The Fox’s Tale

“I invited him.” Ellery’s voice rang through the night with barely contained fury. “Do you doubt me, Wolfsbane?”

Sir Aconite stood there fuming, clearly working over what he was preparing to say.

“I just find it, convenient, that there was an attempt on the future Duke of Thorns that involved necromancy and the corpse of a Changeling that an Incorruptible was the last to handle, and lo and behold that same Incorruptible is the one who ‘saved’ him.” He went as far to use air quotes on the word saved.

“I don’t like what you’re insinuating.” I said, stepping between him and Quinn.

“Insinuate shit. He flat out blamed me. Listen Monkshood, I can’t do glamours, so unless your peabrain can explain how I not only did that, but managed to get a rotting corpse inside the palace without anyone realizing that, you need to get bent. Hell, even if you could come up with something I’d still tell you to get bent.”

“My name is Aconite!” he snarled.

“Whatever, you’re still a d-bag.”

“Meridian.” Queen Esmeralda’s voice commanded our attention. “Would you please take care of the unfortunate child on the ground?”

“Oh, sure thing, your majesty.”

“Thank you. Sir Aconite, you are dismissed from duty for the evening. You are welcome to stay and enjoy the ball or leave. The Meridian will escort my granddaughter and her Other to their home.”

She looked up at Alastair who offered her his arm, which she took. “Goodnight dearest,” she said and kissed Ellery’s cheek.

She motioned me over and extended her hand towards me. As I bent to kiss it I heard her voice in my head say, “do not dawdle.” I looked up in surprise and she narrowed her eyes at me.

“Goodnight, your majesty.”

“Goodnight, future Duke of Thorns.” She turned and let Alastair escort her back to the palace.

Once she was inside Sir Aconite turned to us with a sneer. “This isn’t finished, Meridian.” He paused in his dickery to smile at Ellery. “Good evening, Duchess. I’m sorry your first ball was spoiled by such unpleasantness.”

“No need to let it ruin your evening, Sir Aconite.” Ellery replied in the same tone she’d used on Alastair when he’d shown up at our house. “Go dance and enjoy yourself. Have a few drinks or twenty.”

He got a dopey look on his face and wandered away. Ellery blew out a tense breath once Aconite was gone and then rounded on Quinn.

“Alright, out with it. Why are you really here, Quinn? Because you told me you didn’t want to come.”

“Ah Elly, I didn’t want to come, but Lucas asked me to, and you know me and Luc. I can’t refuse him much, if anything.”

My eyes widened with shock. Lucas and Quinn? Surely not. But then again, Darcie did say he lived with them.

“Lucas asked you to come? When?” asked Ellery, confused.

“Asked, ordered, potato, po-tot-o. About an hour ago. I’d have been here sooner, but we had some trouble finding a mask that would fit. Speaking of which,” he paused to don the mask once more, “this was his. How do I look?”

The three of us looked up at this giant of a man and were momentarily stumped. I caught the gleam in Darcie’s eye and spoke before she had a chance to say anything.

“You look like a god that people would sacrifice children to.”

A huge grin split his face. “Sweet.” He shoved the mask up on his head. “Let me just take care of Ivy and we’ll get you home.” Ellery and Darcie walked a good twenty feet away and waited. I stood where I was since I wanted to watch.

“Um, Xander? You’re gonna wanna step back.” Quinn gestured with his thumb towards the girls.

“Oh, for real?” I took a few steps back and Quinn shook his head.

“More dude. Go stand with the ladies. You won’t be able to miss what happens.”

I jogged over to join Ellery and Darcie and waited. Quinn reached down and gripped Ivy by her bare foot. Then she was engulfed in flames that burned white hot for about thirty seconds before her body disappeared leaving nothing behind. Quinn dusted his hands off and walked over to us.

“Holy shit,” was all I managed. Darcie beamed up at Quinn with pride and Ellery looked thoughtful.

“Is that where my mom picked that up? From you?” she asked.

“Um, yeah.” He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “But you know I only met her twice before…” he let that sentence trail off. “Let’s get you home.” We began the walk to the portal, taking a short cut, and I could tell Ellery was lost in thought.

“Lucas got upset after he saw me in my costume. Do you know why?” she asked Quinn as we walked through a grove of trees.

“Probably just gave him a turn is all. I mean, that’s the costume your mother wore to her one and only Twelfth Night ball. Different mask of course. Her mask was made to look like the wood from a rowan tree.

"She wasn’t quite,” he made an hourglass shape with his hands, “as you are since she was thirteen, but I’d recognize it anywhere.”

Before Ellery could respond to that bombshell Darcie blurted out a question of her own. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

“Because that’s when you were dating, what’s his name, Felix, Philip?” Quinn snapped his fingers trying to recall the name.

“Phineas?”

“That’s it! That guy; and you weren’t around.” He cocked his head in thought. “I’m kind of shocked Queen Esmeralda would have selected that for you to wear. Hell, I don’t even know how she got her hands on it since it belongs to Lucas.”

“Why does it belong to Lucas?” I asked, briefly wondering if Lucas enjoyed cross dressing.

“Cause he had it made for her. See, she didn’t want to wear the costume that was designed for her to wear originally, and frankly, I wouldn’t have wanted to either, if I had been a girl.”

“Why?” asked Ellery.

“Because it would have made dancing impossible and Rowan loved to dance. I mean, I guess she could have danced in it, but she would have ended up showing the entire court all of her bits if you catch my meaning if she’d done anything other than sit perfectly still on her throne. And Rowan wasn’t keen on that idea.”

“Who designed the first costume for her?” I asked as we neared the portal.

“Dunno. But Rowan came to visit three nights before the ball and showed Lucas what she was supposed to wear and he asked her where the rest of it was and she said that’s all there is and burst into tears.”

He scratched his head. “Now that I think about it, that’s probably when she got the flame throwing thing from me, because even then I didn’t like it when females cried and I hugged her to get her to stop. Then we played checkers and shit for like an hour and Lucas disappeared and when he came back he had that.” He nodded at Ellery’s outfit.

Quinn shook his head at the memory. “She was so happy. Funny thing though, after she went back to the palace, Lucas went to his room and asked to not be disturbed. I’m pretty sure he was crying in there, but I don’t really know why.”

We arrived at the portal. Quinn grinned at us, unaware of the turmoil Ellery was now in. “Man, this night did not go how I thought it would. Anywho, Darcie and I will see you guys at school.”

“Why haven’t I met you before now?” I asked him. It didn’t make sense.

Quinn scuffed his feet. “Ah. Well, I sort of got suspended for most of December.”

“Most of December? What the hell did you do?”

“I may have stuffed some guys into their lockers after I caught them trying to give someone a swirly. I don’t like bullies.”

“That’s fantastic!” I smacked him on the back in appreciation. “Absolutely fantastic. Jones was right about you. Goodnight you guys.”

Ellery and I went through the portal and walked in silence to our apartment. “Are you okay, Princess?” I asked once we were inside.

“Yes and no.” She looked from the ground to my face. “Would you mind terribly if-”

“If I didn’t make love to you with that on?”

Her shoulders sagged with relief. “Exactly. I feel all kinds of mixed up and weird.”

“So do I. Let’s just get out of this stuff and go to bed.”

“I was thinking we could go soak in the tub first,” she said as she took my jacket off.

“Is that so?” I asked as she reached up to play with my earring and cuff.

“Mmm-hmm. Leave this on, will you? I like it.”

“I’m not piercing anything else, so don’t let what Darcie said about Quinn give you any ideas.” Ellery began to laugh and I threw her over my shoulder and carried her to the bathroom.