“The other rulers, and myself, decided to close High Pointe until we’re done with this meeting.” Father unhooked his waist belt, and then started on his feet. I quickly moved to do the same. He added, “We didn’t want to chance anyone overhearing our discussions.”
“That makes sense.” I swallowed down that nervousness that tried to bubble up in my throat again, while one of my father’s personal guards helped me down from Penelope’s back. “When will the others be arriving?”
“The summit starts in an hour. They’ll be arriving sporadically until then.” Father snorted softly under his breath. “But Queen Alora is always late. And she has never failed to blame it on the fact she has farther to travel. Her excuse is poor at best, and most assuredly, Fae shit. The merfolk queen simply likes to make us wait.”
That sounded par for what Father had said about her last night. “Let me guess. King Elon is the one who suggests you all wait for her arrival, too?”
“I’m glad you were listening before. You are correct.” King Traevon walked over the cobblestones to stand next to me, and turned to stare at the building and crossed his arms. “So, my clever daughter, what do you think of High Pointe now that you’ve seen it at this level?”
I gulped, and whispered, “It’s intimidating. All I know of it I read in books and my lessons.”
“My mother’s books?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve read those, too. Everything inside them is correct.” His emerald green eyes peeked down at mine. “But thinking you know something is vastly different than having experienced it. It’s perfectly normal to be scared your first time here. Don’t think your feelings are different than any other new person entering High Pointe for the first time.”
I quirked a red brow and lifted the hidden blue apple from my pocket, my Fae-gift bumping me in the side to remind me. While I fed her the sweet treat, I grumbled, “Except for the fact, most new arrivals to High Pointe aren’t going to a royal summit of the queens and kings.”
Father smirked. “Well, yes. There’s that.”
“Yes. Quite.” I lowered my raised hand, the blue apple now nibbled away to nothing, and eyed the sticky juice left remaining on my palm. I debated brushing it on my clothes, like I normally did in a comfortable setting, but I didn’t think that would be entirely proper considering who I was going to meet. “Um, is there a bathroom inside close by?”
King Traevon snickered softly. “Are you sure you don’t want to wipe it on—”
“Bathroom, Father,” I interrupted. And rolled my eyes.
“Follow me,” the king murmured. He strode toward the large, glass entry door and glanced at the closest border guard on his way. “Take our Fae-gifts to my stable here. Have them tended to.”
The guard’s eyes widened, having been spoken to by his king, and quickly bowed at the waist in reverence. “Right away, my king.”
We stepped inside High Pointe, my father’s personal guards silently following us and respectfully putting distance between us and them, scattering so they blurred to the side of our vision—allowing the privacy my father always demanded.
Everywhere beams of multi-hued colors shot down through the stained glass onto the white, seamless marble floor, casting colors of light on the grand space, the area so vast our footsteps echoed inside the building. A large desk sat fifty feet in front of us, with an equally massive, steel blue ceiling structure curved over the top from the floor, shading the colorful lights for anyone who would staff the desk. An “Elf Kingdom Registration” sign hung from the edge of the desk’s quasi roof. The sides of two other desk structures, of the same make, could be viewed to the far left and right—surely, the Caster and Gorgon Kingdoms. The shifter’s registration desk was unseen—straight west of the Elf Kingdom—because of the enormous and circular, solid blue glass wall that sat in the very center of High Pointe, the sectioned off glass area reaching to the top of the domed building.
King Traevon pointed to that area. “That’s where we are going. Only staff is allowed inside on the first level. The upper level is exclusively for the royals to gather together if it is needed.”
“I read that somewhere.” I bobbed my head in awe, gawking at the majesty that surrounded me. “Father, do you think all of Fairy, above and below, looks like this?”
King Traevon placed a pointed finger under my chin, and affectionately pushed up, shutting my gaping mouth. “I imagine the dark and light Fae lands are even more breathtaking.”
“Wow,” I breathed softly.
Father waited a full minute before asking, “Are you done ogling? Queen Mikko wasn’t too far behind us. Do you still want to wash your hands before meeting her?”
I blinked hard and straightened my back, unconsciously, having been leaning in every direction where I’d been gawking. I lifted my chin and sniffed in his direction. “Yes, that sounds like a marvelous plan.”
The king’s lips twitched. “Perfect.”
His guards split into two groups, half staying where they were, the other half following us. They did so again when we entered the circular center, bypassing the staff rooms, then again, when we started climbing the stairs to the top level.
There were many,manystairs.
The last time the personal guard split their group was when my father opened the door to the royal area. He was down to two personal guards, the other two staying at the door when we walked into a large entrance area. Those same color beams of light rained down on us, the top of the domed building our ceiling, and still so far away.
I wiped the damp sweat off my forehead with the back of my clean hand. “Good Fae! Therehasto be a better way to reach this blasted area.”
“If there is, no one has invented it yet.” Father patted my back and pointed to a door on the right. “The bathrooms are through there. Take a right when the hallway splits; the left would take you to the royal bedchambers.”
