A Little Night Muse by Jessa Slade Page A

say. “Have you seen EveStar?”
    “Everyone has been summoned to the throne room. The Queen is in
a mood.”
    Adelyn almost smiled. William had been in the phaedrealii long enough to not even name the moods
anymore. “I guess that is where I need to go. You’ll have to be my
disguise.”
    William wrinkled his nose. “You have your glamour.”
    “But none so good as the Queen’s own lover. You owe me this.”
Most courtiers avoided William and other humans within the phaedrealii . For good reason, as she could attest. Certainly no one
would expect to see her with him.
    They joined the throngs heading for the throne room.
    Except for the unchanging steel seat at its center, the throne
room became whatever the phaedrealii conjured. At
the moment, it was a ballroom of matte white marble, thinly lined with black
traceries. Hundreds of fluted columns towered upward, their peaks disappearing
into a slowly roiling haze. Above the throne itself, a giant hollowed globe of
marble hung as a chandelier. The undefined glow illuminated the room from the
center, sucking the color from everything below it until even the glorious hues
of the phae were cast with the pall of dread.
    “Oh, this is a mood all right,” Adelyn murmured. “You are
taller than I am. Do you see EveStar?” Normally the handmaid flitted both ahead
of and behind the Queen, always in motion, preparing the way and picking up the
pieces afterward.
    “I don’t—Wait.” William rocked up onto his toes. “She just came
in. The Queen won’t be far behind.”
    Which gave Adelyn only a few moments to contact the handmaid.
But she hesitated. “William, is this really where you want to be?”
    His gaze slid away from her. “Do you know how long I have been
here?”
    She shook her head. “You know time does not always pass here as
you might imagine.”
    “I can’t go back now.” He let out a shuddering breath. “It will
never be the same for me.” His eyes were dark but swamp lights moved within
them. Haunted eyes.
    Adelyn touched his arm before she slipped away. He had made his
choice.
    And so had she.
    Amid all the wide skirts, high collars, and towering
headdresses, she felt small and insignificant. Not a sensation a musetta knew well. She embraced it since no one looked
her way. She wove between the courtiers and edged up behind the fluttering
handmaid.
    “EveStar,” she said quietly, nudging back the veil around her
face.
    The handmaid recoiled. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you
find—” She bit her lip. “Come.” She whisked Adelyn behind the hulking steel
throne.
    “I don’t have time to lie and dissemble and tease—” Adelyn
started.
    “Well then, you are no phae ,”
EveStar snapped.
    Under other circumstances, Adalyn might have laughed. But she
held herself straighter and looked the other phae in
the eye. “Are you a friend to the runaways?”
    “The rebellion, you mean?”
    The proud anger in the handmaid’s voice actually made Adelyn
relax a notch. “Why are you the Queen’s handmaid when you want to be free?”
    Bitterness hardened the elegant golden phae to something steely, sword-like. “I might never be free, but I
can still be a guide. Why did we survive the Iron Age, just to retreat here
within our own illusions?” EveStar gripped her hand. “Is that why you came back?
To hide again? I thought you understood we need to find another way.”
    Adelyn grimaced. “I didn’t understand at first. Not at all. But
you can’t keep sending phae as you have. That way
will be closed.” Her fault. “The Hunter’s valley is under attack.”
    EveStar swayed a little. “Then it is over. For all of us.”
    “No. I brought you a new way in.” Adelyn took a deep breath. “I
have cuttings from the valley ferns that will take phae around Vaile’s wards. But the spores aren’t ready yet. You’ll
have to sprout them here, in secret.”
    EveStar tightened her grip. “I will. But you have to—”
    “Arise all and bow to our