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A pair of guards whistle, and Pavonos moves toward a transport portal the guards erected. I turn my head, trying to glimpse the Golden Palace I’ve heard so much about. It is said to be the most glorious structure in the fae lands, and stepping inside it can make a poor person feel wealthy, as if the opulence can fill all the voids of the world.
I could use some voids filled right now. Even fake ones.
Will the Spring queen order the Summer king to turn me over? Will the commander allow it?
Inwardly, I snort. Of course he will. It’s not up to him. Royals dictate rules, not commanders, no matter how powerful.
Once we exit the short transport portal, we turn left and pass through another guarded gateway, followed by two more. Finally, we materialize in front of a majestic and perfectly adequate single standing tower rising out of the grass, reminding me more of an isolated castle than a tower near the Golden Palace.
No one guards it.
It seems abandoned.
“What kind of structure is this?” I ask Pavonos. When he doesn’t answer me, I stop and look around. Water is all I see. “Are we on an island?”
My magic prickles the tips of my fingers, and my hands start heating up, and oh no, I can’t burst into flame or even allow my magic to spout a portal or the commander might send me away. With my forefinger, I pick at the skin at the side of my thumb. I might make them bleed again, but that’s a small price to pay compared to the alternative.
“Chloe,” Amartis says from behind me. “Don’t be scared. I won’t let anyone touch a strand of your hair.”
“Thank you.” I stop picking at my thumb. Amartis wields fearsome battle magic, and he knows how to use it.
Pavonos opens the single massive door and enters with his sword drawn. “You’ll be beating D’Artaron, then, because I don’t like her accommodations.”
“What an asshole,” Amartis says.
“D’Artaron isn’t mean,” I say as I walk into the dark space. “And if he is, I’m sure he has good reason.”
Amartis snorts.
Pavonos laughs. “I’ll ask you how you feel about him when you get to your cell.”
“Cell?” I screech.
Amartis gently pushes at the small of my back. “Your royal quarters. How lovely of our brave commander to ensconce you in your own tower, no?”
Amartis grabs my hand when I won’t move toward the open portal superimposed on the wall. “Come along now.”
“It’s a shadow portal,” I tell him. Seelie fae travel in light portals, Unseelie in shadows.
“The alternative is climbing.” Pavonos points toward the staircase made of iron, no doubt designed to weaken the fae.
“How come there’s an Unseelie portal here?” I ask.
“The Summer king put it here.”
“Oh, that’s right.” I snap my fingers. “The Summer king is half Unseelie.”
Reluctantly, I step toward the shadows crawling against the wall, and just as I’m about to enter, my magic lashes out in a blinding light and swallows the shadow, replacing it with a Seelie portal of green-and-purple light.
“Oh no,” I say, horrified. The portal swirls and grows, illuminating the entire base of the floor, revealing old fae writings dipped in melted iron. It’s an old Unseelie way of entrapping powerful fae.
“He’s imprisoned me,” I whisper, coming to terms with the fact that D’Artaron is holding me here. My magic crackles around the melted iron scripts. As it touches the iron, it sparks, burning out.
“Chloe, where is the king’s shadow portal?” Amartis asks.
“I don’t know.”
“She ate it,” Pavonos says, then snaps his leather-clad fingers the way I had a moment earlier. “Just ate it.”
