“After Forevermore was taken over by the Warden, my grandfather and the rest of the Elven refugees that got away built a city on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. It’s surrounded by wards. No one’s found it yet.”
“The Elves built an entire city in a year?” I questioned.
“They used magic, but they had help,” Charlie explained. “Apparently, a sorceress from Malovia took an abandoned Elven city from the fae realm of Edinmyre— a settlement named Ithriel— and moved it through a portal to this island. Then the Elves rebuilt the ruins of Ithriel and filled in the gaps with magic. Besides the old structures, the city is created out of illusions that are solid. The Elves can’t do that, so the fae stepped in to lend a hand. Once the rebuild was complete, the Elves renamed the city Ilamanthe.”
“So the fae are allies with the Elves now?” I asked. They’d been enemies during the last Great Supernatural War, with the fae being the greatest persecutors of the Elves, but I supposed Kallie’s brother was running things in Malovia now.
“Seems like it. The fae want to make amends for the last Elven genocide, so they’re here to help. The fae created this city for the Elves as a peace offering. It was a good thing they managed to build it so quickly.”
I had to marvel for a moment. “What fae could be so powerful she could move an entire city from one realm to another?”
“I’m not sure, but hopefully we’ll get some answers soon. Whoever she is, she must be one powerful sorceress.”
As I got to a sitting position, I realized I was wearing some sort of pretty silk dress, soft enough to sleep in but definitely fit for a princess. “I’m assuming there’s a dress code.”
Charlie looked different, too. He wore a pair of black slacks, with a fine silk shirt that had a few buttons open at the top. He appeared positively dashing. “The servants gave us some new clothes. I dressed you when you were out of it. All of us were covered in dirt from the fight with Esther.”
“How long has it been?” I was horrified important things might’ve been decided when I was sleeping. I didn’t want to be behind on what was going on.
“You’ve only been sleeping for a few hours. Eddie had us rest here until we were ready to see everyone. This is our personal suite. Kallie and Marcus have rooms nearby. Basically, we have an entire section of the palace to ourselves that the servants are referring to as my quarters. All of our friends are rooming in this tower, which is reserved strictly for the prince and his guests, but you and I have the biggest suite.”
“We have a whole tower to ourselves?”
“It sounds crazy, but it’s actually nothing compared to the rest of the palace,” Charlie informed me. “This place is enormous. It makes the Institute seem small.”
“Well, I’m up now, so we better get to it.”
My wheelchair stood beside the bed. Marcus must’ve dropped it off. Charlie helped me into it. I found a gold brush on a nearby vanity, and I combed out the tangles in my hair before we left the room.
The rest of Charlie’s quarters were just as grand as his suite was. In the center of the tower was a living space, where all thebedrooms were connected. There was a massive fireplace in the main room, as well as floor-to-ceiling windows that displayed the city below. A widescreen TV hung on the wall, and large sectional couches were spread throughout the space, the walls lined with dozens of bookshelves. One of the walls housed a floor-to-ceiling mirror that made the space appear even larger than it already was.
It was even better than the rooms at the palace in Forevermore. Everywhere I looked, there was a new piece of art or another beautiful thing to look at.
I rolled myself to one of the giant windows and looked down, observing the scene. Hundreds of buildings were clustered around the city’s palace. I recognized the beauty of ancient Elvish architecture in every stone structure. They really had taken the bones from Ithriel and turned those ruins into the incredible buildings they were today. Everywhere I looked, I saw tall spires, domed buildings, and formidably tall architecture, with massive gargoyles and stained-glass windows.
It appeared the palace itself had been built on the side of a mountain that overlooked the city, and the buildings that had been constructed around it were collected on the cliff sides below. Small dots moved within the city as thousands of Elves maneuvered throughout the cobblestone streets. The Mediterranean Sea spanned outward all around us, appearing endless, while a glistening sandy beach circled the island’s edge.
I felt tears rise and nearly spill over. I couldn’t believe the Elves had made it after Forevermore had been sieged. More so— they’dthrived.What an exceptional and resourceful people the Elves were. I thought for sure they’d be hiding in cities around the world, but here they were. Despite the worst, they’d gone on to survive.
The doors to the quarters opened. Eddie walked in, followed by Kallie and Marcus. When Eddie saw us, he hurriedly bowed so low it was nearly funny.
“My prince and princess,” he gushed. “Welcome to the city of Ilamanthe. In Elvish, it meanscity of new light. Our Emperor thought it was a fitting name for the place that now resides us. He changed the name from Ithriel, because this place is no longer just an Elven city, but a city for all, and the freedom that inspires us to carry on.”
New light indeed. I certainly felt revived.
Eddie took a seat on an armchair, while Kallie and Marcus went to lounge on the sectional— on opposite ends, I might add. I rolled to the end of the sectional where Kallie was sitting, while Charlie took a seat on an armchair opposite Eddie’s.
“Okay, out with it,” Kallie said. “How’d you escape the camps, Eddie? We were certain you were dead.”
“I all but was, by the time I left the West Facility. That is the name of the place they kept us. It was a concentration camp on the other side of Darke Island, far from the Institute,” Eddie said.
“The West Facility? Was that really what it was called?” Marcus asked.
“Yes.” Eddie nodded grimly. “The Warden isn’t a particularly imaginative person.”
That was putting it lightly. He was about as creative as my left butt cheek, and I hadn’t seen that create any masterpieces lately.
“The name just seems so… cold.” Kallie scowled. “Like some sort of landfill.”
