She chuckled darkly. “How could I forget? That was the most excitement I’d seen around here in positively years.”
“Well, I think this may turn out to be more exciting. The hope chest that the County of Goldengreen was named after was given to some lady with a totally unpronounceable name, and you said that her big parlor trick was ‘playing Snow White.’ Can you explain? Please?”
“Er. Do you mean Eira Rosynhwyr?”
“Yeah, that’s the totally unpronounceable name I meant.” I looked toward Tybalt. He was watching me talk, his face utterly devoid of expression. He knew what I was asking and why I was asking it, I could tell, just like I knew he would let me finish the conversation before he started demanding details. “What did you mean about playing Snow White?”
“Just that she was rumored to be nigh-impossible to kill, even for one of the Firstborn,” she said. “She could suffer an incredible amount of damage and recover completely without outside aid, providing she was given time to sleep. She favored cold places for her recovery . . .”
No shortage of those in the modern world, where anyone could rent a walk-in freezer for less than a thousand dollars a year. “Okay. One last question. What does ‘Eira Rosynhwyr’ mean?”
“Uh. It’s Welsh, it means . . .” There was a pause, and the rustle of pages. I didn’t bother wondering too hard how it was that she had a book of names close at hand. She was the Librarian, and she was in the Library. She could have anything she wanted close at hand. “‘Eira’ is a Welsh female name meaning ‘snow.’ ‘Rosynhwyr’ is a compound word. It doesn’t have a direct translation—the closest I can get is something ‘rose that has been frozen.’ Why do you ask?”
“Because we’re all too stupid to live, and that’s why we’re all going to die soon,” I said slowly. “Mags, I need you to do me a favor now, if you possibly can. I need you to close the Library.”
“What? October, I don’t think you understand what you’re asking me to—”
“I need you to close the Library,” I repeated, cutting her off before she could fully launch into her explanation. “I have every reason to believe that Eira Rosynhwyr is not only alive, but in San Francisco right now, and she’s not playing nicely with the other children. You need to defend yourself. Close the Library.”
“I . . . what?” Mags sounded frightened now. Good. Fear might be the only thing capable of keeping her alive if Evening came to the Library on whatever strange errands were driving her. “I’ll try. I’ve never closed the doors without changing locations before, and I can’t change locations intentionally unless someone is actually trying to burn the place to the ground.”
“If the doors won’t close, call me,” I said. “I’ll show up with matches.”
Maybe that was what finally convinced her that I meant business. “All right,” she said. “Is there anything else?”
“Yeah. If you see a woman with skin as white as snow and hair as black as coal . . . run.” I hung up the phone without saying good-bye, stuffing it back into my pocket as I turned to face the others. They looked at me with varying degrees of understanding—Tybalt, who knew best out of all of us how Faerie worked, looked resigned; Quentin looked faintly horrified; Raj, who had never known Evening, just looked bemused.
“Evening Winterrose is alive, and her real name is ‘Eira Rosynhwyr,’ and she’s the Daoine Sidhe Firstborn,” I said without preamble. “I don’t know why she faked her own death, and I don’t know why she bound Simon and the Luidaeg to silence, but I do know one thing.”
“What’s that?” asked Raj.
“We are so screwed.”
FIFTEEN
The Winter Long
Seanan McGuire's books
- Blood Brothers
- Face the Fire
- Holding the Dream
- The Hollow
- The way Home
- A Father's Name
- All the Right Moves
- After the Fall
- And Then She Fell
- A Mother's Homecoming
- All They Need
- Behind the Courtesan
- Breathe for Me
- Breaking the Rules
- Bluffing the Devil
- Chasing the Sunset
- Feel the Heat (Hot In the Kitchen)
- For the Girls' Sake
- Guarding the Princess
- Happy Mother's Day!
- Meant-To-Be Mother
- In the Market for Love
- In the Rancher's Arms
- Leather and Lace
- Northern Rebel Daring in the Dark
- Seduced The Unexpected Virgin
- Southern Beauty
- St Matthew's Passion
- Straddling the Line
- Taming the Lone Wolff
- Taming the Tycoon
- Tempting the Best Man
- Tempting the Bride
- The American Bride
- The Argentine's Price
- The Art of Control
- The Baby Jackpot
- The Banshee's Desire
- The Banshee's Revenge
- The Beautiful Widow
- The Best Man to Trust
- The Betrayal
- The Call of Bravery
- The Chain of Lies
- The Chocolate Kiss
- The Cost of Her Innocence
- The Demon's Song
- The Devil and the Deep
- The Do Over
- The Dragon and the Pearl
- The Duke and His Duchess
- The Elsingham Portrait
- The Englishman
- The Escort
- The Gunfighter and the Heiress
- The Guy Next Door
- The Heart of Lies
- The Heart's Companion
- The Holiday Home
- The Irish Upstart
- The Ivy House
- The Job Offer
- The Knight of Her Dreams
- The Lone Rancher
- The Love Shack
- The Marquess Who Loved Me
- The Marriage Betrayal
- The Marshal's Hostage
- The Masked Heart
- The Merciless Travis Wilde
- The Millionaire Cowboy's Secret
- The Perfect Bride
- The Pirate's Lady
- The Problem with Seduction
- The Promise of Change
- The Promise of Paradise
- The Rancher and the Event Planner
- The Realest Ever
- The Reluctant Wag
- The Return of the Sheikh
- The Right Bride
- The Sinful Art of Revenge
- The Sometime Bride
- The Soul Collector
- The Summer Place
- The Texan's Contract Marriage
- The Virtuous Ward
- The Wolf Prince
- The Wolfs Maine
- The Wolf's Surrender
- Under the Open Sky
- Unlock the Truth
- Until There Was You
- Worth the Wait
- The Lost Tycoon
- The Raider_A Highland Guard Novel
- The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress
- The Witch is Back
- When the Duke Was Wicked
- India Black and the Gentleman Thief