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Then I stormed from the dining hall, announcing I would dine in my room.
22
Talia
Rafael fled from the table as if he were being chased. My eyes lingered on his back until the doors closed behind him. The fae courtier was watching me.
While I could still hear Rafael’s voice saying he didn’t want me, my heart beat madly in my chest, and my lungs couldn’t draw breaths deep enough to quell the tremors coursing through my body. I could still hear the word wife like he was speaking it in my ear over and over again. It had snapped from his tongue, sharp as a curse, and caught my heart in a vice grip that was not letting go.
Sinsorias cleared his throat. I pulled my eyes away from the doors and glanced at Everence. Her lips seemed to be fighting a smile.
Rafael confused me. Ghost-like memories of his tenderness contrasted with his harsh words. But one thing I knew for certain: Rafael hated the man sitting across from me. I shook my head slightly. “How rude,” I said, feigning indifference as I reached for my wine. “Is this how fae treat their guests?” The wine was strong and dry and smelled divine.
Sinsorias spoke, but I didn’t listen. I couldn’t mute the words still echoing in my head. Rafael’s chair felt emptier than the other vacant seats along the vast table. I kept glancing at it, sad that it sat unoccupied. More than once, Everence had to nudge my shoe with her own to snap me back to the present.
“How was your journey through the gate?”
I blinked at the courtier, his glowing suit a flashy distraction from his sharp features and strange nose, which was too straight and too narrow to be real. I recalled the nightmares but also the memory of Rafael holding me, of his voice whispering away the visions as he assured me they were contrivances of my own mind. A flush swept up my neck, but I grimaced and forced myself to recall the awful visual of my parents hanging from nooses. The memory worked, and I nearly wretched onto my plate.
My interrogator’s loud, amused sniff was his only response for several minutes as Hector, who’d appeared pushing the dinner cart, served us all buttery soft slices of fish. Apparently, the woman I’d seen fleeing earlier had been the only server this evening. I was hungry, but not particularly interested in eating. I wanted to find Rafael, to demand that he tell me what was going on.
When the meal was finally over, and I’d managed to say as few words as possible, Sinsorias stood along with us, and offered a polite bow. His venomous stare and ridiculous suit made the gesture anything but pleasant.
“You will join your husband now?” he asked, eyes alight with malicious anticipation.
“You might be fae, and I might be a poor human, but I have never in my life been asked a less appropriate question.”
Everence tilted a small, approving nod at me. Sinsorias, on the other hand, eyed me flatly and only bobbed his chin as Everence and I turned to depart.
The hallways were long, mostly empty, and devoid of rugs or tapestries to dampen the clacking of my small heels on the wooden floors. I sounded like a flamenco dancer next to Everence’s silent footsteps.
“You did well in there,” Everence said, holding my arm as we rounded the third turn from the dining room.
Had it just been a performance? Had Rafael’s words all been for show?
She noticed my sagging shoulders and added, “Oh, it will all make sense one day, I assure you. Rafael is…well, he has dealt with much opposition over the years, most of which has come from that man’s employer, Rafael’s brother, Fabian.”
“The Sun Sovereign?”
Everence nodded.
“Wait.” Rafael had mentioned his brother, but I’d not known Fabian was the king. I’d been too distracted by Sinsorias’s arrival to put it together until this moment. I spluttered, unable to contain my disbelief. I had married fae royalty. But what exactly did that mean?
Everence stopped and turned my shoulders toward her. “He has lost much of his power, thanks to his brother.” Her eyes closed tightly, and her mouth pinched, as if she wanted to say more but held back. When she looked at me again, her icy blue eyes blazed with intensity. “Don’t give up on him, no matter what you learn or hear or…discover.”
She turned and marched away so quickly I could only stare after her dumbly. When she’d vanished around a corner, I realized I was standing in the hallway that led to the beehive room. My room, I supposed.
Was I required to stay in my room all night? I wasn’t the least bit tired. This was my house, after all. I should be allowed to walk when and where I wanted. I was still hungry, which was not surprising, considering how little I’d eaten in that interrogation chamber. Now that the bizarre fae courtier wasn’t looming over my every move, I decided I could eat a little. Everence had shown me where the kitchens were earlier, so I made my way there.
The kitchens were empty, but someone had magicked the dishes to wash themselves. A light flicked to life as I entered the domed space. Black stains marred the ceiling, and a long wooden counter was embedded in one wall. A basket of oranges and a half-loaf of bread wrapped in cloth lay on the counter. I took an orange and turned to head back out the narrow hallway leading to the main house.
A dark figure stood against the far wall, watching me with tiny eyes. The creature had long arms that resembled sticks and a face dotted with lichen. She wore an apron.
After the shock wore off, I nodded my head politely. “I’m sorry if I frightened you.”
The creature’s eyes, which were entirely black, widened. “You’re the wife,” it said with a small, raspy voice.
I coughed out a yes.
