“The Queen will be with us soon,” Jamison said as they passed through the shadows from the branches that shaded the gateways. “Quickly, tell me more of what has happened.”

While Tamani caught Jamison up, David and Chelsea took in their surroundings. The armoured female sentries that made up the gate guard kept their distance, as did Jamison’s Am Fear-faire, but they were all standing to attention around the gateway, looking quite splendid. Chelsea stared openly and with undisguised wonder.

David’s reaction was more reserved. He looked at everything from the trees lining paths of soft black soil to the sentries eyeing the golden gates, with the same expression he wore when reading a textbook or peering through a microscope. Chelsea was delighting; David was studying.

When Tamani revealed that they’d taken Yuki prisoner, Jamison stopped him with a tense hand on his arm. “What did Shar do to contain a Winter faerie?”

Tamani glanced nervously at Laurel. “We, uh, chained her to an iron chair, with iron handcuffs . . . inside a circle of salt, sir.”

Jamison took a slow breath and glanced over his shoulder just as the great wooden doors to the garden swung open. Then he turned back and clapped Tamani on the shoulder, laughing loudly, but with obvious falseness. “Oh, my boy. Iron manacles. Surely you couldn’t have believed that would work for long.”

Queen Marion was making her way through the gate, surrounded by a passel of Am Fear-faire.

“It wasn’t the chains that did it,” Laurel corrected. “It was—”

“The iron chair was a nice touch. Still,” Jamison said, with a hard look at the group, “I suppose you make do with what you have, in a situation like that. You are all lucky to have escaped with your lives,” he finished, stepping back to greet the Queen.

Laurel didn’t understand. Why did he want them to lie?

Without a word, Queen Marion raked Chelsea and David with her eyes, betraying only a touch of the shock that must have rippled through her. “You’ve brought humans through the gate?” she asked without greeting, and not only turned her back on them, but angled her shoulders so they were cut out of the circle, left to stand awkwardly on their own. Laurel flashed them an apologetic look.

“They were with Laurel and the captain, and their situation was so dire I felt I had no choice,” Jamison said as though he had noticed neither the Queen’s icy tone nor her blatant snub.

“There is always a choice, Jamison. Show them out,” she added.

“Of course; as soon as possible,” Jamison said, but he made no move to do as she asked. “Where is Yasmine?”

“I left her outside. You spoke of a threat to the crown,” Marion said. “Surely you don’t think the child should be exposed to such things.”

“I think she is nowhere near a child anymore. Nor has she been for quite some time,” Jamison said softly.

The Queen raised her eyebrows. “It matters not,” she continued after a brief pause. “What is this supposed emergency?”

Jamison deferred to Laurel and Tamani and, with a show of great reluctance, the Queen turned to listen as Tamani gave a much-abbreviated version of the events of the past few days, skipping the circle of salt with only the barest glance at Jamison.

“We expect that Klea – or Callista, as she was known here – will arrive with her entire force within the next hour. Maybe less. With her ability to conceal gathering places, we have no way to know their numbers, but based on the vials Shar . . .”

Tamani’s voice caught, and Laurel suppressed the urge to reach out a comforting hand. Now was not the time – but the pain in his voice as he spoke his mentor’s name made her want to weep.

“Based on the shelf full of serum and Klea’s claim that it was the last of many batches, there—” He paused. “There could be thousands.”

The Queen was silent for a few moments, two perfectly symmetrical thought lines creasing her brow. Then she turned and called, “Captain?”

A young female faerie in full armour stepped forward and bowed low.

“Send runners,” the Queen instructed. “Summon all the commanders and mobilise the active sentries.”

Laurel took advantage of the Queen’s momentary distraction to lean close to Tamani and whisper, “Why wouldn’t Jamison listen to you about the circle?”

Tamani shook his head. “There are some things even Jamison cannot pardon.”

Laurel’s chest tightened as she wondered just what kind of punishment could provoke Jamison to encourage them to lie to his monarch.

“Shall we prepare for a military council then, Your Majesty?” Jamison asked as the young captain turned and began issuing orders.

“Goodness, no,” Marion said, her tone light. “With a few instructions, the captains should manage on their own. We’re leaving.”

“Leaving?” Tamani said, clearly shocked. Laurel had rarely seen him speak so boldly in Avalon, and never in the presence of a Winter faerie.

Marion fixed him with a withering stare. “Leaving the Garden,” she amended, before turning to Jamison. “You, Yasmine, and I will retreat to the Winter Palace and defend it while the Spring fae do their duty here at the gate.” She turned to survey the milling sentries. “We will require some additional support, of course. Four companies should be sufficient to ensure our safety, along with our Am Fear-faire and—”

“We can’t go,” Jamison said firmly.