The surface of the mirror glowed with a pale blue light, then a golden yellow suffused the surface and Oberon’s face appeared.My grandfather looked annoyed at first, but his expression shifted to one of horror as he took in her appearance.
“Mab?”he asked.“What’s wrong?Oh no, you have it, too?”
“I’m so glad to see you are still as intelligent as ever, Oberon,” Mab replied, her voice stronger than I thought she could possibly sound as she insulted her ex-husband.I guess some people are empowered by spite.“I need her.”
Oberon’s image shook its head.“She can’t, Mab.She is very ill.”
“I am dying, Oberon.Get Titania so we might be able to stop this plague before it destroys all of Faerie.”Her voice was iron, and I almost ran out to fetch Titania myself, there was so much command in Mab’s words.
“I am no longer your consort, Mab, and it would serve you well—” I don’t know what bullshit Oberon was about to spew because Mama cut him off.
“Father, stop being an idiot and bring the mirror to Titania.This mess is partly your fault, so get your enormous head out of your ass and help Mother fix it!”
Oberon’s face jerked back like Mama had just slapped the taste out of his mouth, and trust me, I know exactly what kind of a slap Mama can lay on somebody when she needs to.He shook himself, and we could see the reflection moving as he carried the mirror over to look upon Titania in her bed.
The Summer Queen looked like she had aged thirty years in the couple days since we’d left her chambers.She no longer sat in a chair, relegated like Mab to lying in a bed surrounded by blankets and pillows.Her hair had lost all color, its honey-blond faded to dishwater gray.Her skin was sallow and seemed to hang off her cheekbones and jawline.She looked like she was melting away moment by moment.
“Mab,” she said, her voice a wet croak.
“Titania,” Mab replied in a paper-thin rasp.“We seem to have a problem.”
Titania chuckled.“That we do.Do you have a solution?”
“I do.My daughter and grandson have removed the threat from our realms.But the humans did not create an antidote.There is only one way to purge Faerie of their poison.”
“A spell uniting Summer and Winter magics,” Titania said.
“Exactly.”Mab’s voice seemed to grow stronger the more she talked, like she was gaining power from her determination.
“You know what that will do to us both,” Titania said, her own voice strengthening.She pressed her hands into the bed, shoving herself up into a sitting position.
Mab mirrored her movement, getting more upright.“I do.Is yours chosen?”
“She is.Yours?”
“She is here.”
“Then shall we begin?”Titania asked.
“Yes.”Mab turned away from the mirror to look at me.“I wish we had known each other better, Robert.I feel there is honor in your blood, even polluted as it is by humanity.”
I started to get a little sense of what was about to happen and decided not to pick a fight.“My humanity is what makes me noble, Granny.I wish we’d known each other well enough for you to see that.”
She nodded, then turned her attention to Amy.“Please take care of my grandson.He is an idiot, but he seems to be a good man.”
Amy nodded back.“I think you know him very well, then, Your Majesty.I will take care of him.”
Mab looked at Mama.“Ygraine, are you ready?”
A tear rolled down Mama’s cheek, freezing as it did.“No.I am not.”
Mab smiled at that.“No one ever is.Go to the throne room.You will know when it is done.”
Mama shook her head.“I’m not leaving you, Mother.”
Mab glared.“Go.This is the last order I will ever give you, Daughter, but it is the most important.You must sit the throne, and you must do it now.If you do not, then it is all for naught.Nowgo.”Her voice was stronger than it had been since we stepped into the room, and I could tell she didn’t have much left.I stepped in, took Mama’s arm, and led her from the bed.She handed the mirror to Mab and turned, head down as she walked out of the room.Amy and I followed, with me looking back at the tiny form of the Queen of Winter lying in her bed before I closed the door.
* * *
