Chapter 19

Valroy wondered idly if he had ever desired to smash Puck's head in like a rotted pumpkin more than at that precise moment in time. The distraction of seeking the answer to his pointless musing was likely the only thing keeping the annoying little gnat alive.

Sitting upon his throne, his elbow on the silver arm, his head was propped up in the palm of his hand. He was both irate and exceedingly bored.

Despite the fact that he had an outrageously angry Bayodan shouting at him. Usually that would amuse Valroy to no end. But today, he was simply not in the mood. Especially seeing as Bayodan was currently missing an eyebrow—the half-breed having shorn it off while the Unseelie Lord slept.

"Look," Puck argued in his defense, "I was watching this TV show, right? Some spaceship drama, I dunno. But there was this lady with no eyebrows, and I thought to myself—hey, I bet that'd look great on Bayodan. But there was no way he was going to believe me, right?" Puck waved his hands about frantically. "So all I did was try to prove it to him!"

"By shaving my eyebrow off in the middle of the day while I slept!" Bayodan snarled. "I will have to wear a glamor until it regrows!"

"I think you should just lean in, buddy—shave 'em both off. You never know, you might love it!" Puck grinned. "You should be thanking me."

Bayodan was clearly unconvinced. "I should be breaking every bone in your body?—"

"Enough." Valroy shut his eyes. He hated this part of his position—settling disputes. They were always so infantile. Some Lord took the prized jewel of some Lady's collection. Some underling built a home in someone else's territory. Someone murdered someone else. It was all so trite—so boring—so small.

Such was the price he paid for taking his rightful place upon the throne.

Though no one was quite so well equipped to annoy him than the half-breed. The only reason the bastard was still breathing could be summed up with one simple word. Abigail. His beloved wife was fond of the half-Seelie, half-Unseelie abomination. He could not understand why. But such was the way of things.

Nor was there any point in asking Robin Goodfellow precisely how he thought shaving off Bayodan's eyebrow would be well-received by the dignified Lord. A useless endeavor and a waste of time.

Punishment had to be wrought, though it was like scolding the sun for rising. Another useless endeavor and a further waste of his time.

"Tell me what you would have from him in payment, Lord Bayodan. And remember he is the favorite of our Queen." Valroy rubbed his temple, seeking to soothe the ache he always wound up having whenever Puck was involved.

Bayodan let out a low, animalistic growl. He eyed the half-breed with narrowed goat's eyes the color of spilled blood. His jaw twitched as he internally debated his options, knowing full well that any issuance of physical harm to the irritating fae would be met with displeasure from the woman to which Bayodan held close loyalty and friendship.

Then, a small twist to the Lord's lips. "I would have him shaved bald. Including both his eyebrows."

"But! That's not fair!" Puck whined. "I only shaved off one of yours—and I didn't even touch your hair."

"Perhaps losing more will encourage you not to do it again." Valroy sighed. "And you will simply hide it beneath a glamor, same as Bayodan." He waved his hand dismissively. "Done. Now begone, Goodfellow. Return to your Queen."

Puck folded his arms across his chest. "No. I want to argue about this for a while longer. This isn't right."

"Why?" Valroy arched an eyebrow. "From my point of view, you made off lightly for such an insult. I would have allowed him to break all your fingers one by one."

"Well—well, that's also silly and uncalled for!" The half-breed grimaced. "It's just an eyebrow. It'll grow back. Probably fast, too, given how hairy this guy is." He pointed at Bayodan with a thumb. "Speaking of—" He looked up at Bayodan. "How do you groom yourself, anyway? Do you have to use pet shampoo? How much do you shed? I haven't really ever thought about it before. I bet you'd get a great discount at a pet salo—gah!"

It was clear Bayodan had suffered enough. He grabbed Puck by the front of his linen shirt and shook him hard. "I should have your hide, Goodfellow. I could make quite the pelt from your flesh. Perhaps I shall upholster a new chair in the leather I make from it."

"As amusing as that would be," Valroy said through an exasperated exhale, "no."

Clearly displeased, Bayodan shoved Puck away from him. The half-breed staggered a few steps before catching himself and brushing off his shirt. "The nerve, really. I was trying to be nice!"

Bayodan's fingers on his one remaining hand twitched with the obvious need to cause violence. "Begone, Goodfellow. I will come for my payment as soon as my temper has cooled, lest I take your scalp with the hair."

"Fine. Whatever. Crybaby." Puck disappeared in a blink.

Bayodan shook his head and let out a long, heavy sigh.

Valroy completely understood the feeling. "If there is nothing else, Lord Bayodan, you are dismissed."

"There is something else I would like to discuss with you, should you allow it, my King." Bayodan turned to face him. With a flick of his wrist, a glamor shimmered over his form, and his missing eyebrow was restored through the illusion.

It was not, despite Goodfellow's insistence, a good look for the Lord.

"Very well. The longer you speak, the less time anyone will have to further annoy me." He cracked his neck to the left and the right, popping the joints of his spine and relieving the tension there. "What do you wish to discuss?"

"The human witch."

"Ah. Of course. I should have known." He smirked. "You and your love for mortal witches. How many of them have now signed your black book?"

"It has been quite some time since I have added anyone to its list." Bayodan smiled. "Though I will not deny I have been tempted as of late. Though the treaty stands in the way, I fear."

The goatlike Lord had always been fond of entrancing mortal witches, luring them into signing away their souls to him, believing they were speaking to some fallen Christian god—and promising them great power in exchange.

"It is the treaty I wish to use this witch to destroy. Perhaps soon, you will be able to seduce mortals as you once did." Valroy could not help but grin at the notion. It would be glorious to be freed from the shackles that bound him and all his people from their true natures. "However, it is your love for another former mortal witch that has put us in this predicament in the first place."

"Yes. And while I entreat Abigail to loosen the bonds of the contract regularly, I have made no progress. But it is not our Queen I wish to speak about."

"Your bleeding heart will be the death of me." Valroy rolled his eyes. "I am certain you are about to beg me to take mercy on the girl and the snake."

Bayodan looked off thoughtfully for a moment before speaking. "I wish to remark upon the fact that their story mirrors your own. And perhaps that is worth some consideration."

"It mirrors my own perhaps upon the surface alone, but in all other matters, it bears no resemblance. I am royalty—I was destined for the crown. The Duke of Bones has his title and is destined for nothing but to be a cog in my greater machine."

"Yet both women, Abigail and Alex alike, stand between you and what you desire. The losses of the debacle between you and your Queen were great." Bayodan placed his hand on his opposite shoulder where his arm once was. "I loathe to see them repeated."

"Indeed. What a shame it would be to have you running about with no arms to account for." Valroy chuckled.

"That was hardly my intention. Nor my argument."

"I know." Valroy shrugged. "You wish me to rethink my desire to break the treaty."

"I do not share your bloodlust."

"Unfortunately." Valroy pushed up from the throne to walk down the stairs that led to the dais upon which the piece of silvered furniture sat. Walking to the ruined wall that looked out upon Tir n'Aill, he clasped his hands behind his back as he pondered. "We are neutered as we are. The treaty must end."

"Perhaps. Perhaps it should be rewritten."

"Your desire to protect the Seelie and the humans is noble but pointless. Both worlds are mine by right, same as the crown I wear. I will not stop until I have been given that which is due to me."

Bayodan paused. "May I speak my mind without recompence, King Valroy?"

Valroy shrugged again. "As you wish." Even when Bayodan was speaking frankly, it was always with an air of respect. Besides, the reason the Lord was still in Valroy's service, despite his past betrayals, was because his advice was useful. On the whole, at least.

"Is it the portion of you that was birthed by the Morrigan and the fallen archangel that desires such destruction—or the truth of your soul? Is it the void within you that seeks death, or that which drove your greater self to join us?"

An interesting thought. "Does it matter?"

"Perhaps, yes. That your drive to destroy is a product not of you, the Unseelie King, but from you—creature of the endless nothing." Bayodan walked up beside him, also looking out over the trees and forests of their world. "I would hate to see so many put to the axe due to an instinct that is foreign to us."

"You say that because I am not a true fae, in every sense of the word, that my bloodlust is unnatural. Therefore, I should seek to subdue it." Valroy tilted his head as he considered the argument.

Yes, he was of the void. An ancient and unknowable thing that had chosen to leave the great emptiness to experience life. It was not without merit to think his desire for slaughter was from his innate need to see that nothingness mirrored in the world around him. "I do not remember much from that time. Sensations, only. I was a multitude that was also only one." He shut his eyes, straining to think back to the time before. "Much in the way that a tree stands on its own, but whose roots create the forest—and the forest together is one."

"Mayhap that is what inspired you to join the fae, as we are as the forest of which you speak." Bayodan rested his one hand on the rock wall.

"It is quite likely, though I cannot say." Valroy squared his shoulders. "But what I can speak to with certainty is that I am not one to set aside my convictions. The treaty will fall, and the human girl is the key to its destruction. Therefore, I will wield her wish."

Bayodan did not know of the girl's power over the music of life. Valroy would keep such a thing secret. He had the confidence of the Queen, and if Abigail learned of the witch's gifts, she would certainly intervene. More than she already had.

"If I am not mistaken, however, you had a hand in placing Abigail upon the throne in such a way that she could stand against your…convictions."

"Careful, Bayodan." Valroy eyed the other fae. "You tread on dangerous ground."

Was it true? In a fashion, yes. Abigail would always stand in opposition to him. The same but different—together, but apart. Their love was unflinching, their devotion to each other unassailable.

But to speak aloud the deep truth—that Valroy had accepted such a foil to exist to prevent himself from destroying two worlds?

That was blasphemy.

Blasphemy and disrespect. Both of which he would not suffer from a Lord. Whether or not it was spoken from a friend.

"I believe my point has been made." Bayodan took a moment to think. "If I might provide an alternate solution to your current quest?"

"I will ignore it. But speak it if it brings you peace."

Bayodan chuckled quietly. "Bargain with your Queen. Use this wish the mortal holds as standing. Allow us to meddle in human affairs as we once did—let us return to Earth. It is not much to ask."

"Yet allow it to keep its restrictions upon war." Valroy huffed. "Hardly a bargain. The Seelie were always meant to be our subordinates."

"Including their Queen?"

Valroy sneered, flashing his teeth. "She looks quite lovely on a leash."

"I am certain you are quite correct." Bayodan's lips curled in a smile. "But I would argue that anything you are not willing to do to the Queen, you should not do to her people. If you would not put her to the axe or force her to kiss the ground upon which you walk, she will not suffer such treatment of her people. And with all due respect, we have suffered this strife before."

It was Valroy's turn to feel his jaw tick in annoyance. He hated when Bayodan spoke sense. It was irritating. He wanted to relish the idea of destroying the Seelie and seeking the subjugation of the mortals. But the goat-like Lord was not wrong.

This was a dance they had done many times since Abigail took the golden crown.

"To ask me to work against my nature is to ask the moon not to pull upon the tide. I am who I am, Bayodan." He turned from the wall to head back to his throne. "As she is who she is meant to be. It is up to Abigail to foil my efforts. I have faith in her ability to do so."

Bayodan nodded once, taking the obvious cue that the debate had finished. "I appreciate the audience, my King."

"You—" Valroy paused.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

He felt it there, like a tick crawling on him. A presence that should not be there. And a presence that had been there for some time. He turned to Bayodan, teeth bared. "What have you done?"

Bayodan furrowed his brow in confusion. "I do not know of what you speak, my King. What is happening?"

Valroy growled, an unnatural sound that belied his true nature. Everything clicked into place. "Puck."

Heads would roll for this.

Heads he would sever personally.

With a roar of rage, he disappeared in a swirl of power.

His Maze was under attack.