Metal Mage 6

by Eric Vall

  “Shall we?” Deya asked casually.

  Cayla looped her arm in Deya’s and pulled her close as we headed down the steps, and I tried not to make my feelings about the carriage too obvious.

  Then I heard Cayla whisper, “What did you do?”

  I craned my neck to get a look at the two women in front of me and saw the beautiful elf pull a translucent dagger from the folds of her dress.

  Then she flicked her violet eyes over her shoulder toward the guard.

  Aurora snorted at the look on my face, but I ignored her and came to Deya’s other side.

  “Are you serious?” I hissed. “You just disarmed a guard.”

  Deya giggled and shrugged. Then she handed me the dagger and bowed politely to the guards who held the carriage open for her.

  I couldn’t help but chuckle as we followed.

  Once we were seated on the plush blue velvet, I slid the dagger into a loop on my belt. “You’re trouble,” I mumbled to the pink-haired elf at my side.

  “I like it,” Shoshanne chuckled.

  I grinned, and before I remembered to bite my tongue, I said, “Me too.”

  Cayla raised her brows, but I quickly leaned out the window of the carriage to let the driver know where to go. Then I focused on the world outside for the rest of the ride to House Pree.

  The gates parted to let the carriage through, and we rattled out into the streets of Lyralus. It was almost embarrassing how many elves stopped and stared at the garish carriage as we passed, but at least the women enjoyed themselves. Aurora laughed heartily as the faces of the elves abruptly split with shock at the sight of her in a signature carriage of House Aelin, and Cayla blew kisses to them all.

  I sighed. “This is why we can’t go to fancy places anymore,” I pointed out. “The jungle’s turned you into a bunch of animals.”

  Aurora let out a feisty hiss, and four elves jumped at the sound while we rolled by.

  Deya giggled over the women for the entire ride, and the only thing that finally quieted the group down was the sight of the ocean as the road curled along the shoreline. The sand glinted like millions of shards of glass, and I noticed the many specks of blue, green, and purple that glittered in the sun. The water lapped gently along the strange shoreline, and several dark purple birds bobbed along the water in the shallows. Their sharp red eyes caught eerily as they swiveled their heads in every direction, but as a few took flight and glided out toward deeper waters, I could see the underside of their wings were a bloody red as well.

  “I haven’t been to the ocean in decades,” Deya told the women with a dreamy smile. “All I want to do is go swimming.”

  “Deal,” Aurora said. “Mason, you’re gonna take us all swimming, right?”

  “Sure,” I chuckled. “Once the Master’s handled, we’ll have a seaside holiday. How’s that?”

  “Perfect,” the half-elf said with a wink. “Deya’s probably going to have to swim naked though, that dress will get in the way.”

  I sighed and scruffed my beard as Cayla tried to stifle a laugh, and I fought the urge to glance at the beautiful elf beside me. I could tell she was blushing just out of the corner of my eye.

  Luckily, the carriage suddenly shifted course, and a blaring reflection poured through the opening and nearly blinded all of us. We squinted hard and shielded our eyes, and I managed to make out the shape of a door.

  “You’re kidding,” I said.

  The four women leaned across me to get a look, and when Cayla sat back in her velvet seat, she rolled her eyes.

  “This is why the elves should have one king,” she pointed out. “Otherwise there’s just nothing to keep them in line.”

  “Is that gold?” Deya asked with wide eyes, and I nodded.

  “The carriage makes sense now,” I muttered to myself.

  House Pree’s gate was a modest thirty-foot structure forged entirely of solid gold. The sun glared from every inch of it, and I could actually feel the heat radiating off the metal as the golden doors parted and we rolled through the gate.

  It was harder and harder to take the elves seriously, so I just sat back and let myself laugh while we headed for the main house. The lanterns in the courtyard were gold, the pillars that lined the entire palace were made of gold, and damn it if the roof wasn’t made of gold as well.

  Aurora leaned toward me. “How badly do you want to mess up every inch of this place right now?”

  “Don’t tempt me,” I warned the half-elf. “There’s nothing that says they deserve it more than the fucking golden staircase.”

  Aurora gaped. “No … ” Then she stuck her head out the window and burst out laughing.

  “Just walkin’ on gold,” I mused. “No big deal.”

  The carriage stopped at the base of a golden staircase that was honestly too bright to look at directly. We squinted as we exited the carriage, and I had to admit our transportation didn’t strike me as nearly so garish compared to the palace that was House Pree. I shook my head as we made our way up the staircase, but Deya let out a little yelp behind me, and I turned right as she leapt back to the ground.

  I smirked at her bare feet. “Let me guess,” I said, “it’s a thousand fucking degrees.”

  Deya sent me a wry smile, and I headed back down the golden steps.

  Then I scooped the elf up and nearly threw her on accident. “You really don’t weigh a thing with that necklace on,” I mused. “You might actually be lighter than a feather.”

  “Isn’t it strange?” Deya asked and looped her slender arms around my neck.

  I furrowed my brow. “Why weren’t you this light when I lifted you over the wall at House Kylen?”

  The elf blushed lightly. “I took my necklace off so you wouldn’t notice,” she admitted.

  I raised my brows. “How much of your day is spent tricking people who never notice?”

  Deya’s violet eyes glinted, but she didn’t respond. We were already at the top of the golden staircase, and she leapt easily from my arms to the shadows beneath the massive pillars. Deya fidgeted with her long dress a bit and smoothed her soft pink hair, and I crossed my arms while we waited for the elf to finish fussing. When she looked up again, she curled her lips sweetly for me.

  Then she pulled the revolver from behind her back.

  My gut dropped as my hand flew to my empty holster.

  “Fucking really?” I demanded.

  Deya let out a silvery laugh as she handed the gun over to me, and I snatched it back.

  “Trouble,” I told the beautiful elf, and I leveled an accusing finger in her direction. “You are fucking trouble.”

  Cayla couldn’t contain her laughter this time, and I rolled my eyes as I firmly secured the revolver once more.

  “No one’s ever stolen this gun from me, what the hell?” I mumbled, and I ignored the laughter of my women as I brushed past all of them and nodded to a guard. “Open the damn doors.”

  The elf sneered at the command, but he took the ridiculous golden handle of the door and put all of his strength into pulling the massive thing open. I kept my hand firmly on my holster while the women filed past, and I eyed Deya sternly, but the beautiful elf only sent me another sweet smile as she went.

  I caught her elbow at the last second. “Hey, wait a minute,” I muttered. “That gun could’ve gone off in your hand, you know.” Just the thought made my chest tighten, but Deya stopped and looked at me soberly.

  “Not if I don’t pull the lever on top back with my thumb, and then the one on the handle with my pointer finger, yes?”

  I cocked a brow. “How did you know that?”

  Deya shrugged nonchalantly. “Dragir told me about it.”

  I let go of her elbow and watched blankly while she joined the other women.

  Between the brother who designed his own Halcyan weapons, and the trickster sister, I was beginning to think I was completely out of my element where Deya’s family was concerned. I shook my head and double checked my holster before I f
ollowed after the group of women, but I didn’t even bother to look around the massive entry hall of House Pree.

  Safe to say, everything was fucking gold.

  Chapter 12

  A guard had sent us to the east wing and asked we wait there for the head of House Pree. The five of us strolled through the gilded halls with Aurora and Shoshanne on either side of the beautiful elf, while Cayla sauntered behind with me.

  “Let’s hope this doesn’t take all day,” I muttered to the porcelain beauty at my side.

  “Why?” she asked with a coy smile. “Plans tonight?”

  I didn’t miss the brief glance she sent toward Deya’s back.

  “Yeah, actually,” I told her. “I’ve gotta finish that surprise before Aeris skins me alive.”

  “Maybe leave the jug behind this time,” Cayla suggested.

  I sighed. “I’m sorry about that by the way,” I mumbled. “I probably should’ve stopped after the first third was gone, honestly.”

  “Stan and I forgive you,” Cayla said with a smirk. “Besides, you’re cute when you’re a wreck. It’s endearing you care so much.”

  I nudged her and motioned for her to be quiet, but Deya’s head had turned ever so slightly to the side.

  Cayla shrugged innocently, and I decided to stop the conversation there before the princess could out me any further. I knew she only wanted me to help Deya, but so far, I couldn’t see any way of doing that short of smuggling her to Illaria. The most likely result of that plan would be Qiran and Dragir being strung up, and their armies gutted by the rest of Nalnora. I doubted Deya would thank me in the end.

  We finally came to the east wing and pushed through a pair of golden doors to enter a sitting room with cherry red carpet. One wall was lined entirely with books while the opposite had a large window that stretched from floor to ceiling. It looked out on the gardens of House Pree, and I smirked at the array of golden statues that jutted up from the throng of plants. The gardens were much like the jungles that covered Nalnora, but more neatly arranged with golden beasts lurking throughout. The golden sphinx wasn’t quite as big as the three we’d slain in the south, but it was still an impressive size and had its mouth wrenched open wide for a lethal bite.

  Between the ferns, I could just make out a set of gilded antlers from the creature the sphinx was apparently hunting. High in the treetops, long tail feathers hung down, and a few golden wings prepared for flight.

  “Not bad,” I admitted.

  “House Pree owns the only mines in the far north of Nalnora,” Deya explained as she came to join Cayla and I by the window. “Dragir told me they like to be sure everyone remembers it but … I didn’t quite expect this.” The beautiful elf gestured to the gold strips separating the panes of the giant window.

  “Does Dragir come to Lyralus a lot?” I asked.

  “No,” she answered. “He used to travel north of here quite often, though. He would cross through Lyralus sometimes, but he doesn’t enjoy the capital. I used to tease him for traveling three leagues out of his way just to avoid it.”

  Aurora suddenly called to us, and when we turned, her and Shoshanne had pulled a couple of books from the shelves.

  “Any chance you could tell us what these are about?” the half-elf asked Deya.

  We joined the two women, and Deya took up the book in Shoshanne’s hand with a little crinkle on her brow. “You won’t find anything very useful here,” she informed us. Then she gestured to the extensive shelves. “These are the genealogical scrolls of House Pree.”

  Cayla stared. “All of these books?”

  “Yes,” Deya said with a nod. “You can tell by the binding. This little symbol is House Pree’s crest. They have an extensive line, and these books catalogue their family history dating back to the beginning of Nalnora.”

  There were at least ten shelves that stretched above us and lined the entire wall.

  “Do all of the Houses have as many?” I asked.

  “The Elite Houses do,” Deya explained. “They stubbornly track the lineage of the Houses to the south as well as their own. Despite the wars, they refuse to admit total separation, and this is their way of maintaining their own ideas. But in the south, we keep only the records of our distinct Houses as they are now. House Quyn’s scrolls wouldn’t fill even half of this wall, but our own line are most likely on the shelves at House Orrel.”

  “I don’t think I’ve heard of them,” Cayla mused.

  “Really?” Deya asked with surprise. “Did you not see their leader when you met with the Elven Council?”

  I shrugged. “No one felt much like introducing themselves at the time.”

  The doors we’d entered through opened at my back, and the women returned the books to the shelves as the head of House Pree entered. The elf narrowed his amber eyes the moment he saw Aurora, and unlike Aeris, he was incapable of focusing on Deya with the half-elf there.

  “What is this?” he demanded, and he came to a stop in the middle of the room.

  Deya stepped forward and greeted him kindly. “These are my personal guards,” she explained. “My father would not send me to Lyralus without them.”

  The four of us came forward to stand with Deya, and when Aurora stopped at her side, the leader’s lip curled in disgust.

  Then the doors opened once more, and three sons entered.

  It was easy to tell they were the leader’s sons by their amber eyes and their dark maroon hair. They wore the same gilded chains around their waists, and the hilts of their swords were the first I’d seen made of gold in Nalnora. The four elves of House Pree stood together like a wall of aristocratic conceit, and although the three sons weren’t as handsome as Aeris’, they were several inches taller and considerably more muscular.

  I ground my jaw as I watched every one of them look Deya up and down, and I was pleased to see Cayla casually step closer to the elven beauty as they did.

  “Miss Deya,” the leader finally said, and his tone was the condescending sort I’d only heard people use with children. “You come from a simpler way of living, I know, and although your father certainly has the best intentions, I must alert you to the fact that this is an inexcusable arrangement. You cannot expect a halfling to protect you. You cannot trust their kind. This creature will likely turn on you, and if it does not, you will certainly lose much esteem here in the capital to be seen in this sort of … company.”

  My pulse kicked up a notch as one of the sons sneered at Aurora, but Deya seemed unphased by the leader’s speech.

  “It’s very generous of you to consider my reputation as carefully as you do your own,” she assured him, “however I would not dismiss Miss Solana for anything.” The elven beauty wound her slender arm around Aurora’s affectionately. “Miss Solana absolutely loves burning men alive for me. She’s irreplaceable.”

  Deya sent a sweet smile to the three sons, and I tried not to laugh at the expression on their faces.

  The three burly men clearly couldn’t decide whether she was serious, and Aurora must have noticed as well.

  “Anything for you, Miss Deya,” the half-elf said, and then she let a few flames dance across her fingertips.

  Now the three sons’ amber eyes went wide, and I failed to hold back a snort.

  All of the elves looked at me, so I introduced myself.

  “Defender Flynt,” I said and stepped forward to shake the leader’s hand. “I’m the head of Deya’s security.”

  “I see,” the leader said, but he didn’t take my hand. The elf continued to glare at Aurora until she doused her flames, and only then did he seem prepared to move forward with his grand entrance.

  “Miss Deya,” he began more formally, “forgive us for keeping you waiting here, but I wanted to be sure all arrangements were in place for your visit. We have prepared a magnificent feast in your honor, but I had a special little something added to House Pree’s extensive gallery for the occasion as well. A gesture of our great admiration for your family, and a means of
commemorating your first visit to House Pree.”

  “Thank you,” Deya replied. “It’s kind of you to go to as much trouble.”

  “It is,” the leader said with an appreciative nod. “We take great pride in our ability to provide that which the other Houses in the capital must unfortunately go without. Have you seen the gardens yet?” The leader raised a ring clad hand to his gilded statues through the window. “My sons would be happy to give you a private tour of the grounds, if you like.”

  “Perhaps later,” Deya replied with a small bow.

  The leader nodded his consent, shot a livid glance at Aurora, and then motioned to the door. “As you wish, of course,” he told the beautiful elf. “The guests have already begun their celebration, but you would likely wish to see our commemorative gift before we join the feast. It is quite remarkable. I’m very, very pleased with it.”

  “Thank you,” Deya said, and she moved to follow the leader.

  Then one of the sons abruptly stepped forward and offered Deya his arm, and I noticed he brushed Aurora back as he did. The half-elf’s cheeks flared in her fury, but she let go of her hold on Deya as the beautiful elf took the son’s arm.

  Before I could move, she was swiftly surrounded with the three large elves, and the head of House Pree led them proudly through the doors as the rest of us were forced to follow behind the group.

  I glanced at my three women and found them all visibly pissed, but I motioned for them to go along with things for now. The three sons could be as forward as they wanted. They still only had swords on their hips, and the three women at their backs were armed with bows, daggers, swords, and shuriken.

  Although to be honest, I wanted to do the honors of dispatching them. I wasn’t sure when it happened, but my hand settled itself on my holster once more.

  Deya was practically engulfed by the three elves, and I could only catch a glimpse now and then of the hem of her dress with the current arrangement while we followed the group through the gilded halls. Still, I wasn’t about to let my own apparent duty fall by the wayside. I smirked and sent a tendril of my magic out to weld the golden hilts of their swords to their golden sheaths. Then I melted the clasps of their belts so they would be impossible to unbuckle, and they’d be forced to cut off their leather belts to get out of their pants.