“Queen Mab,” I said politely, and nodded to my father, to her left. “Lord Oberon, Lady Titania.” The Summer Queen pursed her lips and pointedly ignored me, but Oberon gave a solemn bob of his head. Not unfriendly, but not really acknowledging me as a daughter, either. I stifled a sigh. This was going to be a long night.
“Where is Ash?” Mab inquired, her dark gaze flicking to the door behind me. “Has he not come? Is he not anxious to see his old court and kith?” Her voice lowered, turned slightly dangerous. “Has he forgotten us so quickly?”
“No, Queen Mab. Ash is here.” I was quick to reassure her, knowing Mab took insult easily and held grudges forever. “He was…held up…for a few minutes in the courtyard. I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”
“I see.” Mab sat back, apparently mollified. “Good. I wish to hear how Ash is getting along in the poisoned realm.”
I was about to reply that Ash was doing just fine, thank you, when every light in the place—torches, the icicle chandeliers, flickering blue candles in the columns—sputtered and went out.
Snarls and cries of alarm filled the air. Chairs overturned as fey leaped to their feet, drawing weapons and glaring into the shadows. I spun, searching for hidden dangers, for anything stupid or crazy enough to attack during Elysium when the most powerful fey in all the Nevernever were in the very same room.
“Silence!” Mab stood up, her voice booming through the darkness, and instantly everything went completely mute. You could’ve heard a pin drop. “Whoever is responsible for this will soon wish they had never been born,” she rasped into the still darkness. “You will not embarrass me in my own court in the midst of Elysium. Show yourself, now!”
She waved her hand, and lights sprang up again, candles and chandeliers flaring to life. The faeries in the room blinked and cringed and glanced around, wary of attackers and one another.
They didn’t immediately notice the old woman standing in the middle of the room, where nothing had been before. But I spotted her almost at once, and my stomach went cold with dread.
The oracle, ragged, dusty and as brittle as old newspaper, turned the hollow pits of her eyes on me and didn’t look away. I heard Titania’s sharp gasp, just as the other fey discovered the ancient creature standing in their midst and surged away from her like she had a disease. But the oracle’s sightless gaze never wavered, and she seemed to float over the ground like a dusty wraith, until she stood a few yards from me.
“Oracle,” Mab stated in a flat voice. “Why are you here? What is the meaning of this disturbance?”
The oracle ignored the Winter monarch, however, drifting closer to me. “Meghan Chase,” she whispered, and the stench of centuries-old dust filled the air, the smell of a grave or a tomb. “Iron Queen. Do you remember me?”
“What do you want, Oracle?” I stood tall, keeping my voice calm.
“Old Anna brings a warning,” the oracle whispered. “One that has been ignored before. Do you remember what I told you, Meghan Chase? You and your Winter prince. Do you recall what I said would happen?”
A murmur went around the room, and Mab’s glare sharpened; I could feel it searing into the back of my head. Goose bumps prickled over my skin, but I kept my voice firm. “No,” I said, taking a step forward. “You told us a lot of things, and I gave you what I could. I did what I had to do, to save my family. That’s all that was important.”
“You remember,” the oracle insisted. “Do you not? The one thing you refused to give up. That which would cause you nothing but grief. Do you remember now, Meghan Chase?”
For second, I didn’t know what she was talking about.
Then it hit me, and were it not for the hundreds of fey watching, including the rulers of the other courts, I would have fallen as my knees gave out. I remembered her words, so long ago, when I had first come to Faery. I had traded away a memory for her help, but that wasn’t the only thing the oracle had wanted.
“You will not give it up, even though it will bring you nothing but grief?”
“Oh, God,” I whispered, and my hand slipped to my stomach. The nausea, the sudden weakness and fainting spells. It couldn’t be.
“Yes,” the oracle whispered, and raised a withered hand, pointing at me. “You know of what I speak. And you have a decision to make, Iron Queen. What you carry will either unite the courts, or it will destroy them. I have seen it. I know one of these will come to pass.”
“No,” I said in a shaky voice. No one in the room seemed to hear us now. It was as if we were in our own small world, the oracle and myself, and everything around us had faded into obscurity.
The withered hag watched me with the pitiless holes in her face. “You know I speak the truth, Meghan Chase,” the oracle went on. “You know the great power resting inside you. Power that can destroy, turn everything we know into dust. But all is not lost.” She raised a shriveled claw. “I have a proposition for you. We must speak further, but not here. Not like this.” She drew back, the hollow pits of her eyes never leaving my face. “Time is of the essence. Find me. You have friends who will show you the way. I will be awaiting you, and your decision.”
A sudden wind rushed through the ballroom, resnuffing candles and causing a few chandeliers to crash to the ground in a ringing cacophony. Fey jumped and howled, and by the time Mab restored order and reignited the lights again, the oracle was gone.