Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
With a hiss, Riona whirled away from the door. Her fists were sore from pounding them against the sturdy wooden door, and it was clear that Aiden was not coming back anytime soon. She prowled around the surprisingly cozy room, testing the windows, but they didn’t budge either. Tapping on the glass only crushed Riona’s hopes of escaping further. The glass was almost like metal. She rapped again harder, but the glass held. Something heavy and blunt might work.
Her lute lay by the door. No. There had to be something else in this house that she could use. Breaking her lute to escape was out of the question. She ignored the beautiful view outside the windows—even at night the mountains were visible under the stars—and continued her search for a way to escape.
Orange embers crackled in the fireplace. Riona grabbed the fireplace poker and then dropped it with a shriek when she realized she was holding an iron. Her hand was unmarked when she examined it, and there was no pain. One of the many negatives about being half-Fae was her sensitivity to iron, but the poker wasn’t made of iron because she was in a full-Fae home. She squatted down to pick the poker back up and examined it. Whatever metal it was made from, it wasn’t iron.
Riona glanced at the windows and hefted the poker in her hands. She walked over to the window with determination and swung. The poker bounced right off the window. She swung again, putting all her weight into it, but the window only made a solid thunk from the hit. Whatever the material the window was made of was much sturdier than glass. Breaking them was out.
She wandered down the hall and opened the first door she came to. Warm light flooded the small room, unlike anything she’d seen before. Small glowing baubles floated through the air, illuminating the room in a soft glow. Usually, at this hour in her own home, darkness had pervaded every corner, but not in Aiden’s house. Riona moved closer to get a better look at one of the baubles and jumped back when it whizzed by her head. She watched the living lights move in fascination until her eyes registered what else was in the room, and she moved toward the walls.
The walls were covered with mahogany wooden shelves stuffed with books. Riona ran her fingers over one of the leatherbound burgundy spines reverently. Some of the titles she could make out, yet others were hard for her to focus on like her mind couldn’t quite comprehend. The letters wouldn’t form into words. They would just blur. From what she could make out, it seemed the subjects of the books were a wide variety from agricultural horticulture to romances, which was a surprise. She’d never seen so many books in one place.
Beside the window, two plush burgundy chairs beckoned to Riona to sit down and read for a spell. Their wooden legs were interwoven with intricate patterns. Colorful flowers wound around the table and chair legs and crept up the tops of the shelves. A small table covered in books looked like it had sprouted up from the wooden flooring. Its legs were planks that curved upward.
This room was made from her dreams. Under any other circumstances, she would have loved to settle in with one of the many books, but now was not the time. The thought of escape shook her from her admiration of the room. She tested the windows, but they held fast and were the same material as the others. Some of the glowing orbs fluttered around her harmlessly as she examined the windows.
A name popped into her head for the floating lights. Willow wisps. That was what they must be. She’d been told tales about how willow wisps lead unsuspecting travelers to their deaths, but these happy little orbs seemed harmless. She certainly couldn’t see these benign little creatures sending someone to their death.
Regretfully, she pulled the door to the library closed and continued down the hall. A couple of the glowing lights floated along beside her. She didn’t mind their company. Their presence was comforting.
The second door was locked, and so was the third. The fourth door opened into a bedroom, making Riona momentarily forget what she was doing. Like all the other rooms, the warm glow of willow wisps illuminated the room. Her wisps floated over to the others.
The high windows were grouped together in a half-circle, and below the windows was a comfy deep green velvet seat built into the golden wall. The golden walls were covered in green vines swirling around the room.
A massive wooden four-poster bed filled with fluffy golden and green pillows stood in the middle of the room. The vines wrapped around the bed too. Wood floors were absent in the bedroom, and a soft covering of what looked like moss was in their place. Riona leaned down to test the feel of the flooring out of curiosity. It was softer than Dolan’s expensive imported rug.
“Mreow?” a little voice chirped over her shoulder.
Riona spun around on her haunches to be greeted by a very well-fed cat with iridescent purple wings tucked against its back. The cat eyed her with curious blue eyes set in a precocious little face. Riona had never seen a cat with coloring like this one, much less with wings. The cat’s round body was fawn colored with black points at its face, ears, and tail and a little darker shading throughout its coat. The wings were almost bat-like. They were a dark purple, almost black, at the base, and, as they went outward, lightened in color to almost a lavender at the tips.
The cat walked into the room with its chest puffed out like a ship’s prow. It stopped before Riona and silently studied her with those ice-blue eyes. After a few tense beats where Riona wasn’t sure what the cat would do next, it bumped its head against Riona’s hand. Riona stared at the cat, not sure what it wanted. The cat bumped her again more roughly this time and let out an impatient yowl that Riona understood for universal cat as “pet me now.”
Riona smiled. The Fae kitty wasn’t so different from the cats of her village.
She scratched the silky head, and after a short time, the cat began to purr loudly. The kitty’s voice sounded almost like a bird coo. Riona’s new friend shot her a blissful look and flopped down on the floor, exposing her belly. Riona couldn’t help but laugh at the cuteness of the winged cat, who was definitely female.
“Well, you are a spoiled little thing, aren’t you?” Riona said while rubbing the cat’s belly. Her labors were rewarded with more wiggling and louder purring. Petting the cat put Riona at ease, and her anger soon disappeared. She didn’t know how long she sat on the bedroom floor petting the winged kitty. She loved cats and had always wanted one of her own, but her fear of what the villagers would do to it had always stopped her from getting one. But she snuck in pets and doled out treats to the village strays whenever she was sure no one would notice.
Just outside the window, stars glittered in the night. It must be late. Surprisingly, Riona wasn’t tired. Not yet anyway. She rose up with a protest from her companion and wandered out of the bedroom down the hallway. The cat ran ahead of her until it stopped at a door further down.
Determination was set in the feline’s face as it scratched at the door. Her little black paws worked furiously against the door. Riona laughed at her new friend’s antics and tried the handle. It swung open to another bedroom.
This one was unmistakably masculine. Where the other room was cheerful, this one was decorated with darker colors. A deep scarlet bedspread graced the high bed. Roses so deep red they were almost black wound around the bed and the other furniture. Beautiful art graced the walls. But before Riona could get close enough to admire the art, an intricately carved trunk placed off to the side out of the way caught her eye.
Where the rest of the room was dark opulence, the trunk was made from what looked like frosted glass shot through with small pieces of bronze. The latch on the front of the trunk was in the shape of the sun, complete with circular copper gears inside the sun. She was drawn to the trunk. Some undefinable reason compelled her to want to touch it.
Riona moved into the room like a sleepwalker. She lowered herself to her knees and touched the trunk, expecting some sort of reaction, but the trunk was cool to the touch and stayed motionless. Her fingers ran over the smooth glass until they met the sun latch. She traced the pattern and fell backward when the gears began to move with a clicking sound.
The trunk was enchanted!
She waited, fearing what would happen next, but the chest sprung open innocently. A ball of wings and fur flew past her, landing inside the trunk with a happy coo. Riona crawled forward to take a peek and a flurry of papers flew through the air. She reached out for one and then stopped herself. They were probably personal letters to Aiden. Personal letters he probably didn’t want her reading.
The cat wallowed around in the trunk, sending more letters flying, then settled, watching Riona expectantly. She looked at the letters scattered on the floor around the trunk, trying to make out anything she could about them without touching one but stopped her foolishness with a snort. Aiden had stolen her and locked her in his home. Why did she care about his feelings? What stopped her from peeking at some of the letters when she put them back?
Also, he hadn’t told her not to go rifling through his things before he left, and she hadn’t done anything too wrong except accidentally opening a trunk. He’d told her to explore her new home, in fact...
Her companion had disturbed the contents. She should really put them back. Riona smiled. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. Not one thing she told herself as she picked up a letter. Her fingers trembled a little bit as she picked up a letter. The cat fluttered from the inside of the trunk and landed beside Riona.
Riona squinted at the handwriting on the page. At first, she couldn’t read it. The letters were in a language she didn’t understand, but suddenly they shifted. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she dropped the paper. Beside her, the cat huffed at her dramatics and tapped on the letter.
“Want me to read this, do you?” Riona asked. The cat purred and flopped down, resting her head on her paws. Her blue eyes sparkled with interest.
Riona gingerly picked the letter back up. The words did the same thing again, but she was ready to read the message this time.
With every day you’re gone, your absence adds more embarrassment to this family.
Riona almost dropped the letter again. No matter how angry she was with Aiden, she shouldn’t be reading this. Her eyes trailed down the paper, and she began to close the letter, but the next word caught her attention.
The loss of Allana is unfortunate but cannot be undone. You must return. Our reputation is under attack because of your reckless choices. Eldrin is without a mount and is challenging our right in court because you broke your oath to him. His words were harsh at the loss of your sister, but it is not your place to question him or be angered by him. Return at once, and we can salvage this mess.
Riona set the letter down softly. She couldn’t read any more of it. It was too personal and invasive, no matter how many questions she had about Aiden. She’d always had questions about him, but reading the letter made her have even more.
The cat nosed the letter toward her, but Riona shook her head. “These letters are not meant for me to read. I’ll find my answers by asking Aiden myself.”
Riona swore she saw the cat roll its eyes before suddenly jumping inside the trunk.
“Bad winged kitty!” Riona tried to pull the cat out, but she wiggled wildly, and her paws scrambled through the letters, making a mess of them and sending them flying everywhere again. And she was not a light cat. The wings made her even heavier than Riona imagined.
“Kitty, come on!” Riona finally got a good grip and hoisted the cat out. The cat yowled, twitching her wings and fur in annoyance.
“Look at what you did.” Letters were scattered across the room. Riona reached out and grabbed one floating in the air.
The cat’s response was a howl of indignation and to hop up on the bed. She extended a leg and began to lick her furry foot while shooting Riona a look of disgust and annoyance at the same time.
Riona turned from the cat and began to pick up the mess of letters. It was quick work. One of the last letters Riona grabbed caught her attention. It was more formal than the others, and the handwriting was different. She worried her lip, wondering if she should open it. It didn’t look like a personal letter. Before she could stop herself, she opened it up. The note was short.
The Seelie Court no longer recognizes Aiden, son of Bedwyr and Wyna. He is forthright banished from court and stripped of all titles and privileges. Return upon penalty of death. All surviving family has agreed to this sentencing and relinquishes all connection to the Oathbreaker.
Riona flinched at the harsh words. Underneath the writing was an intricate seal and signature that looked very official, along with the signatures of both of his parents. They’d signed the agreement to save themselves. How could a parent be so cruel to their own child? And his sister was dead. How had she died? Her death seemed to be why Aiden had left the Seelie, but why? So many more questions raced through her mind as she tucked the letters back in the trunk.
As she stood, the cat fluttered off the bed and followed her out the door.
“No longer mad at me for the manhandling?” Riona asked. The cat just chirped and followed her down the hallway. Apparently not. Instead of looking deeper into the house, she went back to the living room with the cozy fire. She sat in the chair and thought about the letters and their meaning while petting the winged cat.
A song came to her lips. It was a lullaby. Happy memories of a time with her mother and father, all three together in the evenings, made Riona smile. The words first came out as a quiet warble, but soon Riona found her voice and the lullaby became a soft song floating in the air. Singing again brought her peace. She wasn’t sure why she’d started doing it again, but it felt right, like a piece was returning to her.
She didn’t want to think about why she was singing in Aiden’s house or why she was more at ease here than in her home in the village. But the truth was, Aiden’s presence always settled her. She tried to ignore how he made her feel, but she wasn’t just attracted to him. There was more.
She definitely didn’t want to think about their almost-kiss. They were both attracted to each other. Deeply. She’d felt it, and he had too. There was no hiding the shock on his face as he pulled away from her. For the first time in her life, she’d felt a connection to something she’d been missing. But she’d been too afraid to vocalize her feelings, and Aiden had pushed her away with his cutting words. Thinking about his words made her blood boil.
Before their almost-kiss, she’d agreed to stay with him because even though it was a terrible idea, it was better than Kendrick’s offer, and she had no other options. Staying with Aiden would give her time to develop a plan for her future. Then they’d almost kissed minutes after she told him she wasn’t interested in him like that, and he’d reacted just as badly as she had. This was all a mess she wasn’t ready to untangle. But at some point, he would have to come back. Or would he?
Riona finished the lullaby and enjoyed the crackling sound of the fire and the cat’s happy noises. Aiden would return at some point and break the illusion, but in the meantime, she could pretend. She would have to leave when Aiden returned. It wasn’t safe being around him. Her heart wasn’t safe.
The kitty cooed, and Riona smiled. Animals helped ease any ailment. Her problems faded a little as her fingers ran through the silky fur.
“If I had someone like you to snuggle with all the time, my problems wouldn’t seem so dire.” Her companion shifted so Riona could get just the right spot. Laughter bubbled up inside of Riona, and she let it go. In the village, laughter from those who weren’t children was viewed with suspicion. Riona sighed. If only she could take the cat with her, but it wasn’t safe, especially a Fae cat. Returning to the village seemed such a glum prospect, but staying here...
Suddenly the door swung open, and Aiden stood in the door frame. His eyes scanned the room until they landed on her. He walked inside carefully, probably expecting her to attack him, but Riona was content to sit where she was. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure why she’d thrown things at him in the first place. Riona had never done anything like that before. Also, her calm demeanor most likely set him on edge by the way he kept eyeing her. She liked that.
“I see you’ve made friends with Ava.” Aiden sat down in the chair opposite her.
Riona nodded. The name Ava suited the cat.
Aiden watched her pet Ava but then said nothing else.
Riona cleared her throat. “I think I should go home. What happened between us should never have happened, and the villagers must wonder what became of me. The longer I stay here, the worse it will be for me.”
“You won’t have a home among them soon. When does the new smith arrive?”
“Any day now.”
“Where else do you have to go?”
Riona didn’t want to meet his questioning gaze, fearing he would see the hopelessness in her eyes. The only option she had was to become Kendrick’s “servant”. Ice ran up her spine at the thought of what he would do to her.
“Nowhere safe, judging by your reaction to my question,” Aiden said. Riona cursed herself for being so easy to read.
“I’m not safe here either.” Riona leveled her gaze at Aiden. He looked away.
“What almost happened between us... won’t happen.” He paused. “Unless you want it to.”
“I do not.”
Aiden nodded. “You have my word. You are safe in my home.”
“Why are you being so kind and offering me a place with you?”
Aiden shot her a devilish grin. “I hope to change your mind about me.”
“There’s more to it than just wanting kisses from me.” Hopefully. She wasn’t sure how long she could hold out against charming Aiden. She wasn’t sure how long she wanted to. Terrible idea.
“I want you to come with me to the Unseelie Court.” There it was again. What was it about the Unseelie Court?
“That’s not the first time you’ve asked me. Why? What is so imperative that I go to be among the Unseelie?” Riona couldn’t keep the exasperation from her tone.
“It is where you belong,” Aiden said simply.
“No, I don’t think I do.” All the tales she’d heard about the revels were filled with debauchery and other things. The thought of the Unseelie Court scared her and excited her simultaneously. It wasn’t a place she belonged. There was a pleading look in his eyes. “If you go, you’ll find out more about your mother.”
“My mother. Did you know her?” Riona couldn’t keep the yearning out of her voice. She had so many questions.
“No, I only know her story, but there are Fae in the court who knew her. They can probably tell you whatever your heart desires to know.”
Her mother’s death. The glamour that had been put on Riona. Secretive singing. So many more questions. Riona wanted to know more about her mother and herself. Aiden’s promise seemed too good to be true. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? You’ve had years... I would have gone just to learn more about her in a second.”
“I didn’t know who your mother was until certain things were revealed to me recently.”
“You speak in riddles. I don’t like it.” Riona scowled at Aiden.
“I knew who Finella was, but I didn’t know she was your mother. Not until the queen gave this to me today.”
Aiden pulled something out of his pocket. A delicate golden chain was coiled around his fingers. One of the most beautiful lockets Riona had ever seen hung between them. Unable to help herself, Riona extended her fingers and brushed them across the cool metal. She expected the gold to be rough from the delicate whirls and scrolls across the locket, but the metal was smooth. Small green jewels tinier than grains of sand filled the indentations of the designs, giving the necklace a glittery sheen.
The locket was priceless, but that wasn’t why Riona was drawn to it. No, there was something else. She opened the delicate cameo and gasped at the image. Her mother smiled back at her, but it wasn’t quite the mother she remembered. Of course the woman was younger, but she was unmistakably Fae from her pointed ears to the inhuman jade eyes Riona had come to know so well because they were a mirror of her own. This version of her mother was Fae. She was a stranger with her mother’s face.
No. Riona told herself. She was her mother in her true form. Not the human form with lines etched on her face from laughing and smiling with her family. Not the human woman with the red hair with gray starting to thread through it or the dark brown eyes. Her mother’s skin wasn’t white, so pale it was luminous. It always had a slightly ruddy cast to it because of the sun. This wasn’t the same woman, but it was. This stranger was wearing her mother’s face.
Breathing became difficult. Riona dropped the locket and bent over, gasping for breath. The cat hopped off her lap, and she was strangely cold. She wasn’t sure why, but everything hurt, and her mind didn’t work. The world blurred out of focus, and there was only sadness. Betrayal. Loss. A hand stroked her back, and a deep, masculine voice murmured in her ear.
Tears fell onto the floor. Riona rocked back and forth. A horrible cry hurt her ears, and she wished it would stop, but it didn’t. She jammed her hands over her ears, but it didn’t block out the sound. Suddenly she was in Aiden’s lap. His arms held her and rocked her. She was being comforted by her enemy, but she didn’t care. Something was soothing about being in his arms, so she leaned against his strong shoulder. Time stopped, and she just allowed the grief to come. Finally, the terrible noise stopped, and so did the tears. Her mind didn’t feel like a nest of angry wasps anymore, and her thoughts were no longer just pain. She realized that her throat was raw. It had been her screaming. Deep down, she’d known. She sniffed and looked up into concerned golden eyes watching her.
“Are you okay?” Aiden asked.
“I think so.”
“I would have never shown you the locket if I had known that would be your reaction.”
Riona smiled sadly. That was as close to an apology as she’d ever gotten from Aiden. “When I saw the image of my mother in her true form, it brought on so many emotions. It was like I’d lost her all over again.” Riona swallowed. “There was this stranger who was my mother staring back at me, but she’s gone too.”
Aiden cleared his throat. “Let me tell you what I know. Maybe it can help you bring her back a little, if only because you will know a small part of her story. Would you like that?”
“Yes,” Riona whispered.
“Finella was the old King’s unwilling courtesan, and then she disappeared after he slayed her betrothed. This was before my time.” Aiden sighed and raked his hand through his hair before he continued. “Finella was a mystery. Her whereabouts are still speculated on. No one could ever find her, and the king spent years searching. She was right under his nose the whole time, hiding in a human village. He wasn’t a kind man, Riona.”
Words failed Riona. Her mother had been a courtesan in the Unseelie Court. She’d had a betrothed. She’d had an entire life so vastly different than the one they’d lived. She’d had lovers. One was a king no less but a cruel one. A thought entered her mind. “Am I... his?” She feared the answer, but she had to know.
“No! Your father was your father.”
Her body became liquid with relief. If she hadn’t been sitting down already, she would have fallen. This was too much. She’d always had questions, but the answers were too much. So many more questions rolled through her mind, forcing their way into her thoughts.
Aiden didn’t say anything else. He just watched her silently. She hated her vulnerability and wished he would stop staring. Finally, to fill the silence, she spoke again, “Did she choose to be his lover? The king, I mean.”
“I don’t think anyone willingly chooses to become a paramour of a cruel ruler. She had no choice. Adamas killed her betrothed and took her as his own.”
“My mother’s betrothed, what was he like?”
“He was well liked by many. Fenir’s death was the beginning of the end for Adamas.” The Unseelie Civil War was something even humans knew about, if only in very little detail. Riona had never heard anything about Finella or Fenir.
“Why?”
“Because he was one of the Sidhe, and many realized that if the king was willing to kill a noble on a whim, they could be next.”
Sadness at the thought of all the pain and suffering her mother went through washed over her. “What else do you know about my mother?” Her voice was raspy with pain. She didn’t miss how Aiden flinched at her tone.
“That is all I know except that she was a talented musician.” Aiden stroked her hair. “Maybe you shouldn’t go to court just yet. It might be too painful.”
“No. I must go. My mother... I need to know about her life as a Fae.”
“Are you sure?” Aiden studied her carefully. His touch was delicate like she was glass, and if he handled her too hard, she would break. Riona hated that. She wasn’t glass, and she wasn’t going to break. Her mother was an enigma that she needed to know more about. Perhaps if she learned more about her mother, maybe being half-Fae wouldn’t be the curse she always felt it to be.
“You know your parents pretty well, don’t you?” Riona asked. His hand stilled, and she felt him stiffen. Riona cursed herself for bringing them up.
“Too well,” Aiden bit out the words coldly.
“How would you feel if you didn’t know them at all? How would you feel if you inherited something from them you couldn’t understand?”
“Is that how you feel?” Riona didn’t miss how he deflected answering her question.
“Yes, and I think I need to go to the court now to find answers, not just about her but maybe for myself as well. I’m afraid. I’m sad. I’m alone. But I need to do this for myself and for her.”
“You are not alone,” he murmured.
Her eyes locked with Aiden’s. For the first time, she realized how closely they were sitting and how good his touch felt. A current of awareness passed between them. Aiden’s pupils dilated, his gaze heating. He blinked and stood up, disengaging from her. Riona wished he hadn’t put distance between them, but it was for the best. Nothing good could come of a relationship with Aiden. Liar.
“Are you sure you’re ready for a midnight revel among the Fae?” Aiden asked lightly. He was attempting to diffuse the situation before they made choices they regretted. She smiled gratefully at him, and he returned her smile. The tension between them dissipated to a lesser degree and became bearable.
“I don’t think I’m ready, but I must go.” May the gods and goddesses save her.
“It will be the experience of your life, but you’ll need to be prepared.” He held out a hand, and Riona placed her hand in his and stood up. A current passed between them, but she ignored it, and so did he. She wanted answers to so many questions. This was the way. Aiden’s eyes glinted in merriment. She looked away before she got lost in them. When Aiden was charming, he was... She didn’t want to admit anything.
“Well then, you’d best teach me.” Her voice sounded brittle. She raised her eyebrow at him in an attempt to look self-assured and not moved by his charm and good looks. His mischievous smile told her he wasn’t buying her act. She stiffened in his arms and began to pull away. This was too dangerous.
“You’re not afraid of a little dance, are you?” His voice was smoke and sin and promises that he could never keep. She didn’t miss the challenge and stopped her retreat. He wasn’t going to beat her. She could handle a dance lesson no matter how many butterflies swirled around in her stomach. This was important, and she needed to focus.
“Not even a little bit.” She raised her chin up a notch, proud of how steady her voice sounded.
“Let us begin,” Aiden uttered a word, and a haunting strain of music started to swirl around them.