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I stumbled back, my heart racing with fear.
“It’s really there,” Vesper said, his voice surprisingly serene. “You’re not seeing things.” He still gripped my wrist. “Don’t be afraid. All it needs is someone to put it back to sleep. And I think you’re the right person to do just that.”
He yanked me suddenly forward, pulling me to the edge of the stone ledge, then held my wrist out over the water.
Drops of my blood fell onto the lake’s surface and were instantly swallowed up in the murk.
“I don’t understand,” I started to say.
But already the waters were calming. The tentacledthingslipped back below the surface, ripples forming in its wake, then slowly fading away to stillness.
I watched as the water began to shimmer and gleam, dark murk becoming a glistening pearlescent hue.
“The lake opens for you. It knows who you are.” Vesper’s voice was unsettlingly excited. He turned to face me. “Go on. I’ll be right here waiting.”
Then he kissed me tenderly on the lips and pushed me in.
Ifell through thesurface of the water, my lips parting in a silent scream. At any moment I expected the cold water to envelop me, soaking through my clothes and drenching my skin.
But instead I simply... fell.
I fell through water that was not water at all, but a pearlescent haze of mist.
I had time to wonder if this was like the arch Lancelet had passed through.
I had time to feel the pang of shock and sorrow as I remembered she was gone.
And then my body hit the marble floor with a hard jolt.
My first thought was that I was in a palace. I caught sight of silken hangings and lush velvet furniture. The walls around me were lined with mirrors framed in gold. Above me, suspended from a glassy ceiling, were hundreds of softly glowing orbs, hanging from delicate chains of gold and silver.
I pushed myself up from the floor slowly.
In the center of the room, a large crystal platform rose from the floor. A fae woman sat upon it, watching me from behind magnificent violet eyes. Her hair was a wild tangle of amethyst and silver, flowing past her narrow waist. She was draped in a gown of glistening pomegranate silk embroidered with pearls and diamonds that sparkled in the light.
She was the most beautiful creature, human or fae, that I had ever seen and yet as she looked back at me I felt a sting of fear.
Surrounding the fae woman were dozens of stone pedestals, each with a different object on display.
I caught sight of a silver candelabra burning with a flickering blue flame, a glowing orb dancing with lights that looked like tiny stars, and a necklace set with an emerald carved in the shape of a dragon, jaws wide open to reveal teeth made of sharpened pearls.
And then, just past them, I saw the sword.
It was sunk into its pedestal, almost to the hilt. The blade was long and straight, made of a metal so dark that it seemed to absorb the light around it. Silver etchings covered the blade, forming a pattern of leaves and thorns.
The hilt of the sword was as exquisite as the blade, made of something finer than silver, paler and even more radiant, with a filigree pattern of vines winding around the grip. At the top of the sword's pommel rested a red rose, carved from the largest blood-red ruby I had ever seen.
I looked from the sword back to the fae woman.
Her eyes flickered curiously over me. “Do you know who I am?”
Mutely, I shook my head.
She tilted her head to one side, silver and gold hair cascading down onto the crystal platform. “And do you know what you have done?” Her beautiful lips formed the start of a smile. “Or better yet, do you know whatIhave done?”
I cleared my throat. “No.” My voice was raspy. I shook my head and tried again. “No, to both questions.”
The fae woman clapped her hands together. “How intriguing. And yet, here you are.”
