Chapter 9
Leaf
On my seventh day as the Fire Court’s guest , Esen burst through my chamber door at lunchtime. “Get up, Zali. The king requires you for the second event.”
“ Now ?” I asked, choking on a mouthful of flatbread as I sat in the window seat, still wearing my nightgown. “During the day?”
“Yes, now ,” said Esen, crossing her arms. “It’s in the Fen Forest, where it always feels like nighttime. So you could wear your sleeping attire if you really wanted, but I recommend you hurry up and put your leathers on instead.”
Since the previous event, I’d spent the last four days recovering in my room. And hiding from Arrow—let’s not forget that.
And, yes, I knew I had work to do… Taln City’s layout to study, the mystery of my arrest to unravel, an ex-lover to murder. But while my body was weakened and vulnerable, I couldn’t bear what the sight of Arrow might do to my heart.
So I’d taken the cowardly option and hidden in my chamber.
I pushed a tray of food along the sill, and a pile of books tumbled to the floor. “Are you going to stand there and watch me get dressed?”
“I’ve seen it all before when Arrow paraded you around Coridon dressed in glittering strips of cloth.”
Rolling my eyes, I rose from the window seat, pulled my nightgown off, then tugged on leather pants and a snug, molded leather corset, compliments of the Fire Court, before flinging a new cloak around my shoulders. Flames and tiny dragon wings decorated the thick material, a vast improvement on Arrow’s cloak adorned with golden feathers.
“What can you tell me about today’s event, Esen?”
“Nothing.”
“Please, I know you’ve never liked me, but think about this: we’re just two girls being used by males and doing our best to survive. We’re the same, don’t you think? Help me, Esen. Give me a chance to beat them.”
She chewed her lip, avoiding my gaze, but I could tell her resistance was softening.
“Aren’t you tired of being used by them, too?” I asked.
She kept her eyes on my boots as I laced them up, her face blank. Then she threw her hands in the air. “Fine. I want to hate you, Zali. I really fucking do. But Azarn is an arrogant prick, and I wouldn’t mind wiping the smug smile off his face. So perhaps I will give you some tips, after all.”
“Azarn hopes I’ll die in one of the events, doesn’t he?”
“I don’t think he cares either way. What he really wants is chaos. Lives for that shit. If you did die, he’d have an excuse to attempt to gain control of the gold trade by fucking with Arrow and the Zareen.”
“Sounds like the Fire King should be eliminated, not me,” I said. “As long as it serves their disgusting schemes for power, tyrants don’t care how many people die horrible deaths in their name.”
“Perhaps. But it won’t be me who kills him. Not today, and not while Melaya is by his side.”
Interesting , I thought, as we left my room and hurried out of the palace toward the stables. Azarn seemed over-reliant on his mage, which meant I had to find out more about his power. How it worked. And if there was a way to destabilize it.
“No chains today?” I asked Esen, waving my hands as we dashed through the statue garden. Lit by bright sunshine, they looked particularly grotesque, every splotch of mold and peeling paint visible.
The sun warmed my skin, and not one cloud floated in the azure sky. If I had to die, today was a fine day to do it.
Esen gave me a withering side glance. “I think you’re smart enough to realize you’d be dead before you got three feet away.”
“But I feel like you’re warming up to me, so there’s a slight chance you might just let me keep running. Might be worth the risk.”
“Oh, Leaf, you’re relentless.” Shaking her head, blue hair tumbled around her face as she laughed. “Today, your task is to find a specific plant in the forest. If you succeed, then similar to the last trial, you will fight an opponent. And if you survive that, you’ll only have one trial left. The worst, so I’ve been told.”
“Great,” I said, with zero enthusiasm. “What’s the deal with the Fen Forest?”
“Treacherous place. Holes filled with burning lava lurk beneath the pine-needle floor. Fall into one and you’ll never come out again. By all accounts, it’s not a pleasant way to go.”
“No kidding. How do I avoid them?”
“If you concentrate and block out other sounds, you’ll hear their hiss and crackle when you walk nearby. Be sure to step elsewhere.”
“Thank you. That’s helpful.”
In the stables, a single groom stood near the entrance, holding the reins of a large gray horse. “Where is everyone?” I asked.
Esen smirked. “In the forest. Waiting for you.” She took the reins from the stable hand, then thumped my back, pushing me toward the horse. “Hurry up and mount. Sable won’t hurt you. She has a mild and steady temperament. Unlike you.”
As soon as my butt hit the saddle, Esen mounted behind me.
“If you wanted to get close to me, there are more comfortable ways than sharing the same saddle,” I joked to distract myself from the nausea churning in my stomach.
Esen nudged the horse into a trot. “Very funny. No one at Taln, apart from Arrow, is stupid enough to give you a ride of your own. We’d spend the next week hunting you down.”
“I’m flattered you think so,” I replied. “Why would Arrow give me a horse?”
“Because where you’re concerned, he’s a fool.”
“ Was a fool,” I corrected, ducking as we skirted an overhanging elm branch. I scanned the rolling hills and the pine forest in the east that grew closer with Sable’s every hoof beat.
Very few geysers shot from the ground in this lusher, treed area behind the palace, where the air almost smelled fresh and clean. As I drew a deep breath into my lungs, the sky over the woods suddenly darkened, looking gloomy and dramatic.
Perhaps not such a nice day to die, after all.
“Can you tell me about the plant I have to find?” I asked as we reached the edge of the forest.
Esen slowed Sable to a walk and spoke in a low voice against my ear. “A hidden plant called the blood orchid. It’s carnivorous, and the petals are rumored to possess great power, but I’m not actually sure what they do. A courtier told me they’d heard it suppressed Azarn’s magic.”
“But from what I’ve seen,” I said, “the king let’s his mage do most of his dirty work. I didn’t realize he had much power.”
“Azarn is lazy and allows Melaya too much freedom. You remember the price fae pay to wield magic? Before you arrived, Arrowyn would often sleep for days to recover from large expenditures of storm magic. Sun Realm fae suffer likewise.”
“So how do I find this blood lily?”
“Blood orchid ,” Esen corrected, pushing pine branches aside as Sable trotted into the eerie darkness of the Fen Forest.
The smell of burning wood and smoldering embers hung heavy in the air. I looked around for signs of smoke or flames, but found none. Charred bark covered many of the tree trunks—the remnants of fire damage—and the leaves of nearby branches glowed blood-red, as if imbued with magic.
“Esen,” I prompted. “Did you hear my question?”
“Yes. And did you hear me say it’s called the hidden blood orchid? I have no idea how to find the damn thing because it’s not meant to be found.”
“Has anyone in Taln seen it before?”
She sighed. “If I tell you everything that I know about it, will you promise to stop nagging me?”
“Yes, of course.”
“There’s an old story about a herb gatherer who stumbled on the creature who protects the orchid, a fire demon who takes the form of a snake. Apparently, the kitchen hand smelled decaying flesh just before it appeared.”
“What did the plant look like?”
“The fae didn’t hang around long enough to find out. He ran back to the palace like ten hell hounds were biting at his heels. But he did say the encounter happened in the darkest part of the forest, near wet, boggy ground, so perhaps the plant prefers those conditions. This morning, the kitchen was abuzz with tales of past quests to locate the orchid. The head cook, Lorana, swore her grandfather died on one such ill-fated mission.”
“How did he die?”
“The serpent fae appeared and tricked him into a bargain with fatal consequences. If you can outsmart the creature, Leaf, you stand a chance of returning with the plant.”
“Okay, but how do you know this happened if the cook’s grandfather died?”
“Good point. His brother went along for the adventure but ran off as soon as the bargain with the serpent fae was lost, leaving him to face a gruesome death alone.”
“What a coward,” I said, then heaved a sigh. “So in the forest, I should head away from the sun and listen out for water?”
Behind me, Esen adjusted her hold on the reins. “Sounds like a plan.”
“And a shit plan is better than none,” I said.
A deep layer of pine needles muffled our progress through the undergrowth, which was hindered by thick ferns and branches that scratched our limbs as we passed.
“Leaf, watch how Sable chooses her steps carefully. The terrain is dangerous, and she knows it.”
Smart horse.
I drew a breath to admonish her for calling me the annoying, prick-given name for possibly the third time this morning, but Esen shushed me with a hiss. “Listen! Can you hear that?”
Tuning in to my surroundings, the relative stillness told me there were no birds in this forest, only creatures of mud and earth, every one of them quiet. Underneath the thud of Sable’s steps and the whisper of warm air through leaves, I finally caught it—a soft crackle and pop in front of us and a little to the left.
“There it is,” I said, pointing toward the sound. “A fire hole.”
“That’s right. Whatever happens, don’t forget to listen out for that sound. I’m starting to hate Azarn more than I dislike you and Arrow. And maybe… maybe I’m beginning to wonder if I chose the wrong side.”
“You did. But, please, don’t include me in the Storm King’s camp, the lying asshole. I’m on my own side. The side of the oppressed and downtrodden. The girls’ team. And thank you for preferring me over Azarn.”
She laughed. “Try not to be too thankful. If you hadn’t notice, we fae tend to take advantage of gratitude.”
That was true. They always did.
A twisted tunnel of gnarled ironwood trees widened into a large clearing, and in its center, scrolled gates leading to a stone-walled amphitheater loomed. Through the gates, the entire Fire Court was gathered on the crumbling stone steps that formed tiered seating around the arena’s edges. Magical flames from large braziers and eerie light from luminescent mushrooms cast a green hue over the fae’s sharp features.
It was roughly an hour past midday, and as Esen had warned, it looked like twilight.
Sable’s steps echoed on stone as we rode into the arena, and the courtiers fell silent for a moment before resuming their raucous chatter.
Fireflies flitted through the crowd, tangling in the fae’s hair and clothing, but they were too busy drinking and gossiping to notice. The king and his family sat in the rear center of the arena dressed in black clothes with silver embellishments that flashed like tiny diamonds.
I scanned the crowd once, then twice more, but Arrowyn Ramiel was nowhere to be seen, which proved he was a coward. What was the point of handing me over to the Sun Realm if he didn’t watch them destroy me?
Unless his aim wasn’t to hurt me, after all.
A wave of doubt engulfed me as I searched for his face in the crowd. What if he hadn’t betrayed me? What if he was in Taln to help me?
But then I recalled how he’d rushed away from Mydorian soon after Raiden arrived, as if he couldn’t escape from me fast enough. And the two miserable letters he’d written. Dry, passionless wastes of parchment.
The other night, when he arrived at Taln and Azarn made us dance, Arrow hadn’t specifically denied his role in my arrest. But perhaps I’d goaded him into an argument too soon and not given him the chance to speak up. Old habits died hard, I guessed.
Getting under the Storm King’s skin had once been my favorite entertainment.
King Azarn rose and lifted his palm toward his subjects. “Silence, fae of the Supreme Sun. Today, the Princess of Dirt and Stones—”
“Dust and Stones,” I muttered.
Azarn cleared his throat. “The Earth Princess has entered the Arena of Ashen Souls, and if you prick your ears, you’ll hear her ragged breathing as she walks forward for my instructions. The human speaks boldly, but her body betrays the truth. Enjoy the elixir of her fear.”
The courtiers laughed, a few with long snouts howling. In every direction, dappled, green light twisted the limbs and features of orcs, trolls, jinn, and other fire fae into hideous shapes. The dark wings of the more human-shaped fae stirred the air in excitement.
Many fire fae were as beautiful as the night sky, but the bitterness in their unfriendly gazes rendered their handsome faces ugly. And going by the scowls directed my way, no one here wished for my survival, least of all their king.
“Dismount and walk to Azarn,” said Esen. “Don’t do anything stupid. Melaya will kill you before you can draw breath to run.”
I did as she said and marched forward, my chin raised and shoulders squared, wishing I could wipe my clammy palms on my clothes, but refusing to give in to the urge.
“Azarn,” I said, inclining my head as I stared up at emerald eyes floating in his gaunt face.
“Welcome. Today, you must venture into the forest and return with a petal from the blood orchid. If you succeed and make it back to this arena, you will face your second opponent in battle. Once again, use of magic will be banned.”
“May I have a clue or two to help me find the plant?”
“No, you may not.”
I ground my teeth. “Then can you at least tell me what it looks like?”
With a long-suffering sigh, he flicked his cloak off one shoulder and leaned over his knees. “The orchid is quite small and therefore difficult to locate amongst the foliage. But once you see it, it’s easy to recognize by the long petals of a crimson so dark they appear black. Fire feeds it, not water. How you locate it is your business. If you’re not back within the hour, we’ll assume you’re dead and find my son a different bride.”
“But what if I’m not dead, only having trouble returning?”
“Well, you soon will be. So there’s nothing for us to worry about.”
Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one who’d get eaten by the serpent fae who guarded the orchid. The same creature that Azarn had failed to mention, which only confirmed my suspicions: he definitely didn’t want me as a daughter-in-law.
I wished I understood more about how the Fire King’s power worked. Did it play a part in blocking the magic from other realms in Taln? Or did Melaya alone achieve the incredible feat?
The king and his mage must be vulnerable in some way. Every being in the realms had a weakness. I simply needed to discover theirs.
“Esen,” boomed the king, interrupting my musings. “Guide the human to the forest gate, and the courtiers will entertain themselves while we wait to see if she returns.” His merciless eyes bored into mine. “And if you don’t make it back, then farewell, Zali Omala. I can’t say it’s been a pleasure to know you.”
“Likewise,” I whispered through stiff lips. Esen’s palm pressed into the small of my back. “Wait,” I said, not moving. “King Azarn, please, can I take a weapon?”
“You cannot.”
Queen Estella’s pale gaze flicked to her husband, her knuckles white against the burnished gold of the chair’s armrest. Marcella snickered, and Prince Bakhur only stared at me while the runes on my back itched painfully.
Surely death would be preferable to a husband who reveled in cruelty.
“Since I’m essentially your fiancée, Bakhur, do you have any tips or advice?” I asked.
He tapped the point of his chin. “None I can think of. Oh, wait, yes. Here’s a tip. Don’t eat the petals of the orchid. Instant death if you do.”
“Good to know,” I said with a smile, silently cursing him into the hell realms.
Refusing to bow or beg for my life, I turned away from the royal family and let Esen lead me to a narrow metal gate set between moss-covered walls at the south end of the arena, its swirls and patterns stained with rust and age.
“Never thought I’d say such a thing to you, but good luck, human. Don’t fall down a fire hole and get your stubborn ass incinerated.”
“And I never thought I’d say this either, but I hope I see you again, Esen. These past days, your sour company has really grown on me.”
As she laughed, I put on a brave face and winked, then stepped through the gate into the shadowy forest.
A sudden wind sprang up, whipping my braid across my face.
But nothing moved. No bird, no shrub rat, no serpent creature.
Bracing my boots wide, I stood as still as a fire-garden statue, listening to my surrounds as if my life depended on it.
Because in all truth, it did .