by S L Mason
My heart beat faster, blood pumping through my veins. I wanted to reach out and slap his face. He was right, there was no way I could get out of the Hallowed Hills. I didn’t know how I arrived here, and I had no idea how to leave. But if I had free reign to go wherever I wanted, that meant I could find those answers.
The door accidentally slammed behind me as I left the room. The sound reverberated down the hall, disturbing the leaves and flowers lining the walls. Strange.
Lavender stood in the hallway, and her eyes traveled down the hall in either direction, following the movement of the foliage.
“My lady, are you okay? Did you have crossed words?” Her eyebrows rose.
“It’s irrelevant. Can we go back to my room and get me out of this getup? I prefer normal clothes, not dressed up like some kind of fairy doll.”
Lavender turned to lead me back down to a different court.
I stopped and looked around. “No, take me back to the throne room. He said I could go wherever I wanted. I want to go back to the throne room.” I straightened my shoulders, lifting my head, and focused my eyes on the end of the hall.
“My lady, the Fae are not known for their kindness. You may find many of the people are petty and jealous. Their vanity knows no bounds, and they will insult you because you’re human. They find humans less attractive than fairies by default.”
I turned and looked at Lavender. “Am I less attractive than the Fae?” as if it mattered. Being pretty won’t get Arty back or me out of here, but deep down inside I did want to be pretty. To stand up to everyone armed with whatever I had and fight, if pretty is a weapon, I’ll use it.
“The saying is beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What I behold, you are a beautiful human. You are truly attractive, even among your kind. Your youthful bloom is still fresh, but you have not reached the age of full, fierce attractiveness. You still carry the essence of naïveté, but it is very attractive and very alluring. Male Fae will flock to it, and female Fae, they will despise you for it.”
I’d always been good at ignoring catty bitches at school. Those cliquey girls that always ran around thinking they were so beautiful. I despised them. Usually, a school only had three or four of them tops, but they all ran around together, dressing like drones and eyeballing you as if you were some kind of insect to be flicked way. Lavender’s people were an entire culture of those girls. Ignoring their kind of abuse was actually pretty easy—you find a couple of other people you like and hang out with them. In this case, there would be no one cool to hang out with; it’d just be me.
“Lavender, are you my lady-in-waiting or my maid? What is your position to me?” I stopped dead in my tracks.
Lay of the land, Sarah.
“I am your companion, and I am to wait upon you.” She squeezed her hands nervously in front of me.
“If you’re my companion, then I can take you anywhere I go, right?”
“Yes, I am to accompany you everywhere outside your room.”
“Excellent. Let’s go to the party. I want to see the competition.” I dug my fingers into my hand to raise my heart rate.
“If that is your desire.” She nodded her head and waved her arm in the general direction we’d come from. Just as we passed under the arch to the court, I heard an office door open. I turned slightly to get an unobtrusive look back down the corridor. There, he was staring after me with brows drawn together. He clenched his jaw and turn the other way.
“This room is called a receiving room. It’s kind of like a throne room, only smaller. It’s where the leader of a court meets new people on a more intimate level.”
Which was silly because every room was massive. Not exactly what I’d considered intimate. What does a real throne room look like an affair of state? Did they even do affairs of state?
We didn’t reenter from behind the throne. Lavender said that would’ve been considered presumptuous. Instead, she took me back around to enter from a hidden side door. It wasn’t hidden, but there was a panel over it, making it look invisible from the room itself. People could slip in and out without being rude. She said usually the seneschal was the only one who used the door but as their seneschal was away on other diplomatic matters, it didn’t matter if we used his door.
“Who or what is a seneschal?” I asked.
“The seneschal handles the affairs of His Grace’s domain on his behalf.”
I tilted my head to the side. “What, like an executive assistant?”
Lavender blinked and started again. “I don’t understand that title. It’s a secretary and a steward together. He is the voice for His Grace.”
“Okay, so who is this glorified secretary?” I snickered.
“It’s His Grace’s younger brother.”
My smile died on my face.
“Their mother was lucky enough to earn several children. In the Fae culture, children are prizes awarded for service to the Queen. There aren’t many, so our numbers remain relatively consistent. The Queen maintains control with a feudal system. You are born into your position, but you do not have to stay there. You can work your way into a higher status by distinguishing yourself in some manner. I was created to be in the lower serving class. Now I’m a step below Merchant class because of my way with clothing and makeup. His Grace engaged me to care for you. My services are rather sought-after.” Her lips curved into a satisfied smile.
I was amazed. Lavender was actually nice. She wasn’t some cruel, mean creature. However, before she thought I was of a higher status, she was extremely haughty, as if I wasn’t deserving of her services. It was interesting. The moment I was able to dominate her or compel her, whatever it was that I did, her entire demeanor changed. She became helpful as if by my rising, she rose as well.
A rising tide lifts all boats.
If I became more popular, she would gain status by the mere fact that she’s attached to me. I never thought much about how being around me might improve someone else’s life. It gave new meaning to the statement, guilt by association. I’d never been friends with anybody who’d gotten into any real trouble, but I’d seen other kids and what it did to their lives.
Lavender isn’t my friend; she was a means to an end.
My wide-eyed naïvety shown for the whole room to see, I couldn’t help staring, but I wasn’t staring at the people. It was the architecture and construction of the room that was beyond belief. When I thought of fairies and woodland-type magic, they were always associated with nature. They hid in plain sight, disguising themselves as a flower or tree. Judging by some of the Fae I’d seen, I could see how they would be mistaken for a flower or a tree, blending into the forest and practically disappearing before the human eye. Unless you know what you’re looking for, you’d miss them entirely.
The whole room was a giant forest covered in vines and foliage. Not like one of those creepy glass trees that were made out of the semiprecious stones, but a real tree growing into the side of the wall with leaves and flowers. It could’ve been a Dogwood tree, displaying its beautiful pink flowers that fade to white, only none of the flowers were faded. They were all just vibrant, alive, and ever blooming.
“My lady, based upon your position within our society, you must stand toward the back of the room.” Lavender opened her arms to the direction she expected me to walk.
“Oh, so I won’t be standing near his snootiness?” I cocked a half-smile as I made my snide remark. I didn’t care if I was only making myself laugh.
While humanity liked to splash out with colors using their clothing and maybe a little bit of makeup, the Fae took the idea of a rainbow of colors to a level I’d never witnessed before. It wasn’t just about your makeup or your clothing; it was also about your hair, fingers, toes, and ears. They created a room filled with vain, strutting peacocks. Every single one of them was trying to outdo the other in some fashion.
One Fae had some kind of butterfly stuck inside her hair. The poor creature flittered around, desperate to be free of this monstrosi
ty of a cage on top of her head. It was funny and disturbing all at the same time. They thought so little of the lower creatures that they’d use it as a hair prop. The Fae stood in the receiving room, looking around, but none of them spoke about anything of interest to me. Only shallow self-absorbed discussions about their latest hairdo, who was having an affair with whom, and whether His Grace should show favor to one lady over another.
When you watch television shows and movies about the high court in past histories of the world or about stories like King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth, you’re told all of this stuff happened. As if there was a great deal of intrigue, and everyone was very silly about their clothing and about who was more popular with whom. You don’t grasp the concept of how truly clinging and clawing those people were. But standing there listening, I understood why humans wanted monarchies. This was how humanity had been taught to behave. I was sure this wasn’t a microcosm of Fae but a macrocosm of life.
I whispered into Lavender’s ear, “What is His Grace’s name?”
She leaned closer, her lips were barely a breath away from my ear. “Deston. He’s one of the four princes of the realm.”
My blood ran cold, that was the name of the Fae that had been looking for me.
It was funny. What a cliché. Girl gets kidnapped, and her new master is a prince or a duke or some such a noble person; it was ridiculous.
Yet, I managed to pick the most powerful person in the room. The story of my life. I always picked the biggest tree in the neighborhood to climb. I always had a knack for choosing the biggest, baddest, or worst of whatever. If none of the other kids in my school would do it because the jump was too high, too far, or too scary, I would. I didn’t have a death wish or fear being called a coward, it was just the challenge. And here I was, standing in the reception room in the Fae realm.
Somehow being here, I was being challenged. It was the biggest challenge of my life. This wouldn’t be about who could hold their breath the longest or climb the highest. This was life or death.
They’d taken hundreds and hundreds of beautiful girls, perhaps thousands for all I knew. What did he call me, a candidate? I was a candidate for something. That implied that I was going to compete for something. The big question was, what was the challenge and what was the prize?
Finally, I yawned.
“My lady, do not yawn in front of the other Fae. They will despise you for it; you must always act as if you are interested in or were amused by something. Boredom is despised in the land of Fae.”
I leaned back toward her. “Then get me out of here before I fall asleep. These are the most boring people I’ve ever encountered in my life. I couldn’t possibly spend another moment pretending they were the least bit interesting or amusing.”
Lavender covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. A few of the other Fae turned their glowing eyes on us. One woman cocked her eyebrows and gave me the up and down. Another gave a dry laugh as she turned away as if she looked at me and found me wanting. Not that I really cared what she thought and she’s just another evil Fae.
Lavender waved her hands in front of me to define which direction I should go, but I had to lead on. We headed out the same door we’d entered, and then we headed down several hallways until my eyes spied the dreaded steps. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was climb seven flights of a circular staircase.
“Isn’t there some faster way to reach my quarters? I mean, honestly, seven stories? You can whistle my hair into a crazy design and change its color, but you can’t find a way to get an elevator in here?” I huffed in irritation.
“My lady, the elevator is only for His Grace’s personal, private use.”
“Where are his quarters?”
“At the top of the highest tower of course, so he can survey all of his domain.”
“Of course, because if I was a prince of the realm, I’d want my room at the top of a high tower too.” I knew that sarcasm was lost on the Fae; they didn’t get it. If I were to bust out and say half of what was bursting in my mind, she’d probably blink twice, look at me confused, and continue on licking her claws. The Fae were much like a cat, self-absorbed, constantly dreaming, and swishing their tails in irritation for no reason. They’d always be looking down their noses at you as if you were less than them. Yes, definitely catlike.
I mounted the stairs, dreading going up seven flights. I decided I’d start counting them. That way the next time I went down, I’d know when I was getting close to the bottom and when I went back up, I’d know how close I was to the top. Note to self, don’t spend too much time partying or you might be too tired to make it up seven flights of stairs to your room. Halfway, I placed my hand against the stonewall, breathing hard.
“Could I request a room lower down?”
“No, my lady, the closer the room is to the ground floor, the lower your station. You’re only on the seventh floor, which is very low.”
“How many floors are in this monstrosity of a castle?”
“Thirty-two.”
Well, no wonder everybody stayed in the receiving room as long as possible. They were putting off the dreaded, long walk back up to their quarters. God, I’d stay down there all day too if I had to walk up to the thirty-second floor. “So let me get this straight, the ground floor is predominantly public rooms for social functions, correct?” I sucked in another deep breath, hoping to regain my composure before starting off for the final round of stairs.
“Yes, the ground floor is for social functions with lots of public rooms and also for the army’s training room. The second floor houses the entire army. The armory is in the far northern corner—the one closest to the front gate. The third floor is for scullery maids and chamber-pot maids, not that there are any more chamber pots, obviously. You’ve seen we’ve moved forward in technology. Now, we have lovely indoor plumbing, but we’ve only had it for about a thousand years. However, there are still ladies and gentlemen of that level, so that is the name we’ve given them. If you move up to the fourth and fifth floor, those are for personal valet and general serving people like myself. I’m on the fifth floor. The sixth floor is for visiting merchants and people of that station. You’re on the seventh floor, so you are the lowest tier of the nobility.”
“So you were haughty to me when you first showed up in my room because you thought I was a stupid human?”
“No, yes, humans were created by us. Therefore, you are a lower life form and should be subservient to us. I was insulted that His Grace had engaged my very expensive services for a lowly human, but now I see how wrong I truly was. He was quite right to engage my services for you; it is a great honor.” She lowered her head and her eyes, clasping her hands in front of her.
Amazing how compelling someone could make them suddenly open up like an egg to show you everything. As we got back to my room, I wanted to lie down on the bed. There was no way anybody could get comfortable in a dress like this.
“Can you please strip this thing off of me somehow so I can take a nap?”
“Yes.” She whistled, and the dress split itself in half. She continued whistling as it hung itself up on a hanger and into the wardrobe before the door shut itself, neatly and nicely put away. She sang a quick song, and my hair relaxed back into flat, boring straight hair. It was still black. It was okay. I’d seen the black, and it didn’t look all that bad. I twisted it up and put it in a messy bun on top of my head.
“Oh, my lady, you cannot go out of this room looking like that.”
I turned and looked at her. “Why not?”
“If you wish to be respected or earn the respect of anyone in the land of Fae, you must look polished. Appearances are extremely important to the fair folk. We pride ourselves on being fair, and your hair looks like you just woke up.”
“Really? I was just getting comfortable. You know, relaxing.”
“It will be fine as long as you stay in your room, but do not venture outside the door with your hair like that. Let me fix it
for you.”
I looked down. I was completely naked. It was really probably one of the most unnerving things about the Fae. Apparently, Fae didn’t have any body issues, and modesty wasn’t a thing for them. The entire time I’d been in the reception room and meeting people I didn’t have any panties on, let alone a bra. Could you imagine if I’d walked through a dust pile? I’d have dust all up in my stuff. I didn’t know any girl who wants dust in their stuff, do you?
“Lavender, would it be possible for you to whistle me up a pair of panties and maybe a bra?”
“Panties?” Her eyebrows shot up. She had no idea what I was talking about.
“Panties, pantalones, pantaloons, underwear, knickers, or boxers, I don’t know. Something that covers, you know, the front part of my stuff and the back part of my butt. You know, it meets somewhere in the middle.” I waved my hands around a bunch. “Pretty please, can I have a pair of panties?” She smiled as it dawned on her what I was talking about.
“This is something that only males wear, to protect their genitals.”
“Only boys cover their junk?” I scoffed, well that’s not sexist or anything.
“Traditionally, yes, only men wear panties, as you call them.”
I snickered. “Girls wear panties, men wear underwear.” She shook her head and gave me a searching look. Honestly, she didn’t understand the difference between male and female underclothing.
“Well, can you make something like what men wear for me, only dainty and girly, maybe lacy? Pretty please?” I clasped my hands before me.
Her face darkened. “Fae don’t say ‘please’, or thank you, ever.” Then she smiled and whistled. In the blink of an eye, I had a sexy little pair of panties, similar to the ones that I had arrived in—a thong with lace around the band.
“What was the other thing you said you wanted? A bra?” Her ears perked up, and she cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Yeah, a bra, a brassiere, an over the shoulder boulder holder. You know, something to hold up the girls, make them look pretty and nice, keep them from bouncing in my face.” I put my hand on my breasts and cupped them, trying to hold them up. I wasn’t in the habit of feeling myself up in front of anyone while explaining clothing. Lavender didn’t seem surprised about this request.
