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I did as instructed and stepped into the armor, and Kasha pulled it up my legs. It was tight. I reached down to help her and snaked my arms in the arm holes as she twisted behind my back. She pulled the opening in the back together. I couldn't see what she was doing but it didn’t feel like there was a zipper, or buckles. Once the material was on it came alive and closed itself in the back. It adjusted to my body on its own, loosening in places that had felt too tight, and tightening in places that had felt too loose.
“Woah,” I bent my arm, testing it out. The matte black plates easily slid over one another where they needed too, and had formed perfectly around all the parts of me that didn’t bend.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Kasha asked, coming around to face me. “You get pretty attached to it over time, it almost becomes a part of you.” I raised my eyebrows.
“It’s definitely different,” I said, and Kasha grabbed black boots out of the armoire and handed them to me.
“Here, put these on and let’s go. We’re running behind and I don’t want to have to listen to Amon whine about it.” I snorted. I couldn’t imagine Amon whining about anything. I slid into the boots and followed Kasha as she led me out of my room for the first time since I had woken up in this world.
The hallway beyond my room was long and lit with the comforting warm glow of gently floating flames. It seemed to have been tunneled out of the same natural rock as everything else. We passed several other doors similar to mine and I wondered if they were all beautiful bedrooms as well.
The end of the hallway opened up into a massive circular space. Natural sunlight spilled in from a large gaping hole several hundred feet above us. A roaring from twin waterfalls that fell through the hole above and into the center of the palace, met my ears. The water was caught in a large round pool in the center of the bottom floor. Canals had been carved out from the center to allow the water to spread out into the rest of the palace like an interior river system.
I had originally thought the palace had been built into a mountain, but now I wondered if this place had once been a volcano.
Wrapping around the large, cavernous space in both directions were five levels. Each floor was lined with stone and gold banisters so that you could easily lean against the rail to watch the powerful streams of water spill into the basin at the bottom. The green, springy moss that had been growing happily in my room was also present here, bunching up and spilling over railings.
“Wow.” I gasped again. I couldn't help myself. This was nothing like what I had imagined when I had pictured Amon’s court. In my head, it had always been a dark, cold, sinister place. Where he sat on a throne overseeing hellish atrocities, I couldn’t believe he lived in this natural paradise, and his followers were people like Kasha.
Kasha, who was kind and if I was being honest, extremely patient. I knew I hadn't reciprocated that kindness up until this point. I cringed a bit as she smiled back at me. She seemed to be enjoying my obviously awed impression of the castle.
“Isn’t it nice?” She asked, “I love it here. The natural beauty of this place always helps calm my mind. I hope it helps you too.”
“It is beautiful.” I agreed. She nodded, turning on her heel.
“Come! I'll take you to the common room, you’ll have to take me up on that offer for a tour another day. There’s so much I would love to show you.” She led me down the gentle curve of the level we were on towards a large sprawling stone staircase that spilled down from the top level, all the way to the bottom.
“This is just the East Wing. This is where most of us sleep. Conrad, Meredith and Rycon all have been given their own rooms over there.” She pointed to a hallway that was similar to the one we had come from, just on the opposite side of the spire. “Dossidian and I have rooms down there.” She pointed to another hallway close to the staircase we were approaching.” I nodded, biting my lower lip. Where did Amon sleep? I almost didn’t want to ask.
“Your room is next to Amon’s.” Kasha chirped. I stiffened and immediately checked to make sure my mental barriers were up and she hadn't read my mind. They were firmly in place. She turned onto the staircase and started trotting down merrily. Clearly oblivious to my concerns that she had been in my head. I relaxed a bit, before processing what she had actually said. His room was next to mine? My blood ran cold, and I shuddered.
“Why would he put me next to him instead of with my friends?” I asked quietly. She glanced back over her shoulder before turning off the staircase onto the floor directly beneath the one all our rooms had been on.
“You are in a great deal of danger, Raven. Short of putting you directly in his room with him, which he didn’t think you would appreciate, we figured this was the safest option for you. There are not many who can protect you better than Amon. Not until we can get you trained enough to start protecting yourself.”
I was still having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Amon might not be the horrible hellish fiend I had made him up to be in my mind. He had come to get me at the docks when I had called. Though, he had likely come because I already owed him a life debt. He had saved me from the widowmaker when Rycon had tried to abduct me. Again, only to turn around and ensnare me in the aforementioned life debt.
I wasn’t under the delusion that he actually cared about me. He just cared about how he could use me. I had made the mistake of trusting both Kieran and Rycon, and it had cost me everything I had known and loved. I would not be making that mistake again.
We walked directly behind one of the thundering waterfalls on our way to another hallway that broke out from the main intersection of the East Wing, where I could see another large natural opening in the room beyond. Misty morning light spilled in from the gap, tinted viridian from the rolling landscape of slanted volcanic cliffs covered in sleepy sheets of mossy green.
“There are so many waterfalls,” I commented out loud as we walked down the hall toward the room with the view. I remembered the ones that speckled the mountainous view from my own chambers.
“Yeah! They’re from glaciers, so it’s clean and safe to drink. Amon’s ancestors were clever when they were planning out this place. Everything has been carefully designed to allow the waterfalls to flow into channels and pools that are placed throughout the palace,” she explained as we approached the room waiting for us at the end of the hall.
“The water is also recirculated, so it can be captured, treated, and reused. It's a pretty convenient natural feature.” She concluded. I nodded, eyes wide as I entered what I assumed was the common room.
The room was already occupied. “Hey, hey!” Kasha quipped as she strode away from me to greet the very large daemon who I had also seen that day at the docks. The Mountain, he was just as formidable as I remembered.
The common room was a long rectangle, with the entire length of one side open to the elements. Though, much like in my room, I couldn’t feel the wind that surely whipped outside. In the center of the room, another large rectangle had been carved out of the ground in such a way that allowed a natural stone outcropping to act as a bench, lining the perimeter of the conversion pit. The stone was covered with giant, green velvet pillows which proudly boasted golden tassels. Several giant black and silver knit blankets were haphazardly strewn within the pit. In the middle, sat a large table covered in breakfast food of every kind.
A massive obsidian fireplace lined the wall opposite the gaping opening that gave us such an incredible view. The flames of a merrily crackling fire reflected off the thousands of crystals hanging from a large chandelier positioned above the conversion pit, which caused speckles of rainbows to dance throughout the rest of the room.
Conrad, of course, was perfectly at home in the conversion pit, piling a plate high full of food. I noticed he favored what looked like some kind of salted fish and mini banana fritters. I don’t think there was a place in the universe where Conrad would have a hard time making himself at home. Not even the castle of an ancient dark daemon prince.
Meredith was curled up next to him in one of the giant knit blankets with a cup of tea, and even Rycon was there. He was sprawled out adjacent to them, his arms thrown against the lip of the conversion pit as he scowled directly into the crackling flames in the fireplace.
Outside of the cozy pit stood the daemons. Kasha was smiling up at the Mountain, who was grinning right back at her. He was huge. He towered well over six feet, his biceps easily as thick as my waist, but his face was jolly. He had a dark complexion, tanned skin, long black hair that was pulled into a low ponytail at the base of his neck, and thick dark eyebrows with a strong nose. He was wearing a long sleeve white t-shirt that opened at the neck with a v shape and what looked like soft brown lambskin pants tucked into thick leather boots.
