Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ispend the rest of the day sleeping in my tent, grateful for Athar and his fae warriors, so I can worry less about being murdered. But a couple of hours before sunset, a guard stops by from my grandparents’ tent to bring me a gown for dinner.
“Dinner?” I echo when he hands me the wrapped package. I can’t imagine my grandparents wish to dine with me after the treatment I’ve received since arriving.
He shoots me a puzzled look. “Every night after a challenge, the champions and the members of the royal houses dine together to celebrate the winner. I’ll return in one hour to collect you.”
I thank him and retreat within my tent again. A dinner with all your enemies? All the people you’re plotting against and planning to kill? Seems particularly bloodthirsty and sadistic. But then, this is a tournament invented by the fae.
I set the package on my bed and unwrap it, and I am unsurprised to find a red dress within it.
But it’s not the blood-red of the house emblem.
It’s a deeper crimson color, with only a thin ribbon of House Harkyn red along the bodice.
There’s a golden hawk sewn into the fabric over the heart.
It’s the most luxurious thing I’ve ever touched, shadowing even the dress I’d worn to the ball at Shadow’s Keep.
First, however, I have to attain some semblance of cleanliness.
I summon the guards back for a bucket of water and some soap, and I spend most of the next hour polishing myself up.
A healer had cleaned and put salve on my wounds from the challenge earlier this morning, but not much else.
I don’t bother trying to do anything with my hair, leaving it down so it falls a bit past my shoulders.
My fingers twist through a strand of it, curling and uncurling it around my finger.
I’ve never let it get this long, and with a sudden pang of sorrow and longing, I wonder if my mother had hair like this.
I’d give anything just to remember.
Finally, I am dressed and reasonably clean, so that when the guards come for me, I look somewhat the part.
The dinner is located at the opposite end of the valley from the cliffs.
A series of silk tents have been erected, and a good bit of fae magic has gone into making them look stately.
In one tent, an enormous table is set with plates and goblets and silver and candles.
In another tent there are multiple tables laden with food.
And in the third tent, there is wine and ale and pipes for smoking.
Throughout each of the tents, silver and gold trees are scattered, giving the effect that we’re dining in a glowing forest rather than beneath simple tents.
They glimmer faintly in the twilight, and some of them release clouds of tiny flowers that float beneath the pitched roofs of the tents.
“Wine or ale?” Cillian asks me as we reach the tents. “You didn’t die today, meaning I am still the second as I very much prefer. I think that deserves a toast.”
“Ale,” I say. I have no idea if the wine here is regular wine or fae wine, and I certainly have no intention of finding out.
He saunters off, leaving me on my own. Our grandparents had walked with an entourage of guards ahead of us, and I watch as they enter the dining tent and make note of where they sit, so I can be sure to sit as far away from them as possible. Provided we don’t have assigned seats.
As I duck beneath the branches of a silver tree and enter the drink tent behind Cillian, my eyes rove the crowd.
I tell myself I’m not looking for anyone in particular, but deep down I know it’s a lie.
Daemon has made it clear that we’re enemies now, so I have no plans to seek him out.
But I also can’t help but want answers, just like everything else in my life.
I know he’s here representing his house, but why does he have to act as if he doesn’t even know me?
As I sweep my gaze across the tent, I do find a familiar face, but not the one I’m looking for.
“Professor Julian!” I exclaim as he walks toward me.
“Embyr! It’s so nice to see you,” he says, offering me a slight bow. “Alive, no less. Congratulations on making it through the first challenge.”
“Were you here this morning?”
“Alas, no. I made it in this afternoon.” He frowns. “There were some things at Shadow’s Keep I had to get situated before I could make the voyage.”
It already seems a lifetime has passed since I left the castle. And ten lifetimes since that night on the beach outside Kyrn. My life has certainly become so, so strange in these last few months.
“Well, I’m glad you could make it. I only hope the first challenge wasn’t merely beginner’s luck.”
The professor offers a polite smile. “Hopefully not. Though, this might be a good time for you to discover whatever magical talent might be hiding within you.”
I realize that with everything that had happened, I hadn’t been able to tell him how we survived the fire. Daemon had told them someone tried to kill us, but not how we escaped. “Well, there’s something you should know…”
I recount for him what happened in the healing ward, and as I do, his eyes grow wider and wider.
When I’m done, he says, “Well, surely you can use that to your benefit during the challenges!”
“Use what to your benefit?” Cillian asks, striding up and handing me a goblet of ale.
I don’t really want to share what happened with my cousin, especially considering I have no idea how to control my magic.
“Oh, nothing major,” I say, making a dismissive wave with my hand.
“Professor Julian was sharing some self-defense tips. He was one of my professors at Shadow’s Keep.
He’s traveled a long way to watch the tournament. ”
Professor Julian blinks a couple of times but nods in agreement.
“Another good reason not to die, cousin!” Cillian slaps me on the back, making me spill some of my ale. “Don’t want to let the old professor down.”
“Thank you, that’s quite comforting,” I say, swatting him on the shoulder.
We talk for another few minutes, the Professor fascinated to hear about how human royal houses operate differently than fae royal houses, and Cillian more than happy to regale him.
Eventually a bell is rung to announce the start of dinner, and everyone begins to travel through the food tent to pile their plates high.
It seems we are nearly last in line, so by the time we get food and make it to the dining tent, there are only a few seats left at the end of the table.
My grandparents are clear at the other end of the tent, and Toryn’s family is on that side as well.
I’ve just settled into my chair, sitting between Cillian and Professor Julian, when Daemon, and presumably his family, take the seats opposite us at the table.
“Daemon!” Professor Julian calls in greeting. “So many champions from Shadow’s Keep in the tournament… I am honored to teach such fine fae. And humans,” he adds swiftly, nodding his head toward me.
Daemon responds with a cordial greeting, but the man and woman sitting with him cast cold looks at Professor Julian, and they don’t so much as look in my direction.
The man is large and broad-shouldered, reminding me a bit of Commander Thornne, and the woman rather petite for a fae.
They both have white-blonde hair and pale skin, which stands out in stark contrast to the black they wear, and also in odd contrast to Daemon’s dark features.
They’re both adorned in so much jewelry they glitter in the light of the candles running down the center of the table.
Daemon flicks his gaze up to mine once, for the briefest of moments, his expression unreadable.
And then someone is clinking their fork against a goblet at the far end of the table. The head tournament councilwoman, who is sitting at the head. She stands.
“We are here to celebrate the conclusion of the first challenge of the Erys Lumena tournament,” she calls. “And also, to celebrate the victory of House Talavara, who are the winners of the first challenge.”
She raises her glass of wine. “To the victors!”
Everyone around the table lifts their glasses, some with more grace than others, who scowl and shoot foul gazes about the tent, like Toryn’s family. Daemon’s family also, who refuse to even lift their glasses at all. I wonder why they came if they weren’t going to participate?
“As a reminder,” the councilwoman continues, “It is strictly forbidden for challenges to be issued during the dinner. This is a safe sanctuary for all champions.”
She sits back down, and the buzz of conversation picks up again around the table.
“House Talavara,” Cillian says. “Now that’s interesting.”
“How so?” Julian asks, brows raised.
“Well, everyone here falls into two categories.” Cillian leans back in his chair and takes a sip of sparkling wine. “Those who are trying to keep the Queen on the throne, and those who are not.”
“So, you think some of the other houses are going to capitalize on the tournament and make a bid for the throne, even if they didn’t call the challenge?” I ask.
“Absolutely. At this point, anything goes. House Harkyn has placed their neck on the chopping block, but any of the other houses can step in now and take the prize.” Cillian’s gaze travels across the table to Daemon and his relatives, not bothering to keep his tone down.
I stiffen, but my cousin smiles lazily, a cat with a mouse.
Although this mouse may be a bit bigger than he bargained for.
“Humans are always on the chopping block,” the woman in black says with a cold smile.
“We are more than happy to sacrifice you for our own gains. It’s quite…
amusing that you thought you had any chance whatsoever in such a tournament.
I do hope you’ve made your final arrangements, champions.
” She sneers the last word, her gaze lingering on mine with a burn like ice.
“I think I speak for my cousin when I say that neither of us are out for glory, or to steal any thrones,” Cillian says, seemingly unperturbed. “Alas, we are but pawns in a greater game.”
“Why doesn’t it surprise me that the champions of House Harkyn have such lackluster goals or loyalty?” She shoots us a disdainful look. “You don’t even deserve death at the hands of a fae. If I had my way, none of you would even be allowed to participate in the tournament. It’s disgraceful.”
“Well, clearly you don’t have your way,” I say.
The fae woman’s eyes widen but I hold her gaze, looking her dead on. Next to her, I see Daemon tense up, a muscle in the corner of his jaw ticking.
“House Harkyn will not live to see the end of this tournament,” the woman hisses. “Your insolence in summoning the Court of Onyx here, in summoning all the fae houses here, in daring to think you can challenge the throne, it will not go unpunished.”
Court of Onyx? Was that where Daemon had grown up?
She rises from the table, throwing her cloth napkin down as if throwing a gauntlet, and strides off, out of the tent and into the night.
The older man shoots us a threatening look and follows.
Daemon’s eyes meet mine, and I feel like he’s trying to say something wordlessly, but it moves across his face too quickly to read.
Then, he, too, rises and walks off. I hesitate for several moments and then I get up and follow him.
“Um… cousin…” Cillian calls, but I ignore him.
I catch up to Daemon a few dozen paces beyond the tent. His family is nowhere to be seen, as if swallowed by the night. When I reach him, he turns and spins, and I have to stop quickly to keep from running into him. His face is a storm of emotion, and I almost regret my decision.
“You cannot be here,” he growls.
“I know we’re representing our houses, competing against each other, but that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me… you’re acting like we’re strangers,” I gasp.
“Aren’t we, though?” His green eyes burn into mine. “How much do you really know about me, Embyr? You don’t know anything about my life. About where I came from. About who I am.”
His words sting like the slash of a blade, and suddenly I’m not scared, or sad, I’m angry. “I know who you are, Daemon. I may not know about your past, but I know that you are not your family. You are not like those awful people.”
He steps closer to me, his chest brushing into mine, his face inches away. “Listen to me very carefully. We are enemies. We’re not at Shadow’s Keep anymore. Things are not the same. You need to understand that.”
“I don’t think you believe that,” I say, but my voice falters. Because his didn’t.
“Believe what you want. And remember… the dinner is a safe sanctuary for champions. Out here?” He waves his hands, gesturing at the open space, the darkness, all around us. “Out here, it is not.”
I blink, stunned by his threat, but he’s already turned and moving off into the darkness again. And then he, too, disappears into the night.