Chapters (45)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
“Wait!” cried one gent who had hung back from the start. “Stop! Fellows, cousins! Stop this!” The faeries drew back and the crows hunched in a tight knot around Magpie and Talon. The gent went on, “As we’re not barbarians, we’ll hear what this is about first, nay?”
Vesper’s lips pinched white. “Lord Manygreen, that’s noble of you, but I assure you this lass tried to kill me. And as I hear, she was the last soul seen with your daughter before she went missing!”
Magpie rose to her knees and peered out between Mingus and Bertram. The gent who had spoken had copper hair and brown eyes, just like Poppy’s. Magpie rose unsteadily to her feet. “Lord Manygreen,” she said. “It’s true I was last with Poppy. I know what happened to her. I’m sorry I couldn’t come to tell you before.”
The cluster of faeries murmured and Poppy’s father drew nearer, his face wretched with anxiety. “Little Magpie, isn’t it?” he asked. “Please, where is she?”
“You’ve heard . . . ,” began Magpie. “You know what hunts Dreamdark?”
“The Blackbringer,” he whispered.
Magpie nodded slowly and swallowed. “Aye, and it’s true, and he took Poppy right here in Issrin Ev though I fought to save her—”
Lord Manygreen’s face contorted with sadness and the murmur of the faeries rose to a clamor.
“And I’m still trying to save her! But the reason Poppy was even here,” Magpie went on, turning to Vesper with a look of cold rage in her eyes, “is because your fake queen set a devil on me, and Poppy flew all the way to warn me—”
“Lies!” Vesper cut her off, flicking open her wings and rising into the air between Magpie and the faeries. “This guttersnipe gypsy sneak is wild with lies!”
Lord Manygreen gave her a penetrating look and said, “I’ve a potion of Poppy’s that turns liars’ noses blue. Perhaps we should all have a sip.”
Vesper blinked at him and hesitated.
“I’ll gladly have a sip,” said Batch, shaking off the gents who gripped his arms. “And I’ll tell you more about my old friend Vesper Siftdust.”
“Siftdust?” repeated Kex Winterkill.
“Hear me, citizens of Dreamdark—” Vesper hurriedly declaimed, but she was silenced by a sudden trembling in Issrin Ev. Everyone looked urgently around.