Page 18 of Queen of Ever (Curse of Fate and Fae #2)

Chapter 18

Imogen

I wrapped my cloak around myself to help brace against the cold night air. It was nice to be wearing a simple dress for a change, instead of the ridiculously fancy clothes I’d been required to wear during my time at the Seelie Court. But honestly, I missed my jeans. Maybe I could start a trend in this realm, women in pants.

‘Whatever you’re thinking about is crinkling your brow,’ Tarian said, and I looked over in time to catch his smirk.

I glared at him before turning my attention back to the path ahead. It all felt very clandestine, waiting in the dead of night for an oracle that would hopefully shed some light on this ridiculous prophesy situation.

Haddock Sloan appeared, his shoulders hunched as he walked up the path, head turning over his right shoulder then his left at regular intervals as if he was an armature burglar creeping onto the property. If anyone saw him, they would know immediately that he wasn’t supposed to be there, and that spiked my own anxiety. He wasn’t the only one who wasn’t supposed to be there. I was supposed to be in my room. If Marietta or Solas came to check on me for any reason, they’d want to know where I was. I’d managed to avoid Solas since the feast, but I knew I couldn’t avoid him forever, especially not if he was determined to see me. I was his subject, so apparently required to obey him, and answerable to whatever punishment he deemed appropriate if I didn’t.

‘Could you be any more obvious?’ Tarian asked Haddock when he finally made his way to us, voice tight with irritation.

‘I ain’t s’pposed to be here,’ Haddock hissed back, his discomfort clear. ‘If any of them High Fae caught me, they’d lop off my head!’

‘No one is going to cut off your head,’ I said, doing my best to comfort the agitated satyr. ‘You’re here with us.’

‘That don’t much make me feel better, your ladyship,’ he replied, wringing his hands together. ‘The sooner I get off this island, the better.’

Tarian gave a curt nod then turned on his heels, taking my hand as he moved through the darkness. The casual gesture made my heart race. Something about being with him like this made me feel whole again. There was still a lot we were going to have to figure out, but I knew now what I wanted. What he wanted. Somehow, we would find a way to be happy.

Tarian stopped in front of an old wooden door that was set into a rocky outcrop, like it was a door into the earth itself. We weren’t far beyond the castle and I felt exposed standing out here, even in the dark, when anyone might look out and see us. Tarian seemed less concerned about that, but I thought he would almost have preferred to be spotted and forced to drop the secrecy. Even if that meant Solas marching out here and making some kind of scene. Actually, that probably made the idea even more inviting for him.

Tarian slipped his hand from mine and the cool air rushed to meet my skin in his absence, forcing me to tuck it under my cloak to preserve some of the warmth. He slammed his shoulder against the door once, then again, the sound echoing with each hit, making Haddock cringe, hunching his shoulders even more as he scanned our surroundings.

‘Someone will hear!’ the satyr hissed anxiously.

Tarian clicked his tongue in irritation, but I got the feeling it was directed at the door and not Haddock. I didn’t think he’d even listened to the complaint. ‘I hope it hasn’t caved in,’ he muttered, almost to himself. He put his hand to the wood, and it began to rot and crack as his magic worked, eating away at the door with an alarming speed until it was crumbling and decayed before us, revealing an opening. Tarian glanced back at us, ignoring the expression of horror on the satyr’s face. ‘Right, let’s go.’

‘You did that to scare him, didn’t you?’ I said as I followed him inside.

‘Maybe a little,’ he admitted, a note of mischief in his voice that I couldn’t help smiling at. I liked this side of him. I hoped that someday the chaos that we were always tangled in would fall away and that teasing, roguish side would be what I got to see the most.

The corridor beyond was pitch black and I ran my hand along the wall to help guide me. But given the crumbling state of the castle, I didn’t expect it to save me from falling on my face. I kicked rubble as I picked my way down a staircase, biting my tongue against the curses that threated to leap from it each time. By the time we reached the bottom, my toes were throbbing angrily.

‘This is it,’ Tarian said.

I looked up and gasped at what I saw. It was like something plucked from a forgotten fairy tale. Towering pillars rose from the vast pool of water that covered most of the floor, though time had worn them down, their stone surfaces chipped and crumbling. The vines that seemed determined to take over the rest of the castle snaked around the columns, their orange buds glowing softly in the darkness. The surface of the water itself was a wonder and I felt a brief sense of vertigo as I stared over it and saw the night sky perfectly mirrored, like the laws of nature had somehow reversed while we’d been descending those stairs and I was looking into the deep abyss of space. But it was just a reflection of the impossible ceiling, which was a smooth, gleaming material I might have called glass with a perfect replica of the clear, starry sky we’d left above cast across it. The starlight cast a soft glow throughout the wide cavern, but the majority of the light in the room came from tiny creatures that looked like fireflies floating lazily through the air, some hovering just above the water, some darting down to kiss the surface before rising again. It was mesmerising to watch them.

‘It’s beautiful,’ I said in awe.

‘Imagine what it would have been like when King Oberon lived,’ Haddock said, his tone mirroring my own.

‘What are they?’ I asked, watching the little lights as they seemed to dance before me. They looked beautiful, but the beautiful things in this realm tended to be dangerous, as I’d found out firsthand on more than one occasion.

‘No one really knows,’ Haddock said. ‘Some say spirits of the ancestors—fae that moved on to the next plane. They’re very rare, only congregate in the most sacred of places. Which is another reason we shouldn’t be here.’ He shook his head vigorously. ‘This was where Dhrigada ‘erself used to read the stars! It’s not for the likes of me. Do you know what she’d do to me if she knew I was meddling here?’

‘Well, you’re all we’ve got so you’d better get used to the idea,’ Tarian said. ‘Or are you going to break your oath to me?’

‘No, no, no. I ain’t saying that!’ Haddock squeaked in a panic.

‘It looks like this place has been abandoned for a long time, I don’t think anyone can get upset with you for using it,’ I said, trying to encourage Haddock. I hoped he’d help us. I felt like my whole life—and the life I wanted with Tarin—was dangling suspended by this stupid prophecy. I wanted to understand it. ‘And you were brilliant when you helped me learn my name.’

Tarian shot me an incredulous look, and I answered by raising my brows, which seemed to keep him from bringing up the fact that I’d been practically brought back from the dead afterwards.

Haddock blew out a breath. ‘Fine, fine. Let’s get this done and then get me out of here before anyone decides to put the satyr in a cage for the next feast amusement.’ He headed towards the edge of the water, looking around as if checking for something, then nodded to himself. ‘Come, come, we need to get in the water.’

‘Right,’ I said uncertainly, remembering the last time I’d gotten into the water with him. ‘Is this going to be like last time?’ I asked as I reached the edge. I took my cloak off and handed it to Tarian.

‘No, different. We’re just reading the stars. No trances, no gods to see,’ Haddock said.

That was a relief. Meeting actual gods had been equal parts incredible and terrifying. Who knew what would happen if I had to speak with them again. I took a step into the water, the cold wrapping around my foot, up to my ankle, sending a shiver through my body. Then the other foot went in. How the hell was I supposed to go all the way in? It was freezing. And who knew what was living in that dark water.

‘Haddock,’ Tarian said, a warning in his voice, ‘no mistakes this time.’

‘No, no, no. Course not. No mistakes,’ Haddock stammered nervously as he coaxed me further in.

The icy water climbed up my legs, over my hips, to my navel before Haddock finally stopped, almost up to his neck in the inky black. ‘This will do,’ he said with a tight nod of satisfaction.

‘What happens now?’

‘Take my hands,’ he said, holding them out to me.

I swallowed hard before I took them, nerves knotting my stomach. What if we got the information we were looking for and it made everything worse? What if all Haddock saw was me fulfilling that terrible fate Tarian had believed me bound to when he’d come to find me? If he had to choose between me and his crown, what would he choose? I looked over at him, my eyes drawn there despite myself, probably showing him everything I was feeling. He was leaning against the wall near the staircase, fingers on one hand tapping restlessly against the stone, watching me carefully. I had the sense he was ready to jump into the water after me, like he was remembering my last encounter with Haddock.

‘Concentrate,’ Haddock said, bringing my focus back to him. ‘Clear your mind. You can close your eyes if you need to.’

Clear my mind? That might be easier said than done. But I had to try. I closed my eyes, focusing on the feel of the water seeping through my dress to chill my skin, the silence that filled the space around me, broken only by the faint sound of crickets chirping happily outside and the low buzz of wings—not like a fly, it was softer than that, almost musical. Soon it was a gentle hum that filled my ears, somehow drowning out the crickets but never getting louder.

‘Ah. Right. Not what I was expecting,’ Haddock said, and my eyes snapped open. The little lights that had been floating like lazy fireflies were moving in a slow swirl around us, almost concentrating their attention on us. Some drooped lower to hover above the water, balancing on the reflection of stars, making patterns in the surface.

‘What’s happening?’ I asked.

‘Well…I don’t know. I’ve never seen this before.’

Some of the lights drew close to me, almost touching but not quite before floating back to join the swirl, and more still broke away to dip down to the surface of the water, where they seemed to hold in position.

‘Oh!’ Haddock said, as if he’d just remembered something, and he began to scan the water. ‘That one looks like a feather! … or a leaf…’ He kept scanning the water, muttering to himself, changing his mind several times.

I decided not to interrupt him, despite the fact that some weird shit was happening around me again.

The furrow in Haddock’s brow grew deeper as the seconds passed and his muttering grew silent, though his lips kept moving as more and more of the lights settled on the water and the swirl around us slowed to a stop.

Then they rose in a swarm, jolting my heart to a canter at the sudden movement, as though whatever forces had been pulling them had snapped all at once. They shot up towards the ceiling as a mass of fuzzy light, before they began to float back down again, lazy and directionless once more. It seemed they’d achieved what they had set out to do. I looked at Haddock, questions in my eyes, but he was too deep in his own thoughts to notice.

‘Come on, let’s get out. This water is bloomin’ cold,’ he finally said, as if he was coming back to his senses, though the frown didn’t leave his features.

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I made my way back to the shore, my body trembling with the cold that had begun to seep into my bones. ‘Should have brought a towel,’ I said as I picked up my cloak. I put it on, knowing it wouldn’t do much to warm me up while I was dripping wet, but it was better than nothing. A moment later, arms were around me, chafing at my shoulders. ‘You’re just going to wind up getting wet too,’ I said, but Tarian just pulled me closer.

‘So, what did you find out?’ he asked Haddock as he trotted out of the water and gave himself a shake.

‘It’s ah, well… it’s complicated, Your Highness,’ Haddock said, the use of the title showing how nervous he was. ‘I need time to decipher it.’

‘Then you’d better get started.’

‘I will, I will. I’ll get right on it. Soon as I get home.’

‘Oh no you won’t,’ Tarian said. ‘You’ll stay right here until you have some answers for me.’

‘Tarian!’ I chided. ‘He can’t stay down here.’

‘It’s safe. We can get him food and whatever else he needs,’ Tarian said. ‘And he’ll be extra motivated to work quickly, won’t you Haddock?’

Quickly would be better. If I knew how my fate was laid out, perhaps we could find a way to avoid it. ‘I’m sorry, Haddock,’ I said, guilt twisting my stomach.

Haddock let out a sigh. ‘Fine, fine. I’ll stay here. I need paper and ink and somethin’ to eat. And a blanket.’

‘You’ll have it,’ Tarian said.

‘I’d better get back before someone comes to check on me,’ I said. I really, really didn’t feel like feeding a castle full of bored fae a morsel of gossip for them to feed on. It would be a frenzy if they all really thought I’d spurned Solas to take up with Tarian. And Solas was unpredictable and indecipherable. I didn’t like to think of how he would respond if he felt like I’d humiliated him like that.

Tarian’s jaw tightened for a moment. ‘Alright,’ he finally said, though I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. Secretly, that made me glad.

He took my hand and led me up the darkened staircase back to the world above. I did my best to supress the shivers that rattled me, pulling my cloak a little tighter to brace against the evening breeze. We walked in silence as we neared the castle.

Tarian squeezed my hand a little harder and pulled me towards the castle wall where we would be more hidden. He brushed my hair behind my ear, staring down at me with a complicated expression, but I could sense the emotion there. I didn’t want to part either.

He leaned in, pressing his lips to mine. Gently at first but becoming more urgent, his arms encircling me tightly. When he finally pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine, our panting breaths tangling together in the cool night air.

Then he pulled back completely, releasing my hand. ‘Go and get warm,’ he said.

I nodded and slipped away, taking a deep breath as I began the solo trek back to the door we’d snuck out of. This was only temporary, I told myself as I chaffed at my arms for warmth. And I wondered whether whatever Haddock read in the stars would make it more or less so.