What was this place?
My nose told me we were inside granite. Encased in some sort of cellar or basement.
But when I looked over my shoulder, I saw we’d come out of a tall tower that stretched all the way up into a gorgeous blue sky with fat cotton clouds. And beyond the tower lay an entire village of thatched-roof houses.
Much like the ones in Faoiltiarn. Only this village was way bigger. What had to be hundreds of houses stretched all the way to a wide dirt road with no end I could see. And even though it felt quite pleasant—sixteen degrees, tops—every single thatched roof was covered in a light sprinkling of snow.
I didn’t...couldn’tget it.
It was like I was looking at—standing inside—a painting with more than two dimensions.
It smelled like a dry cave. Yet felt like a perfect early spring day. And looked like a town on the cusp of winter.
“Where... where are we?” I asked the Mountain King in charge of a fortress that didn’t match his affable demeanor.
“No time to explain.” Tadhg took me by the hand this time and started toward the residence to the maybe east.
All I could do was stumble along after him, toward the front of the sprawling estate, which hosted a row of high, arched windows embedded in its massive stone facade.
But we didn’t stop at the short set of steps leading up to a dark wood front door framed by columns. Instead, we kept going until we reached the side of the estate farthest from the tower.
That’s where Tadhg finally brought us to a stop. In front of another arched window, though this one sat on the ground and put me in mind of a glass door embedded into stone.
At least, Ithoughtit was glass. The ground-level window’s smooth exterior was tinted black, so I couldn’t see anything on the other side of it.
“Welcome to the High King’s palace,” Tadhg boomed.
Okay. So it was apalace.
Lots and lots of follow-up questions swirled around my mind. But first, I had to put my hands on my knees and wheeze.
“Sorry, Strawberry.” I could feel Tadhg’s sympathetic gaze above me. “Didn’t mean for your first day with us to be filled with so much confusion and cardiovascular activity.”
Despite his giant size, Tadhg seemed to have had a much easier time with all the running than me. There was barely any breath in his voice as he said, “I’m just going to tuck you away here until we’ve sorted this early arrival from the Scottish Wolves out. Then we’ll have brunch and return to our explanatory conversation.”
Meanwhile, I could barely stand back up to pant out, “High... High King? Who’s that? How... how many kings do you... do you have, anyway?”
“There’s only the three of us, and trust, that’s enough for you,” Tadhg answered, his tone wryly amused. “But Declan’s a topic we’ll need to save for brunch. Let’s get you inside. Just tell it to open.”
“The door?” I asked him.
“Yourdoor,” he corrected. “It’s meant to be a safe haven for you until we come to an agreement. You’ll have to give it a command for it to grant you entry. A simple ‘open’ should do.”
“Open?” I repeated, not quite understanding.
But the door didn’t seem to need my full comprehension. It slid open with a quiet whisper, just like Tadhg said it would.
“Great, the Shadow King’s already got it set to your bio-coordinates.” Tadhg led the way into the newly opened space.
I had no idea whatbio-coordinatesmeant. But that—and all the other questions crowding my brain—disappeared the second I saw the bedroom he’d guided me into.
More like a suite.
Or... what did my mom call the kind of place she used to live in back in Toronto, before she joined the Wölfennites?A studio apartment.
Yes. The space was so big and well-appointed, with gleaming and sleek everything, if they’d added a kitchen, it could have been one of those studios.
Though I had a feeling my mother never lived in a space with walls made of smudge-less white glass. And a gigantic bed big enough to fit me, her, and a couple of people more.
