Page 3 of The Crown the Fae Forgot
I might not know what to expect from this new court, but at least I still had them. They might not be trustworthy, yet, but at least they were familiar. At least, I knew, they had as much an investment in getting me out of the Southern Court alive as they had out of the Wildness.
And, as I looked down for just a second to check that Shiel still breathed in my lap, I’d seen how far they were willing to go to make sure that happened the first time.
It was with a steady heart that I looked up towards the sky again, and at long last, I finally saw a shift. The mirage, this time, it stayed.
I blinked in confusion, trying to clear my eyes, but the longer I looked, the more the landscape began to shift. At first it swirled and blurred, like paint on a pallet beneath the artist’s brush. But with every step that we took, with every bump the carriage trundled over, my vision became slowly clearer until at last, we broke through some kind of invisible barrier.
I didn’t know if I alone had been unable to see what lay beyond, or if the other fae had simply known what lay beyond it, but it didn’t matter now.
Not when I, at last, could see it too.
We’d arrived, at last, in the heart of the Southern Court.
Before us lay tall, sprawling, beautifully-colored buildings that were surrounded by tropical plants and flowers that looked nothing like what grew outside the court. Birds flew freely over our heads and between buildings, their high-pitched calls mixing with the murmur of the fae passing through the streets beneath them, going about their lives with a sort of lassez-faire attitude so starkly contrasted to those of the Wildness court that it was hard to believe they were the same species.
Confused, I turned around and look back at where we came from. Behind us lay the empty fields and far off mountains, just as they had before. It was an enchanted wall of sorts that kept the two worlds apart, the need for a wall destroyed when there was no chance of attack from outsiders.
After all, they’d have to know where to find the court first…and I had a feeling this was the kind of place that would be very difficult to find if it didn’t want to be found in the first place.
When I looked back, that sly smile had returned to Eldrin’s face, but the moment he saw me looking, he forced it away, setting his jaw instead.
“To the Lady. She’ll be expecting us right away.
“I thought you said you ran into us on accident?” Finch asked, cocking his head at the lead guard.
Eldrin just stared at him blankly. “You think we’d take your lord into our court without first notifying our Lady? It’s by her grace that you’ve been welcomed here at all. And it will be by that same grace that she allows you to stay. Which, for your lord’s sake…” he trailed off, eyes flickering to the bundle of fur growing ever smaller in my arms, “let’s hope she’s happy to bestow.”
Thatended any further questioning, even on Finch’s part. Though, from the way he fidgeted, he wasn’t as used to being denied the right to answers as I was.
Eldrin took up the path again, leading us deeper into the court.
Though my hands dug deeper into Shiel’s fur as if in absent worry, I couldn’t stop myself from taking in the sights of this new court—as strange as Icarus’, if only for how utterlyoppositeit was.
The fae here were dressed colorfully, their clothes in every shade of color so bright they looked like the birds still swooping overhead. The very air itself seemed to hum with the energy of the fae that hurried through it, their faces—all of them strikingly beautiful in their own right—bent together as their lips moved to whisper excitedly.
Unlike the fae of the Wildness, the fae here barely turned to look at us as we passed. We were no marvel, strangers from other courts no more interesting than whatever it was that occupied them so. An excitement hung in the air, not unlike the feeling that had coursed through the court of the Wildness in the hours leading up to Icarus’ ball.
“What is everyone doing?” I finally asked, my head swiveled back so I could look up to where Eldrin still led our small procession.
“We are drawing near to the Midsummer festival,” Eldrin called back. “Everyone’s preparing for the festivities before we must deliver to the Eastern Court.”
Before we must deliver to the Eastern Court.
I turned to look at Zev, and his grim face told me what his words could not, not here in front of the soldiers of another court.
“As you know…an embassy from every court will be sent soon,” he said, carefully. “The king will accept the tax himself, as always.”
“A gesture of thanks for the generosity and continued cooperation of the many courts over which he rules,” Eldrin said, eying me a little too closely as he suddenly appeared at my side.
He had apparently, still somehow overhead despite Zev’s careful tone. I didn’t know if we were simply not paying close enough attention to see him move around to walk beside us, or if he’d never been at the head of the procession at all.
It was obvious where this court’s glamour lied. I wondered, not for the first time, how much of what I saw around me was real…and what else, like the mirage that haunted these lands…was simply made up as well.
At least Zev had the wherewithal to be careful with what he said.
I, meanwhile, had no such faith in myself, so I remained silent after Eldrin’s response—focusing instead on the beautiful building rising to tower above the already tall buildings before us. It was elegant in an otherworldly way, the illusions cast on it almost making it seem like it floated in and out of the air around it. It was almost as if the harder I tried to look at it, the harder it was to see.
Just like the mirages that concealed this place.
