Chapter 11 #2
Ember jabbed him in the ribs as she shot him a pointed glare.
She thought back to the year before, how all three of them together hadn’t even been able to control the Cu Sidhe, and she winced as she thought about Odette alone out here at night with no protection.
“Why don’t you come with us?” Ember said with a smile.
Fen let out a groan, but Asteria only tilted her head, studying the white-haired girl like she was some sort of a puzzle.
“I think Erevan said—” Fen began, but Asteria cut him off.
“That sounds like a lovely idea.” She smiled.
Fen gaped at her, but wisely said nothing else. “How much further?” he asked instead.
“We’re here,” she whispered. In front of them was a large arch made entirely of trees. Had they been taking a stroll through the woods, they probably would’ve missed it if they didn’t know it was there. Ember squinted as she looked through it and turned her head to the left and the right.
“Where?” Fen asked, a little too loudly. “Is it a door or something?”
Asteria smirked as she walked up to the arch.
“Or something,” she replied cryptically.
She laid her hand against the bark and began mumbling under her breath.
She traced the tips of her fingers against the grains of wood, and glowing runes appeared as if she had written them with ink.
Ember furrowed her brow as she watched small wisps of magic fly off the runes and into the wind, clinging to the leaves and bark on the arch in front of them.
“What was that,” Ember whispered, as her eyes widened. The whole tree was glowing now, engulfed in the small wisps of magic that had come off the runes.
Fen furrowed his brow as he looked around. “What was what?” he asked hesitantly, as if something was going to leap out from behind a tree and carry him off into the darkness.
“The glowing,” Ember said, as she pointed toward the arch. “You didn’t see that?” She looked at Killian and Fen, who both shook their heads, staring at her as if she had spontaneously grown antlers and a tail. Odette only smirked, unseeing eyes staring toward the arch.
Asteria whipped her head around, and for a moment, Ember saw the spark in her eyes again. “What did you say?” she asked.
“The glowing from the runes you wrote on the tree,” Ember said, as she pointed toward where Asteria’s fingers had just been.
Killian was standing beside her again, back in his human form, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “What runes, Starshine?” he asked.
Ember pulled her shoulder out of his grasp and crossed her arms.
“You can see the runes?” Asteria asked, as she pointed to the tree behind her.
Ember nodded as she shifted her weight.
“Interesting.” The Fae smirked and seemed to glance toward Odette, then turned back toward the arch. “Follow me, we’re late.”
Ember chewed on her lip as she walked forward, hesitating with each step.
Asteria disappeared through the archway in front of them, and Fen and Killian walked behind Odette and Ember.
Odette seemed to take in a shuddering breath, like she was holding back tears as they made their way forward.
Ember held her own breath, feeling the magic of the ward they traveled through wash over her like cold water, leaving her skin feeling like it had satin rubbing against it.
Small wisps of bright blue clung to the fabric of her coat before disappearing in the breeze.
Ember decided to keep that to herself.
As they stepped through the ward, Ember gasped. She spun around and rubbed her eyes, certain that this had to be a dream. They weren’t in the forest anymore, not really. They had been transported to another land entirely.
“The first time is always a shock.” Asteria smirked as she tilted her head. “Welcome to Arcelia. Come now, Lord Erevan is waiting for us.”
Ember nodded as she swallowed, feeling like her eyes might bulge completely out of her head. Mrs. Kitt was going to kill all four of them if she ever found out about this.
They walked down a hill and into a city that resembled Aztec ruins.
The entire city sat at the top of three towering waterfalls, and Ember was mesmerized as she watched the blue crash into the jagged rocks at the bottom.
Maia took off into the sky, and Ember gasped as the draic flew away, spinning and diving through the air as she let out a loud roar that shook the trees around them.
“She’ll find her way back,” Odette whispered. How the girl saw Maia fly away, she was unsure.
They walked over a bridge and through a gate, presumably the entrance to the city, and picked up their pace as they followed Asteria down the glittering roads.
The streets were near silent, everyone presumably winding down for the evening while they spent time with their family and friends.
Young Fae played on the front stoops of their homes as their mothers tended to the gardens, something Ember had never seen anyone do at night.
The plants at their fingertips glowed, and small wisps of blue glowed around them.
Ember averted her eyes and focused on the road.
The moon lit the ground in front of them, and Ember thought it felt closer than it had before.
The wind pulled them down the path, toward a temple at the center of the city.
“This is eerie,” Fen whispered from Ember’s left, as he rubbed his arm.
The teenagers looked at each other, and Ember shuddered, taking a step closer to Killian without even realizing it.
They traveled up the gold steps of the temple, and Ember took slow breaths as she listened to her footsteps echoing through the trees surrounding the city.
Asteria shoved open a large set of wooden doors and ushered the group inside. “Quickly this way,” she ordered in a hushed tone.
They followed her through the temple, and Ember felt very small under the arches of the grand ceilings.
Asteria quickly ushered them through another set of doors and closed them behind her.
Ember wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t two beautiful Fae sitting on a couch in front of a fire.
The whole room emitted a warmth that Ember hadn’t felt in months, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up with a book in one of the plush chairs and read the rest of the night away.
She was quickly jolted back to reality when Asteria place a firm hand on her shoulder and pulled her further into the room.
“My Lord,” she said firmly, as she cleared her throat, “I’ve brought Ember Lothbrok and her—erm—friends as you requested.”
Lord Erevan turned toward the group and gracefully stood from the couch.
His dark green robe hung just above the ground, and Ember drew in a breath as he stood at his full height.
He was close to seven feet tall and all lean muscle.
His chiseled jaw twitched as he watched them all gape, the bronze in his skin almost glowing in the moonlight, and Ember could just make out the pointed ears poking out from his perfectly groomed brunette hair.
There was a woman to his right, who stood with him, her violet gown brushing the tops of her bare feet. Her golden hair hung in waves as she smiled warmly, and Ember couldn’t help but feel like she recognized that smile. Not just in Asteria, but from somewhere else.
The royals were both barefoot, casual in dress and in the way they greeted their visitors. Ember furrowed her brow. This was not what she expected from royalty, but she didn’t have much to go off, either.
Ember looked to her left, just in time to see Odette’s face pale and throat bob as the royals came into view. What she was seeing—or feeling—Ember wasn’t sure.
“Good evening, Your Majesties,” Odette said, as she curtsied.
Lord Erevan furrowed his brow but quickly blinked away the confusion written on his face “Welcome, Ember and friends,” he said, as he motioned for them to sit.
The group sat as close together as they could without being on top of each other, and Ember notice both Killian and Fen were sitting straight as boards, hands clenched tightly on their knees.
Odette flowed across the room, settling on a pillow on the floor as she crossed her legs over one another.
She relaxed her back on the front of the couch, leaning against Fen’s legs.
He grimaced as he visibly tried not to squirm away from the contact.
“You wanted to see us?” Ember asked quietly, as she looked back and forth from the royals to Asteria.
“We did,” he replied, gently patting the woman’s hand to his right as he smiled. “My name is Lord Erevan, and this is my wife, Lady Adalaena. I’m terribly sorry we haven’t made your acquaintance until now, and I do wish it were under better circumstances.”
Ember nodded as her stomach dropped, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up.
“It’s lovely to meet you,” Odette chimed in, like this midnight rendezvous in the Fae territory wasn’t abnormal in the slightest.
“I understand there have been children going missing on Ellesmere this summer,” Lord Erevan continued.
Ember nodded slowly and felt both boys stiffen beside her. Killian’s jaw twitched, and she could’ve sworn she heard him growl. She gently squeezed his knee and listened as he let out a breath.
“Yes,” Ember replied warily, glancing briefly back toward Asteria who currently had her feet propped up on the couch, catching grapes in her mouth as she threw them up into the air.
She wouldn’t willingly walk them into a trap.
She wouldn’t knowingly put them in danger.
Not the Fae that helped her last year, not the woman that made her tea on the weekends and listened to her go on about her class schedule. She couldn’t.
Right?
“And if I’m understanding correctly,” Lord Erevan continued, as he crossed one leg over his knee, “there are a few suspects, yes?”