Timothy:
I was a yard away from Ben, lunging like a football player chasing the one with the ball, when Daniel caught me.
“Hold on, there, my friend,” he soothed. “Let the man say if he’s guilty or not. If he is, we’ll tie him up and leave him in an anthill. Maybe pour some honey over his body first.”
That stopped me cold. Daniel never spoke of revenge. He was peace and flowers, a meditative guru. In the time it took me to regain my momentum, Ben had moved over behind the wolves, who were, of course, good to go. No slug in the snout or jaw could pause them long.
“Agreed,” Terry said. “Let’s hear what the Faeman has to say.”
“It’s not Faeman, it’s just Fae,” Bob corrected. Terry shot him a look, then grabbed at Ben.
Fae are swift, light on their feet, and magical, but so are wolves. Terry and Bob corralled Ben and brought him closer to me.
I sucked it up, holding in my rage, vowing to listen to Ben’s excuses. “Well? What did the Queen offer you: a house, a position, a place in the high court?”
Ben shook his head and lowered his head looking, if not guilty, at least humbled by the situation.
“I didn’t betray you, Prince Nardon, son of Carfan. I owe you my allegiance. The queen knows that. She asked me only to watch over you and your wife, never to interfere unless . . .”
“Unless?” Bob said. “Unless the queen wanted our lady for something bad? For something only you Fae would do to a human?”
As usual, Bob wasn’t helping, but I understood his sentiment. It was more or less exactly what I was fearful of.
“Where is Penelope?” Daniel asked, pulling logic from the fury in my heaving breaths.
“I do not know. I have called the Queen. That was my only task, to let her know if something happened, anything that offered harm to you or your wife. I would bet that it is another court that has stolen Penelope from you. Queen Moragana would not have . . .”
“What is it I would not have done?” the Queen interrupted, her full troop of guards streaming behind her in elegant purple. velvet garb, but also in full readiness for attack.
I was bursting with rage, but not a fool. I collapsed to one knee, bowing my head as I did so.
It was Ben who spoke up first, giving the Queen the facts as to what had happened.