“Thank you, Roseus,” Lockwood said. Some of the tension left his shoulders, but there was still some reservation in his face.
“If we were to leave now, we could get to the court before nightfall,” Roseus said.
“One of our number is unable to fly,” Lockwood said, indicating me.
Roseus’s face fell. “Oh, my. What happened?”
“My wing,” I said, looking over my shoulder at the thing I couldn’t see but was claiming hurt. “Those damned Unseelie, you know.”
Roseus nodded. “Indeed I do. All my difficulties these days are Unseelie difficulties.”
“Yes.” Orianna’s voice was stiff. “Very, uhm … troublesome people, those Unseelie.”
“We ran into some avara, as well,” Lockwood said. “Shortly before we met our friend here, trying to get back to safe lands.”
Roseus smiled at Orianna and me. “I welcome you home as well, ladies. It is good to have Summer folk back in Seelie territory. Your troubles are now over, and we will have your injuries tended to in time. For now, though,” he looked at Lockwood, “she could ride one of the pegasuses.”
I wanted to blurt out my excitement, but Lockwood’s stare squelched it before I even had the chance.
“Your kindness is appreciated,” Lockwood said, and we started on our way, following behind Roseus. He led us around the tower structure where the soldiers had stood their guard. On the other side stood a small stable, open air and covered with a thatched roof. Within waited a pegasus that stood taller than any of the faeries. He was a glorious creature, white bodied and maned, with feathery white wings that lay back from his wide shoulders. He had a golden saddle on his back, and he stared unthreateningly at us as we approached.
“Glorious, isn’t he?” Roseus asked, walking me over to the pegasus.
“Indeed,” I said, a little muted as I tried to keep from spraining something in my excitement or embarrassing myself in front of Lockwood. “Very nice.” A ridiculous understatement, but they thought I was fae, so it probably didn’t matter too much. I was dancing like mad on the inside.
“Have you ever ridden a pegasus before?” Roseus asked me as I approached.
“Never,” I said.
“She’s too young,” Orianna said from beside me. She was giving the pegasus a jaded once-over, like maybe she rode them all the time. “Hasn’t done much, really.”
I shot her a quelling look. “Speaking of not doing much, how about you do that—right now?”
“It’s very simple,” Roseus said, ignoring my clap back at Orianna. “He will understand whatever you say to him. And he knows where we are going.”
“I certainly do,” the pegasus said.
“Whuuuuuut?” My eyes nearly bulged from my head. “And he speaks?”
“Of course I can, dear girl,” the pegasus said. “I am no ordinary beast.”
“See?” Orianna told Roseus, a little smirk of triumph draped across her lips. “Lived under a rock for her whole life so far.”
“What a grand experience this will be for you, then,” Roseus said. He steadied me as I slung a foot into the stirrup and climbed up into the saddle. Once I was settled, I realized it was actually comfortable, unlike most saddles on Earth. It was made from supple leather, with a blanket wrapped snuggly beneath it to provide comfort to the pegasus, but it felt like I was sitting on my couch.
“What is your name?” the pegasus asked, craning his neck to look at me.
Still dumbfounded, I just stared into the pegasus’s large, black eye. “Cass—Cassandra,” I managed to get out. Part of me still wanting to squeal, though that part was muted by the fact that the winged horse was talking to me.
“Cassandra …” the pegasus replied. “Wonderful to meet you, child. I am Orion.”
“Like the hunter,” I said, and then really wished I could go back in time to take that back.
“You know of the Earth myth?” Orion blinked once.
“Just a little bit,” I said, trying to cover. “My, uh, father, told me about it.” Actually true.
“How curiously rare you are,” Orion said, then stamped his feet. “I am ready.”
“Make sure that you hold onto the reins,” Roseus said, patting Orion’s side. “We don’t need you falling out of your saddle if you can’t catch yourself by flying. Take good care of her now, Orion.”
“I shall indeed.”
“Are we ready?” Roseus called to the others.
Lockwood nodded his head. Orianna had shuffled up next to me, and grinned nervously up at me.
“Then let us go,” Roseus said, and he leapt up into the air, wings fluttering as he rose. Lockwood and Orianna joined him, the beat of their wings like the loudest cicadas I’d ever heard.
Orion didn’t wait long to follow, taking three great strides forward from beneath the thatched awning. His gallops were great, lurching steps, and then his wings unfolded and with a beat that blew my hair back, he rose into the air with a great sweep. My stomach plummeted as we flew, leaving the ground behind, the twisting locks of my hair swirling all around my face. Orion’s chest heaved as he drew in great breaths, and I could feel the flex of his muscles against my legs as his wings rose and fell.
I clutched onto the saddle desperately, but …
There was no fear. My hands were steady on the reigns, the wind blowing furiously against my face like I was sticking my head out the window on the freeway. Lockwood, Roseus and Orianna were ahead, fluttering furiously as I rode atop Orion, his great wings beating us aloft with slow power and confidence.
And all I could feel was just …
Pure elation.
My eyes were streaming, and it was hard to catch my breath against the wind pounding my face as we flew, but I had never felt anything quite like this before. The car ride with the head out the window didn’t quite cover it, because the ground was hundreds of feet below. It was nothing like an airplane ride, either, with the wind blowing hard against my face.
Everything was a rush of color and smells as we flew. Orion’s great wings whooshed as the air passed over them and rushed in my ears.
Orianna lagged back, coming alongside, watching me as I grinned like an idiot. I thought I might burst into tears from the excitement of it all. She just shook her head and sped up, leaving me behind to rejoin the other two.
This was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Better than getting sucked into a movie. Better than any game. Better than a song that hit you right in the feels.
Flying was better than all of that. I was completely addicted.
We swooped over the pointed tree tops, the beating of Orion’s wings sending them swaying as we passed. We climbed as we wove our way around some mountains, peaks of snow high above us and yet still, from my perch atop the pegasus, seemingly within reach. Low hanging clouds parted as we rushed through them, Orion following in the wake of Roseus, Lockwood, and Orianna as we sailed the sky.
It was exhilarating. My heart pounded in my chest. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt this alive, this free …
“Do you think the queen is going to see you?” Orianna asked Lockwood. I could barely hear her voice over the sound of Orion’s wings. We burst out of the cloud bank, and a green valley lay spread out before us, multi-colored smoke coming from the dots of faerie settlements.
“Perhaps,” Lockwood said. “The Spring Court is now in retrograde, moving toward Summer. If it has not happened already, they are sure to hand off very soon.”
I didn’t quite understand that.
Orianna rolled her eyes. “Seelie politics.”
“You dislike our ways?” Roseus asked, turning his head just slightly so I could hear him over the rushing winds.
“I don’t much care,” Orianna said, shrugging. “Though I have heard that the Queen of Winter and her king are very much on the same page. Unlike here, where they have entirely mismatched agendas.” She squinted in thought. “What is that called … a marriage of convenience?”
“Hold on a second …” I said, cutting him off before we drew any attention from the others. “Forgive me, for I’ve been in the, uh, outlands for quite a while.” Roseus gave me a strange look, then nodded in a go on kind of way. “There’s more than one court?”
“Summer and Winter each have a subcourt,” Roseus said. “Autumn for Winter, Spring for Summer. They take up the reins in their respective season, subject to the oversight of their mother court.”
“Like … literal seasons?” I asked. Because back on Earth, it was definitely late spring, leading into summer, which dovetailed nicely with what Lockwood had said.
Lockwood met my eyes, and I suspected his answer was veiled to carry additional meaning that only I would catch. “Close enough. Though the seasons do not change within their own respective kingdoms, as it were—Winter remains in winter, for the most part, and Summer … well, you get the idea. The neutral lands, however—”
“Are currently warmed by the gentle sunshine of spring,” Orion finished for him. Still not used to my flying horse talking. “Soon they will be beat upon the strong heat of summer, and the crops will grow stronger.”
“I did notice that as we passed through,” I said, taking it all in. If I understood Lockwood’s implications correctly …
The change of court power here seemed to coincide with the seasons on Earth. That was … interesting.
“The orderly transition of that power has been the hallmark of our world for centuries,” Lockwood said.
Orianna snorted. “Orderly. That’s a good one.”
Lockwood sent her a searing look. “You would prefer the chaos of seasons gone awry? One day of crippling snow in the neutral territories followed by the next a searing heat?”
“Hardly,” Orianna said, looking right back at him without flinching. “I merely suggest that it’s not as ordered as you imply.” She looked at me. “There is bickering and ill feelings between the Summer and Winter factions. Squabbling, I suppose you could say.”
“Nothing as complex as this comes easily or without flaw,” Lockwood replied. “It is a measure of how we have advanced ourselves that there is no war every time the transition comes. That territories have generally remained constant—”
“Till now, anyway.” Orianna’s face was scarlet, and she flew around to the other side of Orion to be away from Lockwood.
He shrugged. “Life is change.”
“So there’s a king in charge of the Spring Court?” I asked. “And that is who we’re meeting?”
“If the Spring remains in charge, then yes,” Lockwood said, lagging back to come alongside me and Orion. “I would probably do better to plead my case in front of Queen Pruina of Summer, but I have no control over which court is in session.”
“That’s … really confusing,” I said, keeping my voice low and hoping only the pegasus could hear me. And not read too much into my ignorance of their ways. Hey, I was just a poor faerie girl from way outside their civilized territories. Or something. I still wasn’t entirely clear on how this world worked, but from what I’d inferred and the reactions of Roseus and Orianna to me, I had guessed that this was not an entirely unheard of thing. “You know that, right?”
Lockwood sighed. “Yes. I do.”
“Do you think we can trust Roseus?” I asked in a low voice. “Because you looked like you were really struggling with it back there.”
Lockwood stared at the back of Roseus’s head, considering my words. “I think we can,” he said slowly. “It was fortuitous that we ran into him and not another paladin. Perhaps, with his aid, we will make it out of this yet.”
“Oh, good,” I said. Nice to know that our hopes of survival had been so stellar from the beginning. Not.
“Are you feeling all right?” he asked, flittering in a little closer to me, wings flashing in the sunlight.
“Yeah,” I said, hands solid on the reins. The wind blew across my face and I closed my eyes for just a second. “Amazing, actually.”
“Good,” he said, a look of relief passing over his face. “Mill would never forgive me if anything happened to you.”
Mill. Everything in faerie had engulfed me so fully that I’d hardly had a moment to think of Mill.
Man. He was totally going to be jealous that I got to ride on the back of a pegasus.
We fell into silence, and I just enjoyed the rhythmic rise and fall of Orion’s wings, the passing of the green scenery around us. We passed over an enchanted lake that was as red as rubies and smelled sweetly even a hundred feet up.
“What’s that?” I asked, staring into its crimson depths.
“The Lake of Croamar,” Orion said, turning his head to look at me. His black eye reflected the red of the lake below, the refraction of the sun off its surface giving his flawless coat a pink hue. “Should you drink from it, you will fall into an enchanted slumber filled with peaceful dreams.”
“That sounds … magical,” I said, as we passed back over land and the most verdant trees filled the ground to the horizon. There was a new warmth to the air as we flew, and it smelled fresh and spicy, almost like a sweet cinnamon, or cloves.
“It is,” Orion said.
Something glittered in the distance, and I stared. It was like a rainbow come to life, a disco ball of light erupting at the edge of the sky like some sort of prismatic volcano.
I let out a gasp as I realized … it was a city. Vast, colorful, and magnificent. And at its center … a great castle atop a mighty hill. It was taller than it was wide, with many turrets of all sizes reaching into the sky above, each sending up its own rainbow of light.
“Do you like it?” Orion asked as the others fluttered ahead, his words jarring me out of my stunned state.
“I … It’s magnificent,” I breathed as we swooped closer. It was enormous now, like a dozen skyscrapers from New York City knitted together in one glorious, prismatic fortress.
“Welcome to the city of Starvale, young Seelie,” Orion called over his shoulder as we drew nearer to the stronghold of the Summer Court in all its shimmering glory. “Welcome home.”
Chapter 21
Starvale was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Enchanting wasn’t strong enough of a world, and other worldly seemed too mundane. Movie-style CGI wouldn’t have done it justice, either. The best way I could think of to explain it was to cross a rainbow with an anime scene that Xandra had tried to show me.
The gate to the city was a large bridge made of bright purple crystal, so clear that I could see everything through it, including that the city itself was on a floating hunk of rock large enough that I was sure that all of Manhattan island could have fit on it comfortably. Beneath the rock was a pool of glowing blue … something. Liquid? Gas? I wasn’t sure. It sparkled and swirled, but moved like water.
Seelie guards stood in white armor along the arching bridge that was as wide as a three-lane highway. They bowed to General Roseus as he strode across it. We had landed just shy of the bridge, and Orion was now carrying me across on his back as I took in the scenery, wide-eyed.
The city gates were wide open to all who wished to enter, but with every step, apprehension swelled in my chest. My time in Seelie thus far had made me wary that there was something here beyond the bright lights and big city. Something here that I couldn’t see.
Almost as if on cue, my vision flickered, and I stared up at a huge metal door, steel grey and forbidding, larger than a cathedral, with a thousand locks scattered over the surface.
I blinked, and the image cleared from my eyes.
A glamour? Was that what I was seeing in the rainbows and the glory of Starvale? A giant glamour meant to make it look amazing while the reality beneath was cold and forbidding?
Because if so, that suggested everything I’d seen—dead unicorns, the horror
s of the hospital—it was all some sort of massive display of magic meant to … what?
Make everything seem more awesome than it was?
“Lockwood …” I mumbled, and he adjusted his pace to come alongside me. Once he was, I leaned down to whisper in his ear. “I just saw a door here.”
“Your sight flickered again?” he asked.
“Yeah, but I don’t know … it sort of happened when I wanted it to this time. And it hasn’t really happened since we entered Seelie territory—”
“Come, friends,” Roseus said from the front of our little procession. He beckoned Orion toward a stable, where fresh straw sparkled like gold.
I patted Orion on the neck as he dutifully clip-clopped over and then knelt to allow me to dismount easily. I slung a leg over him and touched ground, then ran a hand along his mane as he rose again.
“Thank you, Orion,” I said. “You were amazing.”
Orion nuzzled his nose against my cheek. “It was a great pleasure, little one. I hope to see you again soon.”
I hoped so, too, but kept it to myself as I fell in behind Roseus and the others, into the bustling streets of Starvale. With a look back, I saw the gates still seemed to be wide over the purple bridge.
So … why did I get the feeling that they’d shut behind us? No flicker greeted me this time to confirm it, though, and I turned back to following Roseus along the wide, impressive avenue through the city.
Houses of all shapes and sizes, colors, and materials lined each side of the street. The long, white-stoned avenue provided a neutral center, leading all the way to the castle up on the hill, but everything around it was such a hodge-podge of colors that I could hardly understand which way was up.
“This is very unlike a human city …” Lockwood whispered to me. “Faerie order is less about having things neat and tidy, and more about having things the way they we want them.”
That much was obvious. Some houses were floating, others were tucked up in trees like they had been in the first Seelie town. Some were tall and skinny, with a door at the roof, and others were round like orbs, with no apparent entrance at all.
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