Jack's grip on my hand tightened, but he bowed to the queen. "Your Highness. I also extend my welcome."
She toned down the radiance and gave him a narrow-eyed glance. "You are Jack Shepherd, of course. You look just like him."
We all knew the "him" referred to Jed, and I had to fight not to yell at her for what she'd done to Jack's grandad. All those deaths.
I tried to remember, instead, that she'd probably been insane with grief over her niece.
Or just insane.
It was a good reminder not to treat her like an ordinary woman.Thiswoman had the power to destroy my entire town.
"I love apples," she finally said, turning to me. "Please. Lead the way."
So, in thethirdstrange event of my day, I led a Fae queen and two of her elite guard into my kitchen for apple pie.
"How do you have pie left?" Jack whispered. "I thought we ate them all."
"I always keep a secret emergency pie for unexpected visitors," I whispered back.
And then, in one of the most unexpected scenes that my comfortable kitchen had ever witnessed, I served apple pie and butter pecan ice cream to a Fae queen, two of her guards, and a tiger.
Happily, they all seemed to like it. The rapturous look on the male guard when he first tasted the ice cream made me grin. In that instant, the very scary warrior looked exactly like Shelley when she dug into a hot fudge sundae.
I offered to take some to the guards outside, but the queen shook her head in dismissal. When she finished what little she ate of the pie—no ice cream for her—she waved her hand and all the dishes floated over to the sink.
"That must be handy," I said wistfully.
She laughed again. Apparently, I was very amusing. "It has been long since I had occasion to clean a dish, but yes, I suppose it would be useful to those who do so. But now we must talk of darker subjects."
"The runes in my well," Jack said. "They really are a communication … portal, for want of a better word?"
She nodded. "Yes, one of them is. The others are to do with perpetual spring-fresh water."
"That's handy," I said. "You should keep that one, Jack."
"You used the leaf correctly," the queen said. "I would have that back, if you will. The designer fabricated it especially for my sister."
I jumped up to go to the other room to retrieve the leaf from my jacket pocket, belatedly noticing that the guards also had leapt to their feet and crouched in readiness when I'd moved.
"I'm sorry. I'm just getting the leaf for the queen. I'll give you a warning next time," I said, definitely not wanting to cause an international incident.
They nodded somewhat stiffly and returned to their seats.
Jack and the queen, meanwhile, were having some kind of stare-down contest. I shook my head and hurried out to retrieve the brooch, which I was thrilled to discover didn't cause me the slightest bit of head pain.
"Here it is," I said, holding it out in my hand. "Please take it with my compliments."
"The one who stole it from my lands and sold it to you was intent on causing mischief," she said, her eyes darkening, and I winced at the thought of what that person had in store. "I would have you made whole, though."
She waved her fingers, and a pile of gold coins appeared on the table between us.
"I—" I paused, trying to think of how to word my protest without causing offense. "Although your gift is more than generous, it is the custom in my land that a pawnshop takes the loss if we are foolish enough to purchase stolen goods. I can't accept payment. Please take the leaf with my compliments and apologies for being involved, even tangentially, with the theft."
The queen leaned back and studied my face for an uncomfortably long time.
"You are an unusual human," she finally said. "You will keep the payment, but you also have my thanks, and the thanks of a Fae queen is a great boon indeed."
A small part of my mind suddenly wished for that kind of arrogance.
