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“That’s the way with most humans here,” she says. “A few get fantastical ideas into their head about Faerie and come willingly, of course, but most are here from deals gone bad, whether their own or someone else trading them away.”
“Is that what happened to you?” I ask, as she leads me through the kitchen to a side room, smaller and less busy than the last.
Her shoulders stiffen. “Playing servant girl to the High Fae wasn’t how I saw things going, no. I had a life before this, a good one. But this is where I have to be now.” She says it with resignation, like there’s no use considering an alternative. “Lady Rivera certainly likes to make sure those who wrong her are appropriately punished. Here.”
She goes to a cupboard and pulls out a hunk of bread and some cheese. I can instantly see the difference between the human food and the fae. That otherworldly shine is gone, as well as the seductive scent. That said, it’s still pretty good compared to what we try to survive off back home. The cheese is tangy and bread soft—and there seems to be plenty available. I tear into it as we perch on some steps, realizing I’m ravenous.
“How long have you been here?” I ask between mouthfuls. I don’t look at her as I ask the question; I think I’m afraid of the answer, and when she does speak, I turn to see tears in her eyes.
“Years,” she says simply. She looks older than me, maybe twenty-five, and I wonder exactly how much of her young life has been stolen by this Lady Rivera.
“I’m sorry,” I say gently and she nods in thanks. “I’m Eleanor, Eleanor Thorn.”
“Here I’m just called Fiona,” she says with a weak smile. I wonder if it’s easier not to use her family name, not to be reminded of what she’s lost.
It occurs to me to take the chance to ask questions from someone who doesn’t expect me to already know the answers, and who doesn’t have a big sword.
“Can you tell me something? What’s this stuff about the Seelie and Unseelie Courts? What’s the difference?”
Fiona plays with the ends of her hair as she answers. “Faerie is divided into two kingdoms. Fae between them don’t usually mix. I hear that Unseelie is a bad place, cold and ugly, not like here. The Unseelie don’t look like the fae here either. They look like beasts, even the High Fae.” From her words I guess the High Fae in Seelie are the beautiful, human-like creatures I’ve encountered.
“So someone with horns…and animal eyes…they’d be Unseelie?”
My mind goes to Maidar from the market. I’d always noticed there weren’t a lot of other fae there who looked like him, with his goatish features. But I’ve found him to be different in other ways too, more trustworthy, less cruel. Different didn’t have to be bad.
“Yes,” Fiona says, confirming my guess with a curious look in her eyes. “Or at least part Unseelie. Have you met someone like that?”
It occurs to me there is someone other than Maidar who fits that description: Ruskin. But then, he seems to be able to either conjure or hide those strange, beastly features–cat eyes, claws, and horns—at will, so I’m not sure if it’s the same. Still, there’s something there to unravel, and my hungry mind makes note of it.
“Maybe,” I say, “At the market, I think.”
She accepts my answer and I think it’s right not to mention Ruskin just yet to Fiona. She hasn’t given me any reason not to trust her, but as desperate as I am for an ally in this place, I can’t afford to be careless or naïve. Talking about my link to him might have consequences I’m not prepared for yet—not least from the man himself. Her explanations have given me an idea, though. Maidar must be living in the Unseelie part of Faerie. I heard him mention a court once, I’m sure, in reference to his home, though it meant nothing to me at the time. Yet there may be some deal I can make with him in return for his help. He’s the only fae I actually feel I know, and a reliable one, I think.
I finish my food a bite later and rise. Fiona jumps up with me.
“I’m glad I met you, Fiona,” I say.
“Me too.” She looks at me shyly and although she’s older than me, I’m suddenly reminded of my friend Sanna. If Fiona has been here for years, there’s a chance she was Sanna’s age when she was taken. What would that do to a girl, to leave her whole world behind before she’d had any chance to find her place in it?
“Will I see you around the palace?” I ask.
“Oh yes. Lady Rivera has quarters not far from here, and where she is I often follow.” She smiles wryly, through the pain of it, I think.
As she goes, I wonder if I will actually see her again. If I succeed in reaching my one ally in this land, then probably not. But if I fail…
I push the defeatist thought away and take some more food from the cupboard, stuffing it into my pockets just in case. Then I slip away from the busy kitchens by a different exit than the one Halima waits by.
Chapter 8
Out. I’m getting out. Maybe trying to find Maidar is a last-ditch plan, but I’m fresh out of first-ditch ones, and as powerful as Ruskin might be, it’s not like he’s omnipresent. I have to believe I stand at least some chance of getting away. Outside the palace the average fae won’t know anything about me, meaning that I could still possibly trade my way to this Unseelie Court and find my friend. I think he is my friend. He tried to keep me out of danger once, why not again? And once I’m in the Unseelie kingdom, it sounds like I’ll be beyond Ruskin’s reach. He’s only the prince of this one, after all.
I don’t intend to break my bargain with him. I will try to find a way to complete the task he’s given me, if only to avoid the consequences of reneging. But nothing in my bargain is dependent on me staying here, separated from my dad and home, while who knows how much time slips by. I made this deal in the first place to get back to them, and that’s still what I’m determined to do.
As I pick my way through the palace of my captor, I notice more details that set this place apart from any human home. There are no brackets for torches or candles, for example, and I wonder how they light the palace at night. At this time of day, they’re not needed, and the entire place is swathed in sunlight, because walls and ceilings in the palace seem rather optional. Half the time I can’t tell if I’m inside or in a courtyard. Corridors seamlessly merge into rooms open to the sky with pools sunken into the floor, then into chambers with nothing but a bower of entwined boughs overhead and steps spilling in on all sides. Often there’s not a doorframe in sight.
I keep my gaze down as I search for the way out. At first it seems most of the fae are happy to ignore me. Just another servant with a job to do. But then a group of laughing High Fae amble down a hallway towards me. I step aside, averting my gaze—until I hear a distinct, high-pitched voice.
“And you can’t believe how long it took me to find another. I don’t think I shall recover until Harvest Moon.”
