Lauki's Arc

Chapter 17 of 18

Lauki had Torra's answer and her ring on her hand. But Conrad still waited in his hall for a proper betrothal, and Lauki had no lord to stand for him. A suitor needed allies of standing. He had a mother who was a demon and a father from a court no noble here would trust. Torra pressed his arm. "My father will not bless a match no one of rank will vouch for," she said. "You have deeds. You need names." Lauki had no names. Then the cold came. Frost crept across the rose garden path though the night was mild. The white bushes went stiff and silver. A door of pale light opened between two hedges. Two figures stepped through, and the roses bowed toward them. Lauki knew them from his father's tales. The tall lord wore antlers hung with red leaves and robes stitched in gold thread. Beside him walked a queen crowned in living flowers, small and calm. Oberon and Titania, the great lord and lady of all fey. His father Adsatra served their court. Lauki dropped to one knee at once, the way Valdris had drilled into him. "Rise, kin of Adsatra," Oberon said. His gold eyes matched Lauki's own right eye. "We came for the son who dares to court a mortal house." Titania stepped forward. In her hands lay a dark crown ringed with black roses, and folded silk of black and deep purple. "For your bride," she said, and set them in Torra's arms. Torra held the gifts still, her yellow eyes wide. "A dress and crown of the winter court. No mortal lord can call these beneath his house." Oberon drew a great key from his robe. Black roses and vines twisted around its shaft, and a skull crowned its head. "The key to the castle of the winter court," he said. "A seat of your own. A suitor with a hall answers to no man's charity." He placed it in Lauki's hands. It was heavy and cold. "Why?" Lauki asked. "You owe me nothing." "Adsatra is ours," Titania said. "His blood is ours. And we will speak your name to the mortal father ourselves." Her calm gaze did not waver. "A king and queen of fey will vouch for this match. Let the lord Conrad refuse that." Lauki's throat tightened. He had ridden to steal Torra's answer in secret and dreaded Conrad's judgment. Now the highest court he knew would stand behind him. The betrothal could be spoken openly, before Conrad's witnesses, with a king and queen at his back. Oberon turned toward the light. "Come, then. Both of you. The mortal lord waits." Titania followed. The door of pale light held open. Lauki looked at Torra. She wore his ring and held a queen's crown. He no longer needed to hide the match. He had allies of standing at last. He took her hand and stepped toward the light.