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scone might be,” Orianasaid in a huff. “Cake was all he could manage on such short notice.”
    â€œShe was quite put out for a time,” Micah murmured. “When at last I told her that cake would do, she nearly fainted with relief.”
    â€œWhat a good prisoner you were,” I murmured, pressing a kiss to his jaw.
    Oriana rose from the well-appointed table and descended the dais. She was wearing the parchment-colored robe that we’d last seen her in, but this time it was open, and she wore a long blue gown cinched with a gold belt beneath it. If I hadn’t been so incensed, I would have mentioned how the gown complemented her eyes. “Surely, Maeve, you knew I wouldn’t. Of all monarchs, you are well and truly aware of the power of an oath or two.” Oriana went on, babbling praise for my mother. I wondered if she’d ask for an autograph.
    â€œWhat kind of a queen were you?” I whispered.
    â€œBloodthirsty,” Mom replied, loudly enough to startle Oriana into silence. “I find that thirst’s not yet quenched. Goldie—”
    â€œOriana,” the queen corrected. Not that Mom cared.
    â€œWhy have you seen fit to apprehend the Lord of Silver?” Mom finished. “And to carry him off while his wife’s away, for shame.”
    â€œI had no choice,” Oriana insisted. “What if they continued to plot against me?”
    â€œThey?” It was my turn to demand answers. “They who?”
    â€œWhy, Micah and the Inheritor,” Oriana replied as if the answer was obvious. “I must know if there is treachery afoot.”
    â€œAfoot?” I repeated. “Weren’t we just here this morning, denouncing all such treachery?”
    â€œYes, yes, you were,” Oriana allowed, “but I have been waiting since then. I do hate to wait.”
    Before I could start screaming, Micah murmured in my ear, “Since we departed, she has been expecting Sadie to arrive and pledge her loyalty.” An image of Oriana, waiting by the front door for the Inheritor of Metal to pop by, bubbled to the forefront of my mind. I laughed and burrowed deeper into his arms.
    â€œIs that what this is all about?”
    â€œYou see, love, whenever you walk away from me in anger, bad things follow,” Micah said, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “Never leave me again.”
    â€œNever?” I asked, cocking my head at him. “I walked away so I wouldn’t yell at you.”
    â€œI would rather endure a lifetime of your shouting than another moment of this insanity,” he replied. I laid my head on Micah’s shoulder—after the ridiculous time I’d just spent in the Mundane realm, I agreed.
    Oriana cleared her throat, reminding Micah and me that there were other issues at hand than our quarrel. I leaned around Micah so I could see thequeen and asked, “So, why didn’t you take Sadie as well? She’s the one you’ve got a beef with.”
    â€œHey!” Sadie protested, but Max hushed her. After all, it was a good question.
    â€œI did not wish to anger the Seelie Queen by apprehending her daughter,” Oriana explained.
    â€œYet you found my son-in-law to be fair game,” Mom observed. “Foolish, Goldie, very foolish.”
    Oriana stared at Mom, then at Micah, as if just now making the connection that if Maeve was my mother, and Micah my husband, Micah was Maeve’s son-in-law. And this rocket scientist was our queen. Oriana began a stammering, babbling apology, but Mom waved it away.
    â€œIf you want Sadie’s oath, she’s here now,” Mom said, indicating her youngest. “Take it up with her.”
    Oriana drew herself up, mustering her last remaining shreds of dignity. “That would please us.” As Oriana ascended the dais to her throne, movement to my left caught my eye. Ayla, the Inheritor of Fire, rose from one of the cushioned benches and followed