Water filled the entire hall. It covered Grace from head to foot and even her face, but she didn’t need to breathe. Somehow, her body didn’t revolt against the lack of air. She gazed all around her in wonder.
The giant hall stood empty except for three people. A huge man with a long, thick beard sat on the biggest throne Grace ever imagined. He wore a swath of seaweed across his bare chest, and a plain white garment surrounded his hips. He carried a trident in one hand, and a wreath of seaweed sat on top of his head. His thick grey-white hair hung down to his shoulders and blended into his beard.
A beautiful young maiden sat on a smaller throne at his side. She wore a long, plain white robe, and a circlet of white shells decorated her raven-black hair. She gazed down on Grace with a benign smile, and Alexis stood next to the woman’s chair.
Some forgotten corner of Grace’s mind understood. The young woman on the throne must be Ivy, but how did she get down here, under the ocean? Fergus said she was here, but Grace would never have believed it if she didn’t see it for herself.
Before Grace could fully comprehend what she was seeing, Ivy rose from her seat and descended the dais. She approached Grace in that same weightless swimming motion Grace herself used to move through this mysterious world.
Ivy moved her mouth when she spoke, even though no air passed her lips. “You are welcome here. I’m Ivy.”
“How did you get down here?” Grace asked. “Do you remember how you got here?”
Ivy glanced around. “I am Queen here, and this is my husband, Aegir, God of the Sea.”
Grace gasped out loud. “Your husband!”
The huge man sat impassive on his throne and watched the interaction.
“Come with me,” Ivy told Grace. “We must make you welcome. We are holding a banquet in your honor, and you must be presented to all the deities of the undersea world. They’ll all want to meet you.”
Ivy started to turn away and float back to the throne. Grace grabbed her. “Wait a minute. You can’t be…. I mean, how did you come to be married to the God of the Sea? Did you come from…?”
Ivy didn’t answer. She drifted back toward the dais. Aegir rose to meet her. He bent his arm, and Ivy slipped her hand through it. They migrated to one side of the hall. When they approached the wall, it dissolved before Grace’s eyes. An equally huge banqueting hall appeared on the other side.
Thousands of people, creatures, and strange forms packed the hall from one towering wall to the next. They sat at tables, lounged on the floor, and even hovered several yards above the floor. Everyone in that room engaged in some form of eating, but Grace never saw such strange food in her life.
A huge squid plucked small fish out of the lapping water and crammed them into its beak. Another enormous man with a long beard and flowing hair like Aegir’s sprawled against a bed of cowrie shells. A few scantily clad maidens reclined at his sides, and the whole party ate fruit out of bowls.
Every sea creature imaginable occupied that hall, along with many out of some fantastic collection of daydreams. Grace stared at the sight in astonishment. She couldn’t move from the spot if she tried.
Aegir and Ivy drifted to one end of the room. They seated themselves at a massive table. In seconds, servants surrounded them and laid dishes before them. They started to eat.
A soft voice struck Grace’s ear. “How did you wind up down here?”
Grace turned around to find Alexis at her side. “What is going on down here, Alexis? How did you get here, and what is Ivy doing married to…to that man?”
“She isn’t really,” Alexis replied. “He’s telling everyone she’s his Queen, but they aren’t really married. He’s planning their wedding, so they aren’t married—not yet.”
“This is incredible,” Grace murmured. “How did she get here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Alexis asked. “The spell brought her here. Don’t ask me how it brought her here and me up there, but it happened. From what I can tell, she has no idea what happened. I don’t think she really remembers her old life. She only knows she’s here. She doesn’t even question being Aegir’s Queen.”
Grace studied the young woman at her side. She never saw Alexis so clear-headed before. The trancelike daze vanished and left her eyes clear, sharp, and direct.
Grace glanced back at Ivy. Ivy smiled at Aegir at her side. She smiled at everyone who came near her. She smiled at the scene in front of her.
As Alexis said, she showed no sign of realizing the situation might be even slightly out of the ordinary. She even gazed up into Aegir’s eyes in worshipful adoration. Did she even realize she wasn’t already married? She never questioned. She simply accepted that she was his Queen.
“How long have you been here, Alexis?” Grace asked.
“I came here right after I left you with those giants. I wanted to see Ivy, so I came here.”
Grace rounded on her. “You and Ivy have to get out of here. You have to get back to your own world. Do you understand that? You coming here created the curse that sent those giants into the land in the first place. You can only lift the curse by going back.”
“I’m not ready to leave yet,” Alexis replied. “Besides, I don’t think Ivy will leave at all. She’s happy here, and from what you say, it won’t do any good unless we both go back.”
Grace went back to watching Ivy. “You’re right about that.”
“You’re gonna have a project convincing her to leave,” Alexis whispered in her ear. “Aegir never lets her out of his sight.”
“How are we going to convince her?” Grace asked.
“We aren’t going to do anything. This is your deal. If you want to get her to leave, you’re on your own.”
Grace whipped around. “What about you? Are you willing to go back to stop this curse?”
“When you convince Ivy, then you can talk to me about it. Until then, it doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
Without waiting for Grace to reply, Alexis strolled into the banqueting hall. Grace lost sight of her among the revelers. No matter where Grace looked, she came face to face with the most fantastic sights imaginable. She couldn’t believe the evidence of her own senses.
At last, Ivy leaned over and whispered something to Aegir. She kissed him on the cheek, got up from the table, and came to where Grace stood stunned and amazed. “Come with me. I’ll show you to your room.”
“My room!” Grace replied. “I can’t stay here. I have to get back to….”
The words died on her lips. She glanced over her shoulder, but she saw only the castle walls standing all around her. Something back there called to her attention, something important, but she couldn’t exactly remember what it was. She came from somewhere, but the water already started erase the memory.
This whole environment turned her mind to water. Nothing existed but the limpid sway and heave of this moment. No past or future intruded on this moment. Even the urgency of getting Ivy and Alexis to do something faded to a distant afterthought.
Ivy moved off down the great hall. Grace found herself following her. They passed through several walls into a different part of the castle where open porticos led off into side rooms. Even here, creatures and people of all kinds, mermaids and giant crabs and monsters swam around, conversed in bubbled language, and carried on their business without a thought to any newcomer.
Ivy passed through a wall into a big empty room. She turned to Grace. “This is your room. You can stay here as long as you want.”
Grace looked around. “Where will I stay?”
“You just think about what you want, and it will appear,” Ivy told her. “If you’re tired and want to lie on a bed, you just think about it. Everyone who stays in this castle wants something different, so it wouldn’t make sense to keep stuff lying around. Whatever they most want appears for them, and when they don’t want it anymore, it disappears.”
“How does that work?” Grace asked. “Is it magic like Faery?”
“It’s
not Faery,” Ivy told her. “It’s just the way this world works.”
Grace studied the girl’s face. “Are you Faery, Ivy? Is that how you worked that spell?”
Ivy frowned. “What spell do you mean?”
“You worked a magic spell that brought you here,” Grace told her. “Your aunt Lucy taught it to you when you were a little girl, and you and Alexis were lying in your beds at Witford Crescent. Do you remember? You told her about the spell, and then you came here.”
Ivy furrowed her brow. “Really?”
“Listen, Ivy,” Grace replied, “I know it’s really nice here, but you don’t belong here. You’re not really Aegir’s Queen, and you can’t marry him. You would be stuck here, and that would be a disaster.”
“Why would it be a disaster?” Ivy asked. “He’s a wonderful man. Any woman would be lucky to marry him. I know hundreds of women who would give anything to be his Queen.”
Grace worked hard to calm her racing heart. “He might be a wonderful man, but you can’t stay here. That spell cast a curse on the land above the water. The people up there are fighting incredible forces. People are dying because of this curse, and only you and Alexis can lift it. You have to go back.”
“I’m not going back,” Ivy replied. “I’m going to marry Aegir. I’m going to be his Queen. I’m going to stay here.”
“Please, Ivy,” Grace begged. “Please think about what you’re doing. This curse has already cost a lot of good people their lives, and more will suffer and die if you and Alexis don’t stop it. People are looking for you. They can help you. You don’t have to stay here.”
“I want to stay here.”
Grace’s heart sank. “You can’t. You just can’t. I can’t let you.”
Ivy floated toward the wall where she entered the room. “I would make sure Aegir doesn’t hear you talking like that. He can get very angry sometimes, and he’s very protective of me. I’m looking forward to being his Queen. He’s going to give a big state celebration, and when we have our first heir to the throne, he’s going to build an even bigger palace made of coral for me. I’m going to have servants doing everything for me, and I’ll never want for anything again.”
Grace couldn’t answer. She could only stand and stare in horror as Ivy left the room. In a few blinks of her eyes, the wall solidified between them, and she lost sight of Ivy for good.
Grace looked around the bare room. It offered her no comfort. This was the greatest disaster she could imagine.
Chapter 32
Grace woke up in a huge bed lined with soft downy quilts and bedspreads. She sat up. The same watery light streamed through a window opposite her bed. Getting to her feet took no effort at all. The water supported her limbs all over.
She swam to the window and looked out. A wide undersea landscape spread out before her eyes. Mountains and rifts hovered in the distance. Kelp forests swayed on the current. Fish, mermaids and mermen, creatures, and shapeless monsters from the black depths glided back and forth before her eyes.
The sight didn’t startle her the way the banquet did. She gazed out on it in quiet contemplation. It already started to seem normal to her. She was under the ocean, so why shouldn’t she see these things from her window? What else would she see under the ocean?
That same nagging uncertainty reared its head. She ought to remember something, but she couldn’t formulate it in her mind. Something important hovered just beyond her consciousness. She struggled to remember what it was, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
She had to work hard just to remember what she came here for. She had to convince Ivy and Alexis to go back with her…somewhere. She had to get Ivy to lift the curse. Yes, that’s what this was all about. That’s what Grace came to this world to do.
The instant that thought entered her mind, she heard a piping voice outside the room. The wall gave a shudder, and Ivy drifted through it. She held out her hands to Grace. “So nice to see you this morning. Aegir wishes you to join us in the great hall this morning.”
“What for?” Grace asked.
“He always wants to welcome anyone from the world above in the grandest style,” Ivy told her. “He always wants to cement as many alliances as he can between this world and the world above. You should have seen the to-do he made when Alexis showed up.”
Grace looked around. “Where is Alexis?”
“She left early this morning,” Ivy replied.
“She left!” Grace cried. “Why did she do that? What did she do? Where did she go?”
“I don’t know where she went,” Ivy replied. “She said she wanted to do something, so she left to go do it. She said she had some work to do. She said she came here to see me and she did, so she left.”
Grace punched her fist into her palm. “Dang! Just when I got close to convincing her, she slips through my fingers.”
“Convincing her of what?” Ivy asked.
“I’m trying to convince you both to come back to the world above to lift that curse.”
“What curse?” Ivy asked.
“Don’t you remember what I told you yesterday?” Grace asked. “There’s a curse going on in the world above, and you and Alexis are the only ones who can break it.”
Ivy frowned. “There is?”
Grace wilted. “Yes, there is. People are dying terrible deaths. They’re fighting wars against each other and against supernatural forces trying to wipe them out. You’re the only ones who can stop it.”
“Wow,” Ivy breathed.
“Listen to me,” Grace told her. “You can’t stay here. I realize you want to marry Aegir and everything, but don’t you think there are some things more important than that? Would you really want to stay here and be happy with Aegir when you could help these people? In fact, you can do both. You could lift the curse and then marry Aegir if you want to. You just have to go up above, lift the….”
“I can’t do that,” Ivy interrupted. “Aegir will never let me go above, not even for an instant. He says it’s not safe, and he wants to protect me down here. He says I never have to leave the castle.”
“Does that mean you can’t leave the castle?” Grace asked. “Are you a prisoner here?”
“I’m not a prisoner,” Ivy replied. “I just don’t want to go above.”
“You want to help these people, don’t you?” Grace asked. “I know you’re a really good, nice person. I know you wouldn’t leave them to suffer if you could do anything to stop it.”
“If I go above,” Ivy replied, “I couldn’t go without informing Aegir. He would be terribly upset if I did something like that, and I couldn’t go behind his back and do it when he doesn’t want me to.”
“Then how will you do it?” Grace asked. “How will you convince him to let you go?”
Ivy turned away. “Come down to the great hall for the celebration. Everything will become clear when you see it.”
Grace didn’t want to go to the great hall, but Ivy already moved off. Drat that Alexis, slipping off when Grace needed her most. Grace followed Ivy, and in a moment, they entered the hall.
All the people and creatures and random sea entities she saw in the banqueting hall the day before now packed the great hall in front of Aegir’s throne. He got to his feet when Ivy entered. “There you are. I was starting to worry.”
Ivy kissed him on the cheek. “You never have to worry about me, darling. I was just fetching our friend here. I know how much you like to celebrate new arrivals from above. I was just explaining to her how you want to hold a state event in her honor.”
Aegir scowled at Grace. “What took you so long?”
“We were just talking,” Ivy replied. “We were catching up on all our friends and the news from above.”
“Actually,” Grace interrupted, “I was telling Ivy how the spell she cast to bring herself here caused a rift in the world above. It created an evil curse, and people are dying and suffering up there. I asked her to come above to lift the curse before she settles down to
marry you here. She wants your permission to go above to help us before your wedding.”
“I do not!” Ivy snapped.
“She’s not going above,” Aegir snarled.
“What about all those people?” Grace asked. “Ivy was telling me just a few minutes ago that you want to improve relations between your realm and the world above. What better way to do that than to help them in their time of need?”
“She’s not going above,” Aegir repeated. “She’ll stay here.”
Grace gasped. “Forever?”
“Of course,” Aegir replied. “She’ll be Queen. She’ll have no reason to leave.”
“Shouldn’t she be the one to decide that?” Grace asked. “You can’t keep her here against her will.”
“I won’t keep her here against her will,” he told her. “I won’t have to. She’ll stay here of her own choice. Won’t you, my dear?”
“Of course I will, my darling,” Ivy crooned. She crossed the throne room, put her arms around Aegir, and kissed him. Then she sat down on her throne and gazed out at the throng of admirers with placid, unseeing eyes.
“You can’t do this, Ivy,” Grace urged. “Think of the people who’ll die needless deaths if you don’t help them. Think of all the people who have already died because of the spell you cast. You don’t belong here. You belong to the world above. You can’t stay here and turn your back on all that.”
Ivy said nothing. She showed no sign of hearing, but Aegir sure did. He narrowed his eyes at Grace. “That will instantly stop. Speaking against my wedding is a capital offense in this realm. I’ll hear not another word about Ivy going anywhere, or you’ll pay the price.”
“You can’t do this,” Grace shot back. “You can’t keep her here, and anybody can see you’ve hypnotized her or something so she can’t think straight. You’re nothing but a tyrant. You’re keeping her locked up in a mental prison so she doesn’t think about anything but marrying you.”
Grace Unchained - Phoenix Throne Book Five Page 22
