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As a unit, the four bowed low, their heads parallel to the ground. Arianna watched them closely, eyeing the weapons jutting out from the thick fabric. Not robes, she realized as the wind brushed past. Cloaks. Rich velvet cloaks.
She hardly thought the weather warranted such an extreme, but they were spectacular to look at.
The four didn’t rise.
Arianna chewed her lip and almost turned to Ellie for answers when she felt another tug on the bond. Right. She needed to command them.
“Rise.” Her voice was too soft, but the four obeyed, once again moving as a unit. Their gazes scrutinized her and it took every ounce of self-control not to step back or outright flee. Maybe she should have hidden in the mountains with Rion after all. A few decades wouldn’t have hurt.
A male in the center stepped forward and spread his arms wide revealing the finely pressed black tunic beneath his cloak. Along with five blades strapped across his chest. His voice was deep when he spoke. “It is my absolute honor to welcome you to Ruadhán.” She surveyed the village again. No grand cathedral. No riches beyond imagination. Just a humble village full of humble people. Maybe the rumors had gotten it wrong.
“It’s an honor to be here,” Arianna said simply, rehearing the lines Ellie had drilled into her.
“Not many are afforded more than a glimpse of the village before you.” He gestured to their right and Arianna followed with her eyes. “It’s part of Pádraigín’s magic to keep our city hidden and to ensure those who reside within its borders are safe.”
Before the attack outside Levea, she might have called them paranoid, but if rogue factions were willing to kill just for an idea of who she might become, Arianna didn’t want to imagine what they’d do to this place.
His arms raised toward the sky and like steam on a hot summer day, the sky—no, reality parted, splitting at the seams.
The crowd gasped and even Talon couldn’t contain himself as the underbelly of an entire city materialized in the distant sky above.
Arianna couldn’t make out much beyond a circular mass and the way sunlight seemed to reflect from an unknown source. Rainbows surrounded the underside in a ring of light as water spilled from the edges, only to evaporate in the air above.
“If you step onto the platform to your right, we can begin the ascent.”
Arianna followed him with Talon, Ellie, and the guards close behind.
She wondered if she hadn’t noticed the platform before now due to magic or because it fit so perfectly into the ground.
Hexagonal mosaic tiles covered the surface in a kaleidoscope of colors. Azure of the sky, scarlet and rusty orange of the sunset, emerald and sapphire of the glittering ocean. The council caught her staring and Arianna closed her gaping mouth. Her cheeks heated, but they only smiled.
The platform was wide enough that fifty people could easily stand with enough room to move about, but it was only herself, Talon, Ellie, the council, her guards from Móirín, and the priests and priestesses that stepped up. The others watched in longing as the platform lifted from the ground in a smooth motion. So smooth it barely jostled anyone.
Panic surged through her and the council male, who strangely hadn’t introduced himself, whipped his head in her direction. “It’s quite safe,” he promised. “No need to worry, we’ll have your feet back on the ground in a moment.”
It wasn’t the height that bothered her. It was the worry of whether Rion stood among them. She looked over the faces, at least those she could see. Even if Ellie had hidden his magic, it wasn’t as if he could pretend to be someone else.
The bond didn’t stretch and that same soothing feeling reached out to caress her mind with a gentle touch.
He was here. Despite how impossible it might seem, Rion was here. Was he hidden among the hooded priests, and if so, how did they not recognize one of their own? She’d figure out exactly how Ellie had done it later.
The city drew closer and closer, the massive structure larger than Arianna had previously imagined it. Her breath hitched when they crested the top. She saw the metal woven fence first as it expanded the perimeter of the floating city, rising six feet high with thick bars that promised to keep the citizens from stumbling to their deaths. Ivy covered the bars, bringing life to the otherwise cold metal.
A large crevice marked the space where their platform would land and smooth eggshell colored stone formed a street lined with shops and homes and bustling people.
Each residence had its own small yard complete with a garden, balconies on the first and second floors, and immaculately cared for exteriors of neutral tones offset by brightly colored flowers of all varieties. Everything glistened and shone as if it were as eternal as the Fae that lived there.
Their platform lowered and disappeared as it became one with the street before them.
“We have several of these throughout the city,” the unnamed council male said. “You’re welcome to use them as much as you like.”
Arianna only nodded, her attention focused on the landscape as she stepped forward. Flowering trees circled the space with potted plants and trickling fountains every few feet. A floral aroma filled the air and gold lined the railings, sparkling in the sunlight. Other jewels adorned the space as well. They were placed into pottery, on the doorknobs, in the windowsills, and she even thought she saw some shining within the garden beds themselves.
A city of beauty. Of extravagance.
Of waste.
Arianna swallowed the lump in her throat and followed the male down the polished street. Her stomach soured with each step.
