AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But no one recognized me as I walked behind Lady Macill.
It seemed the Unseelie did not remember their prince.
We kept walking, and although we had to wait a few seconds with each step since there were lots of fae trying to get in, worry washed over me as we got closer to the main entrance. It was a warmer day, which was why Lugh had decided to have the wedding in the gardens.
It was good for us, not so good for him. The gardens had many entrances and exits. It was difficult to control without lots and lots of soldiers and it did not seem like Lugh’s organizers calculated the security at the wedding as efficiently as Father would have.
The soldiers in the battlements and the guards at the gates had the commoners to deal with. Inside the courtyard, beneath the flower arrangements and arcs made out of fire and water, the ushers tried to deal with the complaining guests. The soldiers had no choice but to pace the sidelines of the crowd. They could not penetrate, no matter how many orders they had received.
This wasn’t how things were done at the Winter Castle.
Lugh and whoever else who planned this, probably assumed the nobles whose families were imprisoned would not show up to the wedding, and now that they had, all at once, there was no plan to take them all in.
We saw Lord Petret from a distance and approached him. He acknowledged Lacy Macill with a polite nod but did not even look at me. Gethin stood behind him. He had no disguise since no one knew who he was.
Lord Petret offered his hand to Lady Macill.
“This suits us fine,” Lady Macill whispered, gesturing at the cue at the entrance.
“It does,” Lord Petret said, grinning as though he planned it all by himself.
And perhaps he had. Lord Tynan and Lord Petret had gone back to the latter's study after our meeting, and the two of them hadn’t come out of there all night. When Lord Petret came out the next morning, he had pockets underneath his eyes and that same grin on his face, along with a bunch of letters to be sent to every other lord and lady who were decidedly on our side. Sent through portals, of course, for swift delivery...
And now, they were all here.
At the same time.
“Dearen went in already,” Gethin said, using a normal tone since we were in a crowd and no one could hear us even if they tried.
“No one seems to recognize me,” I replied.
“You look different without your fancy clothes,” Gethin smirked. Coming from him, that was a funny taunt. It seemed he had borrowed some clothes from Lord Trechting. He looked too fashionable for the minor Lordling he was pretending to be.
"Yes, and," I said, "this wedding is severely short on staff."
He nodded. “I agree. I don’t think they expected this many guests.”
We were nearing the main entrance now. There were guards stationed there, and they took guests in, almost one by one.
“I wish Cari was here,” I said to Gethin.
He mumbled something in response, but I wasn’t sure if he agreed.
The cue slowly diminished before us and finally, it was our turn to enter.
This was it. If one of those guards recognized me, we would have to fight our way in right now.
“Welcome, Lady Macill,” a familiar voice rose from the right. I had to move a little to see him past Lord Petret. I recognized Badden at once, one of the soldiers who had been ranked high in my father’s army. He appeared to have been demoted. Now, he was a castle guard. “Lord Petret.”
Lady Macill said something in response, but the guard’s gaze darted passed her and met mine.
Recognition flickered in his gaze.
Silence followed.
“You and your retinue can go in,” Badden said as he quickly averted my gaze. “The festivities will be held in the grand gardens.”
“Shouldn’t we check their retinue to see who...” the guard standing on the other side asked, but Badden shook his head.
