* Having nothing left to do with your night, you climb into bed and drift off to sleep…

* …

* …

* Or maybe not.

* Yeah, something’s wrong here. Normally you’re asleep by now.

* Or if you’re not, it’s because someone is knocking on the door. Or because a dream is tugging at the corners of your mind until you’re awake.

* But this is none of those things. It’s… nothing.

* You could shut your eyes and try to let this pass, this nothing. But you’ve lived with this body and this mind long enough to know that’s not going to work.

* That nothing will turn into something. Or many somethings.

* Better not to risk it. Time to get out of bed. Maybe there are other night owls about.

* You exit your chambers and turn the corner at the courtyard. The west wing is empty, as is the east wing.

* Your office has been empty since earlier that evening, when Leland scolded you for ending today’s War in a deficit.

* The usual suspects are at the bar. The salesman is behind the counter in the gift shop. But you have no business with any of them.

* You have no doubt Puck is still in the Chapel, drunk on victory as ever. You decide not to check in on him.

* The temptation of going back on your agreement and asking him one of your pressing questions is far too great.

* You wander back towards the library, where the book of curses sits on a shelf. You have to suppress a shudder when you look at it, a reminder of so many things you’ve yet to accomplish.

* If your Enemy were here, he’d certainly get in a dig about this. But he got bored and wandered off hours ago.

* You eye the hidden bookcase. Maybe tonight isn’t the best night to go into the Stale Feast.

* You go in every once in a while, just to listen to the faeries who’ve gone stale. You know it won’t do anything, but you feel like you owe it to them.

* Actually, it might be good to go in there. It’s too quiet at the Court tonight, and your thoughts are too loud.

* It’ll be good to stuff your ears with something besides silence.

* You open the trick bookcase and head inside to see the Stale Feast: It’s been sitting out for a while.

* But something is different.

* “Hey, Your Majesty! It’s been a while!”

* Isn’t that the man from the first night…? The first one to go stale?

* “Woah, hey! You remember what my Deal is, don’t you? Now I can neither confirm nor deny you’ve got the right of it.I’ll be honest, though. It would break my heart if you didn’t remember me.”

* You have become practiced at reframing your thoughts as statements, ever since your agreement with Puck.

* You aren’t going to ask about it, but you are certain you’ve never heard him say any of these words before.

* “I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but if I did I probably wouldn’t like it.”

* Before you have the chance to explain, another faerie approaches, tapping you on the shoulder.

* “Your Majesty! This banquet is fantastic, but today is not the fifth day following the week’s start.”

* You recognize her as the woman who petitioned you for pizza day. She looks pleasantly surprised by this development, if a little confused.

* But not as confused as you are.

* It is at this time that you look around, surveying all of the faeries at the banquet. They speak, as they always have, but this time they are speaking to each other, not past each other.

* They have more to say.

* They are no longer stale.

* The two faeries who approached you have politely adjusted to speaking to each other instead of with you (”Is Her Majesty performing a new breathing exercise? A new spell, perhaps, or a strange mortal custom?”).

* The entire Court begins to shift and shudder beneath your feet.

* Before you can say anything, or ask a question the first faerie can’t answer, you feel a hand wrap around your arm, and someone firmly tugs you through the door, back into the library.

* You are face-to-face with Puck Goodfellow, who wears a look you have come to know well from your time here in Titanium Court.

* He is not happy.

* ”No, I am not happy!”

* ”What the hell is going on?”

* Honestly, that’s what you’d like to ask him–

* Puck glares at you.

* –but you won’t, since it would violate the terms of your agreement.

* Puck pinches the bridge of his nose in annoyance. ”You’ve already violated the terms of our agreement!”

* You don’t remember doing that.

* ”Well, you did, Your Majesty. You left the court–and I’m very grateful for that–”

* –Somehow from his tone you gather he isn’t very grateful at all–

* ”But you’ve clearly returned. Why?”

* …

* Huh.

* You don’t remember leaving, but if your steward does, then it must have happened.

* You reach deep into your memory and try to remember. And you do.

* You remember using your keys to open the gate. A meet-cute between your Scholar and your Enemy. You remember walking across the threshold and resolving not to look back.

* And you remember the powerful magic you employed to keep Her from returning.

* ”I have never in my capacity as the Steward of Titanium Court seen faeries come back from being stale. Whatever you’re doing, stop it.”

* But you aren’t doing anything.

* Puck sighs. The vestiges of his voice are ragged after a night of stress and drinking. ”Not you. Her.”

* Of course. Her. The Other Queen. You thought your magic would be enough to deter Her, but when it comes to Her appetite…

* Will it ever be enough?

* ”I really don’t know anymore.”

* You lock eyes in horror when you realize what you’ve both done.

* You swear you can hear him curse your name as the Court crumbles around the both of you.

* And…

* You wake in your Chambers, feeling the cadence of the refreshened faeries’ speech pulse just beneath your temple.