Nineteen
Song: Two Feet - I Feel Like I'm Drowning
(aka seriously the Julian theme, I hear this song and it's so Julian it's not even funny)
Vyssen's estate was very different from Julian's.
Apparently, when you're a lord or lady you have an estate to call your own. To live in it to be close to the city or region you represent and protect.
Where Julian's was full of flowers, bursting with life - Vyssen's was dead.
Just like the Underworld of the books I'd read as a child, just like Julian had said - nothing living flourished.
Vyssen waited for us at the entrance of her large manor in the flowing red dress like before. She was beautiful and deadly - her aura and her eyes confirmed it. Her green eyes cut through me as they raked over me once I got off my horse and followed Julian up the steps to her manor.
"Really?" Julian asked as he approached her. "This is how you're going to greet me? As if I were any other Lord?"
She crossed her thick arms. Everything about her was voluptuous. I'd always had issues keeping weight as a child then as a teen, so much so that I would kid around that I looked like a skeleton. She was the opposite, her arms were thick, her curves dangerous.
I envied her beauty.
"I will greet you this way, Lord of Skryen, since you seem to covet that title over me."
Her words stung. She didn't show her pain in her perfect features or her voice. She had a mask of discontent, smugness but somehow I could feel her pain though we'd never met.
Julian's shoulders tensed. "Vy," his voice was soft. "We need to talk."
She turned her attention from him to me. "Yes, let's talk." A snake-like smile curled her lips and suddenly I felt very cold. "What can I do for you?"
"Your Hellhounds, Vy, what happened?"
A small frown pinched her brows. Her eyes scanned between us. "My Hellhounds are fine. Locked away beyond the Gates."
Julian shook his head. "They escaped. They appeared in Skryen on Saddaim."
Vy looked away but didn't move from her position. She shook her head. "No, they couldn't have been. I'd been to them just that morning. They were still locked away."
Julian was gentle as he spoke to her. "Vy, right now they are in Skryen under my Guards' watch. They are safe - everyone - is safe but we need to talk about why they were there in the first place."
The worry on her face was evident. "I have to bring them back."
Julian nodded. "Yes. I'm here to help you with that."
Slowly, she nodded. "All right."
Julian let out a long sigh. "That's not all." He gestured to me. "This is Emylin, Lady of Elendil, last of the Light Fae."
It was almost as if every sentence out of Julian's mouth raised her eyebrows even higher. I could sense the skepticism.
Suddenly feeling awkward I only gave a small foolish wave. "Hi."
Julian snorted and gave a small laugh as he watched me, almost as if he was laughing at me.
"What?" I hissed.
He turned back to Vy. "We really need to talk."
Vy invited us inside while her staff handled the horses and took them to the stables in the back of the estate. She led us to a study on the first floor and we stood near the comfortable couches and lounge chairs in front of a fire.
I didn't notice how absolutely miserable I was feeling until I was able to warm my hands by the fire. The cold wind seeped into my clothes making my skin feel like ice. My hands tingled the closer I set them to the fire.
A small woman walked into the room with a tray set with pastries and tea.
As she set the tray down on the table between the three of us, Julian made his way to a cupboard along the wall of the room.
The movement of his hands were familiar, like he knew exactly where everything was.
He opened one of the drawers, fished out a bottle of liquor with a small glass and poured it for himself.
Vy sat at the largest of the chairs, nearest to the fire. Her long legs peeled under the large slit of her dress as she crossed her legs. She watched him pour his glass, making a wine glass with red wine appear instead in her delicate hand.
The oil paintings in the study were peculiar, most depicting some sort of torture and the pits of Hell. I suppressed a shudder as I turned back to the fire, finally peeling off the heavy forest green jacket I'd been wearing.
After a while, Vy spoke. "Thank you, Nella, you may leave."
The woman that had entered after us quickly bowed and exited the room, closing the double doors behind her.
"This place is not like most you visited, I gather?"
I turned to her and watched the firelight dance on her mocha skin of the dimly lit room. Her fiery green eyes watched me as if measuring what I would say next.
Her red lips curled into a smile. "I've been to the capital where the Light lived. Too bright."
I shrugged my shoulders. "I wouldn't know, honestly." I crossed the room and made my way to the teapot. "I never visited."
"It's complicated," Julian said cooly as he followed me with his gaze. He turned to Vy. "Why don't I start from the beginning then."
He explained what happened with Robyn how he managed to come back, kidnap me, how Damien rescued me, how he died and eventually became possessed. He didn't mention how I was bound at some point in my life and left to be raised by humans - that I was new to my powers.
I watched her as Julian spoke, carefully taking small sips of the scalding tea to warm me. She only nodded at Julian as he explained what was happening.
When he finished she turned to him. "What does this have to do with you, darling? I don't see how any of this is your problem."
He shook his head. "It's everyone's problem. He is bringing war to us. He plans to take over everyone in the faerie kingdoms. He's already started his plans - the Hellhounds started it."
She shook her head. "How do you know that?"
"He's trying to pin us against each other.
I don't know if he's gone to others and tried something similar.
This is the first time I've seen something where he is directly involved.
He insinuated the Winter Kingdom. He tried to have me suspect that you are inept at your job as Keeper. He threatened you."
She scoffed.
"He doesn't know our history. He sent me here to be diplomatic as Lord of Skryen for the Hounds attacking my people."
"Maybe it was the Winter Kingdom."
A growl escaped Julian's lips almost as feral as an animal's. "Come on, Vy, really?"
She crossed her arms. "Don't rule them out."
"I have," Julian seethed, his free fist clenching at his side.
"There is no reason why the Winter Kingdom would do this.
They are no match against dark magic you and I both know this.
So unless the Winter King has a weapon against dark magic up his ass somewhere - which I'm sure doesn't exist - there is no reason why they would even try to attack. "
She rolled her eyes as she stood. "I will take what you said into consideration."
I watched the exchange flabbergasted. "You don't believe him, do you?"
She finally looked back at me. "That's not what I said. I have an open mind, there are different possibilities for this to happen." She looked at Julian. "I won't know for sure until we visit the Cave tomorrow morning and return the Hounds to it."
Julian scoffed. "Why would I ever lie to you? When did you become this cynical?"
Her voice was cold. "The moment my lover left me alone in the pits of Hell when his father beckoned him."
The howling wind outside was the only sound in the room.
I didn't dare move or breathe for fear of being too loud.
All I could feel was the heartbreaking pain in the silence.
Similar to what I'd felt when Damien died - the white-hot pain in my heart ...
but it wasn't mine, somehow, inexplicably, I was feeling Vyssen's pain.
I extended my power, feeling it reach out into the room.
From Vy I felt overwhelming sadness but from Julian ... nothing.
It was a silence as deafening as the one being experienced in the room.
She tilted her head and gave Julian a smile of perfect white teeth. "You'll have to stay the night. It's much too late to get them now. They are too difficult to control at night. They draw their power from the darkness." She stood casually and crossed the room towards him.
Julian didn't move as she approached him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and brushed something aside on his lapel. He was taller than she was. "Since you'll be staying, I wouldn't mind a long late night visit to my room like old times to try and convince me."
I wanted to scoff, roll my eyes but stopped. Julian hadn't moved, didn't speak, he only watched Vy with his silent storm grey eyes as she challenged him, her chin slightly lifted.
I felt like a stranger, no longer welcome, no longer comfortable.
I set my saucer and cup down on the fireplace mantle and made my way out of the room, too uncomfortable to even excuse myself.
I silently closed the door behind me once I was in the hall and was startled when the woman that had set down the tea earlier suddenly appeared in the hall I was standing in.
She was small and thin - fragile was more like it but a little older than what I was used to seeing. More than middle-aged - maybe faeries did age after all. Maybe they aged slower than humans.
"My Lady." She quickly bowed, only slightly bending at the knees and crossing her ankles. She stood back to full height. "Do you know if you all will be having dinner now?"
I shook my head. "I honestly don't know. I wouldn't bother them and ask."
She nodded. "Would you like to eat ahead?"
"I'm suddenly not very hungry. I'm pretty tired."
She gestured to the large grand staircase in the middle of the hall. "I can show you to your room."
I nodded and followed her, my dirty boots from the day's ride echoing around the empty hall as it met the onyx floor. Everything was black, dead but beautiful. It seemed like the frames and the candleholders in the halls were carved in the black stone walls.
The room I was in was small but comfortable with a large bed in the middle with thick, dark sheets. Everything was black with gold trim around the walls and furniture.The colors worked together as a beautiful contrast against each other.
The woman gestured to a door inside. "Washroom. Your bag is on the dais. There is a robe in the washroom, soaps and towels. I will be back soon to bring you your dinner."
Once I nodded she left.
The first thing I did was try out the bed. It was large and comfortable and the sheets felt gloriously soft against the skin I did have exposed on my arms. I didn't even change, hugging a pillow close to me.
If she did come back with my food, I didn't hear her. I passed out soon after my head hit the pillow.