CHAPTER 123

The faeire queen wasn't having it. The dwarves had trespassed on the wyrm's territory and were clearly at fault. She sent them away with a promise not to cook them up as a stew for the wyrm for wasting her time. When she sat down, she cast a weary gaze over the congregation.

"Despite hundreds, if not thousands of years of life, I am constantly surrounded by squabbling children. If only I could tell them to grow up, but alas." The queen sighed and looked over at Cecilia. "How are you feeling today?"

"Lonely, bored and frustrated, Your Majesty." Cecilia shifted in her seat, causing it to sway.

"Your dear, sweet Mike is sure taking his time."

"Through no fault of his own. Time flows differently here." Cecilia was tired of this game. Once every few weeks, the queen would mention that Mike had yet to return, but Cecilia knew better. She was more afraid that one day, the queen would come to her and tell her a hundred years had passed and Mike was dead and gone. Then the taunting would end, and she would likely have her freedom.

If the queen was in a good mood, that is.

"As it does. No matter. You know what will happen if he dares to show his face here again, don't you?" The queen looked at her, her eyes sparkling.

"I do." Cecilia frowned. The queen had spent countless hours regaling her with all the things she wanted to do to Mike should he return, but the general gist of it was that she had no intention of letting him leave with what he wanted. She had yet to divulge her specific plan for handling Mike Radley, but Cecilia had no doubt that it was devious.

"Well, I do suppose he'll show his face here eventually." The queen smirked, then leaned back in her chair. "But I'll admit, I'm getting tired of waiting for him."

Cecilia kept her mouth shut.

"Do you miss him still?"

"Every day, Your Majesty."

"Really? You've spent far more time with me in here than you ever did with him out there."

"The heart knows what it wants, Your Majesty."

"You don't have a heart. Not a real one, anyway." The queen waved her hand dismissively. "Never mind, that's just semantics. I didn't make your kind to love, so what do you suppose happened? A flaw in my design? Or perhaps something happened to you in the mortal realm?"

"I couldn't say, Your Majesty." Cecilia kept her gaze forward, afraid to betray anything.

"Ah, well. I've still got some time to think on it." She turned her attention to the court. "Next!" she called out, then rose to meet a delegation of seelie from the northern plains.

When the queen was adequately far away, Cecilia closed her eyes and concentrated.

Mike was awake, which meant she couldn't see him in his dreams. It was something she had discovered some months ago, that she could visit him in his dreams. She had even talked to him briefly, but the dream had faded.

Undeterred, she cast her mind out to her brother instead. While she couldn't communicate with him, she could sometimes see through his eyes. Most of the time, it wasn't of any use, but even brief glimpses of the house brought her strength.

Sulyvahn was standing outside. It was a sunny day at the Radley house, and time had slowed to a crawl. Currently, he was looking at Mike, whose mouth was open mid-sentence.

Warmth bloomed inside her chest, and she fought to keep the smile off her face, lest the queen see it. At the current speed, the conversation with Mike could be days or even weeks from her point of view.

Content for now, she watched.

Mike stared at the piece of paper in front of him, then looked up. Jenny stood on the other side of the paper, holding a large pencil in both hands. She was tapping her foot impatiently.

He sighed. "How about W?"

Jenny drew the last leg on the hanging stick figure, then drew an X over each of his eyes. He heard a distant cackle come from all around the room, and she dropped her pencil.

He scrutinized the puzzle before him and then looked at her. Somehow, despite guessing all the vowels, the dashes on the paper were still largely empty.

"I'm starting to wonder if you actually know how to spell anything," he said.

The doll said nothing, but a book on a nearby shelf threw itself at him, and he dodged out of the way.

"Hey now, be nice." He picked up the book and set it on the table. "Okay, break time is over. I need to go through some more of these books. Here, I found this and thought you might want to play with it." He pulled a top out of his pocket and handed it over. Jenny took it from him and sat down on the edge of the desk and gave the top a spin.

Glad that the ghost seemed content for now, he dug into his books once more.

There was a puff of smoke, and Lily appeared in the seat across from him, her legs crossed and a sucker clutched seductively between her fingers.

"Hey there, Romeo." She gave the sucker a lick and then leaned forward. "Studying hard?" She was wearing a button-down blouse with dress pants, but her clothing fuzzed out and was replaced with a school girl's outfit. "Or studying while hard?"

"Trying to keep from getting fucked over by the faerie queen, actually. Where have you been?"

"Hunting, trying to twist the head off your shadow buddy, the usual." She leaned back and put her feet up on the desk, slightly spread apart so that Mike could see up her skirt. She was naked beneath it. "And you?"

He looked away from her crotch and into her eyes, suppressing the urge to shake his head. She really did enjoy toying with him, and he was determined not to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she still got to him, if only to aggravate her a little. "Getting ready to go into the Underworld any day now, actually. The back gate is a portal that goes there, so I'm hoping I can find another gate to the Faerie Realm once I'm inside."