I passed Everett and made my way through the towering crystal door and into my version of heaven. Floor-to-ceiling stained-glass windows lined a circular room, separated by towering, gilded bookshelves that housed hundreds of thousands of texts, tomes, and scrolls. Leaning against each section of shelves was a staggeringly tall golden rolling ladder. Sunlight shone down on us through a stained-glass dome in the ceiling, casting colourful rays upon the luxurious sapphire carpet. I made my way into the centre of the room, taking in a complete view of the impressive library.
“May I help you find something?”
I looked around to see who had spoken but couldn’t see anyone. I glanced at Everett, who looked at me and then at the floor. Confused, I peered over and down and found the source of the voice—an adorably small yellow-haired fae woman in a gold cloak. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
Everett laughed and walked over to grab a chair from a nearby table to sit on, as if he were getting ready to watch a show.
“Yes, I get it. I’m small, but I am not invisible, you halfwit,” she spat.
I whipped my head away from what Everett was doing and looked down at the fae woman, shocked. “I didn’t mean that. I just meant that I couldn’t see you because—”
She raised her hand to stop me from speaking. “I don’t care. Just tell me what you want, and leave.”
I looked over to Everett, hoping he could understand my pleading look for help.
“Leni, this is Aurelia, and she is Prince Sterling’s guest. If you could help her locate some romance novels, we would be extremely appreciative.”
Leni nodded at Everett. “They’ll be up in your room later today. Now get out.”
It was obvious that the tenacious little fae woman cared nothing for my relationship with the prince, nor would she afford me any favours because of it. I wanted to check out the library and pick out my own books. My already testy mood was to blame for the next poor decision I made.
“Leni, I’m sorry if I offended you. As the keeper of this library, I’m sure you understand why someone would want to choose their own books instead of having someone else choosing for them. It would be greatly appreciated if you could cut me a little slack about the height thing and—”
Pain exploded across my backside as I slid across the floor and through the open door of the library. I could hear Everett yelling at Leni while running out of the library.
“Are you all right?” He held his hand out, reaching to help me up off the floor. “Leni is very controlling when it comes to her library. She’s also incredibly sensitive about her height, which is almost as short as her temper.”
I rubbed my backside and checked myself over to make sure nothing more than my butt and ego had been bruised. “You could have warned me about that before I decided to poke the tiny feral bear,” I hissed at him.
He laughed. “Yeah, I could have, but you were too busy being mean to me. I thought I’d let you find out the hard way.”
“You asshole!” I cried as I went to smack him.
Moving away from me with unnatural ease, Everett smiled. “Come on. Let’s head outside and check out Crystal Cove. Your books will be up in your room by the time we get back.”
“Are you sure? Because that terrifying, tiny fae woman is pretty upset with me.”
“She might be a terrifying firecracker who will throw you around, but she knows better than to ignore a request for a guest of the prince.”
Right, I was a guest of the prince. A guest who was being watched day and night by a guardian and kept in a tower away from others. And then there was the prince, who was apparently healed, but despite being a very special guest, I wasn’t significant enough to have that information shared with me.
Everett led the way through a maze of hallways until we emerged at the back of the palace. The warm morning sun greeted us as we stepped out onto the grassy cliff overlooking the sapphire ocean.
“It’s just over this way,” Everett called out, breaking me out of my daze.
We walked toward the edge of a cliff where a small patch of wildflowers grew. “Hold my hand and step inside with me.”
I looked around to see what he was talking about. “Step inside what?”
Everett reached over, grabbed my hand, and pulled me toward him without further explanation. My feet tripped over themselves, and then I was free-falling. Seconds later pain exploded across my face as I landed face-first on the ground.
“You’re a clumsy one, aren’t you?” Everett said, grabbing my hand and helping me up.
Brushing broken flowers off my dress, I looked around to see that we were no longer on the clifftop. We were now standing in a flower patch just off the side of a golden sandy beach. Waves roared around us as they crashed onto the shore. I had never heard or seen anything like it. The saltwater mist stuck to my face.
“I have no idea how we got down here, and I feel like I should be mad at you, but I just don’t care right now. This place is breathtakingly beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it.” I walked over to the sandy beach, reached down, and grabbed a fistful of sand. I held my hand out, watching the fine, tiny grains slip through my fingers.
“A faerie door.” Everett’s words broke through the silence between us.
