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I moved through the steps of bathing, pausing and waiting for my mind to calm when it turned the clear water red. It seemed a nasty blow. I was a swimmer. The water made me happy. I loved cutting through its depths, reveling in how my body moved through it, its calming, cooling effect.
And now all I saw was violence and blood.
A few hours later I walked with Keelin to the dining room to meet Dagda. A retinue of guards dressed in faerie armor followed behind.
“Seems Dagda has increased security. Or was that your doing?” I asked Keelin.
“It is only temporary,” he said, ignoring my question. He marched with that normal soldier-like stiffness, shoulders square, a determined set to his chin.
“Thank you for keeping everyone safe through this,” I said.
His lips pressed into a grim line. “My efforts have not been good enough. You were attacked in your own bedchamber. The king almost fell.”
“The first one caught us all off guard, and the second… How can you ensure perfect safety when Dagda insists on being around me all the time? Something was bound to happen.”
He answered with an unconvinced humph as he opened the door to the dining room. Dagda waited at the table, sitting along its edge. He gestured to the plate of food at the table’s head. Keelin remained in the room, watching.
We ate in near silence. Perhaps because Dagda feared if he distracted me from my food, I might stop eating altogether. His eyes frequently flicked to my plate and then away. I avoided even glancing at my drink, the experience from the bathroom too fresh, worried if I glanced in that goblet, all I’d see was crimson swirling around. And I refused to break down in front of Dagda.
“I hear there is a library in the palace,” I said while buttering my roll.
“There is,” Dagda replied.
“I want to see it.”
“I shall have your faerie knight escort you after we are finished.”
I jerked my gaze to his. “Faerie knight?”
Dagda smiled. Not a tremulous half-smile but a genuine grin. He motioned to Keelin, who opened the doors.
Palon entered.
I gasped, rising to my feet. “You said that appointing him would break long-standing customs,” I said to Dagda.
“You are the queen. I have no power to overthrow your commands.”
“But what about traditions… what it will do—”
“If you believe him best to fill the role of faerie knight, Chels,” he said in a low voice. “Then damn tradition.”
I gripped my goblet off the table and stepped up to Palon.
He bowed. “I’m grateful for this opportunity and I look forward to serving you, your majesty.”
“It's Chels, Palon. And I’m honored to have you serve as my faerie knight.” I offered him the goblet. An uncertainty crossed his features, but he seemed to sense this was important to me, so he grasped it and drank. I took it from him and downed the rest of its contents, the first drink I’d had in days. A refreshing rejuvenation filled me, and I set it on the table.
“Let’s go outside for a stroll. All of us, shall we?”
Everyone appeared even more bewildered, but I was already making my way to the door. I lead the three other men through the castle and outside to a garden.
I smiled. Lovely.
We moved into the rows of plants and vines, many that I didn’t have names for. A stone statue of a faerie standing, with wings out-stretched, arm back, spear held at the ready, graced the end of a long row of blue-bell blossoms.
Like my power to see visions of the future, Palon had a special ability. Only his differed from mine.
“Palon, please crush this statue into rubble.”
