“Call when ye have need,” he said. “I, Cristalon, will help ye.”
What help could a troll whose head only came to my knees provide? However, I nodded thanks. I understood giving a favor for a favor.
When he couldn’t stop staring at my pendant, I cupped it in my fingers.
“Where did ye get such a thing?” he finally asked.
“My . . .” What was I supposed to call him? My lover? The king’s controller? He was so much more than a friend. “The man I love gave this to me.” That felt right.
“Wear it in good health then.” Before I could say anything else, he started spinning in place. His feet cut into the tiles, and he slid down into the hole, disappearing from view.
With Drask fluttering his wings and tilting his head this way and that, I stooped down, my mouth ajar for the second timetoday. The floor repaired itself and was soon seamless, as if nothing had happened.
As I walked down the hall, I clutched my pabrilleen pendant, sliding it back and forth on its chain. After completing my rounds of the first floor, releasing more creatures, I took the stairs to the next level. Fae lords had suites here, as they did on the two levels above.
Where was Reyla?
Finally, I gave up looking for her. I’d see her again this afternoon when it was time to get Brenna ready for dinner, and I hoped my Reyla was still with me and that she hadn’t slipped back into the ether.
Changed into my leathers, I left Drask in the room and took the back staircase to access each floor again, encircling it before moving downward, still hoping to come across her or Brodine.
I was passing the last suite on the second level when I heard a soft cry beyond the door. I paused as the sound was repeated. Maybe it was a couple having fun inside or maybe . . .
Damn me and my curiosity.
Approaching the door, I gently knocked. I had no interest in walking in on two fae in bed together, but I hated to think someone could be hurt inside and had no one to help.
No one answered my knock. I was turning away when they cried out another time. With a sigh, I gently turned the door handle. I’d poke my head inside. Nothing else.
Like the suite I shared with Vexxion, this one opened into a sitting area. Sunlight streamed in from the windows on the far wall, rays dancing on the soft carpet patterned with ornateswirls. Tapestries hung on the walls showing mythical hunt scenes. Fortunately, no one moved within the images.
The odd thing I noticed right away was the layer of dust coating everything. I’d thought all the rooms were booked for the wedding. Maybe this one was being renovated or had an issue that kept the staff from assigning it to anyone.
Since the dust suggested no one was here, I backed up to leave.
“Please,” someone said from farther inside. “Help.”
Someone could’ve entered the bedroom and fallen.
With a knife in my hand, I stepped inside and shut the door. I’d look around. If I found an injured person, I’d help them, then go to the aerie.
“Hello?” I whispered. Fear prickled across my skin, though I had no reason to be afraid. An injured person wasn’t going to attack me. And if someone did, I’d defend myself with both magic and the might of my blade.
Predictably, no one answered, so I repeated the call in a louder voice.
Still nothing.
I had a few minutes to check this out. After that, I would scoot from the room and keep going until I reached the aerie. Or flit there; an even better idea.
I strolled around the sitting area, expecting to find a fae lady lying on the rug in front of the sofa or . . . No idea. My footsteps sounded overly loud, and each creak of the floorboards made me jump.
A matching set of three cream sofas had been placed to form a half-moon, partly facing each other, each posed withblack plush pillows. Nothing rested on the low table in the middle of the crescent. A requisite fireplace had been built into the outer wall, nestled in the middle of the bank of windows. I spied no ashes beneath the grate and no logs waiting to be lit. I doubted anyone had used it for a very long time. Ivy had started to grow up through the hearthstones. Leave it to a plant to find a way to survive inside this grim castle.
Two heavy, ornately carved wooden chairs with cream upholstery flanked the fireplace with a side table between them where someone long ago must’ve placed a drink, because a pale ring peeked through the dust.
Grime coated every surface. I could understand not bothering to maintain a room no one used, but with the king’s wedding tomorrow, surely, they’d need to open this room as well. Why leave it in such disarray?
On the right, a golden harp stood silently beside towering bookshelves empty of even one tome. Air movement from who knows where fluttered against papers lying on a big wooden desk on the left wall facing the hall. I walked over and studied them, but the printing was in a language I couldn’t read.
