Ashes of Honor: An October Daye Novel

Duchess Riordan was perfectly, dangerously sane. And that was something I could see being a major problem if we wanted to get out of this alive.

“I’m going to give you one more chance,” I said, as calmly as I could. “Give Chelsea to us, and we’ll leave your lands, and we won’t come back. You haven’t done any permanent damage. You haven’t committed any crimes.” Even after everything she’d done, she hadn’t done a single thing most purebloods would acknowledge as “wrong.” Stealing a changeling who’d never been given her Choice would practically be viewed as community service in some circles. The Queen might even give her a public commendation, if it weren’t for the part where Chelsea was undermining the fabric of Faerie.

“No,” said Riordan.

Folletti appeared around us, seeming to materialize out of thin air. And a figure stepped out of the portal connecting the throne room to Annwn.

“Hello, Sire,” said Samson. He was smiling poisonously. “I told you your association with these…people…would be the death of you. Better to keep to your own kind.”

“Sadly, a skill I have never possessed,” said Tybalt wearily.

“Lay down your arms, all of you, or I’ll tell my guards to dispose of you,” said Riordan.

“You’d break Oberon’s Law?” asked Quentin. He sounded wounded, like he couldn’t believe that an otherwise reasonable member of the Daoine Sidhe—his own race—would break the law so cavalierly. I guess dealing with so many crazy people really upped his standards for the sane ones.

“Oberon’s Law applies only to the places that Oberon is watching,” said Riordan. “Tell me, kiddo, what part of this room is Oberon watching? What part of anywhere is Oberon watching? We’d never have been able to open this door,” she indicated the portal to Annwn with a sweep of her hand, “if he’d been paying attention. Oberon’s gone. He’s not coming back for us. All you people still playing by his rules are backing the wrong horse. It’s the ones who realize the rules have changed who’ll win the race.”

“Not to be rude or anything, but you’re sort of mixing your metaphors,” I said, as mildly as I could with a dozen semi-visible swords being pointed at my vital organs. I’d survive being stabbed…probably. Quentin and Tybalt wouldn’t.

“Why do people always say ‘not to be rude’ when they’re about to be rude?” asked Riordan. “Now, are you going to lay down your arms, or are my men going to punch some nice new holes in you?”

My knife clattered against the receiving room floor. A few seconds later, Quentin’s sword did the same. Tybalt had no weapons to discard, but he raised his hands, showing that his claws were securely sheathed.

Riordan smiled. “Good,” she said. As quickly it had come, the smile faded, replaced by a look of cold dismissiveness. “Boys, take them.”

The Folletti closed in. Tybalt snarled. And something hard hit me on the back of the head, and everything went black.





TWENTY-TWO


I WOKE WITH MY HANDS TIED behind my back and my ankles tied together, lying on my side in a tangled bed of fresh-cut bracken. That, and the sweet, clean smell of the air coming through the window in the stone wall behind me, told me plainly that we were no longer in Riordan’s knowe. We were no longer anywhere in the Summerlands at all. There was no light in the room.

“Tybalt?” I whispered. I didn’t move while I waited for my eyes to adjust. “Quentin?”