Another group of silver-armored fae stand atop this wall and several also patrol the stone path at ground level.
Lilis slows her pace as we pass through this final gate.
The entryway appears like a tunnel through the wall, deeper than the previous two gates and high enough that it soars above us.
A handful of fae stand lined up within the entryway—three men and three women, none wearing armor, all dressed in warm furs.
These fae appear lowborn, their dull, black hair clearly visible from beneath their hoods, although they keep their eyes down, so I can’t see what color they are.
Lilis slows to a stop in front of one of the women and speaks quickly to her.
I don’t catch the woman’s name—assuming Lilis speaks it—but I do hear “food” and “clothing” and finally “Oracle,” at which the older woman startles, her head snapping up, revealing pale-blue eyes and a weathered face before she resumes her firm study of the ground.
Lilis soon continues forward, but she doesn’t proceed far into the palace grounds, stopping on the other side of the gate.
As we pass the six lowborn fae, they still don’t look up. Each one sinks into a low bow without making eye contact.
I have to wonder now why Stellen was concerned about anyone seeing him touch me. I guess the soldiers might have seen, but otherwise, nobody seems to be looking.
Stellen draws Nara to a stop beside Lilis’s wolf.
“Leave us,” he says to Lilis. “Return tomorrow morning.”
She draws back a little, and even Nara’s ears twitch, as if Stellen’s command wereunexpected.
“Not sooner, Lord?” Lilis asks, then she quickly grimaces, clamping her mouth closed.
From the corner of my eye, Stellen’s smile is cold. “Return earlier if you wish, Lilis. Your next punishment will be waiting.”
A threat delivered smoothly, and with it a good reason for Lilis to stay away and get the rest she must desperately need.
Kindness dressed as cruelty.
“Tomorrow morning,” she replies firmly, bowing deeply before urging her wolf into a run back through the tunnel and away into the city.
The lowborn fae file into the palace grounds, after which the portcullis on both sides of the tunnel slowly lower.
Stellen ignores those fae completely, giving a low whistle to Nara, who carries us farther inside the palace grounds.
Ice-blue buildings are connected by structured paths, a grid formation, at least what I can see of it.
“You don’t speak with your people,” I say, meaning it as a question, although it seems like a fact to me.
Stellen sighs softly in my ear. “My staff would die of fright if I uttered a word to them.”
I assume he’s joking, even though he made it clear there is no humor in Frost. If I could summon a smile…
Well, it would fade immediately.
“My Voice carries power,” Stellen continues. “My people’s fear of a mere conversation with me is logical. Just as their fear of my touch is logical.”
His words confirm that other than Nara, he’s very much alone.
The memory of what he said to me in the Alak-Teah when he was falling asleep returns to me. I told him he was all I’ve got, and he replied,As are you.
As Nara turns a corner, I have the chance to glimpse thelowborn without craning past Stellen. All six scatter in different directions, but all cast quick glances at me.
I’m surprised by what I read in their crinkled foreheads and wide eyes, their darting, pale-faced glances: they fearforme.
