Chapter 17
The walk down the grand hallway leading away from the throne room felt like a death march.
The guardian escorting me to my room was pained to acknowledge my existence when I asked where he was taking me.
After several attempts of trying to speak to the silent guardian, I gave up.
It was obvious that he was not going to tell me anything.
I tried to pay attention to where we were going, but I became lost after we left the grand hallway and made several left and right turns.
Maybe that was the point: to disorient me so I couldn’t run off on them.
The joke was on them, though. I had nowhere to go, so they were stuck with me for the time being.
We started walking up steep, winding steps to what I assumed was one of the towers I had seen from the road. The steps were much taller and wider than anything I was used to back home, which wasn’t more than a few small wooden steps. I quickly fell behind the moody guardian leading the way.
“Is there a problem, human?” a voice bellowed from above.
I looked up to see that the guardian was several floors ahead of me.
Beads of sweat had started rolling down my back and pooling in the curve above my bottom.
I wiped my arm across my damp forehead, trying to level my heavy breathing.
“No problem. Just a bit out of shape, I guess,” I responded between huffed breaths.
Not long after, I heard a snap, and I was suddenly right in front of a large wooden door. I looked around and saw the guardian coming up from below. My head started to spin, and I felt like I was going to be sick.
“What the Eternal Night just happened?” My question was barely above a mouse’s squeak.
“I don’t have all evening to stand in this tower and watch you struggle,” the guardian responded curtly.
“Why didn’t you just do that to begin with and save us both the hassle?” I whined.
“I thought humans could manage stairs. I didn’t think using arcana was necessary—but I was wrong.” Just then he arrived on the step I was on and pushed me aside.
The thick wooden door opened, and my face was met with a soft, warm orange glow.
Once my eyes adjusted, I looked around and realized where we were.
We were standing before one of the delicate floating bridges I had seen earlier.
Squinting, I tried to make out what was on the other side.
The sun was making it incredibly difficult to do so.
“Your room is this way, human.” The guardian continued ahead of me, not bothering to see if I was following. After a few seconds, he must have realized that I had not moved a step, and he turned around. “What is the problem now?” Exasperation was evident in his tone.
“Why do I have to stay in a sky prison? Is there not something available closer to the ground?” I said as I took a tiny step backward, trying to grab hold of the building behind me.
Even though I had grown up on a mountain, I had never been in a situation where such exaggerated heights were involved. So it was news to me that I was terrified of them.
“This is not a prison. It is one of our finer guest rooms. Consider yourself lucky that you’re being given the privilege of staying in one of them instead of sleeping with the horses in the barn, where you belong.”
Hostility noted.
I decided it would be best if I channelled my inner Magda and refrained from upsetting the already prickly guardian any further. I slowly shuffled my way over to the bridge. Ivy branches were hanging delicately on either side of a clear crystal walkway.
“Today, human!” the guardian roared.
“Can’t you just do that thing with your arcana where you move me to the other side?” I pleaded.
The look the guardian threw my way contained nothing but disgust for the pathetic creature he had the misfortune of being burdened with at this moment.
I heard another snap and found myself on the other side of the crystal walkway.
Bracing my hands on my thighs, I bent over and closed my eyes in an effort to stop the realm from spinning around me.
Once everything stopped moving, I turned to the guardian. “Thank you. I really appreciate your help. I didn’t know that I was scared of heights.” I sounded as small and weak as I felt.
“I don’t need your gratitude. I want this to be over with so I can leave,” he said as he stormed on toward the small, flower-covered building ahead of us.
We finally reached the room as the sun was setting. The guardian opened the door, revealing a deceptively enormous chamber. I looked around at the building and through the doorway.
“I don’t understand. This building isn’t very large. How is the room this big?”
The guardian stared down at me and responded with one word. “Arcana.”
He walked in and quickly gave me a tour of the room.
“This is your receiving room. Every day, meals will be brought to you by a member of the kitchen staff. Through there is your bedroom and dressing room. The wardrobe will have clothes for you, so you can change out of those disgusting rags. Through the other side is your bathing room. I highly suggest you take advantage of all the bathing oils available to wash that human stink from you—it is quite repulsive. Once the king and queen have reached a decision on what to do with you, someone will come to get you. Until then, I suggest you stay put.” He turned around and started to make his way out of the suite.
“So I’m being kept prisoner until they decide what to do with me?” I said as I turned to face the guardian.
“No. You are a guest here. What I said was that I suggest you stay put. Humans are very rarely ever here as guests. Your presence may disturb some members of the court. If you must leave, you will need to be escorted by the royal guardian posted to your door.”
If my eyes could have rolled any harder, they would have rolled all the way to the back of my head. “Sounds lovely. I feel so welcomed,” I responded, agitation and exhaustion equal parts fuelling me.
“It is irrelevant whether you feel welcomed or not. You are being given more privileges than your species deserves. I recommend you start feeling grateful and lose the sarcasm.” He smirked as he continued.
“Your regular guardian will be here momentarily. Please direct any further complaints or feelings you may have to him.”
With that, the guardian took his leave, slamming the door behind him, and I was left to linger in my gilded cage.
I stared at the closed door. Reality was starting to sink in that my stay here was going to be several variations of unpleasant.
I was tolerated, barely, just like I was back home.
Was there any realm where I could be celebrated and appreciated for who I was and not seen as a constant pain in someone’s rear end?
Currently at two and no luck, the odds didn’t look good for me.
The room smelled of fresh-cut lilacs, which made my “human stink” stand out all the more.
I turned toward the mirror in the receiving room and took a look at myself.
The guardian may have been extraordinarily rude, but he was right about one thing: I looked disgusting, and I felt it too.
The stress and strain from running for my life had made itself evident on my face, in my clothes, and in the way that I smelled.
A bath was definitely first on my list of things to do.
I made my way through the receiving room and into the main living space to find a table filled with all sorts of finger foods and beverages.
My stomach growled uncontrollably—all right, maybe something to eat first, and then the bath.
Set on the table were plates of small pies, some savoury and some sweet, as well as fruit and vegetables, cookies, cheese, meats, small buns, and little jelly candies.
I picked up one of the savoury pies and took a bite, immediately melting into one of the chairs beside the table.
It was like nothing I had ever tasted—buttery crust, potatoes, leeks, carrots, and a bit of cheese.
I knew magic had to be involved, because there was no way someone could make something that tasted this sinfully delicious.
I shoved the rest of it into my mouth and washed it down with a glass of pink sweetened wine.
I may be a prisoner, but at least I was going to be a well-fed prisoner.
Getting up from the chair, I grabbed the glass of wine, and I made my way to the washing room. As much as it pained me to walk away from the food, I needed to get cleaned up, and then I could spend the rest of my evening gorging myself on pies in bed.
The washing room was like something out of a dream.
A large citrine claw-footed bathtub stood in the centre of the room, with ample space to accommodate two people comfortably.
My mind drifted to Forrest and how much I wanted to share this with him.
Would we ever get the opportunity to do so?
My heart flinched at the thought. The vanity was also made out of a giant slab of citrine crystal, with a large mirror positioned on top.
Laid out across the vanity were various bottles and small tubs.
I walked over to inspect them—bathing oils and lotions with scents varying from citrus, vanilla, brown sugar, lilac, amber, and smoky musk.
I grabbed the bathing oil that smelled of citrus and placed it on the edge of the bathtub.
I looked around, trying to figure out how I was supposed to fill up this gigantic tub on my own.
I didn’t have anywhere to heat water, and there was no piping coming in from outside to fill it with rainwater.
I then noticed two knobs at the front. One had a red crystal in the centre, and the other had a blue crystal.
“There is no way,” I muttered as I turned the red crystal knob.
Water rushed out. I leaned down and placed my hand under the stream, feeling that it was already warm and getting warmer by the second.
Letting out a delighted squeal, I quickly turned the blue crystal knob, trying to get the perfect temperature.
I was thinking about all the ways this could be possible when the guardian’s condescending voice suddenly entered my mind.
“Arcana,” I sarcastically muttered, doing an awful impression of him.
Regardless of how it worked, this was the best thing I had encountered since entering this realm; the leek-and-potato pie was now a close second.
I peeled off my dirty, sweat-stained clothing and eagerly got into the tub.
Sliding further into the citrus-scented water, I let loose a breath that I felt I had been holding the entire time I had been here.
I leaned my head back against the end of the tub, allowing myself this small moment of relaxation.
The heat from the water was doing wonders to settle my nerves and relieve the tension I had been holding throughout my entire body.
I knew that this moment would be short-lived, so I was going to enjoy every second of it.
After draining and refilling the tub twice—once because the water was filthy, and the second time just for fun—I got out and decided to get dressed.
Wrapped in the largest, softest towel I had ever felt, I made my way over to the large mahogany wardrobe to inspect what type of clothing was deemed appropriate for this court.
I found an array of dresses, all in magnificent jewel tones: emerald, ruby, sapphire, pearl, topaz, and of course, citrine.
I reached in and pulled out the emerald dress.
It was made of fabric so fine that I felt unworthy to touch it.
I held it up to my body, facing the mirror inside the wardrobe door.
It was beyond a doubt one of the most beautiful dresses I had ever seen or touched, but it wasn’t me.
I was not fit to wear finery such as this.
I placed the dress back, wishing I had packed a robe or something to lounge in.
Within seconds a shimmery black robe appeared at the end of the row of dresses.
I staggered back a few steps, not sure that what I had just seen had actually happened.
I stepped toward the wardrobe and said out loud, “I wish I had a short cotton sleeping slip in lilac.”
Moments later, a lilac sleeping slip appeared next to the black robe.
I pulled the slip off the hanger and stepped apprehensively into it.
To my surprise, it fit me perfectly. My list of favourite things in this realm had grown by one: number one, hot running water; number two, magical wardrobe; and number three, leek-and-potato pie.
After thinking up a few more wardrobe items, I made my way over to the table full of food and piled as much of it as I could onto a plate.
I then clambered into the gigantic four-poster bed, settled in, and ate myself into a food-induced slumber.