“No!” The response was swift and automatic, without thinking. No way I was giving my firstborn son to this creepy faery. It was out of the question. But the oracle held up her hands in a placating gesture, claws glinting the moonlight.
“Think about it carefully, Iron Queen,” she whispered. “I know your initial response is to refuse, but think about the implications of your choice tonight. The fate of the Nevernever, and your human family, hangs on this one string. You are a queen of Faery—you have responsibilities now, to your subjects and your kingdom. It is your duty to protect them, from all threats, whatever form they wear. If this was not your son, if this was a random stranger threatening the future of the Nevernever, of countless lives, would you not choose to stop it?”
“But it’s not a random stranger,” I said in a shaking voice. “It’s my child. Ash’s child. I can’t do that to him.”
“You are his queen,” the oracle went on. “He will understand, and he will support any decision you make, regardless if he agrees or not.” She held out a hand, her voice earnest. “I promise you, Meghan Chase, your son will want for nothing with me. I will be like a mother to him. He will grow up unaware of his true heritage, far from the courts and any influences they might have over him. He will be safe, and he will never grow into the threat you saw tonight. That is my offer, and my solemn vow. So, Meghan Chase…” She drifted closer, her hollow gaze burning into me. “The fate of your world hangs on this reply. What is your answer? Do we have a deal?”
I closed my eyes. Could I do this? Give up my son, to save the Nevernever? Was I being selfish, dooming everyone to chaos and destruction, if I refused? And what of my family? My brother, the one who had started the entire adventure, in a way. I’d do anything to keep him safe. Just…not this.
I clasped my hands in front of my face, thinking, and my fingers pressed against something cool and hard. Opening my eyes, I looked down at my hand. My ring sparkled in the moonlight, gold and silver, reminding me of its twin and the knight it was attached to.
Ash saw his future, I thought suddenly. He saw our future. Or, one of them, anyway, when he was trying to earn a soul. Did he see this? Our son killing Ethan, destroying the Nevernever? If he did…
If he had…he hadn’t let it stop him. He had finished what he’d set out to do: he’d earned his soul, and come back to the Iron Realm to be with me.
“I trust you.” His voice echoed through my head, like he was right there, standing behind me. “I know you’ll do what’s best for our son. Remember, whatever the oracle shows you, no matter how bleak or terrible or frightening, it hasn’t happened yet.”
“No, it hasn’t,” I whispered.
The oracle wrinkled her forehead. “What was that?” she asked, frowning. “I did not hear you. Have you come to a decision, Meghan Chase?”
“I have.” I straightened my shoulders and stared her down. “And the answer is no, Oracle. No deal. I’m not giving up our son, because of a future that might come to pass. And you have some nerve, trying to force this decision on me without the father of my child present to hear it, as well. We’re a family now. Whatever happens, we will deal with it, together.”
The oracle’s withered, eyeless face crumpled with rage. “Then I am sorry, Iron Queen,” she hissed, floating back several paces. “If you will not accept my offer, you give me little choice. For the future of the courts, and all of Faery, you will not leave this place.”
I drew my sword, and the oracle hissed, raising her steely talons. “You gave your word,” I told her as she circled me like a dusty, ragged phantom, her hair writhing in the breeze. “You promised Ash and Puck that I would not come to harm.”
“I said your physical body will not be harmed,” the oracle replied, baring rotten yellow teeth. “But we are not in the physical world anymore, human. This is more a dream, or a nightmare, depending on how you see it.”
Damn faery word games. I should’ve seen this coming. “Ash and Puck are still waiting for me,” I told her, keeping the point of my blade angled in her direction. “If I don’t return, you’ll have the entire Iron Realm coming after you. This isn’t worth it, Oracle.”
“Your protectors know nothing of what is happening now,” the oracle replied, darting back like a marionette whose strings were jerked. “They see only your physical body, and the death of your dream self will not affect it. Though they will take an empty husk back to the Iron Court tonight, and by that time, I will be long gone. I did say your mind might not be unchanged by this little encounter.”
I growled a curse and lunged at her, stabbing with my sword. She jerked back, baring her rotten teeth. “This is my realm, Meghan Chase,” she spat. “You might be a queen of Faery, and have an entire kingdom ready to fight for you, but here, the dream obeys me!”
Snarling, she waved a claw, and the landscape twisted around us. The moonlit hills disappeared, and black, gnarled trees rose up around us, clawing and grasping. I dodged, cutting away branches that slashed at me with twiggy claws, and the oracle hissed a laugh.
I smacked away a limb reaching for my head and spun to face the withered hag. My arms shook with anger, but I kept my voice calm. “Why are you doing this?” I asked, watching her glare at me balefully. “You were never spiteful, Oracle. You helped us a great deal before, why turn on me now?”