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But though he spoke words of power and made the ripping motion with the knife, no portal appeared.
“What the fuck?” Liath muttered. He frowned at the knife and tried again—and then again. “What in the hell is happening?” he asked at last.
I shook my head.
“I don’t know. Maybe we need to get out of the Palace to make a portal to the Winter Court?”
“It’s never worked that way before,” Liath rumbled, frowning. “But I guess it’s worth a try. Come on, little bird and stay behind me,” he added. “If anyone tries to stop us, I’m going to make them fucking sorry.”
I saw the gleam in his eyes and knew he was deadly serious. We were both sick of the Summer Court and we just wanted to go home.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll be right behind you but be careful—there was a guard out there who let me in to see you in the first place.”
“He won’t bother us if he knows what the fuck is good for him,” Liath growled. “Come on.”
We went.
33
There was no guard in attendance when we exited the cell, for which I was grateful. He had seemed like a decent male and I didn’t like the idea of Liath having to hurt him.
The dungeons looked the same as they had before—well, other than the fact that any iron had been turned to rose vines. There were several cell doors that looked like they had sprouted gardens.
I stayed behind Liath as we mounted the long, winding stairs to the main floor of the Palace. But when we got there, I noticed something strange.
“Liath,” I said, tugging his elbow. “The floors!”
“What about them, little bird?” He was still scanning around us, making sure the coast was clear and we weren’t about to run into a group of Seelie soldiers.
“The floors,” I repeated. “They’re gray. Gray marble.”
“So?” He frowned at me.
“So—they were white before. All the floors in the Summer Palace are white marble,” I pointed out. “Just as all the flagstones in the Winter Palace are made of black marble. So how are they gray now?”
Liath took a moment to study the floor.
“Fuck if I know,” he muttered at last. “Come on—let’s just get out of here!”
We went quickly down a long corridor and were making for the courtyard where I had come in—and where we had been married—when I heard a familiar sound—the clip-clopping of hooves.
I frowned. How could it be? That sound didn’t belong here—not unless someone had decided to ride their horse down the hallway, which didn’t make sense.
“What the fuck is that?” Liath asked, as both of us came to a halt. “It sounds like—”
Just then the owner of the hooves came around the corner and a familiar voice exclaimed,
“Your Majesties!”
“Stableforth?” Liath and I both said at the same time.
“What are you doing here, Master Stableforth?” Liath asked him. “How did you get to the Summer Court?”
“But this isn’t the Summer Court—it’s the Winter Court!” the centaur protested. “Or…it was just a little while ago,” he added, looking confused. “But that was before everything got all shaken around.”
“Shaken around? What do you mean?” I asked.
The centaur shook his head.
“It is difficult to explain, my Princess,” he said. “It was as though a great disturbance ran through all the magic in the Realm and then suddenly the floors of the Palace turned gray—which is quite wrong. For the floors of the Palace have not been gray since the Winter Court and the Summer Court were one and the same. It was when the Great Divide was put into place that they separated and the Winter Court was left with black floors while the Summer Court was left with white ones.”
“The Great Divide…” I put a hand to my mouth. “By the Shining Throne…”
“What? What is it, little bird?” Liath demanded.
But I shook my head.
“No—surely not,” I muttered to myself. “It can’t be true.”
“Tell us what you’re thinking, Princess, and we will tell you if it might be true or not,” Stableforth said.
“Well…” I hesitated. “Remember all those prophesies you two told me about? About how someone was supposed to unite the two Realms—the two Courts?”
“Not just someone—you,” Stableforth said firmly. He frowned. “But I thought it wouldn’t be possible for many years. Not after the Shadow Throne rejected your first attempt to sit upon it.”
“Wait a minute—you tried to sit the Shadow Throne?” Liath’s eyes went wide and he seized me by the shoulders. “Tell me you didn’t!”
“I had to,” I said, frowning. “I didn’t think I had enough power to get you out on my own.” I shrugged. “It turns out I did though.”
“Alira, that was so fucking dangerous!” He gathered me into his arms, giving me a hug so tight I could barely breathe. “Gods, little bird—I had no idea you’d do something so foolish!”
