Ashes of Honor: An October Daye Novel

“I’ll consider it,” said Riordan. Her eyes flicked to Quentin, and she smiled. “Now, if one of you wanted to stay here, and maybe help me make sure I didn’t get distracted…”

Quentin looked alarmed. I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry, but I need my squire with me. He’s got important squire things to do. Part of his training. You understand.”

“Of course,” said Riordan. She didn’t bother to conceal her disappointment. “If there wasn’t anything else, one of my guards has reported a trespasser—not your little girl, this one didn’t leave any gate traces behind—and I should be looking into that. You can leave.” It wasn’t an offer. It was an order.

“Yes, Your Grace,” I said, bowing again. Quentin did the same.

Li Qin…didn’t. She tilted her head to the side, looking at Riordan. Finally, she said, “I understand from April that you did not attend January’s funeral. A pity. It would have been nice to have you there.”

“I didn’t kill her, Li,” said Riordan bluntly. “I didn’t kill her, and I didn’t invade her lands when that little abomination you call a daughter took power. How about you just be glad of that and leave the guilt trips for someone who’s willing to take them?”

“As you like,” said Li Qin, and curtsied. “Your hospitality is impeccable, as always.”

“Yes,” said Riordan. “I know.” She’d followed the rules binding a host to the letter, giving no more than she had to but not withholding anything we could legitimately expect. It was a fine line to walk. She’d walked it without hesitating.

The Folletti whispered back into view around us, five of them this time, their positioning and posture clearly stating that we were supposed to go with them. I nodded one last time to Riordan, whose smile had faded entirely, before I turned to follow the Folletti. None of them said a word, not as we left the throne room and not as they walked us back through the knowe to the cavern where the car was waiting.

Quentin gave me back the keys. I unlocked the door while Li Qin paid our parking fees. Then we all put our human disguises back on, got into the car, and drove away.





FIFTEEN


NONE OF US SPOKE UNTIL we were past the San Jose city limits. Riordan might not have been spying on us when we were on the way into her Duchy, but there was no way in hell she wasn’t going to be spying on us while we were on the way out. She was too clever, and too paranoid, not to keep an eye on us for as long as she could.

Li Qin turned to me once we were on the freeway. “Did that tell you what you needed to know?”

“Yeah. Riordan’s dangerous because she’s not a crazy bitch. Bitch, yes. Crazy, no.” I sighed. “I think I like it better when they’re nuts. At least then I don’t have to worry about them using actual logic against me.”

“Is she involved?” asked Quentin. “She was sort of creepy, but…”

“Her magic smells like apples and snowdrops. I smelled that combination in the Court of Cats. I don’t think Riordan went there herself—but I think her magic did. Does she know how to make blood charms?”

Li Qin nodded. “Yes. It’s how she sets her wards so firmly.”

“I figured.” Blood charms were a uniquely Daoine Sidhe way of getting around normal rules. Blood carries power; that includes magic, and it’s possible to “loan” or steal magic temporarily if you know how to properly work the blood. Evening Winterrose was always fond of blood charms. If Riordan was the same way, she’d be able to use them to boost her power, borrow abilities from others, and make wards that were both stronger and more specific than anything I could manage. In short, she had a big advantage.

I shook my head, trying to clear the first tinges of fatalism away, and continued, “Also, I never told her Chelsea was a teenager, and I never said which of Chelsea’s parents was human.”

Quentin paused. “What?”

“When I said Chelsea had called home, Riordan asked if she spoke with her human mother. Not ‘human parent.’ She knew which parent would have been there to pick up the phone.”