The King looked powerful and impressive—his darkly handsome good looks set off by black velvets and silks, a strong nose and arched brows adding to the impression of dignity and grace. A tiny hint of a smile greeted Beka’s entrance.
The Queen was as light as the King was dark. Long silvery-white hair was gathered in a complicated arrangement of braids atop her swanlike neck, twisted with strands of delicate pearls and silver chains dripping with diamonds. Soft pink silk, the color of a baby’s first blush, flowed in fluid layers to drape her tall, slim figure, and kissed the tips of her white fingers with pointed edges dripping with delicate lace. High cheekbones and pale translucent skin made her look as dainty and fragile as a china cup. But Beka knew better.
“Your Majesties,” she said to the Queen and the King of the Otherworld, curtsying low the way Brenna had taught her on her first visit to court as a child. She nodded her head in the direction of the Queen of the Mer and the King of the Selkies for good measure. “Your Majesties. Greetings.”
“Welcome, Baba Yaga,” the High Queen said in a voice like choral bells ringing. It echoed off the high ceiling and scattered a few colorful winged creatures, not quite birds, in a flutter of feathers and sharp, pointy beaks. “Thank you for coming. Queen Boudicca and King Gwrtheyrn have been enlightening Me with their woeful tales regarding the sad corruption of their watery realm that has forced them to leave their homes and endangered their citizens.” She narrowed icy amethyst eyes in Beka’s direction. “Have you news to give Us regarding the cause of this unfortunate predicament? Or better yet, some cure for this malady?”
“Not as yet, Your Majesty.” Beka did her best to look confident as she turned toward Gwrtheyrn and Boudicca. “I assure you, I have been working on the problem every day. I haven’t found the answer, but I have eliminated a number of possibilities, and I’m sure I must be getting close.” Her heart thudded in her chest as she waited for someone to expose her as a fraud, but no one did.
She bit her lip, seeing lines etched deep in both the royal faces that hadn’t been there when they’d first come to her for help. “Are the sick folk any better, now that you’ve moved to different waters?”
Gwrtheyrn shook his head, his straight black hair slicked back like a seal’s short fur. “They are not, Baba Yaga. In truth, they grow worse, especially the children. They cannot eat; whatever they do take in is returned with dire results. Some are losing fur or scales, and others their hair. Their cries tear at my soul. The water people are at their weakest at the time of the full moon, when the tides pull on us most strongly, causing our two different natures to fall out of harmony. We are greatly feared that should there be no solution by the next waxing of the moon, some of the most vulnerable will succumb to this illness.”
“Gracious, how repulsive.” The High Queen made a moue of distaste, her perfect lips curved downward. She waved one dismissive hand, obviously not interested in hearing anything more involving unpleasant physical symptoms.
“Mortal bodies are so fragile; I do not know how you abide them. Well, I am sure that the Baba Yaga will find a solution in time.” The Queen sat up even straighter, her posture as rigid and unforgiving as her rule.
“Unfortunately, it has come to Our attention that We have an even more pressing problem,” Queen Morena said.
Beka felt her stomach sink down to the level of her slippers. Now what?
Gwrtheyrn growled a little at the Otherworld Queen’s abrupt dismissal, and the suggestion that there was something more important than the welfare of his people, but Boudicca pressed a cautioning hand to his arm and he subsided.
“Um, what is this new crisis, Your Majesty?” Beka asked with a growing sense of dread. She hadn’t even been able to come up with a solution for the first disaster; how the hell was she supposed to fix another one?
“And why call us here if not to discuss our calamity at greater length?” Gwrtheyrn added, bitterness coloring his voice.
The Queen gave him a sharp glance, clearly not liking his tone, and two of the crystal formations on the wall cracked and went dim. Overhead, a massive stalactite creaked ominously and a few of the courtiers who had accompanied the royal couple looked up anxiously before sidling unobtrusively a few feet to the left.
“This new issue concerns your people as well, Gwrtheyrn,” she said, her incandescent purple stare circling around to include all of the Selkies and Mer in the great cavern. “You would appear to have renegades in your ranks.”
“Renegades, Majesty?” Boudicca repeated, but Beka got the impression that the Mer Queen wasn’t entirely as taken aback as she tried to seem. “Surely not.”