“Rules are rules.” She shrugged. “Newbies get chaperoned. See youtonight.”
The rest of the day passed in a mindless blur. I paced from one end of the room to the next, the restlessness in my body building with every second that passed. I tried the door handle at least two dozen times, but the lock didn’t magically open for a single one of them. I peered out the tiny window, sighed, and then peered somemore.
It was one of the most boring days of my life. A surprise, since I was a secret spy in a court of wraiths. You’d think I’d have a tad more action thanthis.
Shortly after nightfall, Saoirse collected me from my room. While I’d been bored out of my mind, I’d found a gown in the black box. A sleek black number that did little to hide my toned curves. My makeup, I’d kept natural, and my hair no longer hung loose around my shoulders. I’d pulled it back into a high ponytailinstead.
I topped off the whole look with my signature blackboots.
Saoirse, clad in a flowing green dress and pointy high heels, slowed and let out a low whistle. “That outfit is achoice.”
“I learned a long time ago to always be ready for a fight. And I can’t be prepared inheels.”
She laughed. “This is your party. You won’t be expected tofight.”
“That’s a shame.” Igrinned.
Saoirse didn’t seem to know what to make of that, so she breezed me out of the room. “On our way, I’ll point out some of the highlights of the castle. For example, down at the end of that hallway, you’ll find a flight of stairs that leads up to the roof. We aren’t allowed to go upthere.”
“Of course you aren’t,” I said with a roll of my eyes. But, that was potentially important information, and I made sure to make a mental note ofit.
Saoirse led me out of the residential quarters and into a tiny, squat building. There were fewer windows in this section of the castle, and gloominess swirled through the narrow hallways, along with clouds of dust. With a smile, Saoirse bustled forward and pointed out the highlights. In this building, three fae healers had set up a room for the injured. Further on, I’d find the storage room for blankets, pillows, toilet rolls, andtowels.
After the short tour, we continued on to a courtyard I’d seen last night. Here, there were four adjoining buildings that made up a square. Saoirse took me into the one that sat on the right of the Great Hall and pointed out an expansive, gleaming kitchen. It had stainless steel work surfaces, more like a restaurant than ahome.
She slowed to a stop to point out a smaller room to the left of the kitchen where round tables dotted a carpeted floor. “This is the kitchen and a smaller dining room. Most evening meals we have all together in the Great Hall, but you can come here and grab breakfast and lunch on yourown.”
“Except I can’t,” I said dryly. “Not without achaperone.”
“In time,” she whispered fiercely, and then continued on. She pointed to the right as we passed another door. “Big laundry room in there. You can do it yourself, or you can ask one of the cleaning staff to do it foryou.”
Right. So I could askmyselfto do itthen.
At the very end of the hallway, we came to a stop outside of two double doors, but Saoirse didn’t make a move to open them. “This is the training room. Our warriors spend a lot of time inhere.”
I gave a nod and yearned to push inside. I already missed the training room back home. My muscles ached with the need to move. To swing my sword. To practice my breathing. To hold my body as still as a tree while I focused my power on the enemy beforeme.
“You’ve clearly trained,” Saoirse said, knocking me out of myreverie.
I turned away from the door, breath held. Had I been that obvious? “I don’t know what youmean.”
“You’re super fit, even for a fae, and your skill is the sword.” She started moving further down the hallway, and I fell into step beside her. “Obviously, you’ve practiced, even if you’ve had to do it on yourown.”
“Oh.” I relaxed. “It’s honestly one of my favourite things to do. It’s why I’m gutted to be assigned cleaningduty.”
Saoirse gave me a conspiratorial smile. “King Lugh would love to have another warrior on the team. He won’t be planning to keep you on cleaning duty forever. You just have to prove yourselffirst.”
I stopped short in the hallway, frowning. “But how? I thought that was the entire part of thetrial.”
“The trial was meant to test how badly you want to join us here, which you did brilliantly.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me along the hallway. “Come on. Everyone iswaiting.”
When Saoirse saideveryone, she hadn’t been joking. We stepped into the Great Hall, transformed overnight. The twenty wooden tables were gone. In their place were throngs of fae dressed for a night out at the clubs. Coloured balls of light hung from the timber roof-beams, swaying back and forth on an invisible breeze. Musicians crowded on the dais around the throne, closing their eyes as they played theirinstruments.
I braced myself as we stepped into the middle of the crowd. The Court had thrown this party to welcome me, and I wasn’t exactly the most extraverted fae in the world. I liked to swing my sword, but I wasn’t a big fan of smalltalk.
But as Saoirse led me through the crowded party, Celtic music swirling through the air, not a single pair of eyes turned my way. No one said hello. I didn’t even get ascowl.
Huh. Well, in that case, it was time to take advantage of the little freedom I finally had. Back in my room, I’d found some paper in a drawer, and I’d written a note for Clark. I just needed to find a way to get outside, only for a briefmoment.
