“Then,youmust stay with me, and not wander off like a hound following a scent,” I told him, putting my hand out. He tucked his wings in and smiled before threading his arm around mine and holding it tight to his side.
“As you wish, Mayhem.”
Chapter sixteen
Captain & King
The grand ‘ballroom’ atthe heart of the Arden Court was not what I expected. At the far end of the great hall stood another facade of trees with three more twisted-root archways at its base. For whatever reason, I held my breath as we went through, then released it on the other side. The trees that made up the boundary of the new space were shorter, a rich brown color, with canopies above us stretching far wider than what a normal tree could sustain. Where there ought to be a ceiling, there was only a twisted mass of their intersecting and interlocking branches, covered by pale yellow leaves. The center of this leafy ‘dome’ opened into an oculus, where the branches and leaves grew aside to give a perfect view of the clear night sky and its masterpiece: a full, heavy autumn-orange moon. Ahead of us, on the far side of the dome, sat a circle of enormous standing stones, and an inexplicable shudder ran through me at the sight of them.
“Welcome to the Bower,” said Devil. “We are truly at the heart of the Arden now.”
I just nodded, words failing me yet again as we walked slowly around the edge of the room. I quietly noted the armed guards posted every ten paces along the tree-trunk walls, their eyes trained ahead, bronze short swords hanging from their belts. A knotted symbol embossed on each black leather cuirass took the vague shape of a roaring bear’s head.
“Not a bat wing in sight,” Devil murmured, scanning the crowd. He plucked the empty wine goblet from my hand. “How do you feel?”
Blissful,I almost answered.Foolish.Like I’m in a dream. Like I want to dance…with you.
But all I said aloud was, “I still havea few wits about me.”
Devil raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Keep them about you, then, and don’t wander.”
He walked away with my goblet, presumably to find more wine, and left a small swarm of his fireflies behind to drift lazily around my shoulders. I drifted forward only a few paces, fixated on the dozens of Fair Folk who were already dancing on the grass beneath the Bower’s dome, spinning and reeling to music that echoed from all around, with no apparent source. The warmth of each note, mixed with the smell of wine and earth, and the soft glow of floating lights must have put me into some kind of trance. Soon, I was standing right on the edge of the dancefloor, swaying and swishing the skirts of my gown back and forth.
“I believe I was promised a dance.”
Before I could even turn around, a pair of large, strong hands encircled my waist and forearm, pushing me forward as the song ended. I stiffened when Antenor swung me around to face him, a smug smile on his lips.
“I don’t recall promising you anything, Captain,” I said, searching the crowd for Devil. But Antenor flared his wings out to block my view, causing my heart to jump into my throat.
“Well, perhaps I can offer something to soften the blow of my rudeness.”
“Or perhaps I could scream and alert the entire Court to the fact that you enjoy putting your hands on unwilling women.”
“Oh dear,” said Antenor, dropping into a bow as a new song faded in, “what a plight. Will you draw all eyes in the Bower directly to you? Or will you suffer through a single dance with a handsome, interesting man?”
The idea of attracting everyone’s attention made my skin crawl, and I certainly did not want to give Devil any cause to murder Antenor in public. But then I remembered what sort of creature I was dealing with, and forced myself to smile back.
“Actually, I think you do have something to interest me, and I am willing to make a bargain.” Antenor moved closer, his gaze nearly predatory as he put one hand on my waist and lifted my arm with the other.
“You have my attention, lady.”
“One, single dance on this night and this night alone,” I said, even though we were already moving, “in exchange for a story.”
“A story,” Antenor laughed. “Do I look like a nursemaid?”
“A story about Puck…Robin.”
This seemed to pique his interest and he raised an eyebrow. “But there are so many stories about your steadfast warden. Which would you like to hear?”
“I want to know what has caused such bad blood between the two of you.”
Antenor’s coy smile turned sour. “It is his very existence that offends me. He is an abomination against nature, against magyk, against the gods themselves.”
“I will not disagree with you,” I snorted, “but I’m afraid I do not understand. He and I are not yet…well acquainted enough…”
“Consider yourself fortunate,” Antenor said dryly. “I will tell you the tale and allow you to judge for yourself. Many years ago, during the war between Athenium’s two human princes, my cousin Oberon needed a creature for a very particular mission—one which involved going undetected amongst humans. Very few were privy to the details of this endeavor, and I was not among them, so do not ask. At this time, however, my Lord and his wife were somewhat…at odds, as they often are. He could not find a single child of the Arden, who might be able to pass for human, that Titania did not already have some sort of influence over. Requiring absolute loyalty and obedience…he made his own creature.”
I nearly tripped over my own feet as we spun past the other couples. “Oberon…madehim?”
