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tonight.” My mother decided. “As for you, Flametail – I fear
holding you in this prison will cause more trouble than it is worth. We may yet
be able to reach a peaceful settlement – in time – if you go back to the Summer
Court and try to put things right. Perhaps we can fight a few battles – just
enough to kill enough of your men to match ours – and then the people's
bloodlust will be quenched.”
    “Kill
my men? How can you even think of such a thing? They're my soldiers, aren't
they?”
    “For
God's sake, Frank!” Raine grew angry. “Couldn't you have thought of that before
running off here...?” Her face grew flushed. “I love you – you know I love you
– but not enough to let this war start up for my sake.”
    “If
you leave the castle in disguise,” my mother said to Flametail. “Nobody will
know you've been here. Return at once to the Summer lands and we will try –
goodness only knows how – to sort out this mess. As for you,” she glared at
Raine. “We'll need to get her out of here – now!”
    “No!”
I cried, forgetting that we were meant to be hiding. “No, you can't take her
away from me!” The idea of losing you – not merely to the other side of
Feyland, but rather to a world so distant it could only be imagined – felt as
if the tremors of an earthquake were splitting apart my soul.
    Our
parents turned to look at us.
    “Kian!”
My mother cried. “I told you to stay...”
    “Please!”
I pleaded, and your voice joined mine. “Don't take her away – please don't take
her away...she's my bride...I love her.”
    The
words stopped my mother short. Her face turned pale, and her eyes shone icy
blue and silver. “And look at these two.” She made a contemptuous gesture at
Flametail and Raine. “Look where love got them.” She rushed forward, grabbing
your arms, and dragging you forward. “It's the only way, girl,” she said. “We
need you out of here – and we need you safe. It's for your own good.”
    “You
can't take her!” Flametail's voice echoed mine. “She's my daughter. I love
her...”
    “Frank,”
my mother whispered, taking his hand. “If you love her, let me keep her
safe...”
    His
great, ursine frame seemed to melt into the floor as grief overtook him. “I've
been selfish, Raine,” his voice shook. “If there's one thing I can do to fix
this – if there's one unselfish thing I can do...I'll do it now...”
    He
came over to you. “Goodbye, Breena,” he whispered, kissing the top of your
head.
    “Daddy!”
you cried, your voice rising higher and higher. “Daddy, what's happening?”
    “One
day,” he whispered to you, and although Raine and my mother could not hear it,
your thoughts transmitted the words to me. “You will be a greater queen than I
ever was king. I promise you that.” He looked up to my mother. “Please,” he
said. “One favor. I don't want her to suffer – I don't want her to miss me,
miss this. Make her...make her forget.”
    “It
will be done,” said my mother, and with that the three adults rushed from the
room, carrying you – still screaming in their arms.
    “Breena!”
I felt myself call the name, but in my pain I was insensible to myself – less a
being than a disembodied sense of agony, of loss, with no direction and no
reality – only a single, unending rhythm of pain. “Breena! Breena! Breena!”

 
    Letter 6
     
     
    My
dearest Breena,
    And
then you were gone, and it was eight years before I saw you again. You had the
blessing – and the curse – of my mother's memory spell. You remembered nothing
of our sweet and happy childhood together. But I remembered. I lived with the
memory every day – the memory of a beautiful face with kind, penetrating eyes.
The memory of my soul coming to meet its twin in the purple orchards of the
Summer Court, of our two loves – stronger than the strongest magic in Feyland –
uniting together – at first, these memories overwhelmed me, so that when I woke
in the