★★★★☆ A deception exposed

Fanes That Lie

Seanan McGuire

Fanes That Lie is Seanan McGuire's November 2023 Patreon story. It follows Distinction of Place, her June 2023 story. She introduces it as follows

We're back to Tybalt and the Brittany timeline as we try to resolve the question of Quickbeam and what's actually going on in the kingdom next door. Fans of random trivia will love this one, as it names additional hope chests.

When we left Distinction of Place things were looking bad. Tybalt's Ward Rozenn, whom he has come to love as a daughter, has been stolen away. It is clear that King Alban and his consort Gaëlle are making some kind of power play based on an illusion of having retrieved the Hope Chest Quickbeam. Tybalt doesn't really care about this so much -- her just wants Rozenn back and free. However, he's going to have to figure it out. Tybalt decides to take the desperate and dangerous step of seeking out one of the Firstborn, the Following Fire, Hirsent, founder of the fox-shape-shifter Reynard line, who introduces herself to Gaëlle as follows

"I am the Following Fire, Mother of Foxes, Hirsent, daughter of Maeve," Hirsent replied. "Dewydd was my brother, and still is for all I know. When he gave Quickbeam to the waves, he intended it should stay there, not be fished out of the dark by the first set of greedy hands to come along."

Together they track down Rozenn and Gaëlle, and the wrath of a Firstborn ensues.

This was a good story. Nice to have things resolved.

Fanes That Lie on Patreon

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