Ironside (Modern Faerie Tales 3)

After a few moments, a dark-skinned boy with his hair in thick herringbone cornrows opened the door. One of his eyes was cloudy, the lower part of the pupil obscured by a milky haze. Metal studs threaded through his eyebrow, and a stretch of pale scar tissue on his lower lip seemed to indicate that a ring had once been ripped loose from his mouth, although a new one gleamed next to the scar.

"You're in with the Seelie Court?" Corny asked, incredulous.

The boy shook his head. "I'm as human as you. Now, her, on the other hand." He looked at Kaye. "The Queen never said nothing about a pixie. I don't let folk in my house.”

Corny looked over at Kaye. To him, she seemed glamoured, her wings gone, her skin pink, and her eyes a perfectly average brown. He looked back at the boy in the doorway.

"So what exactly did she say?" Kaye asked. "Silarial.”

"Her messenger told me that you were a little jumpy around faeries," the boy said, looking at Corny. "That you might feel more comfortable with me.”

Kaye poked Corny in the side and he rolled his eyes. Jumpy wasn't exactly how he wanted to be thought of.

"I was supposed to tell you that the Lady Silarial invites you to visit her court." The boy turned his lip ring idly. "She wants you to consider your part in the coming war.”

"Okay, that's enough," Corny said. "Let's get out of here.”

"No," Kaye said. "Wait.”

"She anticipated your hesitation." The boy smiled.

Corny interrupted him. "Let me guess. For a limited time only the Queen offers a free magazine subscription with each forced march to Faerieland. You can choose between Nearly Naked Nixies and Kelpie Quarterly.”

The boy let out a surprised laugh. "Sure. But not just the magazine. She's also offering both of you her protection for the duration of the trip. There and back again.”

Corny wondered if it were possible that this guy had just made a Tolkien reference. He really didn't look like the type.

Kaye squinted. "I've seen you before. In the Night Court.”

The smile dropped from the boy's face. "I was only there once.”

"With a girl," Kaye said. "She dueled one of Roiben's people. You probably don't remember me.”

"You're from the Night Court?" the boy demanded. His glance went to Corny and his eyes narrowed.

Corny reminded himself he didn't care what this guy thought of either one of them.

Kaye shrugged. "More or less.”

The boy sucked on his teeth. "Not such a nice place.”

"And the Bright Court is full of sugar and spice and everything nice?" Kaye asked him.

"Point." The boy slid his hands into the pockets of his oversize coat. "Look, the Lady wants me to take you to her, and I don't have much choice about being her bitch, but you've still got to come back in the morning. I've got someone coming really early, and I've got to take care of him before I head out.”

"We can't," Corny said. "We don't have anywhere to sleep.”

The boy looked at Kaye. "I can't let her stay here. I do jobs for people—human people. They see some faery and her boy hanging around and think they can't trust me.”

"So I guess they don't know that you're Silarial's boy," Corny said. "Then they'd know not to trust you.”

"I do what I have to do," he said. "Not like you—a little Night Court lackey. Does it bother you when they torture humans, or do you like to watch?”

Corny shoved him, hard, the force of his rage surprising even him. "You don't know anything about me.”

The boy laughed, short and sharp, stumbling back. Corny thought of his own hands, deadly inside thin gloves. He wanted to stop the boy's laughing.

Kaye pushed between them. "So if I were to take off my glamour and sit here on your stoop, that would be a problem?”