Barbara grinned. “I do not believe anyone here would refer to me as ‘pure of heart,’ do you, Your Majesty?”
Even the Queen allowed a tiny smile to cross her lips at this, and the King let out an actual guffaw. The rest of the court burst into raucous laughter at the thought.
Eventually the Queen waved her fan through the air and the revelry subsided. Barbara thought she could hear the subtle sharpening of knives as they awaited her final answer. Not everyone at the royal court was pleased with the Baba Yaga’s privileged position, or, it might be said, with Barbara herself. She liked to think that she was good at her job, but even she admitted that she sucked at playing at courtly games. To be honest, she just couldn’t be bothered.
“If not your sheriff and not you,” the Queen said, “then who? Not Chudo-Yudo, surely?” The court tittered again; Chudo-Yudo rolled his large brown eyes and showed his large white teeth. For reasons known only to him, he’d stayed in his pit bull form this visit, probably in solidarity with his Human companions.
Little Babs, who had been silently observing everything from behind Barbara’s legs, took three firm steps forward. As usual, she had been so quiet that most of those present had completely forgotten she was there. Barbara herself never made that mistake, having found from experience that the girl might not speak much but she soaked up everything around her like a sponge. A tiny, choppy-haired, snub-nosed, determined sponge.
The Queen’s brow wrinkled. “What is this, Baba Yaga?”
“You remember my protégé Babs, Your Majesty,” Barbara said.
A silvery-white eyebrow rose delicately. “Of course I do. I may be thousands of years old, Baba Yaga, but I am hardly senile. I was merely questioning what her presence here has to do with the matter at hand.”
Barbara bowed to take the sting out of what came next. “As you know, Your Majesty, Babs was kidnapped as an infant and stolen from the Human world to be raised in secret in this one, hidden away from all contact with others. As a result, she tends to be curious, literal, and completely honest. In fact, when I thought about it, I could not think of a single lie she had ever told. Neither could Chudo-Yudo, and, as you know, he can always discern lies from truth.”
The Queen blinked. Then she gestured with her fan, indicating that Babs should approach the royals on their makeshift thrones. The girl moved until she was standing right in front of the Queen, gazing up with her usual neutral expression, round brown eyes open wide.
“Do you know who I am, child?” the Queen asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Babs said, curtsying the way Barbara had taught her. “You are the Queen of the Otherworld, sovereign of all the paranormal people.”
The Queen nodded, slightly mollified by Babs’s proper manners. “I am going to ask you some questions to test your honesty,” she said. “You will answer to the best of your ability, and We shall see if your Barbara is speaking the truth. Do you understand?”
Babs nodded solemnly. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Very well. Tell me, little one, what do you think of the mate your Baba Yaga mentor has chosen?”
Babs turned around and gazed at Liam for a moment, then turned back to the Queen. “I think that he is very nice, Your Majesty, and very kind to me. I like him. He is my very favorite Human.”
Liam reached over and squeezed Barbara’s hand, his eyes suspiciously bright.
“How charming,” the Queen said in a dry tone. “And what do you think of the Baba Yaga? Is she nice as well?”
Babs thought for a moment, looking back at Barbara. Then she shrugged. “Sometimes she is nice and sometimes she is not nice. She is not fond of fools or idiots and often threatens to kick their asses.” She turned around. “Is that the right word, Barbara? Or is it just the singular, ass?”
Barbara tried not to laugh. “Either one is fine,” she said in a choked voice. “Although under most circumstances, Liam would rather you didn’t say that word, remember?”
“Oh. Right. I am sorry, Liam, I forgot.” Babs did her best to follow Liam’s rules, even though they often made no sense to her.
“That’s okay, honey,” he said. “You’re doing fine.” Out of the corner of her eye, Barbara could see his shoulders shaking.
“So she is not always nice,” Babs went on, doggedly following her instructions. “But she is always kind to me. I like her too. She is my other favorite Human, although she says she is only barely Human on her good days. Which she hardly ever has.”
The court tittered again, only to be hushed when the Queen held up one hand.
“And what do you think of me, little one?” the Queen asked in a deceptively mild tone. “Am I nice?”