Chapter 16
16
The Illusion trial arrived faster than I would have believed. It had been a full month since the Void trial, but time had passed so quickly it felt like a week.
The trial would be held during a ball that night. Lara pored over one of Selwyn’s riddle books as I pinned her hair into a braided crown. Her gown was gorgeous. The bodice was the color of spring grass and covered in delicate evergreen netting, and the plunging neckline was lined with alternating diamonds and pink silk rosebuds. The same netting was draped over the top half of her frothing skirts, the fabric gathered at intervals with more rosebuds. She looked like spring incarnate.
In contrast, I was wearing the same green dress I’d worn to the king’s murderous dinner. It was a functional garment, not one designed for beauty. For a moment I imagined wearing silk and jewels instead. It was an odd fancy, but now that I had access to cosmetics and dresses, I found myself appreciating them more. While once I had embraced my reputation for being half feral, my time at the Fae court had allowed me to sample a different way of being. It was far more appealing than I ever would have guessed.
The loss of Anya grew more distant with each passing day, but the pain of her absence was sharp in moments like these. I could imagine her teasing me for wanting to wear a fancy dress. “I thought dresses were for the unimaginative,” she’d crow, spitting my old words back in my face. “I thought you wore trousers to be original.” I would tug on her hair, and she’d laugh and tweak my nose and then challenge me to a race that she would, of course, win, being nearly a foot taller than me. Then she’d claim her victory prize—a detailed description of my dream dress, down to the last stitch.
Lara cocked her head and smiled into the mirror, and something in the movement reminded me of Anya, too. “I like it,” she said. She stood and smoothed out her skirts, then pressed a hand to her stomach and took as deep a breath as the bodice would allow. “Time to solve some riddles.”
Selwyn was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. “You look terrible,” he told Lara as she swept into the hall.
“Don’t be jealous of the adults, Sprout.” Sprout was the nickname she called him when Oriana wasn’t around. “Isn’t it already past your bedtime?”
He scowled. “I don’t know why you bother dressing up, anyway. Do you actually want to impress the king? Everyone knows—”
“Selwyn,” she said firmly as Oriana approached. “Thank you for complimenting my dress. Have a good night.”
As Selwyn stalked out, Lara shook her head. “Teenagers.”
The ballroom looked like pure magic. The mirrored ceiling, walls, and floor reflected color and light into infinity. Garlands of flowers hung from the ceiling, and gleaming marble statues stood at ten-foot intervals around the perimeter. Hundreds of faerie lights drifted above the crowd. The Noble Fae wore their finest attire: elaborate, glittering gowns and long, formal tunics slit high at the sides to reveal black trousers and polished boots. It was warm inside the crowded room, and the faeries kept themselves cool with bejeweled fans that matched their outfits. They fluttered like a cloud of butterflies.
Lara snapped open her lace fan and strode in confidently as I faded back into the group of servants. We weren’t positioned stiffly at the walls today. Instead, we would wait on our masters hand and foot, providing them with refreshment and repairing any rips in their attire caused by the dancing.
It was strange, wonderful dancing. Couples alternated between synchronized, elegant movements and pacing in intimate circles, one hand gracefully outstretched, the other nestled at their partner’s waist in a way our village Elder would have frowned at. Occasionally ladies partnered with other ladies while lords danced with lords—also something the Elder would have frowned at, but the Fae were open to love across gender boundaries. It was sensual in a way I hadn’t realized dancing could be, the promise of physical touch mixed with coy aloofness.
Lara danced with both ladies and lords, and I was surprised to realize not all of them were from Earth House. In fact, many of the couples twirling across the mirrored floor were from opposing houses. I asked Aidan about it on my way to fetch a glass of wine for Lara.
“Mingling between houses is a tradition during these dances,” he told me. “It’s not exactly forbidden at other times, so you do see cross-house friendships, but the dances are one of the only places where it’s actively encouraged. It’s good to remember we’re all citizens of Mistei.”
Drustan danced with an endless succession of beautiful ladies, his head tipped back in laughter more often than not. His copper hair was tied back, highlighting the strong planes of his face, and he looked gorgeous in a shimmering scarlet tunic accented with embroidered flames. I watched him, riveted by the athletic grace of his movements.
I averted my gaze when I realized Aidan had noticed me staring. It was no use, though.
“The Fire prince certainly draws the eye.” Aidan looked amused. “I’ve always wondered…does he burn as hot in the bedroom as he looks like he would?”
I flushed. “Stop talking nonsense.”
His smile expanded into a brilliant grin. “There’s no shame in looking, dear Kenna.”
I hurried away before he could tease me further.
I brought Lara several glasses of wine, alternating them with punch so she could retain her wits. I’d just started to wonder if the trial would happen at all when the music stopped. Silence fell as the king stood from a transparent glass throne at one end of the room.
He wore a blinding white tunic edged in violet, and diamonds glittered over each sleeve like frost on a frigid morning. “Welcome to the second trial,” he said.
I waited with bated breath, ready to leap into action to help Lara. Assuming I would be able to help. With so many curious eyes on the candidates, she might have to undertake this challenge alone.
“Your next test is one of cunning and intelligence. Each of you will find a bracelet around your wrist.”
Lara’s eyes widened in surprise as she beheld her new silver bracelet topped with a small purple box. The other candidates looked equally startled as they inspected their own.
“There are several clues for each candidate in this room. The bracelet is the first clue. Solve each one by midnight and follow the instructions they provide.” He clapped his hands and resumed his seat.
For a moment the ballroom remained still and silent, staring at the king. Was that it? Surely there were more instructions.
King Osric just smiled and gestured for a servant to bring him wine.
Well. At least I would be able to help Lara by looking for clues and potentially solving a few of the puzzles. I met her panicked gaze and nodded reassuringly.
The contestants scattered like leaves in the wind, scrambling to the edges of the room to investigate their bracelets as the dancing resumed.
I slid a hand into my pocket, wrapping it around a smooth piece of bark just smaller than my palm that would help us cheat in this trial. Lara and I needed to communicate somehow, but it would be dangerous to be seen passing notes or speaking too much. Princess Oriana had provided a solution in a matching pair of bark strips that were enchanted to share whatever messages were written on them. With Lara’s rudimentary Earth magic, she could inscribe messages on her bark, which I would then read on mine before slipping away to write my responses in pen. We would be able to communicate from across the room, and Lara wouldn’t even need to remove the bark from her pocket to send a message.
I waited until the wood warmed under my fingers, then stepped behind a statue and pulled it out.
Thin incised lines showed two views of a box with a hinge on one side and an ornate keyhole on the other. Each side contained a circle labeled with a letter— R , G , O , P , B , and W . Beneath the drawing she’d written:
It’s locked. Jewels on sides are house colors.
So the letters indicated red, green, orange, purple, black, and white. This was clearly some sort of puzzle box. I frowned and wrote suggestions below the diagram.
Press jewels.
Pull jewels off to see if key is behind.
I slid it into my pocket and watched as Lara surreptitiously pulled her bark out, hiding the motion behind her flicking fan. She returned it to her pocket and began fiddling with the bracelet.
My bark warmed. She had wiped both her previous message and my own away, and now new words appeared:
Purple clicked but box didn’t open.
I thought back to the diagram. The purple jewel was situated beneath the hinge, and the side with the keyhole was red. Why would it click but not open? Did she need to push the purple jewel while inserting a key on the red side? But if the box was the first clue, where would she even find a key?
The purple gem was clearly part of the solution, so I focused on that. Purple was the king’s color, representing Illusion. Many of his courtiers wore it tonight, and the servants wore purple-and-silver livery as well. Could one of them have a key?
Purple represented Illusion…
The answer hit me like a thunderbolt. Illusion magic proved that appearances could never be trusted.
There was no key.
I scribbled hastily:
Push purple and open from hinge side.
Lara tinkered with the box, then squealed in delight when it popped open. The hinge had actually been a handle, and the true hinge had been hidden in the elaborate keyhole. She pulled out a folded scrap of paper.
I meandered around the room, waiting for my pocket to warm. It wouldn’t do to lurk behind statues all night. Eventually I felt the glow of magic, and when I was finally able to look, I understood Lara’s consternated expression.
Petals fan out from buds
Roses blooming from green leaves
Behind the garden are secrets
Was there a garden somewhere in the ballroom? Flower garlands draped from the ceiling, but none of those contained roses. Maybe this was a snippet of a famous poem, in which case I had to agree with Lara’s assessment that old Fae poems were terrible. Had one of the dead kings grown flowers? Was there a faerie joke about roses?
I strolled the perimeter, studying the statues that lined the walls. They looked like luminaries from ages past, some with crowns or scepters, some in elaborately carved gowns. There were even a few Underfae depicted, which surprised me. It seemed long ago Mistei had been more egalitarian.
Eventually I completed my circuit of the room and had to accept that there were no flowers or gardens depicted on any of the statues.
Very well. Rose and green were also colors. I scanned the room for outfits that matched that color scheme, like Lara’s own gown, but there were far too many.
Perhaps the clue was less obvious and had to do with one of the other words. Petals, fan, buds, roses, blooming, green, leaves, behind, garden, secrets . If I eliminated anything having to do with nonexistent flowers or gardens, that left me with fan, behind, secrets . Secrets undoubtedly indicated the answer to the puzzle, which I would presumably find behind whatever object the poem pointed to. That left only fan .
Fan.
I studied the crowd again, searching for green and rose, but this time I focused on accessories, not gowns.
There. A dark-haired lady in a shimmering violet gown with a scalloped neckline. She stood alone at the edge of the dancing, watching the crowd and fanning herself lazily. The silk fan in her hand didn’t match her dress: it was spring green with pink roses clustered in the center.
I passed behind her on my way to the refreshment table and saw a line of writing along the edge of the fan, but couldn’t get close enough to read it without attracting attention.
I brought Lara a glass of wine. “Rose fan and Illusion dress,” I whispered, then curtsied and spoke more loudly. “Do you need anything else, my lady?”
Lara’s eyes roamed over the ballroom and found the Illusion faerie. “No, I have everything I need.”
A few minutes later, Lara casually meandered towards the lady. She bumped into her and apologized, then gestured appreciatively at the fan. The lady smiled and showed her the front and back, then slipped a piece of paper into Lara’s hand.
I watched the dancing while waiting for Lara’s next message. As always, my eyes were drawn to Drustan. He moved elegantly across the floor, the slits in his swaying tunic revealing flashes of leg. I slid an appreciative gaze over the muscular thighs revealed by his well-tailored trousers. If only his tunic was shorter so I could see the curve of his buttocks, too…
When I dragged my gaze back up to his face, I realized he was watching me. His lips were pressed together in suppressed mirth, and he raised one teasing eyebrow. I blushed wildly and looked away, mortified that I’d been caught ogling him.
Thankfully, the next message arrived then. I ducked into the washroom to read it.
Fan said Nidhug the Unlikely. He’s the 3rd statue from the end, the big one with the ugly crown, but I looked and nothing’s there. She also gave me another ridiculous poem.
The words on the bark vanished and were replaced with more.
When snow’s upon the green green grass
Earth sleeps alone but never dies
Beneath the icy winter blast
Seeds lie waiting to arise
But what if winter stayed, alas!
The season will not compromise
The frigid sleet, the lakes of glass
And where you kneel on once green grass
The king in ice will sit and sigh
That once a House existed nigh
But now the blooms are dead and lost
Even Earth must bow to frost
A shiver went down my spine at the ominous little poem. Was it some kind of warning? A promise that Earth’s time as a house was coming to an end? Lara gave a little shrug when I reentered the ballroom. Her face was tight with worry.
I couldn’t think what the clue meant. There was no grass in the ballroom, nor was there snow or frost, which meant this was a metaphor of some sort. I kept walking, scanning outfits and accessories for winter motifs and hoping the answer would come to me.
Perhaps she needed to look for something cold. The air was warm from the press of bodies, so I returned to the refreshment table. There was ice in the punch bowl, but nothing that looked like an answer to a riddle.
I met Aidan there. “How’s Edric doing?” I asked quietly.
Aidan winced. “Not well. Lara?”
“She solved two clues, but she says the next one is completely nonsensical.” I hesitated before deciding I might as well ask the next question. “Were there any kings of winter in Fae lore? Someone who controlled ice, maybe?”
He stared at me suspiciously. “Did she tell you what the clue was?”
I couldn’t tell him the truth. It was one thing for servants to share relevant information before the trials, but it was another thing entirely to admit to cheating during the test itself. “No, but when I brought her wine, she was muttering something about a winter king. I was curious if it was a clue.”
“Don’t ask anyone else that. You can’t be seen helping her or it’ll go very badly for both of you.”
“Of course.” I tried to look chastened. “It was foolish of me.”
Aidan clapped my shoulder sympathetically. “It’s hard to see them struggle, isn’t it?”
“I’m afraid for her.” And for me.
Aidan’s eyes danced with the faintest flicker of embers. “There are no kings of winter that I know of.” When I looked at him in surprise, he sighed. “We both know you were just going to keep poking around until you found an answer. So stop right there and let Lara figure it out herself.”
I smiled at him. “Of course. Thank you.”
Hours passed while I turned the poem over and over in my mind, wondering what I’d missed. The dancing continued unabated, the spins getting less elegant the more wine the Fae consumed. It would be midnight in less than an hour, and Lara and I were still stuck with two clues and no answers. The statue of Nidhug the Unlikely hadn’t yielded anything so far and seemed to have no relation to the poem at all, which meant there was at least one more clue to solve after we deciphered the poem.
I started silently listing words from the poem in case one of them would spark a thought. It had worked for the last clue, after all. Grass, winter, seeds, sleet, lake, glass, ice, Earth, frost. Two categories of words: Earth House imagery and winter imagery. Since Lara was from Earth House, were those words supposed to be about her? If so, what did winter represent?
I considered the verbs associated with Earth imagery. Sleeps, lie, arise, kneel, bow . Sleeping and lying were out of the question for this ball, but she could conceivably kneel, bow, or arise. Sleeps , lie , and arise belonged to the first part of the poem, which described a typical winter, and I had a feeling the answer lay in the second part of the poem and the unending winter that would destroy Earth. Was she supposed to kneel before the king in ice? Bow to frost?
King. Glass. Ice.
King Osric lounged on a glass throne, his attire as blindingly white as snow. Heart hammering, I drifted along the wall towards the throne until I was close enough to see the details of his clothing. The diamonds on his sleeves weren’t lined up evenly but organized in clusters. There was no mistaking the pattern.
Snowflakes.
Earth must bow to frost.
The answer made sense, given what I knew of the king. The poem was a subtle threat, a promise that one day Earth House would perish at Osric’s hand—something Drustan himself had warned me about. As for what Osric wanted Lara to do, I was sure he would be ecstatic to have Earth House’s heir kneel at his feet in supplication. He took any chance to humiliate Princess Oriana.
Lara was near tears when I brought her a fresh glass of wine. “I can’t figure it out.”
I hadn’t written my instructions down, knowing Lara would need convincing. “Kneel before the king,” I whispered.
“What?” Her eyes widened.
“I think it’s what the clue means. Kneel, and maybe he’ll give you a new clue. Or maybe there’s something on the floor.”
“That’s embarrassing,” she hissed.
“We have fifteen minutes left. It’s this or nothing.”
I left before she could argue further.
She approached the throne at last, jaw clenched and hands fisted in her skirts. The conversation around her died, replaced by curious stares.
King Osric looked at her as if she were an insect. “Yes?”
Lara swept her skirts out and sank into a low curtsy that transitioned elegantly into her kneeling before him. Murmurs rose at the gesture of obeisance. “My king.” She looked up at him with remarkable aplomb. “I would like to thank you for this marvelous ball, and to remind you of my utter fealty to you.”
King Osric’s laugh echoed around the room, silencing all other conversation. “A lady of Earth on her knees—what a delight. Your mother should learn such charming manners.” He glanced triumphantly at Oriana, but the Earth princess knew how to control her emotions and seemed utterly disinterested in the proceedings. Osric returned his attention to Lara. “Rise. Your gesture finds favor tonight.”
Lara rose and curtsied again before backing away from the throne. Her cheeks were flushed more deeply than usual as she approached me. “I tore my hem,” she said loudly, then whispered, “It was there.”
I knelt before her and pretended to fuss with her skirt. “What?”
“There was writing on the back of the throne. I could see it through the glass. Stand beside gold. ”
It was reckless to talk directly, but we were running out of time and no one was close enough to listen in.
“What does that mean?” And what did it have to do with Nidhug the Unlikely, our other clue with no resolution?
“I think I need to be standing somewhere at midnight.”
“Is anyone wearing a gold tunic? Or maybe it’s another one of the statues—is anyone in Fae history known for being golden?”
Lara shook her head helplessly. “I don’t know my history that well.”
I rose. “Let’s look for anything that might fit that description.”
I moved through the crowd, searching for anything golden. Unfortunately, many of the Fae wore gold, either as the main color of their garments or as accents. Lara examined the statues on the other side of the room, searching the plaques at their feet for a relevant name.
We had mere minutes left. A few of the other candidates were also hurrying around frantically, which was a relief, at least. But where were the rest of them?
I noticed a still spot in the middle of the dancing. It was Garrick, looking relaxed as he spoke with a beautiful lady. He didn’t move, despite the couples spinning around him. Una stood twenty feet from him, craning her neck as if examining the decorations on the ceiling. A few other candidates stood throughout the room, some examining statues, some chatting casually in the middle of the floor. The dancers moved around them as if they weren’t there. No wonder I hadn’t seen them before; they’d been hidden by the whirl of skirts.
They were all lined up precisely with various statues along the wall.
I retreated behind a statue and scribbled on the bark.
I think you have to stand in line with two statues . Nidhug is one .
The answer came back quickly.
We need to find a statue that relates to gold.
Lara hurried towards Nidhug, and when I looked at the clock I realized why. There was only a minute left. She wouldn’t be able to investigate the other statues and make it back to her position in time. She looked at me pleadingly.
Something gold, something gold…
If Nidhug was one position marker, the other needed to be on an adjoining wall. The back wall didn’t contain anything gold, only more marble statues.
Then I saw it. A statue of an asrai writing in a ledger. Piles of carved marble coins were heaped around her feet. Unable to shout the position to Lara or write on the bark in full view of the ballroom, I walked towards the statue, jerking my head for her to follow. A bell began chiming midnight. If Lara wasn’t there by the time the last stroke rang…
I stopped exactly in line with both Nidhug and the statue of the faerie counting her gold. The final stroke chimed just as Lara reached my side. As the sound faded, we were bathed in illumination. A cluster of faerie lights had congregated above, leaving most of the room in darkness.
I darted away, leaving Lara standing alone. Around the room, other faerie lights marked the positions of candidates who had successfully solved their puzzles. Only three had not: Talfryn, Karissa, and Edric.
Aidan looked devastated when I reached his side. “He can’t fail,” the sprite said.
Impulsively, I gripped his gray hand and squeezed it. He squeezed back, but his eyes were fixed on Edric’s dejected face.
King Osric rose. “Congratulations to the six who completed the challenge. Each candidate needed to stand in a specific place at midnight. One clue told them their first position marker: a single statue in the ballroom. The other clues directed them to take certain actions that would lead them to the final clue.” He grinned wickedly at the crowd. “Some actions were delivering wine to someone or dancing with a stranger.” Or kneeling on the floor , he didn’t say. I resented him all the more for revealing how innocuous the other actions had been in comparison. “The final clue led them to another position marker. Both together would reveal the exact place a candidate needed to stand.”
The assembled faeries applauded politely.
“Now dance. Drink. Celebrate. The second trial has concluded.”
Aidan was still gripping my hand when the music resumed.
“Edric can still pass,” I said. “One trial isn’t enough to stop him.”
He swallowed. “I know. But if he died, I…” He shook his head.
I was touched by the depth of feeling on his face. “I’ll help you however I can. We know a little about what Light House will expect. Which test is after that?”
“Fire. He should do fine on that one.” He shrugged apologetically at my quizzical look. “I can’t tell you anything about that one or it will ruin the test. Just know that Lara doesn’t need to prepare and it won’t be unpleasant.”
Void, Illusion, Light, Fire…“Then it’s just Earth and Blood, right? I don’t know what the Earth test is yet, but I’ll let you know if I learn anything. Who oversees the Blood trial?”
“I don’t know.” He grimaced. “The Blood trial worries me most of all. The magic can run the trial without a house head, but that means there’s no gossip to collect about what’s going to happen.”
“Can we ask anyone what sort of test Blood House would have favored?”
His ash-gray skin paled. “Absolutely not. We’re already skirting the edge of propriety by mentioning the house at all, even if it’s just related to the trial. The only ones who speak of them anymore are the Nasties, which should tell you everything you need to know about their reputation.”
I watched the dancing while I considered what he’d said. If no one would speak about the house except for the Nasties…
I shivered. There was only one choice.