Chapter 10
Solaris had been serious about getting a bath first thing.
He literally bee-lined up a flight of stairs and all the way down a long hall to the back of the keep for an enormous bedroom.
I was looking around in awe at the opulence of the room—it was sometimes easy to forget he was a prince—while he practically ran into the bathroom.
When I heard water running, I realized it was my first time experiencing indoor plumbing.
I leaned in the doorway and crossed my arms. “Tell me indoor plumbing isn’t reserved for the rich.”
He paused in removing his shirt. “It isn’t.”
“Then why is this the first I’m seeing it?”
“We were staying in rather small villages?” He shrugged.
“Small equals poor and primitive?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’ll ask the Utilities Minister to add the installation of indoor plumbing in all villages to her agenda.”
Yeah, okay, I was maybe picking a fight where there didn’t need to be one. Zalman had once said I did that when I didn’t feel like I was on solid ground.
I got undressed, too. A nice bath sounded like a good idea, and if we did it together, I’d feel better about using so much water.
Solaris got into one end of the tub, and I got into the other.
The porcelain basin wasn’t big enough that we didn’t touch, so I took a moment to rearrange our legs to fit a little more comfortably.
Absently, I stroked his shin and the feathers that seemed to be growing up from his feet.
He was definitely getting a lot more colorful lately.
“I’m truly not in the mood.” He stared at me, and it felt like a challenge. Did he think I was going to push the issue?
“We can touch without it leading to sex.” I left my hand on his shin, meaning what I said, and closed my eyes. “Just relax.”
After a minute or so, I heard him sigh. I gave him a little while longer before I opened my eyes to say, “Can I ask about the feathers popping up all over you?”
He nodded and lifted an arm out of the water, twisting it this way and that as he looked himself over. “I used to be covered in them.”
“Really? Like head to toe?”
He nodded, seeming wary of telling me.
“Like everywhere?” I pointedly looked at the water obscuring his groin.
“No, not there,” he drawled like I was being childish. “The palms of my hands, bottoms of my feet, and there were always bare skin, just not…this shade.” He frowned at his boring white-guy hand.
I felt a little giddy as I asked, “What color?”
“Blue.”
Yeah, I chuckled like a kid. He rolled his eyes.
“So is this you recovering?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps. Everything started fading about two years ago. I thought it might’ve been due to stress. I was told to relax.”
Well, that explained why he’d shirked his duties. If a little relaxation was good, why wouldn’t completely avoiding everything stressful be even better? He’d probably still been stressed out, but he’d buried it down deep over the last two years.
“Maybe I’ll stick around and distract you when things get too heavy,” I said. “Then you won’t get stressed and run away.”
“I didn’t—” He cut himself off and got rid of the frown on his face. “Fine.”
“At this point,” I said with a smile, “you have to know I’d just track you down and bring you back.”
A hint of a smile tugged at his lips. “Tie me up and have your wicked way with me?”
“I’ll do what I gotta do.”
He huffed a laugh and shook his head. The Solaris of a few days ago wouldn’t have been so easy to calm and accept. He really was changing for the better.
After that, we got to work actually bathing ourselves. It was so nice to finally wash my hair and feel truly clean from top to bottom for the first time in days. A little part of me still felt guilty for using so much water, but oh, how I’d needed that.
In raiding his closet for something to wear, I realized that the Peter Pan outfits he and the boys had worn were like a royal’s version of super casual peasant wear.
His normal clothing consisted of poofy-sleeved shirts, vests, something that I bet was called pantaloons, and knee-high hose.
And though I was thicker than him, that only meant his clothes were slightly less poofy on me.
According to him, I was still within the standards of fashion.
Thank goodness. I’d been so worried.
The shoes, though, those fuckers had heels. I didn’t want to even attempt them, but how could I wear hiking boots with the rest of this fancy outfit? The shoes were a little tight, and I might break an ankle eventually, but I managed to get across the room in one piece a couple times.
“I’ll have them make you several pairs in your own size,” Solaris said as he opened the door for us to leave.
I carefully tottered over to him. “Maybe if they could make them without heels?”
He just smiled at me. I had a feeling that was a no. He was going to dress his man even if—
Was that what I was now? Were we just going to be boyfriends? I wasn’t fae, wasn’t royal, and, well, wasn’t going anywhere. He’d walked me by everyone like I was his and that was the end of it. But neither of us had said anything. Did I need to ask?
And then I watched Solaris walk down the hallway in front of me and realized what those heels were doing to his calves and ass. Up and tight. Damn. Maybe heels weren’t a bad thing.
I’d think about the rest later.
An older woman with an extremely tight bun on top of her head and who wore… Well, she kind of looked like a nun without the hat part of the outfit. She stood with her back to the staircase, and I got the feeling anyone who wanted to come down this hall was going to have to fight her first.
“Your Highness,” she said once we got close. “Rumor has spread that your human companion arrived via a fairy ring. The council of spellworkers has assembled and wishes to learn more, if that’s acceptable.”
Solaris looked back at me with a tired expression.
I shrugged. “Might as well get it over with now.”
“I suppose,” he said before gesturing to the woman to lead the way.
And oh, the stairs. I was not prepared to feel like I was walking a tightrope the second I set foot on the stairs. I tripped down two of them before I managed to regain my balance.
“Railing!” the woman hollered and pointed.
“Yes, ma’am.” I carefully slid along the step until I could grasp the railing.
Solaris was trying not to laugh—and failing—as he practically skipped down the stairs like he’d been born in heels. Four days later and under the watchful eye of that woman, I joined him at the bottom of the staircase.
“That just won’t do,” she said with a shake of her head.
“I agree. Tell him I need shoes with no heels.”
“Your Highness—”
“Oh, come now, Magda! He’ll get used to them.” Solaris waved like he was dismissing us. “Now where are we going?”
“The formal parlor, Your Highness.”
I tiptoed past Magda and whispered, “Please get me a hammer so I can whack these heels off.”
She giggled before she cleared her throat and gave me a glare like she, too, now knew I was going to be a problem.
“Wallace!” Solaris exclaimed from down a hall to the right. “I’m not going in here alone.”
“Yes, dear…” I mumbled before hurrying after him. I could’ve sworn I heard Magda giggle again.
Into the formal parlor we went, and the six people inside popped up out of their chairs and bowed. They looked… Yeah, they looked like folks heading to a ComicCon cosplaying as wizards. Each one wore robes in earth tones with matching pointy hats and curly-toed shoes—that did not have heels.
I pointed at their feet with my eyebrows raised, and Solaris rolled his eyes.
We were encouraged onto a couch, and the questions started before I’d fully sat down.
“What is your name and astrological sign, sir?”
“Wallace Michael Crowne. Capricorn.”
They were clumped together in front of us and now whispered amongst themselves. I wasn’t sure they were speaking English and couldn’t imagine why that information had caused so much discussion.
“Do you recall what the ring looked like prior to entering it?”
“Um, yeah, there were dark gray vesicular basalt in a rectangular shape with purple and white flowers growing in between them. I thought maybe they were rue-anemone, but they were the wrong color and too late in the year for them.”
More whispering, and then, “Could you define vesicular basalt?”
“Oh, it’s a volcanic rock that’s pitted with a lot of tiny cavities from trapped air as it cooled.” I knew a lot of mostly useless information and had been very into geology as a kid.
So much more whispering until one of them asked, “Was the ring the same when you arrived?”
“There was no ring,” I said on a chuckle. “I was falling from the sky.”
One of them literally squawked, and all of them looked shocked. Should I have arrived inside another ring?
A man recovered and asked, “How far up were you when you began to fall?”
I blinked at him for a second because the distance hadn’t even occurred to me as I hurtled toward the ground. “I’m not sure,” I said politely, “but I hit His Highness pretty soon after arriving.”
They whispered amongst themselves again. I was waiting for one of them to ask—
“Your Highness, do you recall your height at the time of impact?”
Solaris side-eyed me. I smiled encouragingly.
After a moment, he stood up and fluttered his way up over our heads. Thankfully, the room we were in had enormous vaulted ceilings so he had room to get up near the top and confirm that was about the height of his flight.
Damn, we’d been so close to the ground and yet not nearly close enough. If he hadn’t caught me and controlled most of our decent, I’d be a splat on that brittle grass way out there in the middle of nowhere.
I squinted at him as he came back down. Were his wings bigger than they had been?
They seemed…fuller maybe? Scalloped edges, larger sections of color, and I couldn’t remember those bottom ones having that drippy-looking part.
Were they changing along with the amount of tiny feathers taking over his skin?
Solaris retook his seat as the spellworkers whispered again. I reached over and squeezed his hand in thanks for saving me. He gave me a grin and squeezed back.
When I glanced at the spellworkers, I realized every single person was staring at me. Us. Our clasped hands?
“Are you two involved?” one of them said. I wasn’t sure if it was with alarm or just surprise.
“Pardon?” Solaris asked in a tone I was going to call prissy prince. Now that we were here, and he was all up in his royalty, he could make these people wet themselves with that tone and one word. I was seeing it happen live.
The woman who’d asked the question gulped and curtsied until she was practically folded up on the floor. “Forgive me, Your Highness! I meant to convey my delight at your new romance.”
Uh-huh. Solaris didn’t look like he believed her any more than I did. I wanted to ask if our relationship was adding to the changes he was making with himself, but I wasn’t sure that was any of their business.
“Why don’t we take a break?” I said before anyone else could do more than open their mouths. I looked to Solaris. “Can you show me more of the castle?”
He nodded and stood, still holding my hand, before leading us into the hallway. When he stopped, he took a deep breath and sighed it out. I was glad I’d asked for a break.
“What would you like to see?” He gave me a tired smile.
Since he was asking… “What I’d really like to see is the barrier. How long would it take us to get to one?”
He walked to a window and pointed. “It’s just there.”
I joined him at the window and… Okay, yeah, that was a barrier.
It looked like a massive smooth pane of glass stretching as far as I could see in every direction.
Clouds were on the other side and it seemed to be raining over there, but no clouds or rain were on this side.
What a horrible tease. Five minutes of rain would make such a difference here.
“Can we get closer?”
“Of course.”