‘Do you know where you are?’ Finn repeated, breaking into her reverie.
‘Y…yes. I think so. The faerie realm of Murias,’ she responded, the name feeling strange on her tongue.
‘Indeed. Murias, the Castle of the Cup. The Palace of Water. This is my royal court, where my family has always resided.’
‘Yourcourt?’ she asked, noticing that the noise – clapping, laughing, and the wild music – was growing louder.
‘Yes.’ He smiled at her; his eyes were like warm sapphires.
‘So…youarea…king?’ She already knew the answer to the question but asked it, anyway.
‘A faerie king. My sister is the queen of this place.’ He pointed to the tapestry, at the terrifyingly beautiful woman sitting on the throne. ‘The Queen Levantiana.’
‘How long have you been here?’ she asked wonderingly. Grandmother had told her that the fae were as old as the world itself.
‘Many moons. Many centuries, in your time.’ He smiled, raising her hand to his mouth and kissing her palm. ‘I was a child once, but long ago, in your eyes. We do not age as you do in the human realm. I played here, with my pets and the other faeries of the court until I grew to be king. When we could not sleep, my sister and I, the faerie pipers played us lullabies. When our hearts were broken, in the days when we were foolish in our love with mortals, they played to cheer us and mend our sorrows.’ He smiled at her expression. ‘You do not think our hearts can be broken? The fae creatures have suffered much at the hands of humans.’
‘I…I don’t…I mean, I didn’t…’ Faye shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I’ve only ever heard about faeries enchanting humans, not the other way around.’
‘Well,sidhe-leth, believe me, it can happen.’ He gazed meaningfully at her, and Faye had the same sense of disquiet as before.
She pulled her hand away from his. Immediately, her head started to feel a little clearer; she looked around her at the room they were in. It was as grand as the others, but when she looked harder, she could see that the walls and the floor had shadows of tree roots within them.
Faye peered at the scene on the tapestry again and saw that in the background, there appeared to be a great ball or revelry of some kind happening. The figures of Finn and Levantianahad initially commanded her gaze, but when she really looked at the whole picture, she realised that several human figures hung upside down among the creatures of the water, by ropes attached to their ankles, their faces obscured. And, under the feet of the faerie revellers, there were skulls and bones.
16
A warning sounded in Faye’s mind, a sense of foreboding.
‘Am I dreaming?’ she asked, turning to him. ‘I know this is Murias. I know you are the faerie king. But we have…we have met before, in dreams.’ She blushed as she said it, knowing everything they had done together. ‘How do I know that this is not a dream?’
‘You are not dreaming.’ Finn’s voice pulled her gaze from the tapestry and back to him. He reached for her hand again, but she refused him and held it to her side, suddenly unsure. ‘Give me your hand,’ he commanded.
‘No. I need to try and keep my head, here. Keep my wits about me. I know the rules of being in the faerie realms. If I touch you…’
‘You know nothing,’ he scoffed. ‘If you fully understood where you are, then you would be far more grateful than you are.’ He took her hand forcibly in his.
She tried to fight the sleepy desire that came over her instantly, but it was impossible. When Finn Beatha touched her, she was under his spell. ‘I…I shouldn’t be here. I want to…I think I should go,’ she protested, but Finn drew her to him again.
‘Those were not dreams, sweet one,’ he murmured, a smile playing around his lips once again. ‘Those were real. And merely a hint of the pleasures that await you in my realm.’
Faye swooned, feeling herself fall helplessly into him. A wave of sweet, delicious pleasure overcame her. She felt as though she was being held underwater, if the water was desire. Some part of her knew that she needed to keep sharp, keep her head above water. And yet the feeling of submersion – of the sweet submission of allowing herself to go under and be a slave to her own desire – was too strong.
There was a knock on one of the doors and, frowning, Finn stalked across the room and flung it open. Immediately, as he let go of her, Faye felt like she awoke.
‘What?’ he shouted as he opened it; his demeanour had changed, suddenly, in a fraction of a moment; there were sharp edges now, where there had been none before, and Faye felt fear overtake the desire that had just filled her so completely.
There was a murmured conversation which she couldn’t really hear. Faye stepped quietly towards where Finn stood, curious to see who he was talking to. In the shadow beyond the carved wooden door, she could see a tall figure standing in a corridor. Dim candlelight in the hallway gave just enough light to ascertain that whoever it was, they were dressed in some kind of reflective material, a little like armour.
‘I don’t care. Just do it!’ Finn barked at the intruder, making her jump. He slammed the door and stood with his back to her for a moment, tense. Faye didn’t know whether to ask what was wrong. She felt confused again; it was so changeable here.I should go home, I don’t belong here.What am I doing?
Finn turned to her, scowling, and, without warning, reached up and tore the tapestry she had been staring at off the wall, letting out a shout of frustration as he did so. Faye, startled, shied away from him. He glared at her fiercely for a momentand, in that brief second, all his former warmth was gone. His deep blue eyes narrowed.
Faye ran to the other side of the room and tried the door.
‘This was a mistake, I shouldn’t have come here,’ she muttered. ‘I…this isn’t right, I…I want to go home.’
But before she could open it, his hand was on her shoulder, and sweetness began to suffuse her whole being again.
