AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s all we get,” Nylah said, letting go of my hand. She didn’t wipe it on her white robes. Point for her—she was kind to me when she did not need to be.
“I don’t get it,” I said. “How does that help us? Does that mean Terra sent me here?”
“It means…we need to find out what’s happening. But I firmly believe you’re here for a reason, Ellie. The spell didn’t hold up long enough to see you killed, and that’s no coincidence.”
“What does that mean?”
“Dex told me you broke the gagging spell.”
I frowned. I didn’t know what to say. My mind was foggy. I struggled to think straight. Maybe I was too tired. Or maybe the magic affected me like a drug.
“I’m glad the King sent you here.”
I nodded slowly. “We’d learned very little. All I knew was that whatever Realm Nylah said she lived in…it had to be true.
“Why was I turned into a killer?” I asked.
“Zander,” Nylah said.
“Yeah, the guy on all the flyers and in the news. He was a respected warrior in the King’s court. I don’t know what happened, or why he went rogue and killed the King.”
Nylah nodded. So much still made little sense.
“Come, we must go to the King, now,” Nylah said, standing.
I shook my head. “I’d rather not.”
She smiled. “I won’t let him hurt you. We must find out what happened. I will show the King what the Goddess showed us, and we’ll take it from there. Come, child. You must trust that justice will be served. That counts for the innocent as much as it does for the guilty.”
I swallowed. Nylah was easy to trust. Too easy. I didn’t know why I put my faith in her when I knew nothing about her, but I liked her.
I followed her out of the large room, through the dark hallways, and back into the light, glittering palace. Despite the palace being lighter and brighter than the dark, Gothic cathedral, I’d been more at home back there than I was now.
Everything was so strange, and it kept getting stranger.
6
Nylah walked with me through the palace. Dex had marched me through the hallways like a prisoner, but with Nylah, I was a companion.
We strode through the palace, and again, I was in awe of how magnificent it all was. After my life in dark rooms filled with cinders and soot, this was a dream. A floral scent hung in the air, pleasing, intoxicating. We walked through a large gallery with oil paintings of the kings and queens past. My footsteps echoed around me in the wide space. I gaped at the paintings. They were to scale, every king and queen looking down at me as large as they’d been in real life, and although they were gone, I almost felt their looming presence.
“I like to visit them sometimes,” Nylah said softly when she saw me looking. “They never really leave us.”
“Really? That’s…creepy.”
She laughed. “Not like that. Their wisdom, their legacy, and what they meant to their kingdom stay behind, and that keeps their power alive.
“Is Lucia of royal blood?” I asked, thinking about the future Fae queen and how she’d sat next to King Rainier as if she was already on the throne.
“Noble, but not royal. She will marry into the First Realm when Ren takes her as his wife, and then she will inherit the power that comes with it.”
“I thought only royals could marry other royals,” I said.
“If there are others who are eligible. Otherwise, one of noble blood may be chosen. Lucia’s mother is a priestess, and she also moves in the First Realm, which makes Lucia a perfect match for the King.”
We reached a large, ornately carved door with a floral design chiseled into the ancient wood. She lifted her hand, but before she knocked, a voice called from the other side.
“Enter.”
