Worlds Without End by Caroline Spector Page B

which I couldn’t be certain. Elusive.
    “And why did you call the Chasse Artu?” she asked.
    “I have been away a long time.” I said. “I needed to find the Court.”
    “Yes.” she replied. “I thought as much. No other way would have found us so quickly. We have been careful for a while now. But you come to us with the toss of a spell so powerful it would take half my court to cast it. I see some of what I’ve heard is true.”
    We had come to the back half of the hall. A great feast was laid out. Row after row of tables were covered with white linen, fine gold eating utensils, and bone china. Garlands of flowers were swagged onto the tablecloths. Most of the tables were filled with members of the Sleagh Meath and Awakened elves.
    Invisible hands served and took away platters of food and jugs of wine.
    Lady Brane led me to a raised table in the center of all the others. She took a seat and motioned me to take mine next to her. As I sat down, I noticed Caimbeul finding a place down at Alachia’s end of the table and I wondered how best to approach the reason for my visit. I didn’t know precisely what lies Alachia had spread about me. My cup was filled with wine, and food appeared on my plate. I didn’t eat. Couldn’t.
    Lady Brane, however, was having no such problems. She drank heavily from her cup and tucked away the feast like she’d been starving for a year. All this was done with a grace and delicacy that made it look like the most delightful thing I’d ever witnessed.
    “You aren’t eating.” she said with a little frown. “Is the food not to your liking?”
    I pushed a pea with my fork and shook my head. “No, thank you. I’m not hungry. Lady Brane.” I said. “I am not a threat to the Seelie Court, nor to you.”
    She turned and looked at me, her expression unreadable.
    “And what makes you think I find you threatening?” she asked.
    “I just assumed that you had been told . .. things.” I said. Good, Aina, I thought, stick your foot in it right off.
    She picked up a pear and bit into it. I could smell the sweet aroma of it. It took her a few moments to finish off the pear. Daintily, she dabbed at her mouth with a napkin before speaking again.
    “Yes.” she said. “I have heard stories. From several sources. You have not endeared yourself to many of the Elders. But there are other, more powerful, voices who seem to value you. So, I decided I should see for myself what sort of creature you are.”
    “What sort of creature?” I said. “That hardly sounds impartial. Unlike Alachia, the politics of men have little interest for me. But your court deals with matters that do concern me. Magic and mysticism have long been intertwined for our people.”
    She shrugged. “Perhaps some of what I’ve heard does concern me.” she said. “I am proud of being an elf and I am proud of our Tir. It has come to my attention that you have chosen others over your own kind in past disputes.”
    Alachia’s fine Italian hand at work, no doubt. “Yes.” I said. “There was a time when I had to make that painful choice. But there were reasons for my choice and I was not the only one who made that decision. I, too, am proud of my people. But we are not perfect, nor are we always right. I am not blindly devoted to every act. And those matters have no bearing on the dangers before us now.”
    Lady Brane took a sip from her glass, then swirled the contents around as she stared into them.
    “Yes.” she said at last. “These dangers. How is it you know of them and the rest of us do not? Are you so special? So powerful?”
    Yes, I wanted to say. Yes, I am special. I haven’t forgotten why I am here. I haven’t forgotten the past. If that makes me special, then so be it. As for power, how could I have survived for almost eight thousand years without it? But of course I said none of this. She would discover in her own time what a curse immortality was.
    “Perhaps it would be easier if we were to discuss