Page 27 of The Crown the Fae Forgot
With one more piece of our espionage in place, all that was left for us was to pass the few remaining hours before we were expected to report back to Lady Phyrra for the actual peak of the summer solstice.
For the opening day, Lady Lilliope gave a speech. Her voice, echoing through the streets, drew us back to the heart of the festival, where we looked on together from the back of the crowd. Her words were as flowery as her court was colorful, but as much as she said, she actually said very little. There was no hint of the uncertain future that lay ahead, no warning made like those Icarus had spoken. If Lady Phyrra’s court knew of the newglamour or the challenges it had presented, they showed no sign of it.
They simply cheered her on in that same enamored state of awe that I’d come to expect from the fae of the Southern Court, their voices rising in agreement as they promised to celebrate alongside her and give thanks in advance of a plentiful harvest—one that was already clearly well underway with the earliest fruits of the summer season.
These were carted out by the bushel, offered up on platters and passed through the crowd, the scent of them so thick in the air by the time that it reached us, that it was nearly enough to make my head spin. That was to say nothing of how ittasted.
I’d had fae food before, but this was something else.
I didn’t know if it had been enchanted with some kind of illusion that ensnared even my sense of taste, but it didn’t matter. By the time I was licking the sticky juices from my fingers, I was eagerly cheering along with the rest of the crowd as Lady Phyrra stepped from the balcony where she’d made her speech, the last hint of her skirts disappearing as the festival exploded in a new furious, delirious, frenzy.
A few hours remained before the next chapter of our adventure began, for better or for worse, and so, in the meantime, we chose to let ourselves get well and truly lost—not in the traditional sense, of course—but to lose ourselves, just a little.
With the speech done, it wasn’t long before the streets were pressing even tighter as a parade began pushing its way through. Fae, even more elaborately dressed than those simply winding through the festival alongside us, strolled through the streets while handing out sweet treats as they walked. I caught some of these myself, but they were compared to the taste of the fruit that still lingered on my tastebuds. Fae trained in the circus arts broke through the crowd next, their antics causing necks—including mine—to crane their direction as they passed. Some walked on their hands, others rode their horses by standing on their backs, and a few fae looked like they were flying.
Or would have, if I hadn’t seen the real thing for myself.
It was with a pang of underserved nausea in the pit of my stomach that I once again thought back to the dark fae. It was true, Icarus had betrayed my trust more than any fae, but still the memory of the way he’d appeared to me, back in that bedroom, it was a hard image to forget.
And even harder one to try to convince myself held no effect over me.
The thought drew me so out of the parade that I didn’t notice it was over, already passed by us to continue on through the winding streets of the Southern Court, until Finch was suddenly at my side, tugging on my sleeve.
It took me a moment longer to realize we were alone, that Zev was no longer at out side.
Before I had a chance to ask him where the tattooed fae had gone, the momentary lull left behind in the parade’s wake was filled with the swell of music. From across the square, musicians began to play, their stringed instruments and flutes filling the air with a sound that made the very blood in my veins feel as if it was begging me to move along with it.
It was infectious, the need to move along to the beat now spurring the crowd to raise their hands in well-timed claps, punctuating the oscillating rhytm of the dance.
Because that’s what it was—or what it had soon become—as the crown all around us became more than a crowd, but a swirling mass all moving in time and careful motion with the music.
Rather than being trampled underfoot, however, Finch one more tugged me back into reality, to where he stood before me,hand outstretched and head bowing as asked me to join him for the dance.
His eyes sparkled in a way that made it impossible to refuse—as if, thanks to the magical swell of the music and what I’d begun to realize was the intoxication of the fruit, I’d have been able to refuse him if I tried.
Elation spread through me the moment he pulled me to him, our hands gliding effortlessly into position together as that magic pulsing through my veins commanded my body to behave in a way it never had before.
Finch’s hands held me tight, but not so tight that I felt like a prisoner in his arms. It was just tight enough to keep me from whirling into the arms of another, even as some portions of the dance compelled my body to do just that. He, unlike me, seemed to maintain some control over his body. It was a wonder, one I didn’t fully appreciate until the last note had been strummed and the music died down—only for the absence of it to leave that magic binding me to slowly ebb. As it drained out of me, I began to become aware of the passage of time, or more accurately—just how muchmoreof it had passed than I thought.
As the crowd broke off around us, I found myself stumbling along with Finch at my side, supporting my weight as my head tilted upwards towards that sun now inching far too close towards the center of the sky for my comfort. He led my unsteady feet away from the square where the dance had ensnared us, my mind clearing enough to finally remember Zev.
Zev?
Where was Zev?
I looked around for him, but even with my head beginning to clear, I don’t see him anywhere. I tilted my head back up to look at Finch, my eyes wide as I felt my heart begin to slow, returning to normal pace after the exertion of the dance. “We need to go look for Zev, he’s disappeared.”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Finch said, his hand tightening around my arm. It was meant to be reassuring, but something about the pressure and that ever-present glint only made my heart skip faster again.
“But the dance, he would have felt my heart…it was racing…” I said, concern creasing my forehead more and more the less Finch seemed to feel the same. “What if something’s wrong?”
Finch stepped up even closer to me, his second arm coming up to hold me steady. “Zev went back to fetch Shiel. He knows how these dances are. He’ll be here in a minute, I promise. They both will be.”
Once more, my head tilted up to place the sun where it now hovered so high above us in the sky.
It wouldn’t be much longer now.
In the background, a slower melody started to play. Fae began walking past us to dance once more. I felt the compulsion too, tugging at me with its invisible strings. This time, however, it didn’t pull at me with the same urgent frenzy as before. It was a deeper, slower, more primal pull.
