As I stepped out into the garden, I wondered who would follow me. It was a given. I never walked away without someone following me. It was sweet but could also get annoying. Sometimes you just want a moment to yourself. I had waved Cat off when she tried to follow me because I'd been hoping for that alone time, even from her. Hoping even while I knew that if I got it, it wouldn't last long. But the voice that came from behind me was the last I expected to hear. Not even the last; it wasn't on the list at all.
“Your Majesty?”
I turned in surprise. Not because I recognized the voice, but because it belonged to a woman.
Then I flinched.
The woman was a Gorgon. I hadn't seen any in the dining hall, so I was completely unprepared for the presence of a winged woman with a headful of hissing snakes. Her appearance itself didn't scare me, just that she was so unexpected. I glanced at the shimmering snakes, their dark eyes catching the moonlight, then at the leathery wings rising from the woman's shoulders. She was tall, with horns peeping through her snake-hair, black wings, and skin several shades darker than my fair Irish complexion.
“Yes?” I asked, trying to place her. I'd worked with Gorgons before, back when we fought Lana, and the voice sounded familiar. Then I got a flash of her flying above the terracotta army. “Medea?”
“Hello, Queen Seren,” she said gravely. “I'm sorry to interrupt such a happy occasion. I've just arrived and was told that you're celebrating the birth of your daughter. My sincere apologies for bringing darkness to your door tonight. Oh, and congratulations.”
“Darkness?” I stepped over to her. “What's happened? Do you need help? Your people? Someone hasn't murdered another Gorgon have they?”
Seeing her brought back a horde of memories. In the way of memories, they surged through my mind in seconds, connecting with the present and recent past. I recalled the stoned fairies, the beginning of my romance with Daxon, the biker Gorgons, their rivalry with Harpies, and, of all things, Dagur, the Dark Elf. He had loaned me the Helmet of Invisibility to use against the Gorgons, back when we believed they were behind the stonings. And he had done it against the wishes of hispeople to ensure my safety. Because he'd been a bit enamored of me.
And now the fucker is in love with my daughter. My eight-year-old daughter, Rowan. That motherfucker. No, he never got the chance to fuck me. I guess he wanted to be a daugh—nope! No, we are not even thinking that, Seren! What is wrong with you?! Focus!
“No, my people are fine,” Medea said, tearing me out of my annoyance and the grip of the past. “It's my lover's people who are in trouble.”
“This sounds serious. Let's go inside.” I waved her back into the castle.
Once we were in the lighted corridor, her coloring came alive. The tiny snakes she had in place of hair were a deep green to match her large eyes, her skin was a warm golden-brown that complemented the green, and her wings were pure black. So beautiful in her own way and so worried. She hadn't looked this worried when her sister was murdered, but back then it had been her people in jeopardy, and Medea had utter faith in her people. Now, it was someone she loved; someone whom she didn't have that kind of faith in.
“Your Highness?” Conri stepped forward from where he'd been leaning against the wall. He had followed me, but only to the end of the corridor, giving me as much privacy as he could as my assigned guard for the night. He knew Medea, so I assumed he let her past him, and she hadn't somehow managed to sneak past a Bargest.
“We're going to talk in here.” I waved at a sitting room. “Can you tell my husbands to join us?”
“No. I'd like to speak to you alone first, Queen Seren,” Medea said.
It didn't surprise me. Gorgons were a suspicious lot, and they tended to prefer women to men. Goddess knows how they managed to procreate. Even though Medea had fought beside my men and owed loyalty to Raza as an Unseelie, she still didn't trust my husbands, not completely. But she and I had gotten along great from the start. Daxon used to think she had the hots for me. I think Medea just appreciated a royal who was female, funny, and kicked ass.
“Just let them know where I am,” I amended my command to Conri.
He inclined his horned head, then hurried off.
“Have I ever mentioned that I love the fact that you knighted a non-Sidhe?” Medea asked as we entered the blue salon. Yeah, rooms had proper names in Twilight Castle.
Probably because there were so many of them. Naming them made it easier to specify which one you were referring to.
“No, but thank you.” I sat down on one of the sapphire blue couches and motioned at the cushion beside me. “We've come a long way since the days of some fairies believing they were more important than others.”
“Yes. Because of you,” she said gravely.
“And Danu,” I said. “Without her announcing that she loved all her children equally, my actions would have been meaningless.”
“Of course. But you let her come forth, Queen Seren. You brought her back to us.”
I leaned toward her, glancing at her snakes. They looked as unsettled as her. “What are you getting at, Medea?”
“I need your help. I know you technically don't owe me anything. As Unseelie Fey, we were bound to obey your husband. But we fought for you, Queen Seren.”
“And to avenge your sister.”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“And to kill Harpies.”
