Jenna Black - Glimmerglass

He sat back down, but his posture didn’t relax any. “Ethan said that the Spriggans were trying to kill you. But that didn’t make sense, not when you were, at least at the time, in the hands of the Unseelie Fae.”

I remembered Ethan had said much the same thing.

“And now you’ve been attacked by the Seelie Fae while you’re living with me.”

“It was Finn they attacked, not me.”

He waved that off. “It was Finn they injured. It was you they attacked. And hurt.” He put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Finn is a warrior, and while he might not enjoy being injured in combat, it’s part of his job. You have no reason to feel guilty about it.”

But I did anyway. I couldn’t help remembering how Finn had looked at me and then chosen not to defend himself in order to protect me. How could I not feel guilty about that?

“So what does this all mean to you?” I asked my dad. “If neither attack makes sense, then why do you think they’re after me?”

He gave me a long, measuring look, one that warned me I wasn’t going to like what I was about to hear. “The Fae of Avalon, both the Seelie and Unseelie, want you here, alive and under their influence. But I’m beginning to wonder if the Queens of Faerie have other ideas.”

“What?” I cried. Bad enough I had a horde of manipulative politicians hoping to capture me and mold me to their ideals! Now Dad was telling me the Faerie Queens were after me, too? “Why?”

Dad leaned back in the cushions of the sofa, still wearing his thinking face. “The last Faeriewalker before you allied himself with the Unseelie Court. One day, he went into Faerie and never came back. His body was eventually found, beheaded.”

I swallowed hard, unable to resist the urge to put my hand to my throat.

“There are those who speculated that the Consul had ambitions in Faerie and might have used the Faeriewalker in an assassination attempt against Mab, the Unseelie Queen. If it’s true, the Queens might view Faeriewalkers more as threats than as potential allies or pawns.”

I groaned and lowered my head into my hands. This was all just too much to take. My life since I’d set foot in Avalon had been one disaster after another. I wished I had a pair of ruby slippers I could click together to magically transport myself home. Like Dorothy, I hadn’t realized how good I’d had it until it all was gone.

“I have to get out of Avalon,” I muttered from behind my hands. I didn’t like the idea of being bullied into leaving, but if I stayed, I was likely to end up dead. And bring everyone around me down with me.

“No, Dana,” my dad said, and he started rubbing his hand up and down my back. It was probably supposed to be a comforting gesture, but I was way beyond being comforted.

I sat up straight again and stared at him. “You can’t seriously want me to stay here now! Not if you supposedly care about me. Or are you hoping to use me to try to take over Faerie just like that other guy you told me about?”

My father’s glare was furious enough to stop the words in my throat, and for a moment, I thought he was going to hit me he was so mad. His cheeks flushed red while his lips pressed together so tightly they turned almost white.

“I have no ambitions in Faerie,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’ve made Avalon my home, and I have every intention of staying here.”

I believed him, even though he was obviously very ambitious in Avalon. “Then why do you want me to stay when my life is in danger?”

“Because you can be protected here in ways that are not possible in the mortal world. If you leave Avalon, that might be enough to satisfy the Seelie Queen—you are, after all, technically a member of her Court. But I doubt Mab would let you go even then. After all, it’s always possible you’d come back someday. She will send agents into the mortal world after you, and they will pursue you for the rest of your life. Don’t think that just because these agents would have to be human means that they cannot kill you. Or your mother. Or anyone else who becomes dear to you.”

I wished I could argue his logic. But even if I only believed half of what he said, it left me up the proverbial creek. Unfortunately, I still wasn’t convinced I’d be any safer in Avalon.

“I think it is time for me to have a meeting with both Alistair and Grace,” Dad said.

I’d had too many nasty surprises today to react much to the announcement. “I thought they were the enemy.”

He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “In that they want to manipulate you for their own causes, yes. But they are both extremely powerful. I don’t believe either one is cold enough to want you to be killed, but even if they were, they wouldn’t want it to happen while they still had a chance of winning your loyalty.”

And wasn’t that a rousing endorsement.

“Do you think either one of them would want to challenge the Queens?” I asked.

Dad shook his head. “Alistair was born in Avalon and has lived all his life here. I can’t believe he’d have any ambitions in Faerie when his platform is all about the Fae severing their ties with the Courts and becoming ‘true citizens of Avalon,’ as he calls it. And Grace … has other reasons not to want to live in Faerie.”

“Such as…?”

Dad didn’t answer.

“Since it’s my life on the line, I think I have a right to know,” I argued.

His expression turned to one of distaste. “Lachlan.”

I waited a beat, but that seemed to be all he planned to say on the subject. “What about Lachlan?”

Dad’s lip curled into a sneer. “My sister has a certain … attachment to Lachlan. One that is not sanctioned even in Avalon, but one that would cause her to be completely shunned in Faerie.”

In other words, Grace and Lachlan were a couple. At least sort of. I couldn’t help remembering how Lachlan had spoken about her, with a kind of reverence almost. I doubted their relationship was exactly a partnership between equals.

Dad shook off his distaste for Lachlan. “I expect the healers to be finished with Finn within the next several hours. I will arrange a meeting with Alistair and Grace, and I will make certain you are well defended while I’m gone.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Shouldn’t I go with you? I have a pretty big stake in all this.”

Dad started to say something, then changed his mind. He thought about it a little more, then fixed me with a level gaze. “I promised I would be honest with you, and so I will be. You do, of course, have the biggest stake of all in what we decide. But, my dear child, you really have no say.”

I gaped at him.

“Honesty isn’t always pretty,” he said. “You are young and untried, and you don’t begin to know the extent of your powers. I’m also your father, and have legal custody.”

“My mom has legal custody.” And oh my God, did I owe her an incredibly supersized apology when—or, gulp, if—I ever saw her again. Right now, I’d happily nurse her through the aftermath of a bender, while pulling up our roots and moving and trying to keep her problem secret from my friends. That all sounded so easy when compared to having two Queens of Faerie trying to kill me.

“Believe me, Dana,” my father continued. “As far as Avalon is concerned, my claim on you is undisputed. Your mother isn’t here, but I am. That’s all that would matter.” He reached for me, but I twitched out of his grasp.

“You don’t get to touch me and act all paternal. Not after that speech!”

He raised his eyebrows. “Would you have preferred I lie to you? Because although I long ago turned my back on the Courts of Faerie, I was a key player there once upon a time, and one does not survive long without learning to lie with frightful facility.”