The Fox’s Tale

“Sir Edmund Blackwater?” Esmeralda’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “He died along with my parents and some of their friends.”

Alastair grinned. “That he did. He poisoned all of them, you know. He was going to poison you too, only I switched the doses between your food and his. Instead of getting sick and making a recovery he died twitching on the floor.”

“You killed your father?” Esmeralda asked.

Alastair shrugged. “Technically he killed himself. It was, after all, a poison he crafted.” He looked directly at Lucas. “There was no love lost between us. I suspect you will understand my motives.”

Lucas put his arm around Esmeralda. “Thank you.”

Alastair pulled his head back, stunned. After a moment he said “and I thank you, for disposing of Peregrine. He was the last major threat to their safety, or so I thought.”

“If you’re so innocent of wrongdoing why have you been such a disgusting pervert to Ellery?” I demanded.

Alastair raised his eyebrows. “Do you have vision problems?” When Lucas and I both growled at that comment he raised his hands in front of his face.

“Ellery looks very much like her mother, except for her hair. I. She. Damn it, she reminds me of how terribly I failed. Everything I was hoping for was dashed to pieces when she was conceived.”

“Did you mark my mother?” asked Ellery through gritted teeth.

“What? No. Goblins don’t have the ability to mark anyone like that. We don’t have Others or Mates or any other cosmic connection between males and females. Had I succeeded in wooing Rowan, any mark I gave her would have been a glamour. We would never have had children.”

“Why have you been pushing for us to mark each other?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.

“Third time’s the charm,” he muttered.

“You flaming piece of shit!” yelled Ellery and she started to launch herself at him, but I stopped her.

“Wouldn’t it have been the fourth?” I wondered.

He shook his head. “No, I never tried anything with Ellery. Even as a child she hated me, and whatever else you think of me, I’m not a rapist or a pedophile.”

Ellery hissed at that. “The Blessing of the Blooms implies otherwise.”

“That.” He looked away. “I have been pretending to be an Unseelie for over two hundred years. Sometimes months would go by without me remembering what I was. Birth rates have been low and it concerned me. The Unseelie have a lot to answer for, but their magic is vital.”

He groaned. “I spent years researching possible solutions and the decline in fertility coincided with the abolishment of that ritual. That is why I brought it back, not because I get my jollies off of touching barely formed bosoms! I don’t even do the anointing, which you would know if you had taken part. One of the priestesses does it.”

Some of the burning rage eased out of Ellery’s face at that admission, but she was still furious. “It’s still disgusting. And completely ineffective.”

“We are losing track of what’s important,” interrupted Lucas. “You claim that you did not try to prevent Ellery and Alexander from being together, yet he had a mark on his ear just like the one on Jones. Just like the one on Rowan.”

What little color Alastair had in his face left. “I swear to you it wasn’t me.”

“Was it another Goblin? One of your friends or family members that came with you and your father to infiltrate the palace?” Lucas asked.

“They’re all dead.” He gave a nonchalant shrug. “I saw to it after Father died.”

“You slaughtered your own kinsmen? No honor amongst thieves then?” asked Esmeralda.

“And what had they ever done to deserve my loyalty? They only helped themselves. When Father died one of them asked me if it was finally time to seize the throne. I seized him by the throat instead and choked the life out of him.

“I knew at that moment that they had learned nothing during their time at the palace to have changed their minds and that you and any children you might have would be in constant danger if I allowed them to remain. So I killed them.”

“You have no allies? No one at all who assists you?” she asked, her face also losing some of its rage.

“There is no one, your majesty. The spell I used to muddle the mate bond for Jones and Rowan is a basic one. Anyone could create something similar if they had access to the right books."

He chewed on his lower lip as he thought. "Tarquin does seem keen to have the Duke and Duchess of Thorns marked and mated. I didn't think anything of it because it aligned with my own goals, but it does seem odd on closer inspection."

He raised his head. "I occurred to me that the attacks against Ellery might have been manufactured. Tarquin can't possibly be that bad at his job.” He shrugged. "I have no proof that it is him, of course, but it is a possibility."

“Prove it.” I ordered.

Alastair glowered at me. “Are you not listening? I just said I have no proof.”

“Prove your innocence by helping us to expose who is behind the attacks and who killed Rowan.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Or should Lucas just kill you now?”

Alastair licked his lips and flicked one glance at Lucas before answering. “What would you have me do?”

I grinned and then I was dragging him from the throne room by his chains into the High Council’s chambers.

“Please!” Alastair screamed. “I didn’t do it! I didn’t kill Princess Rowan.”

The council members all gasped as I threw him onto the floor in front of them. The Court Astronomer curled his lip and said, “I say, is that Alastair? Good heavens.”

Tarquin looked like he wanted to vomit, and he rubbed his hand on his clothes like he was trying to wipe something off.

Ellery walked in behind us with Esmeralda. “A likely story, Goblin. Who else would wish harm to my mother?”

“It wasn’t me! I swear on my life. I was in the temple the night of your birth. Ask them, I saw at least five of them when they came to light candles as well!”