We stroll through stone gates with iron bars. The clap of Searon’s feet slap against cobblestone, muffling the soft chitter of insects scuttling through the wild ocean of forest surrounding us.
“Why isn’t there any snow?” I wonder out loud. “It’s the middle of winter.”
“I was told I wasn’t allowed to have winter anymore.”
I frown. “By whom, and why?”
“You.” He pokes me in the side with a finger, making me jump and squeak. “You said it made me cranky and unreasonable.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you?”
He turns his head to the side and glowers into the trees. “Who doesn’t get cranky? It’s cold and everything is dead. Winter is awful. Here is fine, Searon. Thank you.”
The creature stops at a fork in the path. Vaelith dismounts and pulls me down with him.
“Thank you, Searon,” I say once I’m on my feet.
He inclines his head. “My pleasure, Majesty.”
With my hand in Vaelith’s, I let him lead me down the left trail.
“What’s this way?” I ask.
“Home.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Home is layers of perfectly set stones carved from giant boulders. It’s deep trenches cut beneath arched bridges and polished stairs that go straight into the gleaming blue waters.
Home is ivy covered walls and waterfalls that tumble from rooftops down into the channels.
Home is the most beautiful place I have ever thought possible and I can’t look at everything fast enough. I can’t absorb, never mind process, as I’m led through doorways that lead into courtyards that extend into corridors that lead to gazebos built over ponds littered with floating lights.
And there are people.
Creatures.
All manner of beings simply going about their business. There are women clad only in leaves cradling baskets of straw, laden with fruits and vegetables. There are men made entirely of stone hauling massive boulders through the square. Children with the top half of a human and the bottom half of a horse attacking each other with wooden swords. I want to ask where their parents are and why they’re not home in bed, but no one else seems to be concerned.
In the water, sitting on rocks beneath the waterfalls, gliding through the channels, pulling themselves up the stone steps are stunning women with gleaming tails and luminous scales across generously endowed breasts.
“You have mermaids?” I hiss, marveling at the flawless grace of two blondes sitting on a stone, tails swaying in the stream, casually chatting.
“We have all manner of creatures,” Vaelith says.
I try not to stare. It’s hard not to gawk when every person we pass stops to bow and welcome me back. Some go right on their knees.
“They all know me,” I say as we step through a domed pathway to a garden of statues.
A couple sitting on a stone bench leap to their feet when we arrive. The woman, a gorgeous beauty with thick, black hair and slitted feline eyes clutches her heavily swollen belly and beams when she sees me.
“Rina!” Realizing her slip when the man next to her shoots her a sharp glower, she quickly adds, “Your Majesty. You’re back.”
“Thank you,” I say for lack of anything better.
“The others will be thrilled,” she rushes on. “We’ve been hoping we’d see you again soon.” Her smile slips a notch. “I’m sorry it happened the way it did.”
I’m guessing she means how I died, and I offer her a smile.
