CHAPTER 181

"What is that?" Mike asked.

"A parasite. Cecilia here has been growing a soul." When the queen let go, the soul snapped back into Cecilia's body, causing her to gasp. "A tiny little piece of you has been floating around in there long enough that it's growing. Even if something happens to you, this...remnant would linger and fester, making her more like a mortal with every passing day."

"Don't," Cecilia begged, her sightless eyes settling on Mike. "Don't let her do it!"

"Disgusting." The queen shook her head. "You see, I plan to let her leave with you, but not before I wipe her clean completely. She will be unharmed and intact, born anew and allowed to leave with you if she chooses. She will have no memory of you, or anything else for that matter, so she may decide to stay here with her mother."

"You can't do this," Mike growled.

"And yet, I will." The queen raised her hands as if to snap her fingers. "Out with the old, in with the new."

Cecilia opened her mouth in a silent scream.

As the queen's fingers came together, Mike crossed the distance between them and clamped his hands over hers. The queen turned to face him, her clear complexion turning a dark shade of green as the ground beneath them trembled.

"A duel," he shouted in her face. "I challenge you to a duel!" It was an act of desperation. The thought of Cecilia being erased horrified him, but now he felt like he had lathered himself up with honey and hugged a cranky bear.

The queen rolled her eyes. "Enlighten me, Caretaker. I know exactly what you want if you win, but what do you even have to offer? There's no amount of money or power I care for, and it's not like—"

"You can kill me." He stood his ground, his hands on hers. "If you win, you have my permission to bypass whatever protection the previous agreement granted and kill me. But just me, not any future Caretakers."

"Please, that wouldn't...I can't even..." Her green complexion became the color of ivory once more, and she pulled her hands from his. She reached into the air and pulled out a golden scroll that was so bright that Mike had to look away when she unfurled it. The document itself was huge, unraveling around them and hovering like a snake-shaped cloud, filling the small island. The queen perused it as if looking for a specific passage, muttering to herself.

"Well?" Mike asked.

The queen frowned. "Perhaps. But do you understand the rules of our duel? I get to choose the weapon, and you know I'm going to choose magic. According to this document, I'm not allowed to harm you, and you can't let me out of it in advance, because I would kill you anyway. I can do you no harm, Caretaker, not even with your permission." She shook her head. "As much as I would love to destroy you at your own stupid game, there's no bypassing the rule, so no deal."

"Wait!" Mike put up his hands, his mind racing. "What does the contract say about harming me?"

"It's written in the language of Creation, which leaves no room for argument. But in your mortal language, it essentially says that I shall not be allowed to directly cause you bodily or mental harm."

This was all a bad dream, and he needed to find a way to wake up. "Bad dream," he muttered, inspiration striking. "Your Majesty, what if I chose the Dreamscape as the location? I am allowed that much. You choose magic as your weapon, I choose the Dreamscape as the location. Technically, what happens in a dream doesn't actually harm me, right? It may feel real, but we would be fighting on a spiritual level. What do you think?"

The queen's face twisted up, but then she turned to look at the contract. Several minutes went by, but Mike didn't dare take his eyes off of her as she moved through the magical language of the scroll. Finally, she looked up at him, suspicion on her face. She was right to be suspicious, because he was already thinking about how he had defeated Lily in the Dreamscape. It was possible that the queen wouldn't know that Naia lived in there as well, so he would have an ally.

"What are you up to?" she asked.

"Well? What does it say?" he replied, dodging her question.

"You're right. We could fight in the Dreamscape, it would be allowed. We would have to set terms. For instance, whoever decides to wake up first loses. That would be a proper duel, and I know that you have been training with the succubus, and I even believe that you think your mastery of the Dreamscape will somehow give you an advantage over me. But why? Surely you must be holding a card up your sleeve, Caretaker."

"There are no cards up my sleeve," he assured her, making sure to picture a literal stack of cards hidden away in his clothing. The faerie queen would know if he was lying, and when it came to actual cards up his sleeve, he certainly had none. "Your soul versus mine, in the Dreamscape. My Dreamscape, because apparently my dream passport has been revoked, but it does have a nice beach with a view of—"

"Shut up, Caretaker. You do realize that I will still have the full range of my magic?" He could hear the eagerness in her voice, eagerness that was about to lead her into a trap of his own.

"As would I," he told her. "You're going to need all the help you can get."

"When I defeat you, I'm going to turn you into a beetle and grind you into the ground where you stand," she told him as she walked toward her throne. "And when I'm done, I'm going to enchant the bloody smear left behind so that it never washes away. Your stain on the floor will be the first thing I see that sparks joy every morning for eternity. In fact, I won't even turn you into a bug. I will summon one of the giantfolk to do the task for me, that I may see the look on your face as the life is squeezed from your body. Oh, the possibilities!" She folded her robes up and sat down on the chair. Her cheeks were turning green again. "If you win, I release Cecilia in her current condition without any change. If I win, the terms of my agreement with the Architect no longer protect you, and I smash you like a fucking bug."