I took it, my hands grasping his meaty forearm, while he did the same to my more slender one. Bonded, I inclined myhead. “We’ll say nothing about this place and do nothing to harm you and yours.”
“Betray me, or even think about it, and you’ll never leave this mountain,” Tholin said as he released.
I nodded, having no intention of doing so anyway, so it was an easy promise to make.
The king swept a hand to his side, indicating I should walk with him. “Then, welcome to the Kingdom of Dergia, Princess Neve. Follow me and in time your queries will be answered.”
I questioned myself many times as we followed King Tholin through tunnels beneath the mountain. Was I making a mistake? Should we have run down the tunnel and left the mountain? Were we walking into a trap?
Why is this so easy?
Through my many doubts, however, my heart beat as steady as a drum, and that was the most telling thing of all. I might know nothing about King Tholin or his kingdom, but this felt right. Safe.
Truth be told, if we left, I wasn’t sure how much longer the humans could last. It wasn’t as if we had other options in mind. So we strode deeper into the mountains, passing by artwork, both the carved and painted kind, on to the dark walls and illuminated by fae lights.
“Look.” Vale squeezed my hand. He stared at the opposite wall, at one of the paintings.
The art depicted the two mountain ranges bordering Winter’s Realm to the west and south illuminated in white paint. Five castles stood apparent, and they weren’t those of the fae lords I knew. These had to be the ancient kingdomsof the dwarves. I located Dergia. Small dwarven figures seemed to be gathered around the hidden kingdom but nowhere else.
The king stopped. Though we’d only been walking for five minutes or so, I’d lost count at how many twists and turns we’d taken, and now, to my shock, the king didn’t choose a direction, but rather placed his hand on the rock wall in front of him.
A door shimmered, appearing out of nowhere and opening. When we marched through the door and inside, a new world appeared. Like in the mines that the humans had once lived in, nothing was open air, though the magic above that mimicked the day time sky did not make it seem so. In the parts along the edges, where the rock ceiling was not as high, stones and gems dripped from the ceiling like large icicles and those made of gems like rubies and sapphires refracted the colors on to the side walls. Rivers of blue-green glacial water ran through the city below.
I inhaled the air, fresher in here than elsewhere in the tunnels, and tears pricked my eyes. That much green meant earth, water, and light fae lived here. There was no other way such abundant vegetation could exist in one place. And judging by the many stone and metal buildings below, many decorated with shining gems on their roofs, the city was not too small. If King Tholin allowed the humans to remain here, they’d live, safe and hopefully happy.
“I can’t believe this,” Vale whispered. “All of it, hidden. So many fae.”
“More come every now and again,” a soldier said. “They seek a haven from winter. They required a respitefrom the nobles and their games that do not benefit the people.” The dwarf looked at Vale, then at me.
Little did he know, I could not relate more to those people. I’d once been on the run for a haven too. In a way, I’d found that safety in Vale—though now we were both searching for a way to be usandlive in a kingdom that might not welcome us if they knew the truth of our blood.
King Tholin led us down a staircase. Along the way, I took in the city and then the largest building along the left wall. Built right into the face of the mountain and far grander than anything else, that had to be the palace. At the bottom, he stopped and looked up at the soldiers and humans still streaming behind. I twisted too, caught Anna’s gaze.
She shook her head and in that I read that she, too, was in a state of awe.
“The newcomers will come with me. I need only twelve soldiers to escort and make sure no one branches off and gets lost on the way to my palace.”
“That would be difficult to do, considering where we’re going is obvious,” Caelo muttered as dwarves surrounded us and their king.
Tholin might have heard him, for he gave a snort, and continued to lead us toward the palace built into the wall of the mountain.
Chapter 7
NEVE
King Tholin brought us to Fellstone Castle, the grandest building presiding over the city deep below the Rock. He showed the humans to the grand hall, a cavernous room with walls of gray stone and rivers of gems winding their way through the slate.
The king ordered food to be cooked for them, their injuries to be healed, and temporary bedrolls brought in. Once the humans were being cared for, he’d requested to speak with a few of them, and told a servant to show us to a guest room. King Tholin would join us soon.
My friends gathered round, and I waved for Ronaldo and Lei to follow. If the humans had leaders among them, it was these two. I wished for them to be present for whatever the king wished to say to me.
Escorts led us to a stone-walled room, decorated with weathered tapestries, crystals of blazing oranges and yellows, and threadbare chairs, one of which Anna collapsed into. Between the chairs sat a small table bearing atray with teacups and a steaming pot of tea that smelled of pine needles and citrus. None of us touched the pot, let alone drank the tea. No matter how good it smelled, no matter how much I felt I could trust the dwarves, I didn’t know them yet, and we had secrets to keep. Drinking tea that might have been altered was not smart.
With Vale, I walked the perimeter of the room, taking in the tapestries. Each one told a story, and I was desperate to learn more about Dergia. To even the scales of knowledge before the king joined us.
One caught my attention more than the others.
“Is this real?” I whispered to Vale, my hand running across the fibers depicting a green land covered in mist and gray rain clouds above. In the distance, a city rose—Avaldenn, if I wasn’t mistaken. Dwarves rode toward it, cutting through the mist, two with crowns on their brows. Royals journeying to treat with other royals. “It’s sogreen.”
