Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
Interesting
I walked absently to the entryway, still feeling the king’s eyes on my back. I had Puko clamped in my arms, willing him to be quiet for once in his life until we were away from the picnic and around the corner.
“Shh,” I whispered to Puko absently, shifting my eyes back and forth, watching for Diamid to pop out and grab me. But he never did.
In my distress at getting away from the prying eyes of the hilltop, I must have turned a wrong corner, because suddenly nothing looked familiar.
I took a calming breath and turned back the way I’d come. Surely, I would be able to see the fountain soon; I hadn’t passed it but a moment ago.
But I never found the fountain. I walked in circles, panic growing as the hallways around me seemed to move and change, despite not walking very far at all. The ivy-covered walls were alive and rustling with a breeze that came from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
I decided to pick a hallway and stick with it, for better or worse, until I found someone who might be able to help me.
I took the brightest, widest one in hopes that I would find a Spring fae.
The hallway wound and curved but remained bright.
I was hopeful as more sun began to peek through the greenery overhead, widening into a possibly more frequently traveled area.
Instead, I rounded a corner and almost bumped into a familiar face. One that I was in no condition to handle at that moment.
I snapped my attention onto a set of milky white eyes. Her skin was a pleasant pink, her short black hair was still cropped close to her head, and now that I saw her up close, I could see small horns protruding from her temples.
Lady Krissaph inhaled deeply through her nose and smiled.
She ran her tongue over her sharp fangs and grinned.
She wore a thin gold dress with a neckline that dropped to her navel and a slit on the side of each leg that rose above her hips.
All in all, I could see nearly as much now as I could when I’d met her in the bath at the Autumn Palace.
“Well, well, well. Imagine bumping into the famous lost faeling here,” she purred.
“Lady Krissaph,” I said. I bowed my head like I had seen so many others do as a sign of respect.
“I see you’ve been in Diamid’s esteemed presence. Been probing for information, has he?” She offered me her arm. “Come.”
Puko’s feathers bristled; he was puffed up like a black cloud in my arms. I didn’t know what to do. I was frozen in place, not wanting to go with her, but I was already lost as it was.
“Oh, come on now, I don’t bite.” She continued to hold out her arm patiently. “Well, I don’t bite females. Often.”
I took a deep breath and shifted Puko to one arm, taking Krissaph’s arm with my other hand.
“Good girl, wise decision.” She immediately began walking further down the hallway, and I had little choice but to follow.
“So, young one. You have many mysteries surrounding you, yes?” she asked.
“I’m not the only one,” I muttered. Puko cawed his agreement.
“Interesting company you keep, Wren.” To my dismay we turned a corner and split away from our original corridor. “This one seems to be full of secrets too.”
I glanced down at Puko’s white eye. He seemed to be watching Krissaph with it, and it sent a chill through me.
I hadn’t ever given it much thought, but he had sat faithfully on Mila’s shoulder since I could remember.
He was certainly no ordinary bird, and I could only imagine what he’d seen in his time.
“Where is it we are going, Lady Krissaph?” I asked.
“A small detour through the lovely palace, then I will safely deposit you at your door. Don’t worry, despite what that frigid bitch may have said about me, I won’t hurt you.” Puko ruffled his feathers and let out a low, gurgling croak that I had never heard before.
“Oh, hush, you,” Krissaph hissed at Puko, which shut him up. “Now, I just want a pleasant chat. Is that so much to ask?”
“I don’t know what you want to talk about, but if you can get me back to my room, I’ll talk with you,” I offered.
“Wonderful.” She grinned, leading us down a new path. “Now, can you tell me what exactly you keep on your back that smells so sour?”
My spine shot straight, panic running through me, trailed by nausea. “You smell something?”
“Yes, I can smell something, though I doubt many others could do the same.” She tilted her head to the side. “Does that distress you?”
“Yes,” I answered truthfully. “And I’d rather not talk about it.”
“I see,” she said with a pout. “I suppose it can’t be helped then. In that case, would you like to talk to me about your parentage?”
I blinked. That had come out of nowhere.
“Oh, don’t be so surprised. Of course who your sire is would be the talk of the Wyldes.”
“I don’t know anything about my parents,” I said truthfully. “And I don’t know how I would find out. For all I know, they’re dead.”
“Hmm, an interesting problem to have.” Her lips, painted plum, spread into a slow grin.
“But if I have tasted your sire before, I could taste him on you now. Would you care for a tryst in a dark corridor? I know a lovely spot with candles and the most comfortable cushions. If you lay on the red one and throw a leg across the round one, I can reach your—”
“No! No, thank you, Lady Krissaph.” If any more blood rushed to my face, I would faint. I could barely wrap my head around an outing with Caldon; I certainly couldn’t handle whatever Lady Krissaph would try to do to me.
“You’re sure?” She frowned. “What a shame. I do wonder what you taste like under all that smoke and despair.”
I didn’t want to know. Not even a little bit. Well, maybe a tiny little bit. “So to, um, taste me. You can’t just, I don’t know, lick my hand or something?”
Krissaph tilted her head back and laughed. She had to hold her stomach she was laughing so hard. I held on tighter to Puko, who let out another gurgling croak.
“Oh dear, how charming. You really did grow up outside the Wyldes.” She wiped a tear off her cheek with her free hand and steered us down a new hallway. “I need to taste you on a more personal level than that, Wren. I need you at a heightened state of emotion to do that.”
“I’m pretty frustrated and upset right now, won’t that work?” I sighed.
A smirk tugged at her mouth. “No, I need to feed from a fairly specific emotion, and it’s not frustration. Well, it’s not that kind of frustration, anyway.”
“I see.” I didn’t see. I didn’t really want to, either.
“Ah, Wren. We’re nearly at our destination, and you seem to be leaving me with more questions than answers.” She sighed and turned down another hallway. “Here we are, stop one.”
She stepped into bright sunlight as the new hallway opened into a stone courtyard with a bubbling fountain and lines of clothes out to dry.
Several fae of different sorts who looked to be in service at the palace were happily at work and chatting away the afternoon. They didn’t seem to mind our intrusion.
I looked around, unsure of what I was supposed to be doing. “Um, this isn’t my room.”
“Look up,” she said.
I did. There were a few clouds, and the sun was high in the sky. “What am I seeing?”
Krissaph gestured to the mass of black feathers in my arms. “If you don’t want Diamid to investigate him further, send him outside until your time in the Spring Palace is done.”
I looked down at Puko, who seemed to be nodding in agreement.
I lifted my arms and let him shake out his feathers, then he spread his wings wide.
“Oh, one moment.” Krissaph reached over and plucked a stray feather from Puko’s tail. “A souvenir.”
He turned around to snap at her, a big ball of indignation. But Krissaph was too fast and had already moved out of range. She tucked the feather behind her ear and backed up, letting the raven take off. He soared away and quickly dipped out of sight.
“Now, do you still want to go back to your room? Or would you like to see mine?” She smiled, and a few heads turned our way. These attendants probably thought I was having a rendezvous with Krissaph, and she’d probably done that on purpose.
“Mine, please,” I said a little louder than I needed to. “I need to get back to Eberon and Schula.”
“Very well.” She offered her arm again, and I took it, walking with her through a new corridor.
She seemed content to lead me around in silence for a few minutes, until I spotted a familiar statue in an alcove I knew to be by the baths.
“Ah, I believe this is where we part ways.” Krissaph paused to tilt her head upward. “I may be of the Spring Court, but I associate with whom I want. You interest me, Wren. I think you’re going to shake a few things up in the Wyldes, and I for one am looking forward to it.”
Footsteps passed nearby, and Krissaph backed me into an alcove. She pressed our bodies together in what must have looked to the outside world like a lovers’ embrace. I heard a giggle accompany the footsteps as they faded away.
“If you are ever doing something and you need to cover your tracks, you are welcome to claim an evening with me. No one would question it, and I will tell them you were with me all night. That is a promise,” she whispered in my ear, raising goose bumps on my skin with her warm breath.
“What would I be doing in secret?” I murmured.
“Anything you want, young one.” She backed away, licking her lips. “I encourage your mischief. There are a few important fae in this part of the world who could stand to be knocked off their feet, and I look forward to seeing it happen. I think you can be the one to make it happen.”
I stepped away from her and toward the hallway that would lead me back to our rooms. “But I don’t want to shake anyone up.”
“I don’t think you have a choice. You taste of change, whether you like it or not.
And, of course, my offer still stands for a midnight tryst.” She winked seductively at me, and I took another step away.
“The thing about odd birds like yours, they can find their feathers again if you have need of me.”
“Thank you, I think.” There was no one else in the hallway at the moment, and I wasn’t sure whether that was a blessing or a disappointment.
She inhaled deeply and smirked.
“I look forward to whatever trouble you get yourself into. And let me know when that sour thing comes off your back, would you? I’m deeply interested in what smells so curious about you.”
She dipped her head and turned away, swinging her hips in a suggestive promise as she wandered down the way we had come.
I took a few deep breaths and straightened my dress. I clutched the quartz at my neck and sighed as I began my walk to the rooms.
Now in a familiar and populated part of the palace, I felt the presence of fae all around me. I felt their eyes on me, and I tried to shake it off as paranoia on my part. I just hoped no one had heard Krissaph’s words to me.
My imagination ran wild with the suggestion that I was going to bring change to the Wyldes.
I didn’t want change; I craved stability.
I wanted to settle down and build a nice cabin and find a familiar life with predictable patterns.
But in the moment, that felt as unattainable as the stars themselves.
I stopped, blinking the threatening tears from my eyes and standing squarely in front of the door to our rooms.
Between Diamid and Krissaph, I was exhausted, and I desperately needed the help of my friends.