Chapter 11 #2
I hurried to catch up to him, and he led me down two more hallways before we came to the staircase. Once again, I was slapped in the face by the amount of white and light in the room, and yet equally confused by the light being devoured by shadows.
I was just about to ask Nico about it when he abruptly turned at the bottom of the stairs and entered through a large door.
Even if I had wanted to, I couldn’t contain my gasp as I followed him into the so-called Hall of Feasts.
The ceilings towered above us, arched like a gothic cathedral, and every clomp of my too-big boots—the ones Nico had said were the only ones he could find but were blessedly free of holes unlike my farm boots—on the white marble floor echoed endlessly.
Humongous paintings hung along the wall, each of a different person.
They all had pointed ears like Rhydian. I assumed they must have been the different rulers that had lived in this castle at one point or another based on their regal attire.
I couldn’t help but notice the last one on the end had the face burned beyond recognition, as if whoever did it couldn’t bear to look at the portrait any longer.
I wanted to ask who it was and why it was destroyed, but one glance at Rhydian’s tense body language as he entered the room behind me and my lips sealed shut. It didn’t matter anyway, not if it didn’t give me a way to get home.
Which, unless the portrait was somehow a magic portal like the one that had brought me to Eroth, it wouldn’t.
Turning my attention back to the room, Nico was at the far end of the longest table I’d ever seen.
It easily could have fit fifty people, and yet the size of the room still made it look small.
Rhydian picked up the pace and sauntered to the end and took a seat, Nico on his right.
Several platters of food sat in front of them, and they wasted no time digging in.
I, on the other hand, still stood at the other end of the table, feet glued to the floor.
When I didn’t move, Nico looked up, his head cocked to the side. “Aren’t you hungry?”
Rhydian didn’t look up as he remarked, “She’s afraid the food is poisoned.”
Alarm bells rang in my mind as I narrowed my eyes at Rhydian. How did he know that?
Nico’s face fell. He looked…hurt. “I made it all myself, Maren. I promise I didn’t poison anything.
” He made the food? As much as I didn’t trust either of them, I felt slightly better knowing he had done this rather than Rhydian.
Though, with some of the things my brother had made, maybe that shouldn’t have been as reassuring as it was.
To prove his point, Nico quickly took a bite of one thing on each platter and then stared at me.
Tentatively, I took a seat, keeping three full chairs between Rhydian and me.
Not that it would have stopped him from hurting me if he wanted to.
A growl of my stomach roared embarrassingly loud, but still, I didn’t touch anything.
The platters in front of me were full of food, and it all appeared relatively normal, much to my surprise, though most of it was strange versions of leafy greens, vegetables, and weirdly shaped breads that I’d never seen before.
Before I could stop myself, I asked, “No meat?”
It wasn’t that I had anything against vegetables. It was just that I liked meat.
Rhydian snorted but didn’t deign to answer me.
It was Nico that eventually spoke up in a quiet, sad voice. “There are no animals left.”
Rhydian’s head snapped toward him, silencing him with a look.
“No animals? What, did you hunt them all to extinction?” I couldn’t hold back the disgust in my own voice, nor could I stop my eyes from shooting daggers at him.
Rhydian’s face was hard as stone. “On the contrary, we treat all life within Eroth with respect. The animals have all left.”
I blinked at both his sentiment that as a killer he’d treat anything with respect and the little nugget of information he’d dropped too.
“Left? Not died?” I asked.
“The people too,” Nico added.
At my confused look, Rhydian gave an exasperated sigh and set his silverware down. “Yes, the animals and Fae that once inhabited these lands have all left.”
“But…why?”
Nico’s face lit up, eager to answer. “Because—”
“Nico,” Rhydian said, glaring at the boy. Nico immediately quieted, his face falling.
“In case you didn’t notice when you stepped through the portal, Eroth has become a veritable wasteland. Nothing survives here anymore,” Rhydian said, turning those gold-ringed eyes back on me. “We’re the only ones here, and that’s all you need to know.”
When Nico didn’t keel over dead from poisoned food, and my hunger grew unbearable, I finally relented, picking up a green leaf that looked like spinach but tasted like dirt. I thought through his words as I chewed.
“If nothing survives, where did this food come from?”
“I use a portal to briefly travel to the border of the other kingdoms to get food—”
“Nico,” Rhydian cut him off.
My stomach twisted at the boy being shut down again. It reminded me too much of my own brother being forced to cower and be quiet. “Let him speak,” I replied.
“It’s better if he doesn’t.”
“Why are you so against me learning anything about this world?” I demanded.
“The less you know, the better off you are.”
“You said I’m going to die here.”
Rhydian said nothing.
“Then you might as well tell me everything. I’m already not safe. Right?”
Nico’s gaze bounced back and forth between us, looking like he desperately wanted to intervene, but he kept his lips tightly sealed. What would Rhydian do to the boy if he were to speak up? Could I get him to talk when we were alone?
Rhydian gave an exasperated shake of his head and went back to eating, and I fought the urge to scream.
“There’s no one else here?” I tried to hide the desperation in my voice, the way my hope that someone else would help me escape was dying in that moment.
Rhydian’s lips twisted into a hideous smirk—if anything on his frustratingly beautiful face could ever be considered hideous.
“No one. So you can forget about your little plan to find someone to help you get back home. You won’t find a soul.”
How does he know? How does he know what my plan was?
His remarks about knowing what my other kidnapper had been thinking when he was dragging me down the street flitted through my mind. I hadn’t really thought anything of the comment, just thought it was something he’d guessed about the man, but maybe I had been wrong.
Could this man—Dark Fae, whatever—somehow read my thoughts?
My eyes snapped to him, and that smirk widened into a sarcastic smile.
I swallowed hard, unable to bring myself to ask. That smile said enough already.
How was I ever going to get home now?
Anxiety curdled in my stomach, turning the gross leaves I’d eaten into ash that burned the back of my throat.
Silence fell among the three of us, Rhydian seemingly happy to have rendered me speechless for the time being, Nico focusing on his plate as if his life depended on it.
I nibbled on a vegetable that looked like a carrot but tasted like a pear, trying not to think about anything at all.
If my thoughts weren’t safe around Rhydian, I’d have to be careful not to think about escaping this place.
Rhydian let out an annoyed sigh. “I can’t read your thoughts, Maren.”
“Then how—”
“My magic gives me the ability to feel the emotions surrounding a person. It’s easy to guess a person’s thoughts once I decipher their feelings. So relax.”
I scowled, though I was secretly elated that he’d finally explained something. “Don’t you know you’re never supposed to tell a woman to relax?”
He gave me an unamused look. “Relax, Maren.”
Nico sniggered, pressing his lips together.
Deep breaths, Maren. Don’t let him rile you. He’s being irritating on purpose.
I shoved my plate away, taking a sip of the drink Nico had poured for me. It was sweet like honey, tasting of blackberries and lemon. “So if everyone has left, why haven’t you two?”
Rhydian paused, the fork slipping from his fingers before he deftly caught it.
“This is my kingdom. Why would I need to leave?” he finally answered. Nico’s gaze flicked to Rhydian before settling on the plate before him. Clearly I’d get no response from him.
Anyone else might have been fooled by that answer, but I knew deflection when I heard it.
“I don’t know. Don’t you meet with the other kingdoms occasionally?” That seemed like a logical question, right?
“Why would I do that?” A crease formed between Rhydian’s brows, genuinely confused.
“To make the world a better place?” It came out as a question rather than a statement. Something about the arrogant look on his face had me second-guessing everything I was saying and thinking.
“My world is dying,” he snapped. “There’s nothing to make better. No point of meeting with the other heirs even if I could leave Eroth.”
His eyes widened, and he bit his lip as if he let something slip that he hadn’t meant to.
If he could leave Eroth? Does that mean he can’t?
I opened my mouth to ask, but he shut me down instantly.
“This isn’t your world. The sooner you learn and accept that, the better. That’s enough questions for one day. You’re giving me a headache. Eat your food and Nico will take you back to your chambers when you’re finished.”
He downed the rest of his goblet and stood, the chair scraping behind him before he stalked out and disappeared through the doorway.
I looked at Nico, who was avoiding my gaze.
“He has quite the temper,” I commented, taking another sip of my drink.
Nico gave a snort, looking like he wanted to say more, but he kept whatever he was thinking to himself.
A few more minutes passed in a tense silence, and when I couldn’t take it anymore, I shoved my plate away and declared, “I’m finished.”
Nico’s head snapped up mid-bite. “All right, I’m almost—”
“Don’t bother,” I interrupted. “I know the way back.” That was a lie, but he didn’t need to know that. Maybe I could use the excuse of walking back to poke around, see if Rhydian was telling the truth about them being the only ones here.
Before Nico could object or stop me, I left the Hall of Feasts.
I was going to find answers whether Rhydian liked it or not.