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I started laughing and Eli looked down at me. “You okay?”
“No. How are you making things worse?”
He gave me a sly grin. “Not worse, more interesting. It’s all in perspective, Teresa.”
“Tessa.”
“See, we’re already becoming great friends, Tessy. Can I call you, Tessy?”
“No.”
He laughed, and I knew I was in for it.
I’d been played by an archon, and now I was in fey territory. I knew about as much about dealing with the fey as I did about archons. If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up making another shit deal.
I was so beyond screwed.
Twenty-Two
The fey guards led us down a series of hallways in their Underhill, each intersection more elaborate than the next. The scenes painted on the ceilings were breathing with life. I hadn’t noticed them at first—I was a little concerned with the number of guards surrounding us—but one caught my eye as we were taking a turn. It had wolves running, roaming the intersection of ceiling. The full moon was low and the clouds rolled around the painting, moving as if they were real.
I spun to walk backwards as the wolves found a deer and descended on it as if I was watching a beautifully drawn animation on TV.
Eli caught my arm. “Come on.”
“Did you see that?”
He grinned at me. “And you haven’t even taken a look at the floor.”
I stumbled over my own feet, trying to break Eli’s grip on my arm as he half-dragged me behind the parade of guards. “What’s going on with the… Oh. Whoa.” At first glance, I’d thought the floor in the hallway was black marble with little silver flecks, but where I walked, the floor lit up, revealing the night sky. Colorful planets danced around stars. Comets flew and stars supernovaed as I watched. I could’ve walked around and watched the floor forever.
“Careful,” Eli said, pulling me to the side.
I glanced up just in time to dodge a statue of a man standing straight. His sword stuck in the ground. His hair was braided away from his face, and the look on his face was so fierce I stumbled again.
“Do I need to carry you?” Eli asked, and even if he wasn’t laughing at me out loud, I could hear it in his voice.
“No.” Being carried here, in front of all guards, would show weakness. But I needed to get myself together. I couldn’t keep gawking.
The ceiling caught my attention again. This time it was a daytime scene of a party.
“You’re still gawking,” Eli whispered in my ear.
He was right. I felt a bit like Kiera Knightly in Pride and Prejudice when she toured Mr. Knightly’s home. I couldn’t help it if my jaw was dragging on the floor as I took in all the splendor. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be invited back here.” Especially since I hadn’t exactly been invited this time. “What’s the harm in looking?”
Eli didn’t say anything, so I went back to my gawking.
The guards led us to a massive pair of doors. The doors must’ve been well over two stories tall and twice as wide and, if I weren’t mistaken, they were made of solid stone. But that seemed ridiculous. Who made a door out of stone? They’d be way too heavy to open, even for me. A twin set of golden rods were attached to either door, like door handles for a giant.
Van stood in front of the doors and knocked three times. A second later, the doors started opening. At first, I thought they were opening by themselves, but they were being pushed open from the inside by a group of guards.
Inside was a massive ballroom. What had to be at least thirty giant chandeliers refracted the glowing yellow light, filling the room with rainbows. The floors were the same magical night sky. The walls were white also, but not marble. I couldn’t tell what they were made of except that they were glowing like a full moon. I wanted to touch them to see what would happen, but I doubted that the guards were about to let me wander off.
As we walked farther into the room, the guards parted, moving to the sides and behind us, revealing a stage on the other side of the enormous room. Golden stairs curved up the wall on either side of the stage, leading up to where Cosette stood. A few people were seated in front of her and there were a few others standing around, but Cosette was all I saw as she looked over her shoulder.
She was glowing faintly, her curls were the brightest, making her look like she was standing in a halo of light. But it wasn’t the glowing part that caught my attention, it was the fact that even from at least fifty yards away, I could tell she was pissed.
I was pretty sure that it was Eli she was mad at, but if I was wrong, I had no problem throwing him under the bus. This was so not my shitshow.
