Isabel watched her and said nothing, noticing the tears ready to spill over the Queen’s cheeks. “Yes, of course I knew your mother. We were like family before I was forced out of Loveryn and into this hell. I loved her as I loved all of our people. But these are my children, and I would do anything to let them escape this prison. Look outside, Isabel, and tell me you wouldn’t do the same for yours. I am sorry our fates have crossed this way.”
She walked out and shut the door quietly, and Isabel was left standing in her towel in total shock. How the hell was she going to get her necklace back, and why did the Queen nearly cry? She actually felt sorry for her. Was she really pitying one of the Unseelie who were going to kill her? The King, however, he deserved this for his greed. If they were partners and were separated though, wouldn’t that nearly kill her as well?
Could she trust that she just wanted to escape with her children? That act was too real. If Delia really had been forced without a choice, if her children had been forced with her…God, what a horrible fate. But as soon as that necklace came off she was susceptible to magic again, so could she really trust anything she said? The pendant hadn’t seemed to protect her here at all, actually, it only dispelled the glamour. Did she think she could trust Delia’s words at face value, though?
Of course not. She couldn’t trust anyone.
As she looked around the brightly lit room though, it was somewhat of a comfort to see the castle and it’s keepers in glamour. At least she would die with some sense of normalcy.
Right.
As if being sucked dry of emotions until there was no life left in her was—in any way, shape, or form—normal. Well, this was her new normal, and she needed to accept it with some damn grace.
Sighing, she walked over to the chest of clothes near the tub and opened the thick wood doors that seemed to have been unused for a very long time, the way they screamed in protest at the hinges. It made her wince, and she looked over her shoulder to make sure she was still alone. At least she had illusion for comfort, she mused. If only it would stop flashing the ugly truth, she might be able to relax a little. Isabel sighed as she perused the gowns that were hanging. Screw it. If she was going to be stuck in glamoured Ugly-world, she may as well make the best of it. She wasn’t ready to give up hope yet, and she wasn’t going to parade around in a towel. Using Amele’s analogy to always look better than you feel, she rummaged through the garments on the rack.
She pulled out what appeared to be a glamorous, form-fitting dress that was far too beautiful just to get killed in. Amele would definitely approve of this one. It was made of the softest, long red silk that tapered out into a train behind her and had a low, halter style front. But, since it would probably turn out to be a rag, stained with God knows what, well, why the hell not? Amele would love it if it really looked like what she was seeing—just the right amount of over the top sexy. Thinking of Amele made her sad and angry, though, so she shut it off.
Determined not to wallow in complete self pity during the final moments of her life, she put on the dress. When she walked out of this room, perhaps she could also find an escape, too? The Queen was an option if she could get her alone; she seemed to have a heart left where the Unseelie King most definitely, did not. She wasn’t ready to give up yet, hell no. There was a Prince that needed to see the sharp end of her sword, after all.
And besides...when in Ugly-world, be as the Uglies are, right? Or was that Vegas? She decided she didn’t care, and would adopt it for herself in whatever hell she was in. Beautiful ones, or ugly ones…it didn’t matter.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Chiseled and Blue?
STOMPING THROUGH THE woods, Amele couldn’t think straight. What the fuck was she going to do to fix this? She had let Bel down in the worst way possible. With only three days left until her turning and the end of this damned curse, she was locked away in the Unseelie Kingdom having Gods know what done to her. The worst part was that there was no way that she could get to her or get word to Loveryn. She was useless, she didn’t do useless!
With a heaviness very unlike the grace of the Sidhe, she plopped down in the fallen leaves and began breaking one in her fingertips. They would all be looking to her for guidance now, but she had none to offer. Her sarcasm and light spirit went with Isabel to the Unseelie realm, and now there was just an angry old warrior in its place. She needed to fight, but couldn’t because there was nothing to kill.
“Dammit!” she screamed as the threw the leaf from her hand. She couldn’t just freaking sit here!
Amele sifted from city to city, searching for any Unseelie that might have been slipping in and out for feedings. She found nothing. Not one fucking Shadow Demon or Unseelie anywhere. Finally, she sifted back to the lake where she and Isabel used to swim during the hot summer months and paced, trying to come up with something that would save her friend. Though it was fall and the water was freezing, she stripped everything off except her raka, and dove in.
Breaking through the icy waters made her body seize up for a moment, but immortals didn’t feel cold the way mortals did. It was merely the rapid changing of the temperature that had shocked her. She needed to think…Isabel had to get out of there. As the ice crystals rapidly formed along her flesh, she warmed herself from within—heated by her anger and helplessness. A clarity she couldn’t find while being idle began to make its way to the surface of her mind as she passed through the nearly frozen depths.
Being alone in the water, in the stillness and quiet of the frozen lake was helping to release some of the self-loathing she was drowning in so she could think straight. She swam to the bottom of the murky waters and looked for a sign. Anything that would tell her what to do that didn’t include killing herself as soon as she sifted backwards to yank Isabel out of that damned house before they took her. She was so, so close to not caring. She’d lived her life for thousands of years, and she loved Isabel enough to die for her. Isabel’s life was innocent, and she was so far from innocence anymore.
Maybe this would have to be her final good deed. Maybe then her brother would be proud of her, and her people would honor her with a respect she would have earned from being more than a fierce warrior…they would honor and remember her for being good. Just as the plan was cementing in her mind of how she would do this all in time to be poofed out of existence after Isabel had been brought to safety, a movement in the water that was far too big to be a fish startled the crap out of her.
A scream died in her throat before water rushed down it, as a face appeared before her in the freezing lake. Handsome and chiseled and tinged with blue? He grinned at her—if the twitch at the corners of his full, beautiful lips could be called that—beckoning her closer. Heart pounding, she grabbed her dagger and swam on, but each time she neared him he went further back. His body was solid as a rock, muscles rippling like the water around it. Hair as black as midnight floated around his face, and obsidian eyes told her stories of powers that made her feel inept in her own. The water radiated off of him as if it caressed his skin without touching it; as if even the water feared his wrath. He toyed with her each time she neared, scooting out of the way with each forward stroke. It couldn’t be? The Elementals had no love for the immortal realms any longer. This couldn’t be Nikolai, it couldn’t.
Amele was sure that she was hallucinating some divinity into an otherwise completely shitty day, and so she followed the beautiful being for a while. Suddenly he was gone and she was almost disappointed until she felt a firm hand brush across her back. Spinning around in the water, she was inches from the face of a God, dagger frozen in her hand at her side. She could never strike this being, not even if he let her. And with not much more than a loincloth and metal bindings around his arms and thighs, dammit if she wasn’t actually aroused. Her best friend had been taken hostage by the Unseelie and all she wanted this very second was to kiss those perfect lips and taste perfection before she took herself to slaughter.
It was Nikolai. It had to be.
None of the other Elementals would have this appeal to her. Though she had only seen him once and it was fleeting, the feeling in her gut told her it was true. Did he want to help her? Why was he here? Would he trick her if she summoned him to help?
He shook his head no as she thought the last question. Yeah right, an Elemental that won’t trick me?
His face took on a terrible darkness, reminding her that he was as far from mortal or immortal as one could get, and then he truly did disappear. She looked around the water for a few moments, but saw nothing. Amele swam to the surface of the still lake and looked around. Not a creature stirred around or within the water. Dragging herself to the shore she slowly pulled on her clothes and refastened her sword. She stared at the water for a long time but nothing jumped out at her as she half expected it to. Nothing happened at all. The lake was calm. Eerily so.
After what she had seen in her life, could summoning the Elemental really do anything to her that hadn’t been done before? An image of the Unseelie danced in her mind and she shuddered. He sure could. As gorgeous and succulent as he was, Nikolai would be a last resort. Her vanity however didn’t hold a candle to her love for her friend. No, she had to check every outlet first and then, she wouldn’t hesitate with the dangerous but gorgeous God.
She sifted back to the house and found the demeanor of the men and women of the guard broken and hopeless. This was not the way of the Sidhe! But night was falling and there was no way to know what was being done to Isabel at this point, or if she had even been kept alive this long. They had all been waiting for this damned curse to pass.
“Have we seen anything new?” They all just shook their heads in silent no’s. “And we still have no connection to any of the realms, I take it?” Another silent no from the group. “Well, dammit! We are officially useless in this war. And I will not be useless! Wait for me here, I’ll return as soon as I can. And get yourselves together, warriors. This isn’t over, not yet!”
She sifted back to the lake, gazing long and hard at the water as she called forth the courage to summon him. Vanity be damned, this was Isabel. She could survive the Gods’ wrath, she knew she could. But she couldn’t live another day to help Isabel if she was dead from sifting backwards. Death or Nikolai? She took a deep breath, and made her decision.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The Spoils of War
~UNSEELIE KINGDOM
Isabel dressed herself and walked down the hall, her bare feet lightly padding along the floor as she went. Starving from the long day of fighting, or had it been two since she had eaten, she could use some sustenance. There was no way to tell how long she’d been here. Time really did pass differently in the realms, this one more so. How could anyone ever really get used to this place? It was horrid, even cloaked in glamour. And besides the looks, it also had a putrid smell, like that of rotten flesh. Then she realized what that smell was and her stomach turned. They were all rotting. Eternally.
Please let them have brought some canned soup or something that would not have to be heated, she prayed.
She didn’t think she could stomach even eating meat around them. Yeah, that was confirmed by the clenching in her stomach when she even thought it. Her heart was thundering in her ears as she stepped softly down the hall. The red silk pillowed behind her bare feet as she tread on, cautiously. Red had never been her color, except for on her cheeks, but as she felt the silk glide along her legs she lifted her shoulders and continued on. It was definitely growing on her. She hoped, not literally.
Since she was free to roam and the dark corridors were at least not as scary and filled with shadows as they were when the necklace was on, she decided to take a look around. Stepping as lightly as she could, she came to a large door and decided to peek inside. It creaked a little when she opened it, making her wince even though she’d been told she could roam within the castle in safety.
The room was magnificent as far as the Unseelie castle went. Two stories high, at least, with exquisite paintings all along the walls. It had an elaborate desk in the center made of gold and dark wood, and even had an ancient quill and parchment on it. Too bad there wasn’t a computer with internet access. She could email Amele a mapquest of her location. She started laughing at herself, truly feeling the insanity creeping in and taking hold now.
She walked around the room and stopped in front of each painting. At each one, she blinked to try and see if it was glamour or if it was real. None of the paintings shimmered into anything else so she assumed they were real. The people in the paintings were beautiful. Two younger girls sat sprawled on silk lounges in a wooded setting, their smiles almost haunting as she realized who they were. Then she came to a painting of Queen Delia as she had seen her with the glamour. A shiver ran up her spine; she was absolutely breathtaking. Dark eyes, even darker hair that cascaded around her olive skin, and a smile that could bring out the sun on a rainy day. She was beyond beautiful. Delia was dressed in a flowing white gown, adorned with silver circlets around her arms and a matching samuril. Were they royalty before they were changed? Didn’t she say that she wanted no part of that?
Moving on to the next picture she saw a Sidhe male who stood in only his warrior pants and boots, and had duel blades strapped to his back. His skin was deeply tanned and dark hair cut short curled around his handsome features. His eyes were the color of the ocean in the Bahamas on a sunny day. Clear and bright; almost like crystals. This couldn’t be the King?
Once I was a being that you would have offered your first born child to.
He was definitely gorgeous, she’d give him that. But her first born child? That was a little much. What happened to the girls? She felt so sorry for them. Even Delia, since her partner brought this upon her to begin with if what she said was true. She was still leaving everything open to debate on being the truth though. It seemed that the truth was just muddy water any more.
She walked around the room looking at books on a bookshelf that looked as if they hadn’t been touched in ages, not that she could read a single one. In fact, this whole room looked like it hadn’t been touched in ages. There wasn’t any dust on anything, but there’s a sort of warmth in a room when books are touched and paintings are looked at that was utterly absent here. She could understand why, though. When you’re turned into a monster, how painful would it be to look at the life that once was yours? Would she kill an innocent woman to get her life back if she was in their position? To free her hypothetical children? No, she wouldn’t. She’d find another way to get free. But then, she wasn’t a mother and hers had gone to great lengths to keep her safe, hadn’t she? Isabel was so confused but still, she couldn’t even fathom decisions like the one Delia or her own mother faced.
Greed is an evil all its own, she knew that much. It was what put them in this hell, and even if the Queen didn’t deserve it, the path couldn’t be undone at this point. Or could it? Would they really be able to return to Loveryn after everything? Or to Albequen if her grandmother was overthrown? Just walk out of here, steal a crown or two and pretend none of this had happened?
She took another look at the man and woman in the frames and decided against seeing the girls one last time. Isabel tip-toed out and quietly shut the doors behind her.
A small winding staircase built into the wall was down a short way on the left and if she hadn’t had a flash of reality right as she was passing it, she might not have seen it at all. She felt the wall, or lack of one with her hands. The staircase simply wasn’t there when the shimmering glamour was lost. When the glamour was in full bloom, bam! There it was. Secret stairwells solely dependent on glamour? How strange.
Taking slow steps on the nonexistent stairs, she climbed, exiting on a rooftop balcony. Her eyes were met with golden light and she was shocked to see a few of the Uglies gathered…dancing? They didn’t notice her at first and she just watched them in silence, afraid to move. An old song played but she knew the singer. So the Uglies liked Aerosmith here, too? ‘Angel’ played as their
perfect, naked bodies held one another.
This was just getting weirder and weirder.
They weren’t the grey Uglies that she was used to, but four of some of the most beautiful people she’d ever seen. Except for three other people, of course. Amele was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen, after she dropped the blond bullshit, and the men, well, obviously. But she didn’t want to go there in her head. Two women and two men were coupled on the dance floor with an erotic version of the movie Dirty Dancing before her.
If she didn’t know better she would think that she had walked into some candlelit, romantic nude-night for models with pointed ears. The men were so chiseled, and so very naked, and she thought her heated cheeks would alert them somehow to her peeping-Tom act. But then reality flashed and the grotesque beings they really were came into full focus. Gasping a little too loud she gained the attention of four sets of white sunken eyes and snarls. Or were those smiles? God, she could never tell when they were in Ugly form!
“Oh, shit! I’m so sorry! I was told I could roam around the castle, you know, before I’m dinner and all… so I thought I would and well, here I am.” She backed herself against the wall, a small whimper leaving her lips as she hit it a little too hard on a rough stone. “I’ll just be leaving now, of course, since I couldn’t dare intrude. Have a lovely evening!”
Immortal Dreams (Immortal Realms Book 1) Page 26