I looked at her incredulously as Eris snickered.
I was about to respond when the door of the wagon flew open, revealing one of the Fae guards I recognized from the Neutral Lands.
“Everybody out!” He bellowed. The Fae’s brown hair was shaved, leaving him looking every inch the soldier he was with that nickel-plated armor. His eyes were a strange color, blue with a ring of pink in them. His eyes weren’t narrowed and glaring either, unlike many of the others.
I departed the wagon quickly and followed after Emmie and Eris as we walked to our destination. I looked up at the palace in wonder. Seeing it this close, I could make out the massive archeddoor opening. I lost focus on it as I got a look at the marble for the first time up close. My eyes began tracing the veins of pink, then the purple, and I was about to get lost in the red marbling when I realized my feet were leading me into the palace itself.
I flushed and made myself pay better attention. We were marched through the halls by the guards who’d been with us this entire trip, but my mind was too busy being boggled by all the wealth on display. I knew, in theory, that the Fae had much more than we did, but—I don’t think I ever truly understood that disparity until now.
A familiar rage rose inside me as I gritted my teeth. I balled up my hands in my skirt as I kept my eyes low to hide all the feelings I was sure were written on my face. I kept them high enough to still study the excessive wealth the Fae hoarded while we went hungry because there “wasn’t enough to go around”, or our clothes fell apart as we wore them day after day, year after year, because “there was no material left over”.
I spied gold and obsidian bowls and vases along with crystal and bronze sculptures. Paintings lined the hallways that had ornate rugs laid upon them. One hall seemed to be full of Dusk’s ancestors, their faces and names immortalized on the walls. Velvet and silk chairs were sporadically added, purely ornamental and not practical for sitting.
An impulsive, completely irreverent feeling swirled through me as I wondered what would happen if someone actually sat on the ridiculous chairs. The urge to do so left as fast as it arrived, as we were ushered through the grandeur of the palace.
I couldn’t believe this. A lifetime’s worth of money we would never earn was in this hall, and I positively seethed with anger at the injustice of it all. Merely one of these stupid ornamental bowls could have fed my family forever. Yet here they sat, doing nothing but looking pretty, while back home, I knew my parents would be back in the fields picking grapes from sunupto sundown—until my father’s back was near breaking and my mother’s hands curled up with pain. Why would the Fae bother to give us decent working conditions when they could just do the bare minimum to keep us alive after all?
Weapons of all kinds graced the next hall we entered. Swords, specifically. It seemed every ancestor had their sword mounted here after death, with placards containing their names under the swords, just like the paintings in the previous hall. Why they would memorialize weapons, of all things—someone would have to explain to me the point of that someday.
We continued walking through the halls until we came to a broad two door entryway. The Fae leading us turned around to order us not to speak and obey—like we were going to do anything else? I rolled my eyes at him when he turned around. Then the doors were pulled open, revealing a large throne room.
Well—that certainly explained the excessive order.
At the far end of the room two thrones sat on a dais, one larger than the other. The king’s throne was gray tufted velvet, with a gray frame sitting on feet made to look like hooves. The throne was wingback style—except it fanned out to look like actual wings. The color changed to a cool pink and it looked like feathers…wait—were those real feathers? I wasn’t close enough to tell.
It was possible though. The throne was clearly designed to look like their animal forms. All Fae have the ability to shapeshift, but only the royal families could shapeshift into rare, winged creatures. As the six kingdoms were paired with their balanced opposite kingdom, their animal forms followed suit. Sunrise and Sunset were phoenixes, graceful birds that could turn themselves into flames. Dusk and Dawn changed into pegasus, horses with giant feathered wings. While Day and Night shifted into dragons, massive, scaled, fire breathing creatures.
The royal’s shift forms were generally two different colors: one color corresponded to their individual kingdom, and the other color was shared between the two balanced celestial kingdoms. Dusk and Dawn shared the color gray between them, but Dusk had feathered wings of a dark pink color, while Dawn had bright red.
No other Fae could summon aspects of their animal forms while in their Fae form, let alone summon wings. I had no idea why the royals were different, but I was enthralled seeing the wings the king had indeed summoned. I’d never seen the phoenix forms of the Sunrise rulers I’d lived under all my life. Seeing the feathered wings here and now, I was blown away by the beauty of them. I would have loved to see the teal and yellow phoenix form of King Gravadain of Sunrise before I’d left. To see how it compared to the teal and orange of Sunset’s king. Though I had to imagine both the phoenix and pegasus would be completely outdone by the dragon form Day and Night Kingdoms shared. Seeing a dragon in person had to be mesmerizing.
I was so distracted that I hardly noticed anything else about the king and queen at first. King Astraeus had long, dark brown hair that rested against lightly tanned skin, the blue of his eyes the only thing to brighten his dark features. His charcoal gray doublet was accented by a flowing cape of dark pink down his back, a chain in front connected each side with a large button shaped like a pegasus. His expression was blank, at least until he rolled his eyes over to his queen.
Queen Stelara was a complete contrast to her king; bright where her husband was dark, with her hair the shade of berry wine and her face pale enough for me to believe she rarely left the palace. Just like the king, her eyes were the opposite of the rest of her features. Black orbs stared out, which I couldpractically feel oozing judgment and derision. Or maybe that was the pointed sneer on her face as she turned up her nose.
I knelt on the floor in front of the royals with the others, bowing my head as far down as possible. It rankled—badly. I hated showing subservience of any kind, but especially not to people like these Fae, who clearly looked down on humans. I felt the disdain pouring off them, clearly sticking their noses up at their newly acquired slaves. It was not difficult to imagine the cruelty these two could dispense if provoked, and I had no wish to taste the lash of a whip.
“Humans, you are now part of the Dusk Kingdom. You belong to me, from this moment until your death.” The king bellowed, a familiar smirk tipping his lips up. Old Gods, he was just as arrogant as his son. I clenched my fists so hard I felt the press of my fingernails in the flesh of my palms.
What a welcome “home”.
This asshole—he was actually enjoying this, wasn’t he?
“Since I have so many newly acquired possessions, pay attention—for if you are found in the wrong area of the kingdom, and especially the palace, you’ll pay dearly for it. I won’t repeat myself twice as I tell you where you will be assigned throughout the kingdom, and which master you will answer to. You may bemyproperty, but they will be your master on a daily basis. They will see to your care, training, and punishment when necessary.”
My blood turned to ice. Jehohanan, the Fae in charge of the village, never required the children to attend the punishments served out, but I’d heard of other villages who required everyone to be in attendance, regardless of age. And though I’d never personally seen my parents or any of the villagers punished, I’d heard of humans being punished plenty. I’d personally seen the aftermath of only a few punishments and considering how much I’d still despised that—it certainly did not bode well for my sanity.
A Fae male with distinct hair, short on the sides and longer down the middle, in shades of blonde and red, walked up toward the thrones and turned to face us, holding a long, tightly rolled, scroll. He began reading off names and assigning them to their roles and the Fae who’d oversee them.
My fingers wouldn’t stop drumming on my knee in my nervousness. My heart felt like it might gallop out of my chest. My whole future would be determined once more. First, it was my placement to Dusk, and now I was once again to be placed, this time within the Dusk Kingdom.
Emmie leaned ever so slightly towards me and put her hand on mine, stopping the tapping with a pointed look through the curtain of her hair. I noticed Emmie twitch as her own name was called, however.
“Emmie Saphere, Eris Ventella, and Kalida Bothorn; will all be assigned to the palace under Princess Daneiris.”
Emmie seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She’d grown up in court and was likely thankful to get assigned somewhere she understood, instead of being placed on a farm or in a village like mine, where she’d be forced to do hard labor. I was happy for her, but disappointed that the only familiar faces, the only people I’d really met, would already be leaving.
Don’t get attached, Asteria. Nothing good ever comes from it.
