by C. R. Jane
"Something is around here," I murmur to the group. Now that I'm paying attention, I can feel something off in the air. The feeling rises, and I recognize that it's magic, magic that has increased since Lexi is currently murmuring yet another spell to herself.
"There's some kind of strong glamour in front of us," she says, slightly out of breath from the effort she put into her spell.
"How do we get rid of it?" Beckham asks, eyeing our surroundings suspiciously. I look to Lexi for an answer.
"Every glamour has some kind of chink in its armor, something that's not quite right. Once you locate it your mind can see through the glamour."
Sounds simple enough. However, looking at our surroundings I see nothing that's out of place. I just see jungle, fog, and the bases of the huge sandstone towers that we've had to walk around. Beckham starts holding his hands out in front of him, like he's trying to feel something. Lexi frowns at him.
"What are you doing, you idiot?"
"Seeing if I could feel something that wasn't supposed to be there," says Beckham, looking embarrassed. He lowers his arms and begins to look around.
"If a glamour is any good, and this one is very old, and very good, everything will feel as it's supposed to. It will literally be just one tiny thing, almost impossible to find, that will undo it," says Lexi, continuing to look around.
We spend hours looking for this supposed "chink" and can't come up with anything.
"What happens if you can't undo the glamour?" asks Beckham with a frustrated sigh, throwing up his arms, and sitting on a decaying log.
"That's not an option," says Lexi, continuing to look around the forest.
"What kind of witch can't undo a glamour?" I ask, feeling very annoyed.
"This isn't a normal glamour!" she snaps at me, removing for a moment the shield she had placed on us to protect us from the rain, thereby dowsing me. "The magic that was used to create this glamour doesn't feel right. It feels…" she trails off, a nervous look appearing on her face.
"What does it feel like?" asks Beckham, rising from his seat.
"It feels like His magic," she whispers. "Like the curseHe inflicted on the land. He was never normal.His magic wasn't like Fairy magic, it was darker, something I had never seen before. I did everything I could to stop it…" she continues to ramble, her mind no longer in the present.
I kick a rock in frustration, my body and clothes now sopping wet from her little tantrum. Nothing like being saddled with a witch who's half crazy. The rock skids along the ground, flipping over several times until it comes to a halt. I look away and something on the ground flashes out of the corner of my eye. I walk over to it and bend down to examine it. Underneath where the rock was laying, the ground is made up of a shiny black rock that looks like it's been buffed to a high polish. Definitely not what you would expect in the middle of a sandstone jungle. I look up and leap to my feet. Where once was only the Zhangjiaji landscape, there's now a towering, decaying fortress made entirely of this same polished black rock, built against several of the sandstone towers.
Beckham sees me gaping and walks towards me, turning so he's looking in the same direction that I am.
"What do you see?" he asks.
I blink once and the landscape flickers, going back to the jungle terrain for an instant before returning back to the menacing dark, stone structure.
"I've found it," I breath out, pointing in front of me.
"It looks the same," says Beckham, running an exasperated hand through his hair.
I gesture to the ground, somewhat dazed that we've been walking around this for days and it's managed to stay hidden. I had never seen a glamour that covered such a large area before.
"Look at that black stone on the ground, it's what makes up the fortress. It must be the chink because I can see everything now."
Lexi must have recovered from her meltdown because she jogs over to us, and begins to search the ground for the stone. I can tell when they find it because they too are both frozen, staring in awe at the towering structure.
It's everything that horror movies are made of. The few windows it has are covered with dark black bars. The centuries of misery its inflicted on its occupants is heavy in the air. The magic that I could feel earlier is much stronger now, but Lexi's right, I've never felt this type of magic before. It's something dark, something suffocating.
"Eva's been trapped in this place for months," I whisper, the full scope of what she's experienced hitting me all at once.
"She's in there," Lexi confirms, a statement that fills me with both hope and rage.
"Let's hope Mason is as well," says Beckham darkly.
"Let's go," I say, taking my first step towards the fortress.
Chapter 15
Eva
Gwenny is bustling around my bedroom the next morning and despite the fact that I like the woman, I can't help but think that it would be nice to wake up alone in my room one of these days.
"Oooh you're up," she says excitedly, setting down a few plates on the table that are piled as usual with enough food to feed a million people rather than just myself.
"Yes, I'm up," I say dryly, pulling a robe over my usual barely-there nightgown that I'm wearing. I'm not sure who could sleep with someone banging things around practically over their head.
I feel stiff and sore from yesterday as I move around, but all my cuts seem to have healed. I will have to check my wings later when I have some privacy.
"It's all over the castle, King Aiden is holding a ball to officially re-introduce you to society," she says delightedly, clapping her hands together in excitement.
Although a part of me is annoyed that Aiden didn't talk this over with me before planning it, another part of me is over the moon. What girl doesn't dream about going to a fairy tale ball with her fairy tale prince? Although in my case it's a king, who is actually my long-lost husband, who saved me from a life of pain and torture when I was about to be forced into marriage with a deranged lunatic. But a balls a ball right?
Gwenny's muttering about how everything needs to be perfect and how there's so much to get done. She practically pushes me to the table. I'm surprised she doesn't shovel the food into my mouth as well with how impatient she seems.
"When is this ball?" I ask, my mouth half full of food.
"Why, tonight," Gwenny tells me. Suddenly, her anxiety makes sense. I can't go to a ball tonight, I have nothing to wear! I don't know the fairy dances. What if I don't use the right silverware? I immediately feel ridiculous at my train of thoughts. I'm a magical queen in a castle full of other magical beings. I'm sure someone can handle making me a dress. As for all of the other things, I am the Queen. I'm pretty sure everyone just has to kind of accept everything I do. Which is pretty good for a situation like this if you ask me.
My ears perk up when I catch the word dress in Gwenny's continued ramblings.
"Who's making my dress?" I ask her, setting my fork down from finishing stuffing myself.
Gwenny blushes. "I am, Your Majesty. My family is famous all over Tir Na Nog for their exquisite dresses."
She gets a determined look in her eye.
"You will have the most beautiful dress this land has ever seen."
The day passes in a blur and I find myself wishing I was participating in flying lessons or magic lessons even with the risk of being attacked by killer crows or having Aiden growl at me. Gwenny is a perfectionist I've learned, and I spend the day being poked and prodded as she creates my dress. I expect Aiden to appear at some point in the day, but he never does. I would have thought with the events of yesterday he would be close by, but I suppose he has a lot to prepare for to get the palace ready for a ball. The timing still seems strange to me but perhaps he had it planned for a while and was going to surprise me.
After what seems like years of "holding still" while Gwenny does "just one m
ore thing", she hustles me into a bath she has prepared. She's poured some sort of oil into the water that makes my skin feel like velvet, and that smells faintly like almonds. I walk into the bedroom afterward and gasp in amazement. In the short time I was in the bath, Gwenny finished my dress. She has it displayed on a mannequin that has magically appeared in my room. It's a glimmering gold color that looks like it's going to fit me like a second skin. It has a sweetheart neckline that dips daringly low on the mannequin and I'm sure will fit even lower on my larger chest. It's form fitting until it gets right below the knee where it fishtails out in a flare to the floor. The material is a shiny, satin material. It's the most beautiful dress I've ever seen.
"Do you like it?" Gwenny nervously asks, wringing her hands while she waits for my answer.
"I love it," I say as I walk around it, trailing my hand along the smooth fabric.
"I wanted to do justice for The Golden Queen," she says. "Not that it's possible to do that," she adds.
"It will be the prettiest dress at the ball," I tell her. She beams at the comment and goes to work getting me ready for the party.
She brushes my hair what must be a hundred times until it lays, gleaming, against my back. Then, with a wave of her hand, my hair curls into perfect ringlets. It's a nifty trick that I will need her to teach me if I ever get control of my magic. She then opens a jar from off the table and begins to pull out tiny, sparkly gold jewels that she places strategically in my hair.
"There's no need for makeup on a face like that," she says. But I think a bit of a gold glitter will go with the theme we're going for.
"Is this a themed ball?" I ask her.
"Not exactly. But the Fae always dress to impress at events like these dearie. Not that we've had an event this exciting before," she tells me, chortling to herself.
She then takes a brush and dusts gold powder all over my cheekbones, across my eyes, and across my forehead. She also dabs a cream that's a rose gold color all over my lips.
"Perfect," she whispers looking at the final product. "Now, let's get you in that dress."
For the first time since waking up here I take my time picking a set of lingerie to wear. I look through each piece carefully until I come across a gold encrusted set that looks like it was made for the dress. I somehow feel stronger as I put it on, like it's some kind of armor for the night ahead of me. Gwenny gives me a nod of approval when she sees my outfit, no doubt thinking that I've picked it for Aiden. I blush but say nothing. I'm sure most of the castle thinks that Aiden and I already have a romantic relationship going.
I step into the dress and stare at myself while she fastens the hooks in the back. Despite the fact that my magic isn't working quite right, or the fact that I almost died yesterday during flying lessons, today I feel like I can wear the moniker of "The Golden Queen."
I hardly recognize myself as I stare in the mirror. I look how I would picture a fairy queen should look with the gold dust sparkling across my features, and my hair dripping in jewels. Having my wings out would complete the otherworldly look I have going. However, since my wings seem to be an anomaly among the Fae, it's probably best that I keep them in while getting to meet some of my people for the first time.
Gwenny is bouncing on her toes and practically glowing as she looks at me. I'm wondering when I should head down to the party when there's a knock on the door.
"That will be King Aiden," she says with delight, giving me a little bit of déjà vu from the first time that I woke up in the room and he knocked on the door. Unlike the time before when I just wanted answers and wasn't really thinking about anything else, I'm nervous. This is the first time he's seen me dressed up and for some reason I really care what he thinks. I anxiously smooth down the invisible wrinkles in my dress as Gwenny walks to the door to open it instead of just telling him to come in, assumedly so we can get the full effect of seeing each other in our outfits.
The door opens and my mouth drops. Aiden is stunning. He's dressed in what looks similar to a military uniform. It's much more similar to the suits that men would wear on Earth than the tights and loose shirts that I've seen him in every day. There's a glittering gold sash across his fitted, long sleeve shirt, and he's wearing perfectly pressed suit like pants. His black hair is slicked back elegantly, showcasing his perfect features. He's a dream.
When I finally stop admiring him enough to pay attention to what he's looking at, I blush. He has a stunned look on his face as if he can't believe what he's seeing. His eyes dart all over me, stroking my face before bouncing to my breasts and hips, before going back to my hair. He clears his throat.
"You are the most breathtaking creature that I've ever seen," he breathes out and although I have had a lot of men lie to me in my life, somehow, I completely trust Aiden that he means that compliment. I blush an even darker red if that's even possible.
"Shall we go introduce you?" he asks, holding out his arm for me to take. I nod and take a deep breath before grasping onto his arm. I'm sure I grip it a little bit too tight as we approach the entrance to the landing that sits above the ballroom. There's an elegant balustrade that leads from the balcony we will walk out onto, down to the ballroom floor. It's designed to provide quite the entrance and I had envisioned such an entrance when Aiden had shown me around the castle that first day. Envisioning it and actually doing it are two different things and I find that I'm shaking as Aiden motions to the guards to open the door.
"Remember, you are the Queen," he whispers to me, softly stroking the hand that sits atop his in a reassuring manner. "They have been waiting for you to return for a thousand lifetimes. We all have."
At his words of encouragement, I take a deep breath and still myself as the looming doors are opened by two servants dressed right out of a scene from the ball in Cinderella. It takes a few steps before the murmuring crowd below can see us. Aiden pauses at the top of the stairs, the revelers below stopping their dancing to stare up at us. A hush descends on the crowd.
"King Aiden and Her Majesty, Queen Eva," calls out a smartly dressed servant clad in black silk, who stands at the entrance of the stairs carrying a long scroll. Aiden begins to lead me down the stairs and I'm so busy gaping at the ballroom that I barely notice the scores of people staring at us as we descend.
"Gold" was obviously the theme of the night. There's gold banners draped across the ceiling. Gold candles are everywhere, seeming to be magically floating in the air as I can't see any strings holding them up. The walls have somehow been enchanted from their usual black color to instead be a gleaming white color with gold sparkles embedded in the wall. I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life.
My attention is brought back to the crowd when their murmuring begins to get louder. People are gasping and pointing, and a few even look to be crying.
"Everyone was told that I would be here right," I whisper to Aiden who annoyingly chuckles.
"I wanted it to be a surprise," he says, his grin growing broader as a severe looking, older woman dressed head to toe in blue lace appears to faint as we pass by.
"I would say that you have succeeded," I tell him, feeling inordinately self-conscious with all the eyes that are on me.
"Let's dance," whispers Aiden, stopping in what I realize is the center of the ballroom to pull me into him. Music that had stopped upon our entrance starts up again, a seductive cacophony of sounds that adds more magic to the moment. Aiden spins me around the room, and surprisingly I don't miss a step. It's like I've done this dance a million times before. This close to him his eyes appear fathomless, so dark that the lights of the candles are reflected in them, appearing to be almost like stars in the sky.
"I've dreamed of this moment for so long," he tells me, the longing in his voice so pronounced that it gives me heartache. "It's hard to believe that you're here. I'm so afraid that you'll disappear right in front of my e
yes."
I feel emotional, and I can't find the right words to say back to him. Tonight, for the first time I feel close to him, like we actually could have the relationship he says we did. Maybe it's the dream-like perfection of the night, or how achingly beautiful he looks with the gold reflecting off his darkness, but I feel like tonight could be the start of us.
Around and around the room we spin. I feel myself responding more and more to his call, like I never want the night to end. He dips me at the end of the song and for some reason I see myself in a red dress in a similar pose, but it's a gold face that's staring down at me with overwhelming love instead of Aiden. I blink my eyes and the picture fades away, leaving Aiden's unflinching, hungry stare. He pulls me back up, and then let's go of me to clap for the musicians.
Another song starts, and an attractive man is standing next to us asking Aiden for permission to dance with me. Aiden nods and the man bows low to us both before spinning me away for another dance. The gold plays off the russet streaks in the man's hair as he twirls me around. He introduces himself as Theodore, but there's little conversation after that beyond base pleasantries. The night continues like this, striking stranger after striking stranger, every man more beautiful than the last. I've noticed that there's no one ugly among the Fae. None of them compare though to the shadowy gaze of the beautiful man that I feel following me around the room. No matter where I am, I get the sense that Aiden is watching. It leaves a slow burn inside of me, knowing that he's so enraptured by me he can't take his gaze away no matter who is talking to him.
I feel like a mouse that's being stalked by his prey. I keep on thinking he will step in to take me on another dance, but he stays seated in the large black, high backed chair on the far wall, his throne if you will. Various party goers stop to talk to him, but still he watches me. We've passed hours like this, me dancing, Aiden silently stalking me with his eyes. The slow burn that started when we danced has turned into a raging inferno. It's the first time I've felt lust in his presence, but how can I feel anything else when his gaze never stops caressing me.