by G. Bailey
In the centre of the city, lies a castle with jagged towers stretching into the clouds. All the towers make a pentagon shape, a blue light casts down from the moon, reflects off everything from the buildings to the plants, and trees. The Dark Fae Court isn’t dark at all, it really is full of light.
The horses lead us down to the castle in the middle and instead of landing outside in the many courtyards I spot, they fly into the towers before coming to a halt. The glass door swings open and warm air blows against me as I see the balcony we are in front of. There is a gap for us to step out and two large wolves wait on either side of the pathway.
“That is Hati and Skoll,” he gruffly tells me, eying the wolves with distrust.
My eyes widen. “The wolves from the Book of Zorya? The wolves who were said to chase the moon and the sun across the sky to make the gods happy?”
“Yes, those exact wolves. They serve your mother now and whoever sits on the dark throne,” he replies, stepping out of the carriage and holding a hand out for me.
I take his hand, trying not to look down as I step onto the balcony and meet the eyes of one of the wolves. They are bright silver, like the moon itself. Until the wolf moves, I feel locked in his gaze.
Pitch keeps my hand in his as we follow the wolves down a long corridor made of the same glass as the carriage but the floor looks like pure silver. Low, light blue lights, which look like wisps, float in a line down the ceiling.
“This place can feel daunting, but don’t be afraid,” Pitch tells me, but he would feel like that. He grew up here for a good part of his life. To me, this place looks like a base castle for every evil castle, in every movie, I’ve ever watched. Knowing that dark doesn’t mean evil, as much as light doesn’t mean good, I’m not judging yet.
“The light court was more inviting,” I whisper, not wanting anyone to hear me. One of the wolves, gods, I’m going to have to learn who is who, looks back at me and snarls.
“Well, you will be back there for the start of the tryouts this week.” Pitch doesn’t sound all that happy about it.
“Why would I?” I ask, frowning.
“If you didn’t blank out most of your lessons at the academy, you would have heard that Fae Tryouts this year are held in the light and fae kingdoms,” he softly explains as we get to double glass doors which have tiny stars pressed into the many layers of deep glass. The wolves push their noses against the door before sitting back as the doors slowly open inward.
My father was right. My mother has a thing for a dramatic entrance.
I guess I now know where I got that from.
As the doors open, soft black butterflies flutter past the doors in a wave, swirling within each other and disappearing out of view as we step into the dark fae court. It is one huge oval-shaped room with open glass walls, letting moonlight beam down like we are in the middle of a jewel. The bottom floor has a wall of mirrors that completely surrounds us, making the room seem much bigger. Birds of all different colours, and fireflies spin around to silent music, disappearing in and out of the many trees and bushes dotted around the room. The bushes are a mixture of colours, all lit up like the moon is making them come alive. The trees are like nothing I’ve seen before. Instead of leaves, crystals in the shapes of leaves hang off the dark wooden branches.
The light kingdom smells sweet, but the dark kingdom somehow smells comforting. I find myself relaxing even as I take in the bad parts of this room. The ones I’ve tried to ignore. Creatures—no, dark fae women—dance around the trees, there must be at least ten of them. That’s not the frightening part. Their heads are on fire, a smoldering sapphire flame that completely covers their faces and necks. I try not to look at them as I take in the most powerful force in the room.
My mother.
She sits on a star-shaped throne with not a hint of emotion on her face. The edges of the Throne of Luna curl upward and hold a moon above her head that glows cobalt blue. The light shines on my mother’s ebony hair, flawlessly straight and falling over one shoulder. Five wolves cast in gold make up her crown, each of them pouncing to hold the black jewel in the middle. Her eyes are vibrant blue that matches the light blue dress that skims over her body underneath a thin black cloak that clips at her shoulders, leaving her arms bare. Snakes of gold wrap around her wrists and slither down to form rings on her middle fingers. Deadly stiletto heels adorn her feet. Overall, I see nothing similar about us.
The dark fae queen is terrifying, powerful and in complete and utter control.
I’m a mixture of darkness, light, and shadows, and I’m never in control.
“Welcome to my court, Princess Corvina,” Narah says, her voice strong and somehow very feminine at the same time. Its familiar tone hurts something in me. I might remember her voice from when I was a baby. Wow, is that possible? I try not to show any emotion as Pitch kneels down on one knee and bows at his queen.
Narah finally looks at him and the pressure leaves my chest. “My precious prince is home.”
Now that stings. I bite my tongue to stop myself from saying anything rude. I need this woman’s help to find Sage. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway. I don’t see us having a mother and daughter relationship any time soon.
She turns her steely eyes back to me and I keep eye contact with her. I don’t read any emotion in her cold, calculating eyes. She parts her cherry-red lips.
“Bow,” she commands but the order hangs in the air for several moments. I don’t look away from her silver eyes. I feel Pitch looking up at me, begging me to bow, but I won’t.
I can’t.
“No,” I respond, crossing my arms.
The room feels like it’s crackling with magic as Narah stands off her throne. She walks down the four steps leading up to her throne and laughs. It’s a simple, sweet sound that doesn’t fit the woman standing before me. If anything, it puts me on edge far more than I was a second ago.
“I am impressed.” She walks closer and I feel like I’m being hunted by a wild predator, but instead, it’s my biological mother. “No daughter of mine should bow to anyone.”
“Then you understan—” I end my sentence with a scream as Narah lifts her hand, wrapping dark magic around me. The magic slams me onto my knees before holding me in place.
Pitch is sent flying by a whoosh of magic from Narah’s other hand, let go before I can even react with my own attack.
I grit my teeth as I look up at my insane mother.
“I understand your strength, but not your disrespect. In my court, there will be none of that for me.” She holds a hand out to me as she stops talking. “Now rise, my daughter. We will have fae tea and discuss whatever you like.”
I glance over at Pitch who’s standing now, he nods once, telling me to go. With a deep breath, I swallow down my anger and take my mother’s hand.
By Selena help me, I’m about to have tea with a crazy queen.
“Do drink your tea. It takes a fae ten years to brew such power inside those bags,” Narah demands as she sits in a high-backed chair on the other side of a tiny glass table.
Honestly, I’m not sure if the tea is poisoned, or what makes it ‘fae tea’ in the first place. It looks like normal tea although a bit too milky for my taste. I glance over the dark fae kingdom which I can see perfectly from this private balcony at the front of the castle. Wanting to change the subject to anything else, I look at the pink flowers and yellow vines wrapped around the black banister. They’re extremely pretty and I know Sage would love them. She would love this entire place for that matter.
A memory flashes into my mind as I stare at the flowers which are the same colour as Sage’s hair and it reminds me of the day before she dyed it pink.
“Okay, if you could see any court of the fae, which one would it be?” I ask Sage as I sit on a branch of a tree at the back of someone’s garden. We checked when we flew here and the human owners aren’t home, thankfully. We had to get out of the foster home for Sage’s tenth birthday and I knew she wan
ted to go swimming. So when I found this place, it was perfect even though Sage was chicken shit about sneaking in the pool.
Sage swims around the swimming pool and floats on her back as she looks my way.
Seems someone loves her birthday present after all.
“The dark court. I’ve quizzed every warden and keeper about it.” Sage sighs almost dreamily. “It sounds so magical and perfect. But if I’m honest with you, Vina, I would love to see all of the fae courts. Even the dragons which you forgot!”
“Hey!” I pout, picking off a dead leaf and throwing it at her. She giggles and dives under the water before turning into an odd-looking purple fish. I laugh as she swims around blowing bubbles, thinking to myself that I actually don’t want to see the courts or the fae. That world has always seemed too much for me.
And it always will.
“What has your soul crying?” Narah’s smooth voice snaps me back into the moment.
I place my hand on my wet cheek, rubbing the evidence away before I steel my gaze on her.”Do you actually care?” I question, lowering my hands to cup the tea. “You let me go as a baby. You gave me to humans you didn’t even know.”
“Your father gave you to humans,” she sneers. It’s the first time I see any real emotion from her. “But since you brought this up, are you aware of what actually happened at your birth?”
I give a hesitant half-shrug. “Other than the fact my father gave me to humans. I assumed you were on board with the whole plan.”
“You assumed wrong,” she snaps, and it takes me by surprise. She looks away from me to the city. “When I was sleeping one night, protected by my royal guard of women I had chosen and trained to protect my unborn child, King Ulric broke into my chamber and convinced my royal guard to help hold me down after drugging me. He then had you cut from my womb, stole you and left a human baby in your place.”
My hand falls to my mouth. “Oh, my Selena.”
“Selena had no part in this story.” Her eyes turn on me as a single, frozen tear drops down her ashen cheek. “I only saw you in a haze, for no longer than a second, but I loved you. I carried you in my womb and loved you.”
I gulp, my hands shaking as my heart beats so loud every other noise disappears.
“What about Pitch? You adopted him?”
“He was weak and tiny, and I instantly despised him. He. Was. Not. You. In my grief, I poured dark magic into his soul expecting him to die, knowing it would be better for him, but he just didn’t. Pitch became a dark fae and I cried as I picked him up and apologised for the first time in my life.”
My heart breaks for her, but it also breaks for Pitch. He went through as much as me as a baby, if not more. “I spent many years making up for my moment of anger and grief by claiming Pitch as my heir and ensuring the people of my kingdom adored him and knew not that he was once human. I named him Pitch, like the night he came to me. There were no stars in the sky that night. I believe Selena hid them away so the world knew how there was no light in the actions of that day.”
Tears glaze my lashes. “He loves you and sees you as his mother,” I say, knowing it’s true. She lifts her head, nodding once and it’s clear she won’t talk about this subject anymore. I also now know why she started a war and killed thousands of people in her anger. I wonder what she did to make it up to them. The war, all of this, is both their faults. But it is more my father’s for his betrayal. I can’t believe I started to think he was the good guy in all of this.
“Please say you killed the women in your guard who let my father in,” I ask, disgust clogging my throat. I lift the tea and take a deep drink, and in the name of Selena, it tastes like drinking pure and utter joy. I drink it all in a blink and look up to find Narah smiling at me.
She laughs as she waves a hand in dismissal. “Killing was too much of a mercy. I merely turned them all into courtlin creatures. They aren’t alone as many women come to my court and ask to stay. This is the price.”
I frown for a moment before I remember the women with burning heads and my eyes widen.
“Other than you, no beautiful woman is allowed in my court while I rule unless they choose to be a courtlin creature. Women use beauty as a weapon, and I will not have it used in my court again, other than by me,” she remarks rather proudly.
Well, I thought she wasn’t insane for a second. Seems like she’s completely bonkers.
“Now tell me your troubles. You are my heir and I wish to help you.”
“Really?” I softly ask. “With no price?”
“I have a feeling you’d accept any price I offer,” she says with a cruel smile. “But in this case, no price will be taken.”
I watch her eyes for a moment before nodding. “My best friend, a girl I see as a sister, has gone missing. She is a shadowborn and her name is Sage Millhouse.”
“Is she dead?” Narah asks with no cruelty in her tone, just curiosity.
“No, we are close and have a bond. I would know if she were dead. I still feel her in my soul but I can’t find her. Sage would never leave me.”
“Guards!” Narah shouts, still watching me. Three guards instantly run over, coming to a halt near our table. “One of you will go and get us more tea. The other two, go and prepare the royal army to search every inch of this forest for a shadowborn girl named Sage Milhouse. I will have a photo prepared to be magically copied for every guard. The reward for her safe return shall be very high.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” they say in unison before they bow and rush off.
“Thank you,” I whisper and she nods only once.
“In return, you will tell me of your life. Everything, from the start.”
For the next few hours, I tell my mother everything.
I tell her about my life and how I almost wish she had been part of it.
“It’s just a waterfall.”
“It’s not just a waterfall, Your Precious Highness.” Willow scoffs and walks up to the portrait hanging on the auditorium stage. “It’s a portal to Helios. This is how we get to the Fae Tryouts.”
“Well done stating the obvious, Miss Greene.” Professor Gale takes a long drink from his flask and shoos her away. He closes his eyes and sighs as whatever he’s drowning his sorrows with burns down his throat. His clothes are crumpled and the poor guy looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks. I know he’s worried sick about Sage and spends his nights looking for her. We’re all worried. His blood-shot eyes land on me. “Corvina and Jonah, you’ll use this portal to transport between realms. Have you decided on which two members will be joining your team now that...” His throat works and he looks away for a moment, down at his flask. “Now that Sage and Ronan are no longer part of the team.”
“Until Sage comes back, Pitch and Zander will be representing the academy with us,” I tell him.
“Yeah!” Zander lifts his hand to high five Pitch, but the gesture isn’t reciprocated.
Professor Gale nods and takes another drink. “Then make your way through the portal. Word of advice, though?” He tucks the flask into his crumpled shirt. “Don’t embarrass us by fucking up.”
I pull on my backpack and step through the painting. A luscious forest greets me on the other side. It’s like a reversed version of King Ulric’s mirror portal. Except, the trees here are narrower in Helios and not so crowded. The sun filters through the treetops unobstructed, shooting dusty rays around me, and the shadows aren’t quite so abundant. Strange how I find myself missing them as I look up at the blinding sun.
“Where do we go now?” Zander asks, appearing at my side.
Pitch steps forward and points west. “There are voices coming from a clearing about fifty yards away. I suggest we make haste in that direction.”
To my surprise, I can hear the voices too. I can also smell so many different scents of the forest than I could before. Every species of tree, plant, animal infiltrates my nostrils whether I want them to or not. It’s strange, but I’m not totally hating it since I know they’ll c
ome in use, especially when it comes to winning the Tryouts.
We make our way to the clearing. Sure enough, a crowd has gathered around a dais with two high-backed chairs. Ivywood is sitting in one of them. The other is a sour-faced male with long white hair that floats ever so softly behind him. He stands and addresses everyone, his white robes lifting on the breeze.
“Welcome to the next round of the Tryouts. For those who don’t know me, I’m Sir Leonidas, the headmaster of Helios Academy. With us today we have the new headmistresses of Shadowborn Academy. Any words of advice, Lady Ivywood?”
She stands and smiles at us in her fake simpering way. Of course she has to talk. “May you have a blessed time competing in the king’s forest.”
A few students snigger at the back of the crowd. Their cloaks are jet-black and carry the Fountain of Mene crest. They’re obviously from Zorya Academy. The white cloaks are clearly students from Helios, which means the last group, the ones wearing emerald cloaks, are from Draconia. They’re the only group full of males and they tower at least a foot over everyone, including Zander and Pitch. Gods, they look like they could crush my skull between their thighs. Note to self—don’t piss the dragons off.
“Now, it’s time to go over the rules,” Leonidas resumes, walking to the edge of the dais. “Under no circumstances are you allowed to use magic or violence against teammates or the opposition. Your object of this round is to obtain a sceptre that was stolen from King Ulric.” He waves and a scroll appears in everyone’s hands. “This is your only clue.”
I hurriedly unroll mine and read the words.
What the...
“What the fuck does that mean?” Jonah grumbles, taking the words straight out of my mouth.
