Oberon had a self-satisfied look on his face. He knew he was winning, and as he feinted and parried and did everything except dance a little jig, I got angrier and angrier.
And, as happened sometimes when I got angry, I suddenly saw what was before me with complete clarity.
Oberon had cheated.
“You cheated,” I said loudly, blocking his sword once more.
“Come, now, Agent Black,” Oberon said smugly. “We will have none of that. If you lose this battle, it will be because of your own incompetence.”
“Or because,” I said, and it was getting hard to speak, “you poisoned me.”
There was a gasp from the watching crowd as I pulled the tiny needle from the back of my neck. I’d felt something sting me when Oberon had cut me in the shoulder, but I’d assumed it was sympathetic pain from the muscle that connected to the joint.
“Someone, probably your queen, shot me in the neck with this when you cut me,” I said, slowly but clearly. “That means, I think, that the rules are forfeit.”
I looked at Puck, who nodded, his eyes no longer merry.
Oberon had dropped his blade to his side, the smug look replaced by calculation.
“And if the rules are forfeit,” I said, and stepped forward before he could think, laying my open palm over his heart, “then I can use magic.”
11
“STOP HER!” TITANIA CRIED.
Oberon’s eyes widened as all the pent-up magic inside me released into his body. I had just enough will left to focus that power so that it didn’t spill over onto everyone in the court.
A massive stream poured from my hand into Oberon. There was a tremendous flash of light, and for a moment it seemed the universe froze. It took everything I had to keep standing, to give the illusion of strength. The poison worked its way into my blood. I felt it killing me by inches.
There was an explosion of magic, and the shock wave that pulsed out of Oberon’s body had enough force to knock down everyone in the immediate vicinity, including me. The magic that was bound to Oberon dissipated into the ether. He was finished.
I struggled to my feet, swaying as the poison made me dizzy. Nathaniel climbed over the ropes at the edge of the ring and came to my side, his arm propping me up. Beezle hovered worriedly.
I felt a subtle warming as Nathaniel pressed his hand over the wound in my shoulder, healing me. The heat ran through my body, burning out the poison, closing all my existing wounds. The child inside me fluttered as Nathaniel’s power touched it.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
Nathaniel brushed his hand over my cheek. “The claw marks from the Hob still remain. You have quite a dashing scar now.”
Beezle landed on my shoulder, squeezing me with his claws. “How are we going to get out of this one?”
All around us the courtiers were murmuring and coming to their feet. Everyone looked around for Oberon, and when they didn’t see him there was a collective gasp. Then Titania screamed.
“Get her! Kill her! Avenge your lord!”
There was a clatter of armor as several soldiers climbed into the ring. I spun toward them, ready to defend myself, the sword in one hand, my other hand fisted.
But Puck stood in the way, and none of the soldiers seemed inclined to knock him over. I wondered just what his position was in the court. “My lady, you have already violated the rules of combat by interfering in the fight. Do not worsen your position by ignoring the pact that you made with Madeline Black.”
“What care I for that agreement when she has killed my lord?” Titania said, her face a mask of grief and anger. “I am under no obligation to keep to the terms that she made with Oberon.”
“I did not kill your lord,” I said softly, but my voice carried.
“Then where is he?” Titania asked.
I held up my closed fist, and then opened my palm. In the center of my hand lay a tiny, sleeping faerie, the size of a housefly.
Titania put her hand to her mouth. “What have you done?”
“I didn’t kill him,” I said. “So there is no blood price, and no vengeance to be had.”
All I’d done was remove the eons of glamour and magic that Oberon had used to cloak himself, and reverted him back to his original form.
And his original form had just the smallest fraction of magic compared to the illusion he’d built up over time. It would take him centuries to return to the form he’d used to try to kill me.
“Madeline Black followed the rules of trial by combat as set forth,” Puck said. “By your own agreement, you are permitted no vengeance, whatever she has done.”
“Where lies your loyalty, Puck?” Titania asked, her eyes narrowed. “With your queen, or with this child of Lucifer?”
“My loyalty lies with my queen, so long as my queen is loyal to her word,” Puck replied.
“You would play the jester now, when your own lord has been brought low?” Titania said.
“If the jester is a truth teller, then that is what I shall play for you. My queen, do not jeopardize your court. Do not invite Lucifer’s wrath upon us,” Puck said.
The doors to the throne room opened, and everyone in court turned toward the sound.
Silhouetted in the sunshine that poured through the door was a tall, broad-shouldered man carrying a bow and arrows.
“Bendith!” Titania cried.
“Mother?” he asked, confusion evident in his voice. “What is happening?”
Bendith stepped into the throne room and his face was fully revealed.