“What about the other stuff, Periclase trying to absorb the Stone Order into his kingdom?”
“That is still an issue of debate,” he said. His expression sobered. “But no one knows where King Oberon is.”
I glanced between Maxen and my father. “What do you mean?”
“He’s gone. Oberon’s nowhere to be found in Faerie.”
I frowned. “So, what, everything going through the High Court just stalls?”
Maxen held up his palms. “Titania is apparently refusing to deal with it. She says it’s his mess and she’s not going to do his work for him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fricking Fae.”
“That’s not your problem, in any case,” Maxen said. He drew a breath but didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he turned to Oliver. “Would you mind giving me a moment alone with Petra?”
My brows shot up. Oliver looked a little taken aback, too, but he rose and left, closing the door behind him.
Maxen took Oliver’s place on the edge of the bed. “The conflict with the Duergar isn’t going to go away just because Oberon’s decided to disappear. Marisol is going to be pushing harder to establish us as a kingdom, but it’s going to take even more work if Oberon isn’t here to make a ruling. After your victory, it would be very good for the Stone Order if you stayed here.”
I frowned. “Why should my presence make any difference?”
“We need to look as unified as possible as a people,” Maxen said. “Having our champion cut and run to the other side of the hedge as soon as the battle’s over doesn’t look very good.”
A small flare of anger lit in my chest. I put my sandwich down. “Seriously, Maxen? After what I just did, you’re telling me I owe more?”
“I know it seems unfair to ask, to pressure you like this, but this is life in Faerie. As a people, we have to give everything we have, or the New Gargoyles don’t stand a chance of establishing our independence.”
My mouth worked, but I didn’t respond.
“I know you’re out of money, Petra. And I know you’re on probation with the Guild,” Maxen said quietly. “Do you really have a choice?”
I looked off to the side. That stung.
“There’s always a choice,” I said, my voice hard. “And the thing is, even as champion, I’d have no freedom here. I’d have to quit hunting vamps. Do you understand how that would feel like a betrayal of my mother? And Marisol would tell me what to do and when to do it, and I’d have to obey her every order.”
He lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “That’s Faerie. That’s the plight of our people. And here’s the thing, something that Oliver doesn’t even know yet. Marisol is going to start calling in New Gargs at the fall equinox, all the changelings and all the Order-sworn who live on the other side of the hedge. You’re going to be in the first group summoned. You can wait until then if you want to, but you will be called back to the fortress, and you’ll have to stay for as long as she wants you here. If you do it by choice before you’re forced, you’ll be rewarded for it. If not, you won’t be happy with the result.”
“Or I refuse the call,” I said sullenly.
“You wouldn’t.”
He was right. Refusing such an order from my sovereign meant more or less giving up my magic and all my ties to Faerie. I’d be permanently exiled from this side of the hedge.
My anger flared again, but I tamped it down, keeping tight control.
I pierced him with a cold look. “You’re practically blackmailing me, you and your mother. Not only that, you’re doing it while I’m sitting here, unable to walk under my own power, with my wounds still fresh from the arena.”
He blinked, his eyes tightening, but didn’t argue. He also didn’t apologize.
“I can’t help the timing,” he said finally.
“That’s all you have to say?”
He stood slowly. I could tell he wasn’t happy, but I was all out of sympathy for Maxen and his mother.
“Finish your business on the other side of the hedge,” he said. “Then come home.”
He turned and left.
I started to reach for my sandwich, but when I saw my own hands trembling with unspent anger, I curled my fingers into fists.
In less than a month, Marisol would summon me here and take away my freedom for as long as she wanted to. She’d force me to quit hunting vamps. And really, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do. I’d have to figure out a way to ride it out. To get released from her call. But for the moment, I was too weak to do much of anything but lie there and feel pissed.
I had other visitors into the day and evening, but their congratulations were tainted by my exchange with Maxen.
As the evening gave way to night, I was surprised to see Nicole come through the door.
After asking about my injuries, we fell into awkward silence.
“Someone said you’re going to be leaving?” she asked after a moment.
“I live on the other side of the hedge,” I said. “I’d planned to return there, but it looks like I may not get to stay.”
“Are they putting you under house arrest, too?” she asked wryly.
She was standing next to the bed, and she fidgeted, moving her feet around in different turned-out positions.
“In a manner of speaking,” I said. I eyed her movements. Something about them was plucking at my memory. “Congrats on the stone armor, by the way.”
She pushed her fingers though her hair in a gesture that was eerily similar to a gesture I often made. “Oh yeah, your tip helped a lot. Now I don’t have to worry about going back to the Duergar, at least.”
“Periclase will probably still argue that he’s your father, but you’re right. You can stay if you want to, now that you’ve shown you have sufficient New Garg blood.” I looked up at her, suddenly realizing why her fidgeting seemed to have a form to it. “Were you a dancer?”
Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Ten years in the San Francisco Ballet. Now I’m an instructor. Or I was. You know, before I came here. I’ve probably lost my job by now.”
I let out a short laugh. “We might have more in common than I thought.”
“You have a background in dance?”
“Oh, Oberon, no. I’d look like an ox in a tutu. But I’m on the verge of losing my job, too.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Do you know what you’re going to do when the time comes?” I asked. I knew it was still early in the homecoming process, but I was curious about where her mind was on the matter.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll go back,” she said. “Probably have to find a new apartment and a new job, but . . .” She looked around the room and shivered a little, stuffing her hands into the front pocket of her jeans. “This is all just so strange.”
Pretty sure. Probably.
I hid a smile. She was going to stay. I’d bet money on it, if I had any to put down. It would be hard for her, but I could see it in her eyes. She knew this—Faerie—was the thing she’d been missing her whole life. The secret that had been whispering through her mind, but she couldn’t quite hear.