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“Our royal status died with our realm. We are simply Allura and Sebastian now. Parents of the new queen," he says firmly. The pride in his voice makes my smile even wider. She could use a few more people in her corner and it seems they were ready to make up for lost time.
Emrick walks up a moment later and joins us. He gives my shoulder a squeeze in greeting but just from the look on his face I know words won’t be happening. Instead, I give him a reassuring smile to let him know I’m fine now.
“We’ve decided to speak tonight in private, once everyone is cleaned up and fed," Maddox says, eyeing everyone with a warning glance. Keeping panic at bay is a smart move and honestly now isn’t the time to catch everyone up with our mission.
“We need to find food and water. The king survived somehow. Ideas?” Emrick directs his question to Sebastian.
“The palace was always self-sufficient. The king preferred not to share with the ‘common’ people. We actually have a water reserve and a greenhouse in one of the towers. I can lead a group there to gather supplies of what’s left," Sebastian explains.
“Will the food drive us to madness? Our food was inedible after the war.” I counter, not willing to feed everyone tainted goods.
“With it being self-sufficient, I don’t think so. Father’s madness started long before,” Sebastian said with a long sigh.
“During one of his rants, he went on about the stone giving him this power,” I admit. “I’m assuming that means he had the stone we’re looking for, in his possession.”
“That kind of power would drive anyone to madness,” Maddox sighs.
“And my daughter is collecting them?” Sebastian asked, his tone promising pain that we’re even allowing it.
“It’s different with her. The Spirits of Faerie have spoken directly to her. The stones are inlaid into her crown by the Spirits, and she has us to share the power with. It helps ground her,” I explain before he can get to upset. “It’s her destiny.”
“And good luck telling her she can’t do something,” Emrick chuckles. We all laugh at that, knowing damn well she’d do what she wanted anyway… after a few choice words.
“Okay, back to the issue, we need a map to get around properly. This place is a maze,” I say, bringing everyone back to the issue at hand.
“I could give the information, but my ability to draw to size is dismal,” Sebastian admits.
“Hey lovers! We need Jacob’s art skills," Bowen hollers over to Jacob and Andras, making poor Sebastian and Allura jump. Jacob holds up his middle finger and grins before breaking away from Andras’ kiss.
“I know I’m a hot commodity, but give a guy a minute," he laughs as he leads Andras over to us. It’s a relief to see that Jacob kept his sense of humor. I worried after having to see what we did, that he’d be a different man. But for the moment at least, the old Jacob was still here.
“We need a map for people to navigate through the winding hallways. I figure Sebastian could help us plot one out, then we can copy a few so the people can find their way to their rooms. Not all of the fae here are from Winter, in fact only a few are. We can even do just a map to the nearest washrooms for now, and work on a bigger map tomorrow," Bowen suggests.
“That’s brilliant,” Andras agrees. “I can help with the copies.”
“Do we even have materials?” Jacob asks, gesturing to the ballroom.
“So, for immediate needs, we need paper, blankets, food and water. Not everyone is ready for moving from this room just yet," Maddox says, falling back into leader mode again
. Maddox is a warrior in his own right, but he’s more of a strategist. He was our best option at getting everyone set to a task. “Emrick, Sebastian, and any of the others who can join will gather food and water. Andras and Gerwyn can get the art supplies and find the king’s office. Bowen and Jacob can find blankets and a proper room for our group and Sebastian and Allura, Bella will want them close. I’ll stay behind to defend Allura and Bella.”
“Works for me," I say, mainly thankful to not be the one to stay behind.
“Let me give some direction,” Sebastian insists, going through each task and giving the best places to start.
We split off quickly, everyone in a hurry to get back and clean up. Andras and I follow Sebastian’s directions fairly easily, but without them we’d have been walking forever. The castle is large enough that the walk alone takes us a good thirty minutes of winding through corridors.
“What could they have possibly needed this much space for? He had a three person family, staff, and the guards were kept on the lower levels,” I say with an annoyed groan as we turn down another long hall of doors.
“This castle is a bit much," Andras agrees. His lips are twisted in a grimace as he looks at the walls.
“I’m sure his personal office reflects more of the same lavishness. The king was proud of his station," I say as we approach a set of double doors. Even they are over the top, an entire royal processional carved onto the surface.
Pushing open the doors, we see that we weren’t far off in our assessment. The office is clean and organized, but he didn’t spare expenses. A large desk stands in the middle of the room, on top of a woven blue and silver rug. A high backed, carved chair heads a table along the back wall, the rest of the chairs small in comparison.
Bookshelves line one wall and a large map of the realm is tacked to another with large x’s showing the conquered towns. The sight makes me nauseous.
How could one man be a catalyst for so much chaos?
