He's known so little about how things usually worked before all of this happened - his dad had been sparing with frightening information about changelings, and he's still not sure why. His mother had always seemed like a distant figure - too busy and powerful for normal stuff - but the cruelty involved was never mentioned. Maybe he just didn't want Steven to think badly of her. Maybe his dad really thought she was okay.

He wonders what his dad is doing now, without him.

"I didn't know it was like this," he says quietly, his voice still breaking with hurt. "I didn't... think that this was what being fae meant."

It's worse knowing that the Queen captured people who weren't even connected to her, too. It just seems to cruel. No one could really deserve this, could they?