“We’ve been over why that’s impossible now, Seren,” Ursa reminded me with a sigh. “Now that the Court of Peace and Pride knows that you’re here, that you’re… alive, they would find you. Anyone could find you.”
I frowned. Every bit of information I learned about my kidnapping from infancy made bile rise in my gut. They had believed he had killed me, killed a baby, rather than taking me to live with my uncle. Lark had been so wicked that it was easy for the entire realm to believe he would commit infanticide. That explained the looks of fear and disgust he had received everywhere we went, the warnings of behavior Sophierial had issued to our group at the Court of Light and Life, and Cass’ declaration that the world thought the people of this court to be evil. I could see why. I wasn’t so certain myself that they weren’t.
“My uncle?” I asked.
“Protected,” she assured me. “By the wards that Lark placed over the university after he delivered you there. Alban and Ariadne, they could tear them down with their magic, easily. But that would be too much work just to get at your uncle. You, however…”
“I understand.”
“Princess Ursa,” a servant spoke then and Ursa whirled around with a growl, conjuring a dagger from thin air. The maid went wide eyed, backing away from her in terror. I didn’t recognize her, which meant that she was new, that she wasn’t aware of how greatly Ursa hated her title. “I—the King requests your presence, both of you.”
Ursa snapped and the dagger disappeared.
“Do not,” she said, her voice a low warning, ”call me princess.”
The servant nodded vehemently and then scurried away.
“Don’t be so prickly,” I chided, standing and brushing myself off.
I stared into the mirror for a moment in one final examination. This brown dress did not look so much like a burlap sack. It was a deep, dark chocolate with a sweeping train beneath a poufy tulle skirt which slimmed at the waist and rose in glittering applique to a halter around my neck. It was backless and cut low in the front, displaying my cleavage amidst the glittering jewels. My hair was a waterfall of honey around the sides of my face, down my bare back. My makeup was dark and heavily lined, just as Cass had made it before, the preferred style of the Bone Court. The appearance alone was a statement. I wore my family’s colors but I wore my captor’s face.
“Don’t be so vain,” Ursa snapped because I was still admiring myself in the mirror.
I turned, grinning, and strode toward her.
“Off to breakfast then?” I asked and she groaned before turning away and stalking toward the door to the hall.
I followed and we made our way, together, to the dining hall set at the other end. We entered to find that the King was already seated, leaning back in his chair at the head of the table, sipping on some amber colored liquid that I thought it might be too early in the morning for. Across from him, on the opposite end of the long table, sat a man dressed head to toe in an immaculately embellished emerald tunic, matching wide legged pants, and green leather loafers. He was dark-skinned and wore a simple cap atop his bald head. He lowered his head in a sort of half-bow that they expected lords of minor courts to give the royalty of the upper courts. I blinked for a moment before I realized I was one of them as well.
Ursa settled into the seat beside her father. I sat beside the visitor as I had been instructed. He turned to smile at me as I settled in and I beamed right back at him. He was ancient, I could tell that just from his eyes, but his skin was smooth and unwrinkled, his body straight and not stooping. He appeared to be in his early thirties but his eyes held whispers of a millennium. Kind, bright eyes. The sort of eyes one might convince themselves to trust.
“Seren Dawnpaw,” he said with a voice as thick as honey. I cringed at the name but did not correct him. Ren Belling was dead, it seemed, and rising from her ashes was Seren Dawnpaw, more Fae than mortal. “I am Lord Koa Oaksky from the Court of Friends. It’s a wonder to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine,” I replied with a smile, because I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“You must have quite the tale. Would it be too imposing to ask you to regale us with it?”
The food arrived then. Plates upon plates of buttered biscuits, assortments of jams, fruit from all over the realm, piles of eggs and sausage. My mouth watered at the sight of it but I let my gaze wander to the King. He let down his shield only a fraction to send a feeling my way. Approval. I could answer this question.
“I’m afraid it’s a rather boring story as far as I know,” I told him. “I was raised by my mortal uncle, my father’s brother, at a university. I grew up studying the stars and the cosmos, knowing what I was but never really wondering what it meant. I thought I—well, I believed myself to have been abandoned.”
Lord Koa’s eyes widened just a fraction.
“It must have been quite a shock to learn the truth,” he said.
I grit my teeth and stared down at my plate, remembering that feeling, the utter betrayal.
“Yes,” I agreed. “It was.”
“The Bone Court has sent a clear message that kidnapping is an indefensible crime,” the King bellowed then, reminding us all of his presence, his authority here.
“By executing its heirs,” Lord Koa said and the dining hall fell into a tense silence.
I could feel the emotions being held at bay. These were very powerful Fae. Each of them had a shield around the cores of their souls but their surface emotions were readable and they were rampaging in a way that was nearly overwhelming. Anger and frustration from the Bone Court, disgust and dismay from Lord Koa. It rose and swirled, rising to a breaking point, as I closed my eyes and waited for someone to speak, hoping it would diffuse the tension.
“And holding hostages,” Lord Koa added with a pointed glance in my direction.
“If you traveled all this way just to insult us—” Ursa snapped but Lord Koa held up a finger and she fell into an enraged silence.
