“Suit yourself. If you want to spend all day with your ear glued to the door, by all means.”
“It’s better than what you’re doing.”
“I’m not doing a damn thing.”
He shot me a wolfish smile. “Exactly.”
I rolled my eyes. “At least I’m preserving my energy.”
“Yes. You need a lot of energy for all that scowling you’re doing over there.”
I shook my head and turned to the window. At least we had a view—a glorious one at that. Rolling fields of green stretched toward a horizon bathed in blue. It was a clear day without a cloud in the sky, and the brilliance of it was almost blinding. Even days later, my eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the daylight. For so long, I’d known nothing but night. The Kingdom of Shadow had not always existed in impenetrable darkness and mist. We’d had sunlight once. Short sunny days, of course, but we’d had them. And there’d often been a light mist—a fog. Nothing like it was now, as if the mist itself were a living, breathing thing that sought to choke out all life.
“I wonder what Kal and the others are up to,” Alastair said, cutting through the silence. I sighed. The man couldn’t go more than five minutes without interrupting my thoughts.
“Knowing the storm fae, I imagine he’s probably stuck inside a room like we are.”
He grunted. “Not for long.”
I turned just as Alastair stepped back and the door swung wide. Duncan Hinde, the King of Talaven, stood in the corridor beyond our room with his hands tucked behind his back. His emerald robe swished around his feet as he gave us a quick nod and walked off. “Come along.”
Eyes narrowing, I shoved up from the chair. “You have no right to order us to ‘come along’ after locking us away for days, both now and on your bloody ship.”
Alastair chuckled. “I think he’s already halfway down the hall and didn’t hear you.”
With a shrug, he followed the king. I clenched my hands. I’d meant what I said. All of this, the journey by ship and then across the realm in a cage, it was too much. I had no more patience for games. The mortals of Talaven had treated us horribly, and for what? We’d come to ally our realm with theirs. Well, fuck that.
I stormed into the hallway, ready to give the king a piece of my mind and drag Alastair and Val out of here if I had to. The mortals had taken our weapons, but I was still a damn good fighter. Alastair was several steps ahead of me, and I had to jog to catch up to him. I was only seconds away from telling him my plan when we swung around the corner to find the king standing before an open set of doors leading into a gold-drenched library, the gaudy color matching the crown on his head.
Val was just inside, seated at a table and flipping through a mound of books. She didn’t seem to notice us, but she looked well, clad in a silk robe much like the king’s. Relief shuddered through me. I’d known she was fine, but still. Seeing her sitting in there among a sprawl of books with her brilliant hair flowing around her shoulders…my heart squeezed. She was okay. Still, I couldn’t let the king see my relief.
“What’s this?” I snapped at him.
At that, Val lifted her head and met my eyes. Her face brightened, and she stood. “Niamh.”
I smiled. “Good to see you’re all right.”
Her cheeks turned a shade pinker. “Yeah, I could say the same to you.”
The king cleared his throat. “Val is reading everything we have on the prophecy and the history of the Fell. Though I must warn you, it was a dark time, and you will not enjoy hearing about it.”
Alastair moved into the library and approached Val’s table, but I didn’t follow him in, not yet. I needed more information. “You just kept us locked in a room for days, and now you bring us here without an explanation. Why?”
“I had to speak with your friend there,” he said, inclining his head toward Val, “and then consult my notes and the Druids.”
“Druids?”
“That’s not a foreign term to you, is it? I thought you had them in Aesir.”
“We do. It’s just…they’re very much fae. Elite fae who have chosen not to use their powers.”
He frowned. “Ah, yes. ‘Elite’ fae. I’ve never liked that term. It makes it sound as if anyone who isn’t born with power is somehow less than those who are.”
I agreed with him on that, but… “Do your Druids have powers?”
“Not fae powers, but they do have a power of their own.” Shifting on his sandaled feet, he glanced at the table where Val was showing Alastair one of the many books. “We have the remains of a comet—the first comet that came here—not far from our city walls. There are those who can touch its dust and see visions of things that will come to pass.”
“And that’s where your prophecies come from.”
