Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
-LIL-
“I’m not sure I want to do this.” Who is waiting down there for us? Will they have the answers I… we need?
“I don’t think we have much of a choice.” Dainan’s words faded as a man in pale blue robes and glowing blonde hair emerged from the doorway.
The man was… skipping?
“Have you ever seen that man before?”
Dainan shook his head, maintaining his forward gaze.
“Are you sure? He seems oddly… happy?” Other than when Oz discovered wolfberry jam in Azmeer, I didn’t think I’d seen a happier person.
“I don’t recognize him, and as I told you earlier, I’ve never been here before. But… he does seem rather pleased. Best to keep a safe distance. I never trust overly happy people.”
I turned to him, “I’m a happy person, Dainan.”
“Exactly.”
“Is it possible that you just attempted a joke?” Raising an eyebrow, I turned to face the joyous man in his blue robes.
“I can be quite charming when I want to be.”
“Ha.” I let out a laugh. “Were you this charming with Brida?”
A man, whose hair was the same color as my own, pranced the last few feet towards us.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s going to be long when you start the walk, but really it is,” the man said when he reached us. He was nearly out of breath. “That’s the most fun I’ve had in ages. Ah, let’s take a look at you.”
In front of us stood a man with fair skin, piercing blue eyes, and robes that looked ridiculous. Before I could stop myself, I muttered, “What in the Gods’ name are you wearing?”
That was foolish.
Dainan’s stare bore into my skin.
To our mutual surprise, the man started to laugh.
“I knew I was going to like you.” His finger jetted out towards me, as if he were about to touch me, and then thought the better of it.
“I’d like to say you’re an unexpected surprise, Dark Prince, but alas, this is always how it was meant to be.” The man bowed his head in reverence to Dainan.
His deep azure robe flowed, with stark white cuffs creating a sharp contrast. The most striking feature were the faces sewn into the fabric.
Their expressions shifted fluidly with each movement, creating a mesmerizing effect.
I was grossly underdressed in comparison.
Gods, I need to get out of this fucking shift.
“If you would follow me.” Lifting his arm, he gestured us towards the cascading sounds of water, the billowing castle, a vision I didn’t understand.
Gritting my teeth and rounding my shoulders, I stood tall. Whatever this place was, if it held the Seers, it held the answers I needed—Brida, Kadian, freedom.
The mysterious man kept a steady pace in front of us. “It’s rare we have visitors, but we cherish the times we do. It gives Imelda a chance to use her cheeseboard.” The man said over his shoulder, bringing our attention back to him.
We hadn’t seen animals, save for the chameleons on the way here. Wherever they were getting their cheese from, I was unlikely to trust it.
With each step toward the building, the images became crisper. The edges no longer blurred, the faces sharp, and in focus. The same ones that danced across the sky were mirrored in the water of the building.
“Is everyone here a member of the Court of Reflection?” I asked the man who had begun singing a tune to himself.
“They say she was the herald of light, a Dawn awaiting her Dusk… Did you ask something?”
I repeated my question.
“Gods, no. There are few of us as it is. We are open to all whom Hild chooses to bestow her gift.”
“How is she bestowing gifts to members not of her court?” Peering over my shoulder, I saw a flicker in the water, just for a moment, a girl with dark hair with red infused into it, standing in the center of an explosion.
“Should you encounter Hild on your journey, you should ask her.”
Encounter Hild?
Normally, I would have laughed, but today anything seemed possible.
“Ah.” A woman wearing similar robes to the man approached us as we entered the palace. “Thetius, I’m pleased you’ve received our guests. If you wouldn’t mind, please inform the council of their arrival. I’ll ready them in the meantime.”
Thetius nodded and continued singing as he made his way down a corridor that was lined with waterfalls with flashing images traveling down the water, just glimpses, for seconds at a time.
“She walked through flame with her silence tight,
and eyes the color of rust.
But Gods grow quiet when mortals cry—
and fire forgets who it trusts.”
Dainan’s eyes remained fixed on the man called Thetius, listening to what he was singing as he rounded the corner.
“They carved her name in forgotten stone,
A whisper lost to the wind.
The stars looked down but did not mourn,
For even the stars have sinned.”
What sort of horrendous song is this?
“Welcome, Your Grace.” The woman said, breaking me from the spell of the song, and Dainan’s ever-growing raised brow. She bowed and turned to me, “How would you prefer to be addressed, Your Grace?”
“Grace?” I scoffed.
“Lil is fine. No need for formalities, you may call me Dainan.”
I silently thanked him after realizing she was asking whether or not to call me by my married name. I’m married. Married to a monster and a prince.
“If you would be so kind as to tell me your name,” Dainan asked, “I prefer to know who I’m addressing.”
The woman’s hair, a fair blonde so light it was almost silver, shimmered in the light reflecting off the watery walls.
“My name is Ithany Traver. It’s my pleasure to meet you both.” She smiled as she faced me. “You must be famished.”
I wasn’t.
“If you would please follow me.”
The corridor stretched before us, its floor a seamless expanse of silver marble, gleaming underfoot.
The walls on either side were living waterfalls, cascading down in a mesmerizing dance of water and light.
At first, the flowing water revealed fleeting images, the faces of strangers, unfamiliar and enigmatic.
But with each step, the images shifted. Faces I knew emerged—friends and loved ones, their expressions warm and inviting.
A few steps further, and the faces morphed again, becoming those I feared, their eyes cold and menacing.
The hallway became a living, breathing gallery of my memories and emotions, the interplay of water and light creating a surreal tapestry.
It was like the past and present were colliding, each image blending into the next. Breathe, just breathe.
As we approached the end of the hall, Ithany waved her hand. Water parted, revealing a door constructed from mother of pearl and handles made of hardened shell. Opening the door, she then stepped aside, inviting us to enter another corridor.
“Pardon me a moment.” Ithany made her way to speak with other robed individuals before we heard his voice.
“Oh there you are.” Thetius clasped his hands together before excusing himself from his group. He once again sauntered towards us.
“Do you think this man knows how to just walk?” I murmured to Dainan as Thetius approached.
“Hello, Thetius,” I put on my most practiced smile. “It is Thetius, is it not?”
“No need for such formalities, my girl. You may call me T, or Thee, or Tius.” I opened my mouth to respond, but was interrupted. “Even Ius would be fine.”
Smiling, I gave a slight nod of my head. “Very well, T. Is this the dining hall?” I gestured to the room at the end of the hall with two large effervescent doors. How do they not dissolve?
“I’m told we’ll be having silver trout for dinner.” Thetius leaned in closer, “And as I feared, a cheese platter. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He winked at me before turning to face Dainan.
“Ah, yes. Our dark prince. What do you think of our hovel thus far?”
Hovel. Ha.
“I haven’t spent time in many hovels, but I’m willing to argue, T,” he paused for emphasis, “that this is most certainly not that. You have built something extraordinary.”
Thetius smiled, bringing a hand to his cheek, either admiring Dainan’s words or the beauty of him. Possibly both. “Oh dear boy, if you continue to say things like that, you will do fine here. Fine indeed. Now, come, come. We want to secure the best seats.”
The doors opened on a phantom wind, bubbles floating into the air from the thrust, each bubble containing a vision of sorts.
A small dog chasing after a young boy, an elderly couple holding their presumed grandchild in their arms, a woman walking along a beach with a sky unlike anything I’d ever seen.
Littered with stars and a pink hue, it was beautiful.
And last, a young girl who offered me a wink, as if seeing me, before running with her back turned to me.
I shook my head, rubbing my eyes, trying to clear not only the weight of days-long fatigue, but the lingering images I wasn’t sure were real.
At the back of the room was cascading water, rocks added in this one to give some diversity to what we had already seen. However, despite the rapid water, it was quiet enough to set my pulse racing.
The side walls mirrored the back of the room, and the tables had been arranged in a semi-circle, with fifteen chairs.
“Fifteen people live here? In this whole place, only fifteen of you?” I questioned as Thetius pulled out a chair for me.
“Oh, sometimes.” He made his way to the chair next to me.
Turning to my right, I saw Dainan had sat down, wearing an expression that could mirror cracked glass.
“Did you see something?” I leaned in and whispered to him, but as I did, the door once again opened, revealing six others.
Without warning, a booming chime echoed through the room, and I jumped out of my seat.
“Come, come.” Thetius gestured for Dainan and me to rise. As we did, three more individuals made their way into the room, each wearing billowing white capes over their clothes, their hoods pulled over their heads, obscuring their faces.
They made their way to the bottom of the semi-circle, offering them the best view of the waterfall. After each took their seat, we sat, and chatter filled the hall.