Although now that I thought about it… “Excuse me, does anyone know where my friends went?”
“Your friends?” Melchiam asked. “What friends?”
“The hatchling Winston is in the aerie,” Ardere said, his voice echoing in the large, mostly empty room.
“Why isn’t he here?” I asked.
“He’s busy working with the head of the Royal Mews, Lord Vestriera, learning how to control his new powers. After all, we’d hate for him to burn down part of the castle if he sneezed.”
Right. That would be bad. I hadn’t thought about Winston hurting himself or someone else when he was in dragon form. Or that he’d need help learning how to control his powers.
My palms began to sweat at the thought of Winston accidentally hurting himself. The worry must’ve shown on my face too, as Ardere continued with encouragement.
“He’ll be fine. A few days at most, and he’ll be back by your side, only handsomer this time. In ways only a dragon can be.”
“That’s, well, um…” I stopped, my cheeks on fire, and Ardere grinned.
“What about Mercedes?” I asked hurriedly. “Is she around? She didn’t get lost, did she?”
“The new dryad?” Rhys asked. “She came here with you?”
“Yeah, have you seen her?”
“She’s with her tutor as well,” the Fate Maker interceded. “There are quite a few new things for her to learn, new powers that she must master before she can be allowed to practice her craft.”
“Oh.” My throat went dry, and I swallowed a sip of my drink.
“You’ll see both of them soon. Perhaps we can discuss all the details at a later time. There is much to be done before the coronation, after all, and we don’t want to get bogged down with silly details like your friends.” The Fate Maker bowed his head but kept his eyes fixed on mine.
“Sure. Maybe I’ll stop by and see them tomorrow at lunch. We can eat together and then compare training notes.”
Two small, blue pixies flew toward me with a golden plate full of food hoisted over their heads. They sank lower and lower until they were nearly facedown on the table. Once they were lying flat, they gently set the plate down in front of me, a bowl of golden soup balanced in the center.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Princess,” the Fate Maker said.
“You don’t know if I can see them?”
“They need to concentrate on mastering their new powers, and so do you. You should wait until you’re all more settled to go running around comparing notes.”
“Right, but it’s just lunch.”
“Your Majesty.” The Fate Maker brought his fist down on the table, making all the goblets shake. I jumped in my seat, stunned to see that his face turned a deep purple. Which was a bit of an overreaction.
All of the nobles had their eyes fixed on their plates, and their shoulders were tense. Every single one of them acted like the unpopular kids did when Heidi walked into the cafeteria. I could feel the table shaking as the fairies trembled, still facedown next to my plate. There was a sharp rasp as Arianne sucked in a breath. Even Sir John wouldn’t meet my eye.
“I must insist that you listen to my suggestion and leave your friends to their studies while you focus on yours. I have defended this kingdom in your name for the past six thousand days, and I must demand you listen to my counsel. There isn’t long until your coronation, and you have a lot to learn between then and now.”
“Fine.” I picked up my spoon and scooped up a bit of soup, accepting that for the time being it was in my best interest to do what the Fate Maker said. “I’ll wait until their tutors say they’re ready to hang out.”
“Wonderful.” The Fate Maker took a bite of his bread. “I’m pleased you can see that I have only your—and your friends’—best interests at heart.”
“Of course.” I bit my lower lip to keep from arguing. I glanced up from my plate and saw Rhys staring at me, the left side of his mouth lifted in amusement, while Jesse sat at the end of the table glaring at the annoying lord general.
The rest of dinner was silent, and everyone ate quickly. Once the Fate Maker wiped his lips, he stood and bowed low before me. “I wish you a good evening, Your Majesty. If you have need of my guidance you’ll find my tower in the West Wing. Good night.”
“Good night.”
The two pixies lifted my plate and began to fly away carefully as another pixie picked up my goblet and followed. Well, obviously dinner was over when the Fate Maker had finished, regardless of whether anyone else was done. And that included the princess.
I stood and everyone else did the same a moment later, looking at me curiously. “Well, it was nice to meet all of you. Thank you for coming to dinner.”
They watched me expectantly. Without moving. Like there was some sort of ceremony before I could leave. What was I supposed to do now? I couldn’t throw them out. I felt a tug on my skirt and found the goblin from earlier standing by my side. I leaned down and tried not to gag at the smell of onions on his breath.
“They’re waiting for you to leave, Your Majesty. Some people in this palace still know the proper way of things,” the goblin whispered. His eyes were narrowed as he glared at the door out of which the Fate Maker had just left.
“Oh.” I nodded and let him pull my chair out with a wave of his fingers and a few muttered words I thought might be magic of some type. “May the dreaming be sweet for you, Your Majesty,” the goblin said as he bowed low.
“Thank you.” I reached down to pat the back of his head—it was the only part of him I could reach.
I walked down to the end of the table and joined Jesse. I smiled at him gratefully, and he walked me out of the room, close enough that his shoulder brushed against mine. I was willing to forget the fact that he was Heidi’s boyfriend for a minute and just be happy that I had someone there with me. Jesse was the only familiar face and right then my entire reality had gotten so crazy I needed to be near something at least relatively normal.
“You okay?” he asked when we were outside the dining room and in the main foyer. I looked up at the glass dome and tried to relax.
“Not really,” I said. “This place is really weird.”
“But cool. I mean, where else are you going to find goblin doormen and pixie waitresses?”
“Yeah, but then apparently there are people who have been eaten by dragons, and I accidentally called Sir John’s son a mouse. Not to mention wizards with major control issues.”
“So he’s a bit intense. The rest of them were nice. Besides, I think he’s just trying to watch out for us. You know, sort of like a substitute parent to keep us from getting hurt.”
“Right. Anyway, those people expect me to be a princess.” I shook my head.
“You are a princess.”
“No, a princess princess.”
“And that’s different from a normal princess how?” he asked.
“They want me to be a princess who makes decisions and stuff. I have no idea what I’m doing, and even worse, nothing anyone said tonight has given me any idea of how to get us out of here.”
“Right now”—he smiled and took my hand—“you are going to take a big breath and relax. Shake out your fingers and let it go, like Coach says.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, shaking my fingers along with him.
“There you go. Now. We’re going to forget about all those weirdos and go check out some mermaids. Or did you forget about them?”
I laughed. “Who forgets about mermaids?”
“Come on, then.” He grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the back of the foyer, underneath the stairs, and toward what I thought might be the back of the palace.
“Your Majesty!” Rhys called after us. “Your Royal Highness, the Golden—Oh, forget it. Princess Allie!”
I spun around and felt Jesse tighten his grip on my fingers, which was sort of nice, if a bit strange for a guy who had never really paid me any attention before
I suddenly became a princess.
“Rhys?”
There was a clomp of boots against the marble floor as he ran toward us and slid to a stop.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“What’s up?” he asked. “It’s been a long time since I heard that—five years at least. Man, I miss the real world.”
“The real world?” Jesse asked. “You mean you’re from our world?”
“Yeah, idiot.” He grabbed my other hand. “Where did you think we all came from? Opened the book in Brighton, fell through the hole in reality, woke up here. Now, where are you two sneaking off to?”
Chapter Nine
I was stunned. “You fell through the book and ended up here, too?”
“Yes.” He crossed his arms over his chest and let his eyes trail over both of us.
“Tell me what happened,” I said. “How did you end up here?”
“The same thing that happened to you, I’ll bet,” Rhys said, his eyes still fixed on Jesse. “Opened the book, out popped the cat, and next thing I knew it was smoke and a hard landing in the middle of the Fate Maker’s chambers.”
“Where?”
“The Fate Maker’s chambers,” he repeated. “Where else are you going to land?”
“No. Where were you from before?”
“Like I said, I was from Brighton. It’s in England. But why does it matter now?” he asked. “This is where we are now, and there’s no getting back.”
“Yes, there is,” I said. “And I’m going to find it. When we go back we can take you with us.”
“There is no way back,” he said. “And even if there was, that world has nothing for me. I was brought here and trained for war. There’s no place for me there.”
“But it’s your home,” I said.
“This is my home. Our home. Fate wanted me here to lead a great army in your name and protect you. Here I have a purpose. There? I’m another kid that somehow got lost and was never found again—there are legions of us here.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“An army. All willing to die to protect you. Now, where were you two sneaking off to? It’s late.”
“We’re not sneaking anywhere.” Jesse pulled me closer to him, away from Rhys. “I’m taking the princess to see her mermaids. Not that it concerns you.”
“Actually…” Rhys glared at Jesse. “You might want to reevaluate that idea. The grottos are no place to go at night alone.”
“Why?” I asked.
“You might get lost in the dark.”
“But there are mermaids,” I said.
“Whom you could see in the morning. When the sun’s shining.”
“But the Fate Maker is going to make me do lessons or whatever tomorrow. You know he won’t let me out of it to go see mermaids. He’s too much of a stick-in-the-mud.”
“You need the lessons,” Rhys said sagely. “You can’t just pick up elemental magic all on your own. Or learn politics for that matter. You have a serious job, and he’s trying to train you to take it over.”
“I know.” I rolled my eyes. “But there are mermaids. Real live mermaids.”
“Fine.” He sighed and shook his head. “You’re worse than my little sister ever was. Come on.” He started toward the back of the castle. “Let’s go see the mermaids.”
“We can handle this on our own,” Jesse said. “We don’t need you to supervise or anything.”
“Right,” Rhys said, not slowing down. “So you know all the things to do to keep from offending the mermaids? How to keep them from drowning the princess, for example?”
“Why would they want to drown me?” I asked.
Rhys walked along with us. “Mermaids are touchy creatures. Very independent-minded. If they think you’re taking liberties, they might react badly.”
“Allie is the princess,” Jesse scoffed. “They’ll be honored to have her come visit them. She’s going to be their queen.”
“Uh-huh.” Rhys pushed open the glass doors that led outside. “I wouldn’t tell them that if you want to keep her breathing air and not water.”
“Are the mermaids really dangerous?” I asked.
“Nah.” Rhys gave me an impish grin. “Like I said before, you’ve just got to know how to talk to them. The mermaids have a lot of pride, and they’re touchy about living here in Nerissette. Especially Talia.”
“Who’s that?” I asked.
“The Mermaid Queen,” Rhys said. “Well, she would have been the queen if the mermaids still had their own lands. Now, she’s meant to be some sort of queen in exile, acting as your ambassador for their species.”
“What happened?” I asked. “Why is she in exile?”
“Their sea was lost, and her mother died,” Rhys said matter-of-factly. “She ended up here with the last of their tribe. I wouldn’t bring it up if I were you.”
“I won’t,” I said, thinking about how much it hurt to talk about my own mother with strangers. And she was still technically alive.
Rhys led us into a path of thick hedges. It looked like one of the mazes I’d seen at the botanical gardens when Gran Mosely had taken me to see all those colonial plantations on our summer vacation to Virginia last year.
“How did their sea get lost?” Jesse asked from behind me.
“It got sick,” Rhys said, “and then one day it died.”
“And Queen Talia’s mother?” I asked.
“It was her home, and she refused to leave it to die alone. She stayed and was lost along with the sea.”
“Sounds loony to me,” Jesse said.
I turned to glare at him over my shoulder in disgust. I knew he wasn’t the most sensitive of guys, but really?
“Anyway,” Rhys said. “When the queen realized the sea couldn’t be saved, she had the Fate Maker transport Talia and the rest of her tribe here, to a special pool where they could live for the rest of their days.”
“Oh.” I blinked. “So instead of the sea they live in, what? An aquarium with people gawking at them all day?”
“It’s a decent-sized pool,” Rhys said. “And no one watches them. The dryads grew a maze around their sanctuary so that they could keep people away and live in peace.”
“Then why are we going there? Shouldn’t we leave them alone?” I asked. After all, if I were trapped inside a maze I wouldn’t want someone coming to stare at me in the middle of the night.
“The maze is to keep other people away.” Rhys guided us around another fork in the maze and along another long corridor that looked identical to the last.
“Exactly,” I said. “We’re other people.”
“Yes, but you’re also the future queen of Nerissette. The mermaids would be offended if you didn’t come and pay your respects. Although I’m sure they expected you to come during the day.”
I worried my lower lip. “We could wait.”
“Nah.” Rhys smirked at me. “We’re almost there.”
We went past two turns and kept moving straight toward the center of the maze. Rhys veered left and then quickly took a right. At the end of the corridor a solid green wall stood at least twice as tall as I did.
“Remember, Talia doesn’t consider herself your subject, so she’ll see this as a meeting of two queens, not as a visit from a queen to a subject.” Rhys led me toward the dead end and then stopped.
“If she’s expecting to meet a queen tonight she’s going to be disappointed, isn’t she?” I tried not to be nervous. Which was harder than it sounded. I was supposed to meet the queen of the mermaids and not make a fool of myself? Or start some sort of war? Yeah, this was going to be interesting. The only thing we probably had in common was our ability to do the breaststroke, and I was pretty sure she could kick my butt in that.
“Why would she be disappointed?” Rhys pushed back the greenery to uncover a door carved into the wall.
“Because I’m not much of a princess, and she’s queen of the mermaids. A creature I didn’t know even existed before dinner.”
> “Did you know about goblins before you saw Timbago?” He ducked through the door he held open for me.
“Is that the goblin from the Great Hall?”
“That’s him. Master Timbago, head butler of the Crystal Palace,” Rhys said, staying on the other side of the shrubbery.
“He was nice.” I smiled at the thought of the gnarled-up, but helpful, creature.
“He’s a bit stuffy, but trust me, that pat on the head tonight earned you a loyal friend for life,” Rhys said.
“I was just being nice. And it was the only part of him I could reach without taking the chance of tripping in this darn dress.”
“Goblins aren’t accustomed to kindness from other races here in Nerissette. They look strange, and people think that gives them the right to treat the goblins like they don’t matter,” Rhys said. “So any kindness they receive is always welcomed.”
I shook my head in disgust. “Everyone matters.”
“That is why you’ll have no problem meeting with Talia, Your Royal Golden Roseness.” Rhys let the door close between us, trapping me on one side, and him and Jesse on the other.
“Now, you,” I heard him say as the door clicked shut, his voice low and dangerous. “I think we need to discuss when and where the crown princess goes without an armed escort. Especially if she’s going there with you.”
“Oh, for the love of…” I grumbled at the wall between me and my stubborn lord general. “Forget it. He won’t listen to me anyway.”
I turned away from the shrubbery to find myself face-to-face with a woman I was guessing was Queen Talia. She sat on a large, moss-covered rock in the middle of a pool filled with shimmering blue water, her pink tail flipping idly, making small waves around the rock.
Okay, pink tail, human-looking body, pink-seashell bikini top. So far, so good. Nothing too strange besides the fact that she was a mermaid.
“I don’t frighten you, do I?” a husky voice asked. I looked into deep black eyes surrounded by a calm face crowned with flowing golden hair. Apparently our world had gotten the beautiful-mermaid stereotype right.
Everlast (The Chronicles of Nerissette) (Entangled Teen) Page 8