Excerpt 2

They had only known each other for two years, but William was a quick study in backrubs, having given thousands to Vincent Lord Winter over the decades before he defected to Jared Lord Summer's employ out of love and loneliness. Kira leaned into his kneading fingers and moaned appreciatively. 

"What I've been wondering - oh, right there, right there - is why Tiffany is still with that lout. All the money in the world wouldn't be enough for me to put up with him."

"Tiffany who?"

"Tiffany Marshall, the mousy mite. Surely you remember. Sweet woman without even one joint of a backbone."

William found a knot in Kira's shoulder and worked it with his right thumb. "You might not be able to see her standing up for herself, but you don't know how often she may have been beaten down. Not everyone was gifted with confidence like you."

"If you don't spit at the bullies they'll never leave you alone."

"Not necessarily. Sometimes if you blend in with the shadows they just stop noticing."

Kira pondered this. "Is that why you've been avoiding your brother?"

"I don't want to talk about him right now."

"Surest sign you do need to talk about him, floofy man."

Hamnet stopped playing and politely coughed. "Should I leave? It seems your conversation is taking a private turn."

"That would be nice, no offense meant, Master Shakespeare," William said. 

With a bow, Hamnet left them.

"I gather that Hamnet is the son of someone important Next Door, the way Jared seems so excited about him, but I didn't want to ask and look stupid," Kira said.

William explained as succinctly as he could, then he asked, "How did the meeting I foisted upon you go, anyway?"

"Oh, Lord. They talked about things beyond me, and I just had to stand around and smile like some sort of mannequin, and then while Jared was talking we all heard odd crunching and crackling sounds from the ceiling. It turned out Puck had stolen Jared's baked snack chips from his home realm and the bag was making the unholy noise as Puck grabbed at the treats. He's like a monkey. An ancient, magical, off-his-nut monkey under the protection of the scariest queen to flutter around and smite people."

William raised his eyebrows, though he continued with the backrub. "What was done about him?"

"Radcliff removed the ceiling panel, since he was tall enought to reach, and the Lady Gwen clapped Puck in iron fetters, dragging him to the dungeons. She said she would 'alert the 

Queen of Faerie to his continued misbehavior and demand both apology and recompense'. Jared thanked her and continued talking about freedom of the press and why that was 'pretty awesome all things considered'."

William smiled to think of the contrast, and finished his backrub with a hug. "May I lay my head in your lap? I'm getting a migraine."

"Of course." She maneuvered into a more suitable position for both of them and petted William's silky white head as he rested it against her. "When this is all over, the three of us should go for a picnic in the woods. You never go out when Jared and I do."

"It's on account of the sun and my burning, little falcon."

"We could go at night. Stargaze and whatnot."

"I'm going to be busy with cleanup..."

"Will. This is becoming alarming."

"What? And please don't talk so sharply when my head hurts."

"I'll get you a remedy and compress. But I've noticed something very odd - even at night, you never go outside. Not even to a balcony."

"That's ridiculous."

"I thought so too. Are you going to explain it to me, or would you like me to point it out to Jared, who though we both know is clever and sweet beyond belief is also the sort who would have trouble noticing his socks were on fire? And who would afterwards make you go see some sort of head doctor about it?"

"Fine. Fine. I'm agoraphobic. I am frightened of going outside."

Kira had nothing to say for over two full minutes, though she remained conscientious about tousling and stroking William's hair. Then she said, quietly, "Was it something Clarence did?"

"Oh no, no, he's a tease and a bully but he was never that cruel. I was apparently accidentally left outside for nearly a full day and night as a baby. Mother thought I was with Father in the workshop, for he believed in helping care for his children. Father thought it was Mother's turn to look after me. Then during the day, as every day, my parents' curses manifested and they turned into a fawn and a crane. When they're like that they don't even know they have children. It was actually Clarence who saved my life by realizing the problem first and fetching me from the tree where I hung in a sling, then carefully warming me by the fire."

"Aren't you...from December? As in winter forever and a day?"

"A friendly witch saved my fingers and toes."

After another two minutes of silence, Kira kissed William's cheek. "I would fear too, pigeon."

"I have to be sedated before I can go outside, otherwise I scream until I faint. It is most lacking in dignity."

------

Unbeknownst to Kira and William, shortly after William left Rain to her booze Ezekiel had set Puck free and ordered him to follow William around the castle as best he could. His orders were to bring back any useful information he could. And Puck had been behind a pillar, camouflaged as only such a trickster knew how, since William entered the Jellyfish Parlor. 

He scurried off to find Ezekiel. The Monk of Mendacity was meditating mutely. "Oh, Zeke, Zeke, I have news."

"Yes, Merry Wanderer?"

Puck fiddled with the loose end of his loincloth; the rest of his body he considered adequately covered in coarse brown fur. His eyes were beetle-bright and his fingernails long and sharp. "The ghost-boy fears the open sky; isn't that funny? If you take his love beyond the castle he will be unable to help."

"Very good. Spy for me three days more, and you will be given the key to awaking Lord Oberon whom you are bound to serve."

"I don't like Summer very much anyway. He keeps leaving me with all these religious books knowing full well that I can't read." Puck snorted at the foolishness of mortals and left Ezekiel, off to go entertain the queen who had no idea of how far his duplicity lay. 

.....

Hamnet was busy ironing one of Mab's gowns when Gabor Orion burst into his little room. "Have you seen Rain Smith? Her mother the queen has taken ill and wishes to seen none but me. We require a representative for the four o'clock discussion of ethical taxation."

"I believe that Miss Rain was last spotted leaving the castle twenty minutes ago and has not been seen returning. If you will indulge my curiosity, where are the notes the queen will have inevitably prepared for the meeting?" Hamnet squirted some water onto the linen from a squeeze bottle William had ensured was included among the accoutrements in this particular guest chamber. Mab did get ever so fussy when her clothes weren't just right.

"It won't do you any good, boy, they're in code."

"My lady taught me her personal code more than three hundred years ago, sir." Hamnet didn't like being called 'boy', and it was very difficult for him not to let that seep into his tone of voice.

Gabor was a tall Fae, with hands no smaller for all their delicacy and elegance. A nut-brown fist curled around Hamnet's collar. "Even the most illustrious of mortal men, and their sons, are still clods compared to the Fair Folk. I should give you a few score lashes to help you remember. "

Hamnet did his best to stand defiant, but since the beginning of his servitude Mab had made it clear that as long as courtiers' beatings did not cause him lasting harm she would not intercede on his behalf. Sometimes she even criticized their technique. He shivered.

Then a pleasantly, and at this moment artificially, cheerful voice broke in from the open doorway behind them. "That seems a bit harsh," Jared the Lord Summer said, turning to his companion, Lynne the Lady Spring. "Don't you think that seems a bit harsh?"

"Thank all metaphysical concepts it was Mother who raised me and not you," Lynne growled. "Unhand Master Shakespeare at once. I may be your offspring but my stature outstrips both yours and your...what was your word for it, Jared?"

"Sugar mama."

"Precisely. Now go away before Jared expels you from this gathering for threatening another guest, which as you will remember was the very first rule of the conference in the first place." Lynne made a shooing gesture.

With a growl, Gabor stalked away.

Jared stepped into the room and smoothed Hamnet's shirt. "And why don't you go get Mab's notes and sit in for Fairie at this next meeting? I would love to hear your spin on them as well."

Hamnet stared into those honest, artless dark eyes. "Truly?"

"Yes. You can do the ironing later. Or I'll get someone to do it. Then I want you to sit at a dinner I'm having  with Kira, William, Amber, Lynne, Gwen, and Radcliff - just a casual one between friends - and tell me everything you can remember about growing up in the Elizabethan times, okay? Forgive me but I'm just so excited to have you in my castle." Jared tugged Hamnet after him like a balloon, and even the stern Lady Spring seemed kindly disposed towards him.