lot of power to hold a portal open and stationary. They’re only supposed to exist for a few seconds at a time.
So I only really do it when I need to, and a lot of Tuatha probably can’t do it at all.
I got the idea from a video game I played with Quentin. ”
“Of course you did,” I said, rubbing my forehead with one hand. “Of course you took a lesson from a video game and applied it directly to making me worry about whether or not I’m wearing pants in my own home. What a great idea.”
“I like it,” said Chelsea, blithely ignoring my sarcasm. “And it makes Raysel feel better when she knows exactly who she might run into after she leaves her room. Anything that helps is worth doing.”
“Where is Raysel, anyway?”
“She’s still in bed.” Chelsea took another bite of muffin. “It took her a long time to go to sleep, and as long as she’s resting, I’m going to let her.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” I said, glancing over at Tybalt. He was watching the conversation, pupils narrowed to slits as he processed the fact that Raysel was this afraid of her own parents.
Oh, he knew she was scared of her mother and didn’t trust her father to listen to her over Luna.
But I don’t think either of us had realized quite how raw that feeling really was.
And it wasn’t irrational. Sylvester had already shown that he couldn’t stand up to Luna, not where Raysel was concerned.
Raysel wasn’t afraid he’d do something. She was afraid he wouldn’t.
“I didn’t have any plans for today,” I said.
“Maybe I need to take a trip to Shadowed Hills and make sure Sylvester understands that pushing this issue with his daughter would be an excellent way to lose her.”
“Would you?” asked Chelsea, with sudden bright, bitter hope. “I didn’t want to ask, but she’s been so scared, and Dad says he can’t bring up the issue again, because Sylvester told him not to the last time he tried. Mom won’t even try.”
“I understand,” I said, and I did. Bridget wasn’t being a coward, she was being realistic: as a human living in a fae demesne, she was powerless and effectively trapped if Sylvester decided she wasn’t allowed to leave.
Not offending her landlord was important.
Humans don’t usually live inside knowes, and this was part of why.
It’s hard to be so completely in someone else’s power.
But staying at Shadowed Hills meant she could be with her husband, and that she wouldn’t rapidly age, die, and leave him alone. For a life with Etienne, she was willing to give up a lot of things. I could respect that, and I didn’t even blame her. Raysel wasn’t her responsibility. She was mine.
“Anyway,” I said, standing. “It’s about time I drop by the duchy. Sylvester said I could come home, and I mostly haven’t been, thanks to fucking Titania deciding to screw everything up. He can deal with a visit from the prodigal knight.”
“I’ll be accompanying you,” said Tybalt.
I shot him a look. “We’re asking May to keep Miranda. I don’t want to spend the whole time worrying about something happening to my baby.”
“Of course,” said Tybalt, sounding only a little surprised.
Since Miranda’s conception, I had been enchanted into forgetting my own life, much less that I was pregnant, poisoned severely enough that even my rapid healing hadn’t been able to protect me, put through an involuntary C-section without painkillers or clean blankets, and forced to stand by as my grandmother attempted to kidnap my child.
I was allowed to be a little overprotective, at least until she was old enough to understand that she needed to bite and scream if anyone she didn’t know attempted to take her away.
So yeah, maybe I was being too careful about letting her out of the house. But no one was really in a position to blame me, except for maybe Tybalt and May, and neither of them was going to say a word. They wanted that baby to stay safe as much as I did.
“Chelsea, you sticking around tonight?”
She nodded. “Raysel and I were going to head over to Marin. There’s a coffee shop there that hosts folk bands, and I think she’ll really like it.”
“That sounds like a great time,” I said. “We’ll take care of Sylvester.”
Chelsea smiled, looking reassured, and was still smiling as we left the kitchen, heading for the stairs back to our room.
Tybalt waited until we were in the upstairs hall before he looked at me gravely. “Are you quite sure you’re prepared to face Sylvester tonight?” he asked.
“Does it matter? Raysel’s my responsibility, and if she’s this scared, I need to fix it, before it gets even worse.” I raked my hand through my hair, leaving it even more disheveled than before. “Besides, weren’t you the one who was just saying we needed to get out more?”
“I was. But I fear I may not be civil.”
“You can stay with Etienne while I take care of things,” I said confidently. “This shouldn’t take too long.”
When will I learn not to open my mouth?