by Lucy Fear
“Yes,” Fenella agreed, her smile showing very white and lightly pointed teeth. “It will be nice to be able to eat proper food again. Speaking of which, let me show you to your room so you can get ready for dinner.”
*
Rowan shivered as she walked down the corridor toward the feasting hall, guided by Fenella. Not that she was cold. Despite the fact that there were balconies open to the night air every few yards along the hallway, the air was as balmy as midsummer. But the outfit she was dressed in made her feel as though she was walking into battle stark naked, and it had been the most conservative gown in the wardrobe.
Made of many layers of sheer, diaphanous fabric, it left her shoulders bare and gave a generous view of her décolletage before sweeping all the way to the floor, clinging to her hips without a petticoat in sight. It would have been scandalous even at the wildest London party, but she couldn’t deny that it was beautiful.
Dyed pale blue at the top and embroidered with clouds of fine lace, the color darkened to periwinkle around the belt at her waist, which was fashioned like a many-rayed golden sun. But the bottom of the dress was midnight blue and embellished with crystalline stars that sparkled as she moved.
Fenella had also braided her chestnut hair into an intricate updo and arrayed her with sparkling accessories depicting the sun, moon, and stars in gold, silver, and diamonds. When Rowan had seen her reflection in the full-length mirror of her new bedroom, she had hardly recognized herself, and felt stuck somewhere between awe and utter mortification.
“You’re sure that this is the current fashion in the Court?” she asked Fenella for likely the thousandth time, wrapping her arms around herself more tightly.
Her handmaiden laughed, a cheerful sound like birdsong. “You’ll fit right in. Just wait and see.” And then they had arrived at the doorway to the feasting hall. To Rowan’s dismay, a booming voice announced her arrival, and every eye turned in her direction. At least Fenella had been right about one thing; her attire was by far the least outlandish among the ladies of the Court.
Even some of the men were dressed in fantastical getups, headdresses that looked like horns or antlers, outfits composed primarily of body paint, and wings and claws that may or may not have been real. If anything in the Otherworld could truly be called real.
But, as she made her way to the high table set up on the dais, she saw that the two princes, at least, had dressed more conventionally. She wondered if that was to comfort her or if it was only that they were beautiful enough not to need ornamentation.
Aidan was on the left, dressed in a silk tunic of dark indigo like the scales of his dragon form. A silver coronet, set with onyx stars and a horned moon of fiery opal, was nestled in his raven hair. The other prince, who, Rowan remembered, must be called Niall, had taken off most of his armor but was still wearing a white and gold enamelled breastplate and a sky-blue cloak. He was wearing a crown as well, golden and fashioned like an eagle with wings spreading over his temples, a giant aquamarine held in its beak. He grinned and waved as she approached.
“You look absolutely gorgeous, Lady Rowan,” he said when she got into hearing distance, his smile wide enough to show his white teeth. “Wouldn’t you agree, brother?”
“It is a slight improvement over mortal fashion,” Aidan remarked drily, barely glancing her way before turning his attention back to his goblet.
Rowan’s cheeks were burning, but she managed to speak without stammering. “You are both looking quite charming this evening as well, my Lords.” She took the seat between them, her heart fluttering with nervousness at being so close to them.
Then, it occurred to her that she was seated at the center of the high table in front of the entire Court, almost as if she was presiding over it. It was not a comfortable feeling. “Will your father not be joining us this evening?” she asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking as Fenella filled her glass.
“No, he has matters of his own to attend to,” Niall answered.
“Thank the Tree,” Aidan muttered from her other side. She wasn’t sure if he intended her to overhear it or not.
“Besides, I think he wanted to give us the opportunity to have you all to ourselves. Father can be a little overwhelming.”
“I had noticed,” Rowan agreed, and Niall laughed, a loud, hearty chortle. She felt some of her tension ease. Immortal nobility of the Otherworld he might be, but Niall was surprisingly easy to talk to. And the food was delicious.
Rowan had felt a pang of anxiety as she swallowed the first bite. All the tales warned about tasting the food of the Otherworld because it was enchanted to keep you there forever, but if she was going to be here for a year or more, there was little point in starving herself.
Now she wondered, feeling like a traitor all the while, if the reason for the legend was only because the food was so fantastic that you’d never want to stop eating it. She’d never tasted so many different amazing and exotic flavours.
And there was music, like nothing she had ever heard before. It seemed to get inside her, strumming her heart until she wanted to laugh aloud or weep. She was so caught up in it that she hardly noticed the touch on her arm, and when Niall spoke into her ear, she jumped. “You seem to like the music. Would you care to dance?”
Once again, she felt blood rushing to her cheeks and a thrill of alarm in her heart. Dancing with a prince of the fae, surely that was dangerous to the point of idiocy? But there was no denying that he was handsome, and she couldn’t forget that she was bound by her word to become much more intimate with one of the princes.
May as well start getting to know them. “I would like that,” she said, placing her hand in the one he now offered her. Niall pulled her to her feet and led her past the tables and out to the garden where the musicians played. Rowan felt eyes upon her, and she looked back to see Aidan scowling at them in disapproval. She scowled back. If he didn’t want her to dance with his brother, he should have asked her himself.
The garden was lit only by the full moon, which hung so low in the sky she felt she could almost touch it. There were a few other couples twirling around to the merry music, but Rowan still felt self-conscious, especially when Prince Niall put his hand on her waist. She could feel the heat of his fingers through the fabric of her gown, and his grip on her other hand was strong and sure. “I don’t think I know the steps to this dance.”
“Me either,” he replied, and then he whirled her across the floor. Niall was much more graceful than his muscular build would suggest. She supposed that was only to be expected from one of the Aos Si, but it still made her heart soar with glee as they spun across the garden. It felt like flying.
She closed her eyes to keep from being dizzied by the scenery racing by, and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. The music slowed, and they came to a stop. When Rowan opened her eyes, she could see that Niall looked a little awkward as he removed his hands from her.
“Thank you for the dance, Prince Niall,” she said, sketching a curtsey to him. His face relaxed into a grin.
“I enjoyed it, Lady Rowan,” he replied easily. “I was thinking, since you’re supposed to be getting to know us, maybe you’d like to come visit my domain sometime soon?”
“Your domain? You mean you live somewhere else?” she asked, blinking in surprise. She hadn’t yet considered the possibility, but she supposed it made sense.
“Any fae with enough power can create their own domain here,” Niall said. “I have one, and so does my brother. Anybody who’s anybody in the Court is bound to have at least a small one. Still under the Lord’s jurisdiction but powered and bound by one’s own magic.”
“I see,” she said thoughtfully. It was possible that this could be somewhat risky. Rowan knew that her bargain with Lord Kennet had said nothing about keeping her safe. But there was no way she could get to know the Princes enough to make this decision if she did not extend them at least a little trust, and she would make sure that she was not completely defenceless
“In that case, I would be quite interested in going for a short visit, at the very least, if you would not mind giving me a few days to prepare.”
Niall smiled again. “Of course. Have your handmaiden send me a message whenever you’re ready. I’m excited to show you around.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” she said, and she found that she meant it. She couldn’t say that she trusted Prince Niall completely, but he didn’t give her the same feeling of heart-gripping terror that his father did. And she truly was interested to see his domain.
“Until then,” he said, his voice a little softer, and he brought her hand up to his mouth, brushing his lips against her knuckles. Her heart fluttered, and she blinked in surprise before giving herself a sharp internal rebuke. This is no time to swoon over the first pretty man you see.
He walked away, not back to the feasting table, but through the garden. She sighed after him and turned to return to her seat, but then she noticed that Prince Aidan wasn’t there either. For some reason, she felt irritated by this discovery.
“Are you ready to retire, my Lady?” asked Fenella, appearing at her side as if by magic. It probably is magic, Rowan admitted to herself.
“Yes, thank you. This has been a rather exhausting day.”
*****************
Rowan didn’t think she’d ever get to sleep, no matter how tired she was. The bed was huge and soft as a cloud, but it wasn’t hers. Every unfamiliar night noise reminded her that she was now trapped in the Otherworld, the place she’d always been warned against.
Even teachers, like Professor Archwood, who had regular contact with the Aos Si told the students that the world of the fae was dangerous for mortals. She shivered every time she imagined all of the things that could be going on outside her room.
Then, she heard music. It sounded like it was coming from right outside the window, and she was tempted to go look, but the music was sweet and sad and soothing. It seemed to steal inside her mind and carry away all of her anxieties. An image of a starry night sky appeared before her eyes, and before she knew it, she was sound asleep.
The next morning, Rowan decided to speak to Fenella about Prince Niall’s invitation. She wasn’t entirely sure how much she could trust her (former?) familiar, but she decided that she may as well get as much information as possible. The moment she brought it up, Fenella’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Have you chosen Prince Niall already, then?” she said, her eyebrows raised and her hands clasped together.
“No,” Rowan replied, shaking her head. “But he invited me, and it didn’t seem like a bad way to get to know him. You don’t think it will be dangerous, do you?”
Fenella pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I mean, it always pays to keep your guard up here, especially among the nobility, but I don’t think it’ll be any less safe in Prince Niall’s domain. He seems like he’d be too concerned with his honor to try and cheat his brother, no matter how much he wants to be heir.”
Rowan had a strong sense that this was too frank of a statement to be false. Maybe she would have an ally here after all. “So, tell me, Fenella. What do you think of the Princes?”
“Well, I have been gone a while, and I’m not exactly high ranking, but I’ll tell you what I know,” she said, plopping down into a chair across from Rowan and curling her knees up under her. “From what I understand, the Princes are close in age, but they have different mothers.
Prince Aidan’s mother was a high-ranking lady from the Court of Bones, and the rumor is that Lord Kennet truly loved her, but she died when Aidan was very young.”
The Court of Bones. Rowan had heard of it before. All aspiring wizards in Britain were taught the basics of the three Fae Courts. The Court of the Heavens consisted of spirits of the air and celestial bodies, the Court of Waves was ruled by spirits concerned with water, and the Court of Bones was supposed to rule over the land. But it had a sinister reputation for being a place that glorified death and pain. It was hard to know how true that was.
“How did Aidan’s mother die? Surely it’s not that common.”
“It’s true that we Fae don’t age like mortals do, and we’re immune to most illnesses, but we can still be killed. Some people think it was political. There were people in this Court that didn’t like having a woman from the Court of Bones holding so much power. There was even a rumor that she was killed by her own relatives for betraying them.”
“That’s horrible,” Rowan said, shivering. She’d assumed the danger here was mostly of the magical variety, but it seemed this place was also politically cutthroat. What had she gotten herself into? “So, what happened to Aidan after she died?”
“He was raised here until his father remarried, but he was still a child when Niall’s mother, a lady of our court, shipped him off to his mother’s relatives.”
“Back to the Court of Bones? From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like a nurturing place to grow up,” Rowan said, thinking back on how cold Aidan had been. Cold, but never cruel. At least that was the sense she got from their brief interactions.
“I don’t think so either, but Prince Aidan seems to have come out of it all right. He and Prince Niall bicker, but I don’t think there’s any real animosity there. Hopefully, Lord Kennet’s little contest doesn’t change that.”
“So, you think both of the Princes are decent people?” That was how Rowan felt, honestly, but she wasn’t sure she could trust her own senses.
“I don’t think either of them are evil, if that’s what you’re asking,” Fenella said with a shrug. “But I do think you ought to get to know the both of them yourself. What’s normal to me might end up being really shocking for you. And, as you should know, nothing here is what it seems.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Rowan said firmly. “Thank you for your information, Fenella. I just realized,” she said, flashing a bashful smile, “I’ve been calling you by the name I gave to a cat, but you must have your own name.”
The fae girl smiled and shook her head, her white pigtails swaying. “Low-ranking fae like me don’t always have personal names like you mortals do. I like Fenella well enough.” It was such a strange thought to Rowan, to not even have a name to call oneself by, that she found herself frowning. “Anything else you want to ask me, or are you ready for your tour of the palace?”
Rowan shook herself and smiled. “I’ve been wanting to ask you some things about the way magic works here, but we can talk as we walk, if you’re willing.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Finally, the day had come for Rowan to travel to Niall’s domain. Fenella led her to the meeting place, which proved to be a freestanding stone trellis in the middle of a picturesque garden. Morning glories twined up the archway, iridescent butterflies resting among the fragrant petals. It was a beautiful place, but Prince Niall was nowhere to be seen. “I hope we aren’t dreadfully early. Goodness knows, I can hardly make heads or tails of your people’s clocks.”
Fenella shook her head. “I don’t see what’s so confusing about them. But we’re right on time. Just watch the gateway.”
“Gateway?” she muttered, looking around in confusion, and then she saw, in the space inside the stone arch, a glimmer. Extending her senses, she could feel, in the ever-present haze of magic around her, a concentration of power. It spun out gossamer strands, like a spider web building itself, and pulled power inward like a magnet.
Rowan watched in awe as a shimmering web of light filled the entire archway, and then, with a flash, a figure appeared, striding into the garden from nowhere as if they were simply walking from one room to another.
“Prince Niall?!” Rowan exclaimed, too astounded to remember her manners. His answering grin was not a little smug.
“If I’d known you would be this excited to see me, Lady Rowan, I might have come earlier,” he said, approaching the two women with a sure step and an eager grin.
Rowan didn’t want him to get the wrong idea, but she didn’t want t
o offend him either. “I’ve never seen magic like that before. I was certainly not expecting you to walk out of thin air.”
Niall raised his eyebrows. “I suppose the magic in the mortal realm is a bit too weak to sustain a gate, but we frequently use them for transportation.” Rowan nodded. In asking Fenella how magic worked in the Otherworld, she had learned that though the kind of magic she practiced would work just fine, she would be capable of so much more here, simply due to the greater amount of magic available.
She had tried out a few things, but she hadn’t been brave enough to attempt anything truly challenging. Lord Kennet would probably be put out if she set fire to his palace, after all.
“If you’re interested in portal magic, there’s probably books in my library. I’m not much of a student, but you’re welcome to read what I have,” Niall said easily.
Nothing piqued Rowan’s interest quite like the mention of a library full of books she’d never read. “Oh, how wonderful. Thank you very much, Prince Niall.”
“It’s no trouble.” He smiled and extended his hand to her. “Are you ready to depart then, my lady?”
She took a deep breath and took his hand. “Yes, I am.” Turning, she waved goodbye to Fenella, who gave her a polite wave, but looked as anxious as Rowan felt. Though her handmaiden had assured her that it was normal for servants not to attend their masters when they travelled, Rowan did not enjoy the idea of leaving her only friend behind.
Still, she was resolved to put on a brave face and learn as much about Niall as she could. He seemed like someone she would be able to get along with, and if that held true, perhaps her bargain with Lord Kennet would not be as much of a nightmare as she’d imagined.
They approached the shimmering wall of light, and Niall squeezed her fingers tightly. “Do not let go of my hand. I was told that this can be disorienting for mortals.” With that last warning, they stepped through the gate.
**********************
Disorienting, Rowan later decided, would not even begin to describe it. She was falling through light and shadow, exploding into color, and dissolving into nothing all at once. Everything she was and ever would be was pulled out in a line that stretched to infinity, and then she collapsed back onto herself just as she landed hard on gleaming white stone. It took an effort not to hurl up her breakfast. She forced herself to breathe, slow and deep.
