The Elven palace sprawled as a construct of light. It barely looked like the creamy blocks it was, instead appearing chiseled from one piece of stone. Spires of silver rose up to a cloudless sky, clustered around a spiraling main tower that intertwined with the enormoustrees growing through it. Thousands of panes of glass winked in the morning sunlight, dazzling the eye and drawing it down to the waterfall spilling into a lazy river meandering away from the palace.
I hung over a bridge railing to get a closer look at the deep blue water and Yaya pulled me back.
“Don’t fall in. Noth made it bottomless, and all sorts of monsters now lurk in its depths.”
An immense shadow swam past in the deep and I pulled back. Everywhere, I saw the care Noth had for his territory - gardens bearing fruit for anyone to take, clean streets, children playing in the open. I also couldn’t fail to notice the soldiers in black filling the streets. Jax fit right in. A wire-filled war machine hunched on the palace stairs like a hulking reminder. The Elves filtering around radiated joy, but it was the brittle kind where you anticipated something bad happening at any moment.
Smiles didn’t quite reach their eyes, and parents snapped at a child to get out of the soldier’s way. All of it made my skin crawl in the exact same way it had when Brad had kidnapped Fallon and me the first time. His type looked familiar and safe but his ambition and ego were deadly. A part of every monster’s instincts understood this. This was exactly the kind of kingdom he would run and I wasn’t looking forward to seeing it up close.
Yaya got us past the initial wave of sharp-eyed Elven and human guards and no one immediately screamed “witch”, so that was a plus. Jax even high-fived one of the humans, a move I had never seen outside our human village. The vast palace looked all Noth–sharp elegance and touches of darkness no other Elven construct would have. The building and grounds held the weight of a thousand years and I realized his legacy shaped him, just as much as he shaped it. A little bit of awe crept in.
The throne room, though, that was all Noth. Not even Brad’s hammer hid the chandeliers with dripping jet crystals that both reflected and consumed the light. The sharp angles of the dais looked a little too aggressive to be Elven and built to withstand an ogre horde. No wonder Brad couldn’t redecorate. Sure, black boxes with wires coming out of them littered the walls, and a blank black box took up one whole section where a painting had clearly hung, but as we stepped through the crowd, I couldn’t help but see Noth everywhere.
Nowhere was it more apparent than the rounded veranda that looked out over a massive set of gardens. A team of soldiers worked to rip it out plant by plant and I died a bit inside.Plants were infinitely easier to move, kill or burn than stone and magic. Petty move on Brad’s part.
The man himself sat on the throne topping the dais, his bride next to him. Yaya was right. She looked too thin, but also wan and graceful paired with the usurper. Her eyes though, they watched Brad the same way you watched a hungry tiger. A spurt of sympathywelled up in my chest. Evie looked like that toward the end of her relationship with her ex.
He smiled too wide. A boy playing dress-up in fine king’s clothes. His sandy hair, now grown out past his shoulders, his horse teeth, and the sense of sinister beige about him were just as I remembered. Well, almost as I remembered. His skin looked slightly ashy, his eyes a bit too bright. Since the last time we saw him, he had clearly done some magic to his ears to get them to point. I could see the haze around them, but I guess it was enough to sell it to the Elves. His bodyguard and the fake Calix stood to his right, his bride to his left, both on display. Her dress trailed in an artful blue pile down the stairs. It had to be impossible to move in that thing.
Yaya tapped my arm. “I'm going to talk to some of my contacts. Let me get the temperature of the room before you make your play.”
“You good?” I asked Jax.
“Fine,” he replied noncommittally.
“There will be plenty of gold after all this is over-”
“Don’t worry about it. Just don't let me end up with them.” Jax nodded his head to the soldiers lining the walls of the throne room.
It seemed we all had our own histories with Brad. It rested on the tip of my tongue to ask but we needed to focus. He hadn’t abandoned us thus far, or protested Brad’s demise, so I had to trust our gold would buy his loyalty. Things would get pretty “life or death” very soon.
The buzz of the throne room brought all sorts of gossip when I stayed still and listened for a change instead of charging ahead.
Have you tried again with his blessing?
No youngling.The sorrow on the male Elf’s face cut stark lines.
We’ve traded one freak for another.
At least this one will make me rich.
The braying female turned my stomach.
Brad is the best,a young Elf said. She wore a metal and wire crown on her head. More refined than one Brad fitted to Noth during his imprisonment, it looked like Brad tried his old tricks if he didn’t get his way.
I miss Dumpling Saturdays.
I willed my head not to whip around and slowly turned my body to glance from under my lashes. A young Elven guard fiddled with his flowing military skirt rather than watch the room.
Yeah, those were damn good and you could eat as many as you wanted.His partner agreed.
Okay, so not everyone had the fate of the realm as their top priority but why did I have the sneaking suspicion that Noth instituted Dumpling Saturdays too?
I didn't realize I had sketched a sigil of truth and influence over a nugget of blue marbled sodalite, carrying the room's whispers to me. I drew a deep breath for the very first time. Life’s itchy sweater fell away while I workedmy magic. I was always supposed to be able to do this and it felt damn good.
A tall–even for Elf standards–male stepped up to the dais. His long, curling staff of silver and ash thumped on the floor with a resounding echo.
Head held high, his voice carried across the room. “Allfenheim! Bow before your king.”
