"I do na know, dearie; I wish I did," Gran said.
I held my hand up so that the ring glistened in the thick autumn sunlight. "Whoever put the spell in the car used this ring to fuel the magic. They knew the ring would be there. Who would the queen trust with such information?"
"The list is small for those that she trusts, but the list is long for those she knows are too afraid of her to go against her wishes. She could have given the ring and the note to anyone, and trusted that they would do as she asked with it. It would ne'r occur to her that her guard would disobey her." She squeezed my hand. "You're obviously not going to eat these good pasties. I'm going to send them downstairs. My guests will certainly appreciate them."
"I'm sorry, Gran. I just can't eat when I'm nervous."
"I'm not offended, Merry, just practical." She gestured, and the door opened to the small hallway and the stairs beyond. The plates with food began trooping out the door.
"What purpose would it serve to have Galen and me executed?" I asked.
The plates were still making their uneven dance out the door, but she turned to me without missing a beat or spilling anything. "You might rather ask what purpose would it serve if the queen's ring were found wrapped around a love spell designed for you."
"But it wasn't designed for me. It could have been anyone in the backseat of the car."
"I don't think so," Gran said. She took my hand and traced the silver band. It didn't respond to her touch as it had to Galen's. "This is the queen's ring, and you are the queen's blood. But for an accident of birth order, Essus might have been king. You would already be queen, and not Andais. It would be your cousin Cel who was second in line to the throne, and not you."
"Father never approved of how Andais ran the court."
"I know there were those who urged him to kill his sister and take the throne," Gran said.
I didn't try and hide the surprise. "I didn't think that was commonly known."
"Why do you think he was killed, Merry? Someone got nervous that Essus might take the advice and start a civil war."
I gripped her hand. "Do you know who ordered him killed?"
She shook her head. "If I did, child, I would have told you by now. I was not a part of either court's machinations. I was tolerated, nothing much more."
"Father did more than tolerate you," I said.
"Ah, that he did. He gave me the great gift of being allowed to watch you grow from child to woman. I will always be grateful for that."
I smiled. "So will I."
Gran sat up straighter, hands clasped in her lap-a sure sign she was uncomfortable. "If your mother could only have seen his goodness, but she was blinded by the fact that he was Unseelie. I knew it would come to grief allowing herself to be part of a peace treaty. King Taranis used Besaba as chattel. It wasn't right."
"Mother wanted to wed a prince of the Seelie Court. None of them would touch her, because no matter how tall and beautiful she was, they were afraid to take her to their beds. Afraid they'd mingle their so pure blood with hers. They wouldn't sully themselves with her, not after her twin sister, Eluned, got pregnant after just one night with Artagan, trapping him in a marriage."
Gran nodded. "Your mother always thought that Eluned had ruined her chances for a Seelie marriage."
"She did," I said. "Especially after their daughter was born, and she..." I looked at Gran's face. "Looked like you." I reached out to her as I said it.
She took my hand. "I know what the Seelie think of my looks, child. I know what my other granddaughter thinks of the family likeness."
"Mother went with my father because King Taranis promised her a royal lover when she returned. Three years among the unclean, unholy, Unseelie Court, and she could come back and claim a Seelie lover. I don't think she expected to get pregnant in the first year."
"Which made the temporary arrangement permanent," Gran said.
I nodded. "That's why I'm Besaba's Bane at the Seelie Court. My birth tied her to the Unseelie Court. She always resented me for that."
Gran shook her head. "Your mother is my daughter and I love her, but she is very... confused at times about who she loves and why."
I was actually thinking that maybe my mother loved no one but her own ambition, but I didn't say it out loud. Gran was, after all, her mother.
The afternoon sun was low and heavy. "I need to check into my hotel and get dressed for the festivities."
Gran touched my arm. "You should be staying here."
"No, and you know why."
"I've put wards on my house and my grounds."
"Wards that can withstand the Queen of Air and Darkness? Or whoever else may be trying to kill me? I don't think so." I hugged Gran, and her thin arms wrapped around me, pressing me against her with a strength that should never have been held in such a delicate body.
"Have a care tonight, Merry. I could not bear to lose you."
I stroked a hand through that wonderful hair and saw over her shoulder a photograph. It was a picture of her and Uar the Cruel, her one-time husband. He was tall and muscular. They'd had to sit him in a chair and had her stand beside him. She had a hand on his shoulder. His hair fell around him like golden waves. His suit was black with a white shirt, nothing remarkable. Nothing remarkable but his face. He was... very fair efface. His eyes were circles of blue within blue. He was outwardly everything a woman, fey or human, could want. But he wasn't called "the cruel" just because he'd fathered three monstrous sons.