futi9.cc 
“What kind of trouble is Niall in?” I asked, going directly to the point. “What kind of enemies does he
have? Are they all actual fairies? Or are they some other kind of fae?”
There was a moment of silence while Claudine and Claude noted my brisk mood. They weren’t at all
surprised at my questions, which I thought was significant.
“Our enemies are fairies,” Claudine said. “The other fae don’t mix in our politics, as a rule, though
we’re all variations on the same theme—like pygmies, Caucasians, and Asians are variations on human
beings.” She looked sad. “All of us are less than we used to be.” She tore open a ketchup package and
squirted it all over her fries. She stuck three fries in her mouth at one time. Wow, hungry.
“It would take hours to explain our whole lineage,” Claude said, but he wasn’t dismissing me. He was
simply stating a fact. “We come from the line of fairies that claims kinship to the sky. Our grandfather,
your great-grandfather, is one of the few surviving members of our royal family.”
“He’s a prince,” I said, because that was one of the few facts I knew. Prince Charming. Prince Valiant.
Prince of the City. The title carried a lot of weight.
“Yes. There is another prince, Breandan.” Claude pronounced it “Bren-DAWN.” Diantha had mentioned
Breandan. “He is the son of Niall’s older brother, Rogan. Rogan claimed kinship to the sea, and from
there his influence spread to all bodies of water. Rogan recently has gone to the Summerlands.”
“Dead,” Claudine translated before she took a bite of her chicken.
Claude shrugged. “Yes, Rogan’s dead. He was the only one who could rein in Breandan. And you
should know, Breandan’s the one who—” But Claude stopped in midsentence, because his sister had her
hand clamped down on his arm. A woman who was feeding a little boy French fries looked over at us
curiously, her attention attracted by Claudine’s sudden gesture. Claudine gave Claude a look that could
blister paint. He nodded, removed his arm from her grip, and began to speak again. “Breandan disagrees
very strongly with Niall about policy. He . . .”
The twins looked at each other. Finally Claudine nodded.
“Breandan believes all the humans with fairy blood should be eradicated. He believes every time one of
us mates with a human, we lose some of our magic.”
I cleared my throat, trying to get rid of the lump of fear that had risen to block it. “So Breandan’s an
enemy. Any more royalty on Niall’s side?” I asked in a choked voice.
“A less-than-prince. His title doesn’t translate,” Claude said. “Our father, Dillon son of Niall, and his
first wife, Branna. Our mother is Binne. If Niall goes to the Summerlands, Dillon will replace him as
prince. But of course he must wait.”
The names were unfamiliar. The first one sounded almost like Dylan, the second sounded like BEE-nah.
“Spell those, please,” I said, and Claudine said, “B-I-N-N-E. D-I-L-L-O-N. Niall didn’t live happily
with Branna, and it took him a long time to love our father, Dillon. Niall preferred his half-human sons.”
She smiled at me to reassure me that humans were okay with her, I guess.
Niall had told me once I was his only living relative. But that wasn’t true. Niall was definitely swayed
by emotion, not facts. I needed to remember that. Claude and Claudine didn’t seem to blame Niall’s
partiality on me, to my huge relief.
“So who’s on Breandan’s side?” I asked.
“Dermot,” said Claudine. She looked at me expectantly.
I knew that name. I struggled to remember where I’d heard it.
“He’s my grandfather Fintan’s brother,” I said slowly. “Niall’s other son by Einin. But he’s half
human.” Einin had been a human woman seduced by Niall centuries ago. (She’d thought he was an
angel, which gives you some idea how good fairies can look when they don’t need to look human.) My
half-human great-uncle was trying to kill his dad?
“Did Niall tell you that Fintan and Dermot were twins?” Claude asked.
“No,” I said, astonished.
“Dermot was the younger by a few minutes. The twins were not identical, you understand,” he said. He
was enjoying my ignorance. “They were . . .” He paused, looked baffled. “I don’t know the right term,”
he said.
