Chapter 19

Taliesin paced back and forth as well as he could in the cramped space. The room looked shabby, an earthen floor, hardly swept, with crates filled with odds and ends and broken furniture piled high. Apparently his chambers had become an off the cuff storage room of all the wrecked and useless items in the palace. No wonder his mother had been pleased when he asked to be shown to his rooms. The front room had sheets of varying shades, generally torn or stained, covering random pieces of furniture, a chair, several sofas, a chaise lounge, all with some defect, a torn pillow, a chewed on leg from someone’s out of control pet of the moment. Taliesin had peeked under the sheets of some, and came to the correct conclusion.

His bed chamber, formerly a luxurious room with a grand bed with high posters and artful drapery around it, the colors changed based on his mood, now had been crammed full of broken odds and ends, crates of exploded pillows, cracked chamber pots, bent ladles. Things from all over the palace. Taliesin shook his head. His mother must have planned this, once she had heard from him months ago, and every time something broke or wore out, instead of having it destroyed magically, she had the staff bury his room with the detritus. Very inventive, and very typical of his vindictive mother.

He also knew what she wanted of him. She wanted him to use his magic, and in doing so, break the law of the land. Once he left, his mother had held a High Court to exile him officially. After being exiled, he could not return to the Realm unless invited. His mother took care of that during their conversation last October by her begging him to return. But she had not lifted her injunction against him. As an official exile, he could not use magic within the Realm, invited or not; if he did he would be a traitor and hung for treason. His mother wouldn’t really hang him, but she would certainly lock him in the dungeons for at least a decade or two, long enough to ruin any chance he had with Cassie.

He had to play by her rules. Especially if he wanted to get her blessing. He located the bed under all the debris, and began to clear it off, stacking the crates to one side or out in the sitting room, and making a path through the junk to the bed. He also opened a pathway to the wardrobe and found some of his old clothes inside. Luckily, they hadn’t been eaten by moths or anything worse in the intervening years. He chose something plain and serviceable, well, as plain as he could find. The royal blue doublet with gold and silver piping seemed over the top for the twenty first century, but in the Faerie Realm, fashion moved much slower, the more obnoxious and over the top it was, the longer it remained fashionable.

When the bell on the wall began to tinkle softly, Taliesin had managed to wash up and change his clothes. Waiting a while to respond to the summons made him feel a bit better, a bit more in the game. He shook off a sudden feeling that he was in over his head and playing against the master.

Dinner as always was a lavish affair, with several courses, including spinach, feta, and pine-nut phyllo tarts; baby greens salad with gorgonzola cheese crumbles; potato, cheddar, and chive soup; spiced brisket with leeks and dried apricots; chicken with prosciutto, rosemary, and white wine; beef tenderloin with red-wine and marrow sauce; and almond cookie cups with sauternes-poached apples and frozen sauternes mousse. Taliesin took mental notes on some of the dishes to take back with him to the Bush and Brier.

Titania sat surrounded by her fawning court at the far end of the dining hall. Oberon came in late with several young and beautiful faeries flitting about him. During the meal, they fed him with their hands, giggling and falling over each other to please him. One even got up from her seat and went to find more wine. When she thought no one was looking, Titania sent dagger filled looks of hatred toward Oberon and his groupies. Taliesin had been seated halfway between them, looking out over the rest of the hall, but within full view of both of his parents.