He nodded encouragingly. “Green, to honor Erde, the goddess of earth. Although most of us derive our powers from Corff, the god of body.”
I of course knew the name Erde. But Corff? That name resounded in me as though it should be familiar. As if it was something from a distant, half-forgotten past.
I nodded, but lapsed back into silence.
“Here we are.” He motioned to a door that looked like every other door in the hallway. I had no idea where we were, or how we’d gotten here, except we had climbed several flights of stairs, some of them wide and some small, circular staircases, all made of stone.
“You simply need to rest your hand against the doorknob tounlock it,” he informed me. “In time, with your channels, you’ll be able to ward it for who you want, but as of now, only you and a few trusted staff will be able to enter.”
I reached my hand out, feeling a faint spark before the doorknob twisted under my hand.
I stepped inside and stopped, awestruck. As with everything I had seen here, it was enormous and opulent, befitting a princess. I was pretty sure our house back home could have fit in this main room. Nothing this nice was anywhere to be found in Fairhaven. I couldn’t decide if I liked it or was disgusted by the opulence. I certainly didn’t need this much space.
Andrei followed me in. “We weren’t sure what you would like, or even what age you would be when you reappeared, so we took some guesses.”
I slowly turned to take it all in. Everything was done in peaceful blues, with accents of gold. There was a long table against one wall, a few chairs in front of it, a bench tucked behind it. A couch and two armchairs, upholstered in deep blue, were in the middle, with a desk and chair on the other end.
Andrei walked ahead and opened the door on the right, which led to the bedroom. The door on the left was a bathing room, with a tub already full and steaming.
I was hesitant to touch anything; given the day I’d been having, I was filthy and I was sure I stank.
Whatever. You give a girl no warning before you upend her life, you get what you get.
“I’ll leave you here,” Andrei said. “If you need anything, there’s a rope near the door. This wing is the royal wing, and there will always be staff around.” He left me while I was still frozen in place.
The lure of the bath soon broke me out of my shock. The bathing room was marble, accented with deep blue and gold. I stripped off my clothes and left them in a pile—pretty sure I was never going to see them again. My braid was stuck together like a thick, crusty rope, each strand glued to the one next to it with a mixture of sweat, dirt,and Erde knew what else. This was the problem with my typical triple braid—it kept my hair out of my face, but it really didn’t like getting muddy, sweaty, or anything else. I started slowly unraveling it, stiff and unyielding as dried leather, starting with the main braid and then each of the individual three that went into the primary one. My hair wasgross.
I sank into the bath and watched the mud flake off of me. I hadn’t looked in the mirror since—gods, was that really this morning? I touched my face and—yep that was dried mud across my cheekbone. Some first impression I’d made.
By the time I had finally gotten my hair clean, the water was filthy. As the sludge struggled to drain, I sat at the mirror on the small stool. It was the same turquoise eyes, black brows, and pale skin staring back at me. Given the events of the day, I’d almost expected to see a different face. I located a comb and started the arduous process of detangling my dark hair. Nana had commented several times that it would be easier to manage if it was shorter. Lighter, too, given how thick my hair was. They were fine strands, but I had alotof it. But for some reason, I’d always resisted cutting it, and put up with the hassle of having it waist-length.
When it was rebraided, I stood up and attempted to locate clothes. Hoping no one was in the room that was now my bedroom, I walked into it naked. I was in luck—it was both empty and someone had left a nightdress on the bed. Not what I usually wore, but I guessed they didn’t normally let a princess run around in pants.
Deciding that today had been long enough and finding pants could be a problem for tomorrow, I climbed into the biggest bed I’d ever seen.
I thought I would promptly fall asleep, but as I lay on the massive, soft bed, there was no noise, other than the sound of my own breathing. No sounds of Nana rustling around. No crackle of the fire. No owl hooting into the night. And in the silence, my mind whirled through all the changes this day had brought. Had it really only been this morning that I had stepped past the warding stones?
I flung an arm over my eyes as images flickered through my brain. Nana’s face, bidding me farewell. Cormac’s hug. Seeing the behemoth I was supposed to now call home. My grandfather’s expression of disappointment. And all those feelings that had assaulted me the moment I appeared: confusion, joy, hope. The weight of those emotions pressed down on me, especially the hope that I had no idea how to fulfill.
The overwhelming uncertainty and loss washed over me, and a tear slipped out. Then another one. And before I knew it, I had curled up around a pillow, attempting to muffle the cries that rang through the too-quiet room. I prided myself on my ability to handle anything thrown my way, but I was only just starting to realize how sheltered I had been in our small town. How I had never had to deal with the unknown like this.
Why hadn’t Nana prepared me? She’d had twenty-two years to slip it in somewhere. And instead, here I was, having never even known magic existed until today.
In the center of my chest, a golden warmth spread, as if some power was trying to tell me everything would work out. But how could it when everything I’d ever known was a lie? The warmth persisted against my doubt, gently but stubbornly continuing to spread, as if it was refusing to let me drown in despair.
With that comforting glow in my chest and my pillow soaked with tears, I finally fell asleep.
I was dreaming.At least I hoped I was as I stood on an oddly familiar battlefield. A woman in golden armor stood with her back to me, her white-blonde hair whipping in the wind. She spun around, and her golden eyes flared in recognition.
“Protect Starfire!” she instructed me. “At all costs. If it’s lost, we’re lost.”
A massive figure wrapped in shadows approached, and she whirled away to face him.
“Is this your plan, Solais?” He laughed, a hauntingly cruel sound that sent shivers down my spine. I knew I should flee but was frozen in place, as though my feet were encased in the ground. He looked me over, and I felt something slitter through me.
“This is the best you can do?” He laughed again as shadows caressed the nape of my neck, tender and threatening at the same time.
She raised her sword. It blazed with an inner light, and words in the ancient language flared along the blade. Her eyes flicked back at me. “Go! And remember!”
