Chapter 33
" W ylen!" I shouted, pure fear pumping through my veins. I struggled and tried to pull away from the guard, but the firm grip on my arms didn’t budge.
Not even when I slumped over and let him have all my body weight.
He simply grunted, shifted his hold, and continued to drag me through the gates leading to the castle.
“Wylen!” I screamed again, trying to see where they were taking him.
But I only caught a glimpse of his blond hair as they escorted him away from the castle and back through the village.
It looked like he was fighting them, and my fear intensified.
“No,” I whispered, wondering how I’d ever thought this would be an easy trip.
I couldn’t do this without Wylen. And I also couldn’t bear the thought that my presence here caused him any harm.
The queen was in front of us, but when she turned and took the path on the right to where I guessed the castle entrance was, I got dragged off to the left around the side of the massive structure.
Only three guards came with me—the one with the grip made of steel and two more following closely behind.
Perhaps I should have been proud that they thought it would take three of them to subdue me.
However, the rest of the soldiers went with Wylen, which also said a lot about who they thought the real threat was .
“Where are you taking me?” I asked through gritted teeth, still letting my feet drag against the gravel pathway to make it harder for the guard.
Of course, I didn’t get an answer.
And Wylen warned me not to use my power.
There wasn’t much more I could do.
The guard pulled me around the corner and pushed open a large, wooden door carved into the stone boulders making up the foundation of the castle.
The first guard held the door open while the one holding me shoved me forward.
I stumbled, nearly falling into the guard standing right inside.
The space was quite small, and I tried to adjust my vision to the darkness.
There was only a circular stone stairway in front of me.
Tall walls and a stairway leading to somewhere high.
“No,” I whispered to myself, rubbing my arms where the guard had squeezed too tightly. “I’m not going up there!”
“You are.” It was the third guard, the one who had followed along behind us. They all looked to be similar in size and stature, yet when he spoke, the command in his voice dominated the space. Something inside of me stopped to listen to him—an instinct out of my control.
I did not like this feeling.
“Up,” he commanded.
I shook my head, and I swear I saw his shoulders sag a little. “You walk on your own or we drag you.”
Fine.
My body shook, but I wasn’t sure if it was from fear or from whatever force emanated from this man’s body when he talked.
Was that a fae thing? Could he force control onto anyone with fae blood?
I glared at him one more time, only to meet a dark, steely gaze that held my stare.
He motioned for me to start walking up the stairs, and I gave in.
I wasn’t escaping from this tower, so I felt it best to see what my options were, wherever these steps would lead.
I braced my hands along the circular stone wall and started to climb.
Every ten steps or so, there was a small hole in the wall letting in the light from outside.
It was the only light I had to see where I was going.
And because of that, it was hard to tell how many stairs I climbed until we finally reached the top.
It was enough to make my muscles burn, and I knew it would be way too high to jump.
There was no door, just an entry to a long hallway that I suspected followed the length of the castle on one side.
I swear I heard water dripping or even running through the walls somewhere.
The musty, damp air supported my suspicions, and then I remembered that it had looked like this castle was built into the side of a mountain.
So, I suppose it would be possible for there to be a waterfall somewhere.
I stood just a few steps back from the stairway and let the first two guards pass me. The intense one stood on the last step, waiting for me to follow the others. I let out a huff and gave him another glare. “You know, you could just ask nicely,” I grumbled.
“I do not like speaking your language,” he said with an attitude that almost had me snapping back at him. Almost. I guess I still had a bit of that self-preservation holding me back.
I shuffled along after the guards, the dark and cranky one following closely behind.
There were no windows, and the only light came from the burning torches hanging every few feet along the hallway.
It was narrow, making it hard for even two of these massive guards to walk side by side.
I looked behind me only to see guard three filling the entire space himself.
He raised a brow, questioning my intentions.
I quickly turned back around and started counting the torches again.
So far, we’d passed ten since the stairs.
Ten torches on the left and only two locked doors on the right.
I was just about to ask where they were taking me when we stopped, and the first guard removed a ring of keys from his belt.
He slowly found the large, metal key he wanted and unlocked door number three.
The sound of it creaking open echoed through the empty hallway, but I sucked in a breath when I saw daylight shining through from the room beyond.
Daylight meant a window.
But my hope was quickly dashed when I was pushed inside and noticed that there were bars on the opening, and there was no way I could squeeze through them.
The room itself was about as big as my apartment, and despite the appearance of being locked in a cage, the accommodations seemed less like a prison and more like a guest suite.
The first guard walked over to the window and peered outside. He looked down at something and then nodded to the guard still standing behind me. “You will stay here until the queen is ready for you.”
His deep timbre reverberated inside of me, and again, I wondered if he had some secret fae power like mine. Persuasion? Compulsion? Or just straight up fear? I did my best to ignore the effects of his command.
“I can’t be trapped in here for two days.”
“You will stay,” he ordered again. “Pernilla will tend to your needs.”
“My needs?” Had I said that out loud? Yes, I had.
All three guards shared a look and then departed the room. When the door slammed shut and the lock clicked back in place, I ran over to the window. It was a large opening that overlooked a courtyard…at least eight stories down. A jump from here would mean death, or a very painful life.
“Dammit,” I muttered. “Where is Wylen?”
I looked across the courtyard to an identical wing of the castle.
Only on that side, there were small balconies instead of barred windows.
Curtains made of silk danced in the breeze, and each balcony had a set of chairs and a small table like the fancy hotels back in the Sevenoaks District near the capital.
So, that side of the castle must be for the queen’s honored guests, where I was on the side where they shoved those of us not so honorable.
Was Wylen over there? This was his homeland. Would the queen really lock him up like a prisoner? He did fight the guards, but still…she seemed to have a fondness for him. And Wylen was a prince. A fucking Price of the Fae. Surely, he would be safe.
He had to be.
A slight knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts, and I stood by my window as someone fiddled with my lock. It took a moment, but then the door pushed open, and a very tiny woman, barely five feet tall, hustled inside.
“Oh, I am so sorry,” she said, quickly shutting the door behind her.
Her short, red curly hair barely reached her shoulders.
She wore a full dress with sleeves and a corset, reminding me of the clothing humans had worn centuries ago.
She balanced a tray full of dishes in her left hand as she relocked the door with her right.
When she noticed me watching her, she gave me a shrug.
“Sorry for that, too. But I’ve been instructed not to let you wander the grounds. ”
She had an accent, yet she spoke my language with ease.
It didn’t seem to be beneath her, in contrast to my guards.
I continued to stare at her as she flitted about, first setting the tray on a small wooden table in the corner and then pulling back the curtains that surrounded a full bed I’d been too preoccupied to notice.
She fluffed the pillows and shook out the extra blanket on the foot of the bed, refolding it exactly how it was.
How had I missed the bed?
The small woman then disappeared through a door on the far side of the room, again, one I hadn’t noticed, and came back out to survey everything again. “Your bathing chamber is ready. I will bring you hot water for the bath tomorrow night before the Vernissary Ball.”
“Who are you?” I asked when she stared at me like I was supposed to say something.
She spoke in her own language, shaking her head like she’d made a mistake. Wiping her hands on her skirt, she marched toward me and gave a small curtsey. “I am Pernilla.”
I extended my hand, and she looked down at it with pinched brows and pursed lips. Do they not shake hands here? I lowered my arm and gave her a little curtsey, thinking maybe that was the proper way. “I’m Sosie.”
“Nice to meet you.” Pernilla bobbed on her toes like she wanted to say something else. “I’ve never met a halfling before. They tell me you are from Talamnach. What is it like there? I’ve read everything about The Forgotten Lands that I could. I want to visit someday.”
The Forgotten Lands? I wondered if she misinterpreted the translation or if Wylen had lied to me and Tris about what Talamnach really meant.
I filed that away for later because Pernilla’s excitement caught me off guard.
I smiled down at her. She looked to be similar in age to me, but considering she was a fae, perhaps she was hundreds of years old.
I thought it might be rude to ask. So, instead, I changed the subject. “Am I a prisoner?”
Pernilla’s mouth opened and closed several times as though deciding exactly how to answer that. “You are a guest of the queen,” she finally said.
“A guest locked in a room.”
Pernilla scrunched up her face. “My queen can be…very skeptical of visitors. There have been instances where…” She looked up at me, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Oh, that is not for me to talk about.”
“So, I am to stay in this room until tomorrow night?”
Pernilla nodded. “Yes, but I will bring you food and clothing and anything else you need.”
“Can you bring me Wylen?”
“Who?” she asked and then quickly sucked in a breath. “You mean Prince Wylen Jerrah Keldi?”
I nodded, wondering how Wylen would feel about me calling him Prince.
“Oh, no. Sorry. I do not think that would be possible. The queen has requested for him to be…” She blushed again. “No, I cannot talk about that either.”
“Can you at least tell me if he is safe here? ”
“With the queen?” she asked in disbelief. “Yes, yes. The prince will be quite comfortable here.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that.
Pernilla clapped her hands in front of her and sucked in a quick breath. “I have brought you dinner, and there is a change of clothes in the bathing chamber. Will you need anything else tonight?”
“The key,” I said instantly.
Pernilla looked at me in shock and then waved her hand at me. “A joke, yes?”
Kind of. I shrugged.
“You are safe here, Sosie. Please try to get some sleep.”
She turned to leave, but I called out after her. “Wait, Pernilla. What time is it here?” She kept mentioning bedtime and sleep, yet the light outside seemed to indicate that it was only late afternoon.
Shaking her head like she forgot to tell me something important, she spun and pointed to the open window.
“It is nearly half past eleven. We are in the light season, so it never truly gets dark here at this time of year. There are curtains around your bed to help you sleep if needed. I will be back in the morning.”
I didn’t get to ask her anything else before she swept out of the room and locked the door behind her.
My body suddenly slumped with fatigue. The train last night, the trip today, and diving through a portal to another realm had taken its toll.
However, I did notice the delicious smell emanating from the food Pernilla had brought, so I walked over to the small table, sat down, and observed the dishes.
A hearty stew filled with potatoes and some kind of meat.
Three pieces of thickly sliced fresh bread.
An apple. And a mug of water. I’d hoped for a glass of wine, but perhaps keeping my mind sharp was a better option.
I sank into the chair and dug in. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was, and in no time at all, the food and water were gone. It tasted amazing, so flavorful and divine that I wasn’t sure I’d ever eaten anything as good back in my world .
Deciding I should try to rest, I tested out the bathing chamber and the strange toilet-like contraption built into the corner and was surprised to see a handle above that allowed me to flush.
A bowl of water sat on a washstand underneath a small, yet ornate, golden mirror.
The ivory tub in the corner was empty, and I found myself looking forward to a bath tomorrow night.
Sitting in a neat pile on a bench built into the wall near the tub were my new clothes.
I lifted the material on top and found a thin dress made of silk that I guessed was to be used for sleeping.
It was soft and cool and I immediately stripped out of my human clothes.
I sighed when the fabric brushed against my body, suddenly feeling very calm and very tired.
With a shrug and a glance out the window to wish Wylen well and send Tris a goodnight kiss, I crawled into the soft bed full of plush pillows and a heavy quilt, and almost immediately fell into a dreamless sleep.