Page 91

“The stars agreed that, for an evening, they’d hang the night sky in your hair.”

He’s still giving me that intense look. It makes me want to shyly tuck my hair behind my ear.

A small handheld mirror shimmers out of the ether and into Des’s palm. He hands it to me, and I take it, tentatively glancing down at my reflection.

I suck in a breath.

Hundreds of pinpricks of light glitter from my hair, the starlight clustered into constellations. I shake my head, and the starlight moves with it. It really does look like I’m wearing the night sky in my hair.

“It’s beautiful,” I say, tearing my eyes away from my reflection to look at Des.

It’s more than beautiful. It’s breathtaking, surreal. I glance above us to make sure I’m not imagining this, but I’m not. The dark sky overhead is missing its twinkling companions.

Des leans forward and kisses me, just the softest brush of his lips, before he stands. He straightens his fitted shirt, picking off a stray blade of grass. “I hate to cut the evening short, love, but we ought to get going. We do, after all, have another dance to attend.”

Chapter 27

Apparently, there will be dances every day and night, each one called some fancy name that distinguishes it from the others. There’s the Solar Celebration, the Midsummer’s Eve Ball, and—oh, my personal favorite—the Fecundity Formal. If that doesn’t make you cringe, then I don’t know what will.

I’m not exactly surprised by all the balls—I sort of figured as much—but the true horror of a week’s worth of dancing, drinking, and schmoozing with fairies is finally starting to set in.

Not to mention the fact that for seven days straight, I’m going to have to wearheels.

Ugh, the bane of my existence.

The silver lining is that, being associated with the Kingdom of Night, I’m not required to participate in some of the Solstice dances and mixers hosted during the day. Apparently, many Night fae like to sleep during that time, so I’m off the hook as far as official Night King–mate duties go.

My shoes click against the stone walkway as Des, his retinue, and I all enter the Flora Kingdom’s royal palace.

I touch my hair for the millionth time, oddly self-conscious that the night sky now glitters from it. I feel like the cosmos personified, my dress tonight the deep midnight blue of the dark heavens.

We head down flight after flight of stairs, and the farther we go, the more claustrophobic I feel.

Just how far down is this ballroom?

The answer: far enough to make my already sore ass even sorer.

When we finally reach the bottom, the room we walk into utterly takes my breath away. It might be underground, but it doesn’t feel that way.

Intricate soaring arches hold up the cathedral ceilings, the pale stone faceted. The pillars throughout the room are carved into images of fairy maidens, flowers strewn in their hair.

Hundreds of glass lanterns hang from the walls and from several enormous candelabra, the dripping candles illuminating the room in bright flickering light.

Most surfaces are covered with plants and flowers, some arranged in pots, others growing up the various walls. More ferns cover the food-laden tables that line the sides of the great ballroom.

In the very middle of the room is an enormous tree, its trunk extending all the way to the ceiling, where its canopy spreads. From it, petals of some strange fae flower rain on us.

Des sees me staring at the tree. “It’s said that the first Queen of Flora is buried beneath that tree. That rather than dying, she chose to be buried alive so her body and soul could continue to nourish her land and people for thousands of years.”

“That is fucking hard-core,” I say.

The giant tree, the fae maidens carved into stone, the high cathedral ceilings… I spin in a circle. “It’s just like your drawings,” I breathe.

Back at Peel Academy, Des drew me several pictures of the Otherworld. At least one was of this great hall, I’m sure of it.

“You remember that?” he says, surprised.

“Of course.”I remember everything.“I was desperate to know about your life.”