As much as the possibility of the fey being on Equestria disturbed Lex, he knew it wasn’t something he could afford to dwell on.

He already had numerous reasons to return home as soon as possible; having one more changed nothing. Until Mihr was ready to meet with him, there was no way to return to Equestria, short of trying to either slip by the angelic blockade – which he judged unlikely to succeed, given that they were now aware of him and his desire to return home – or fight his way through it, which was a conflict he wanted to avoid if at all possible.

He'd already made an enemy out of a prominent member of the elven pantheon, was loathed by Gwynharwyf of the Llys Seren, and was now at odds with the Night Mare’s avatar. Not to mention that the enemies of the lesser titans he’d trafficked with – be it Shami-Amourae’s former lover Demogorgon hating that someone had rutted his ex, Almina’s father being furious about his daughter’s stolen virginity, or the Olympian gods for his agreeing to shelter Echidna – were likely to become his enemies as well.

Slaughtering empyreals might get him back to Equestria faster, but the angelic enmity it would earn him was a price Lex knew he could ill afford, especially since the fey being on Equestria was entirely a matter of supposition.

Far more prudent to focus on what he could do until it was time for his meeting with Mihr.

Especially since, if what that danthienne said is true, Penelope’s husband has some idea of my relationship with his wife.

If that was the case, Lex knew that the fey he needed to be concerned with weren’t the Eldest of the Wyld, but the King of Autumn.

It was with that thought in mind that Lex – still moving the room’s feng shui in accordance with his wishes – turned back to the danthienne, examining the little green woman with a critical eye for a long moment as she shivered in his telekinetic grasp.

Finally, he spoke.

“Tell me your name,” he demanded.

“Sadhbh,” she blurted immediately. “M’name be Sadhbh, m’lord.”

That she was now so compliant came as no surprise to Lex. While it was a gross oversimplification, the ability to use feng shui that Mei Li had received from their bond – and which, like the special powers that his other wives had been granted, was now his to command – functioned in a manner not dissimilar to Vystalaran’s divine aura. Both induced those within its power to comply, not by undermining their free will, but by imposing a strong external pressure.

Of course, comparing the two was like comparing a firefly’s radiance to that of the sun’s. Vystalaran had been able to reorder the fabric of reality itself, making disobedience a matter of defying natural law. Mei Li’s feng shui, by contrast, warped various energies in the immediate vicinity, causing them to move in specified directions. Anyone who moved counter to that flow – feeling it clash with the energies in their body, including via their inherent magical potential, the positive energy in their physical self, and even in their circadian rhythms – would intuitively feel profoundly uncomfortable for having done so.

But unlike mind-manipulation, that discomfort wasn’t an abrogation of their free will. If they felt strongly enough about a course of action, they could continue with it, regardless of how uncomfortable it made them feel. That was enough to make the use of feng shui acceptable to Lex’s moral code, and he made full use of it now.

“Sadhbh, allow me to apologize for the harsh treatment you’ve been subjected to,” intoned Lex as he telekinetically moved the fey woman to a nearby seat before releasing his hold on her. Mei Li’s power was, his foresight told him, more than enough to keep her from trying to run.

“I am Lex Legis, marquis of the Autumn Court, and I am quite curious as to the rumors you’ve heard of me.”

Despite the gentle treatment, Sadhbh immediately shook her head, fear overriding her feng shui-induced awkwardness. “Nae, m’laird!” she yelped, fear making her accent worse. “Ae didn’a be knowin’ such gossip t’was ‘bout such a great laird o’ the Autumn! Never be lendin’ me tongue to no scand’lous talk ‘bout the Unseelie!”

“And yet you also spoke of the Autumn King, did you not?” noted Lex. “Saying that his wife had been stolen, and he sought to wipe away the stain on his honor?”

Somehow managing to turn even more pale, Sadhbh gave a rictus grin. “Fer sure’n I thought t’was a diff’rent Autumn King, m’laird! S’the Eldests’ honest truth!”

Branwen managed a loud snort at that, but Lex ignored her. He wasn’t reading the fey woman’s thoughts – he couldn’t ethically do so without first offering her the opportunity to leave, and he wasn’t prepared to let her go yet – but his foresight made it easy to figure out how to make her tell him what he wanted to know.

“Your circumspection is a credit to the Wyld fey,” he pronounced. “In that spirit, I’d like to offer you compensation for how roughly my associates treated you, in hopes that you won’t be inclined to speak badly about me in the future.”

Even as he spoke, he reached into his pocket dimension, withdrawing a dozen pebble-sized diamonds.

Shadow Star’s eyes immediately went wide, and next to her, Spinner began to pant. Valor had a little more self-control, but her eyebrows still shot upward at the sight, and even Woodheart looked impressed. But Lex ignored their reactions as he telekinetically plucked a long strand of hair from Littleknight – the almiraj giving a meep of surprise – and threaded it through the diamonds, his will more than enough to punch pin-sized holes through them before he fed the hair through the stones and tied the ends together.

Then he laid the necklace over Sadhbh’s shoulders.

“F-Fer me?” squeaked the danthienne, the color immediately returning to her face as she lifted her tiny hands to tentatively touch the gift she’d received. “Your lairdship’s givin’ this to meself?”

“I would have given you more, had you known the rumors about me that I thought you did,” answered Lex. “But since you don’t, this will have to serve-”

“It be about yerself!” shrieked the little fey, all reticence gone as she leaned forward, nodding her head so fast it seemed almost in danger of falling off. “Fer sure’n what I said be about yer lairdship’s self!”

“Truly? How fortuitous,” replied Lex flatly. “But I confess myself curious. How did you come by that rumor in the first place?”

“Ah, t’was told to meself by a pooka I know, named Caoimhe. Said she heard it from a tricksy nixie by the name o’ Aoife, who had it told t’her by a bagiennik by th’name o’ Declan, and he heard it from...”

It took almost two full minutes for Sadhbh to finish tracing the rumor back to its source.

“...who be swearin’ she heard it from an aventesma named Diogo, who saw it himself! Says he saw the King an’ his Queen an’ their huntin’ party comin’, so he right jumped in a ravine an’ turned himself into a bridge – aventesmas’ all be lovin’ to turn into bridges ‘n’ gates – so they’d cross without knowin’ he was there. But when they got halfway down ‘is back, the Queen be goin’ poof! Gone with nary a trace!”

Lex cursed inwardly at that. He’d summoned Penelope – along with the other half-dozen lesser titans – in a half-mad state, filled with overwhelming lust and a great deal of anger at having found out about the blockade around Equestria. With his self-control disintegrating, it had been all he could do to finish making a demiplane and conjuring Adagio’s creditors. Scrying them to see if anyone would notice their disappearance hadn’t been a concern.

Intellectually, he knew it would have been pointless to have done so. All of them were old enough and smart enough to have countermeasures against magical observation in place, and he’d already determined that he needed to summon them all at once anyway, lest doing so one at a time cause one of them to tip off the others that someone was trying to track down the deceased Siren’s soul.

But that didn’t change the fact that it was exceptionally bad luck that he’d conjured Penelope while she’d been in her husband’s presence.

Nor did it answer the other question Lex had.

“And how did he find out that it was, as you said, a ‘unicorn with a bloody horn’ that had taken her?”

Sadhbh fidgeted at that, fingers playing with the diamond necklace, and Lex – who’d already foreseen her actions – resisted the urge to growl as he reached into his pocket dimension again.

This time, the diamond he withdrew was the size of a cherry.

Shadow gasped. Spinner gulped. Valor whistled. Woodheart grunted.

Sadhbh placed her hands on her cheeks, squealing happily as Lex affixed the larger diamond onto her necklace, setting it directly in the middle of the others. “Oh, yer lairdship! Sure’n this be too good fer the likes o’ me!”

“Not at all,” answered Lex, impatiently trying to move things to the point where he could foresee her telling him what he wanted to know. “I’m simply that appreciative of your help.”

“Oh, this’ll make meself the right envy of all me friends, t’will!” giggled Sadhbh. “Aoife ‘n’ Caoimhe will sure’n be havin’ fits to see me-, ahh!”

Her rambling came to an abrupt end as Lex’s anger flared, causing the temperature to suddenly plummet. The sharp wave of cold only lasted for a moment, but that was enough to remind the danthienne whose presence she was in, and she swallowed as her excitement – which had been enough to overwhelm her sense of discomfort from the altered feng shui – tapered off, and she cleared her throat awkwardly.

And in his foresight, her answer caused Branwen to have a sudden rush of anxiety.

“Ah, well, ‘cordin’ to Diogo, after the Queen up ‘n’ vanished, the King said somethin’ ‘bout it happenin’ again, and that this time he’d be havin’ his answers. Started to ride off then, he did, and when one o’ his men asked where he was goin’, Diogo said the King replied that he was goin’ to go ask the Queen, tellin’ his men to stay there in case his Queen returned. Fer sure’n he returned a wee bit later, sayin’ what I told ye ‘fore, that the unicorn with the bloody horn had taken his queen.”

That elicited confusion from everyone else in the room; the King of Autumn had left to go ask the queen – who had just vanished – where his queen was?

But Lex, who could hear Branwen’s thoughts, knew that Sadhbh had meant a different queen entirely.

Damn it...

“Thank you, Sadhbh. You’ve been very helpful.”

The fey woman nodded, a ghost of a smile reappearing as the temperature returned to normal. “T’is a pleasure to be o’ service. Might’n there be anythin’ else I can do fer yer lairdship?”

“That won’t be necessary. Will you need an escort back to Bright Night, or can you find your own way?”

“Yer very kind, but I’m fine by meself-”

“You’re going to let her go?!” snarled Branwen, speaking up despite the feng shui not having abated. “Do you not realize that she’ll tell everyone she meets everything that happened here, as well as this location?!”

She took a menacing step toward the danthienne then, uncrossing her arms. “Better to silence her now before she can make trouble for us later.”

Sadhbh sucked in a terrified breath, but before she could say anything, Lex placed himself between her and the vilderavn. “Absolutely not. She has committed no offense against me, the Autumn Court, or the Unseelie. Therefore, she cannot be touched.”

Branwen glared at him. “Letting her go will bring the Autumn King down on this place.”

“In which case, I will fulfill the first half of my promise to Penelope.”

That was enough to give Branwen pause, her posture losing its tension as she considered that. A moment later, she placed her right hand over her heart and bowed – the first gesture of respect that she’d given him – and stepped back.

Her reaction was no surprise to Lex. Branwen, he knew, was fully aware of the deal he’d made with Penelope in the aftermath of their tryst: that at some point within the next ten years, he’d challenge Iubdan – her husband, the Horned King of the Autumn Court – to a duel for her hand. Winning would officially liberate her from both her marriage and her position as the Autumn Queen.

Of course, that was only half of what Penelope had wanted from him.

The other part involved his agreeing to become her consort afterward, the two of them founding a new noble house among the Unseelie.

A warrior through and through, Penelope La Gard was ambitious by nature. To be stuck as the queen of a court in decline grated on her, all the more so since she couldn’t abdicate her throne without being labeled a traitor. Nor could she arrest Autumn’s decline on her own, since leadership of the court could only be held by the Horned King, a position that only a male fey could hold.

Not being fey himself, Lex could rise no higher in the Autumn Court than the marquis rank that Penelope had granted him, meaning that he couldn’t challenge the Iubdan for the position of the King of Autumn. But as far as Penelope was concerned, being liberated from her position as queen was worthwhile if the two of them could found their own faction, one which he knew she dreamed would eventually surpass Autumn – and perhaps even Winter – in power.

By itself, Lex wasn’t opposed to the idea. Being able to build up multiple power bases was an excellent way to increase his own strength. He’d had similar thoughts about founding a settlement in Darkest Night, much like how Sanguine Disposition had Eigengrau, before the Night Mare’s imprisonment and rise of the Night Terror had scuttled those plans before he’d had a chance to begin implementing them. All the more reason hurry and build up influence among the Unseelie as quickly as possible, if for no other reason than it would give the Night Mare’s avatar that much more reason to hesitate in launching another attack on him.

Except, of course, that founding a new noble house with Penelope meant fathering children with her.

That was a line Lex refused to cross; he had no children, nor did he ever intend to, something which he knew would be a sticking point for the soon-to-be ex-Queen of Autumn.

But just like the possibility of the Wyld fey potentially being on Equestria, that was something he’d have to deal with later. For now, there were other matters to attend to.

“Nisha.”

Perking up at hearing her name, the black wolf smiled. “Yes, Master?”

“Take Sadhbh outside,” ordered Lex. “And then find these mares some food and escort them to an empty room. I’m sure they’re tired from their journey here.”

He still had questions for Fail Forward, but his foresight was telling him that Branwen wouldn’t speak about what he wanted to know – even telepathically – in front of them.

Discussing Unseelie politics in front of outsiders wasn’t something she was willing to do, no matter how awkward his feng shui made her feel.

Nisha seemed to have the same opinion about leaving his side, because a whimper escaped her throat. “But Master-”

She stopped as Mei Li gently rebuked her, the vixen using her own telepathy to do so privately, and a moment later Nisha nodded, though her unhappy look remained. “Of course,” she murmured, before glancing at the danthienne and mares. “This way.”

Sadhbh leaped up, apparently eager to leave, but the other four were slower to stand, not sure what to make of being so abruptly dismissed.

But their attitudes changed as Lex again reached into his pocket dimension as he let the feng shui dissipate at last.

“The four of you risked your lives to bring me the news you learned from Sadhbh, thinking that it might be something I needed to be made aware of,” he noted. “For that, and for assistance that you provided to me when I was still mortal, even when I was...struggling” – he shot a quick glance at Woodheart – “I want to provide you with a small token of my appreciation.”

“Please be diamonds please be diamonds please be diamonds,” muttered Spinner, rubbing her fore-hooves together.

“Other precious stones are also acceptable, as is gold, silver, and platinum,” added Shadow quickly.

“Don’t forget to include a share for Mysty,” chimed in Valor. “She’d be here too if she could.”

“And Littleknight!” added Woodheart. “He helped too!”

“Meep!”

Fighting back the urge to snort at their antics, Lex brought out five dozen diamonds, each the size of an orange. Ignoring the cries of delight coming from the four mares as he levitated the stones over to them, he let Nisha usher them out as they began examining their newfound riches, leaving him alone with Mei Li and Branwen.

Lex waited until the door had closed and the departing mares were out of earshot before turning to the vilderavn. “Tell me about the queen that Iubdan went to see after Penelope disappeared. I know from your thoughts that it wasn’t Mab, or any of the other leaders of Winter: they’re the Maiden, Mother, and Crone, not queens.”

“Send her away first,” retorted Branwen immediately, canting her head at Mei Li.

The kumiho frowned at the dismissive treatment, but Lex spoke up before she had a chance to.

“No. She’s my wife, and she has my confidence.”

Branwen crossed her arms over her chest again. “She’s not one of the Unseelie.”

“My husband,” began Mei Li, “if it would be easier for her to speak without me here-”

“I want you here,” interjected Lex. “And I want Branwen to speak freely in front of you. Otherwise, I’ll report her disobedience to Penelope, and how it’s particularly galling given that I resurrected her despite being slain by Gwynharwyf herself.”

“...fine,” grunted Branwn, making no effort to hide her irritation.

But a moment later she sighed, giving one last glance at Mei Li before turning her attention back to Lex.

“If what that danthienne said was true, then Iubdan most likely went before the Queen of Air and Darkness...”

Lex narrowed his eyes at yet another unfamiliar fey name. “And she is?”

“Supposedly the strongest of all the Unseelie, beyond even Morgana, the Winter Crone," answered Branwen, unable to suppress a shiver.

"Or at least, she has been ever since she found an artifact known as the Black Diamond, which gave her great power and shattered her mind...”

Author's Note

As Lex peers further into the realm of fey politics, the answers he finds bring forth even more questions!

Who is the Queen of Air and Darkness? And is Branwen right that Lex’s releasing Sadhbh will bring the Autumn King down on the adlets’ village?