Page 89 of The Realm That Falls to Her

And yet I nearly blow our cover right there and then when I freeze at the sight of six humans eating at a table in the kitchens. Instead of palace uniforms, they’re wearing the normal clothes of Styrland’s tradesmen. And I recognize one of them.

He’s small, with large eyeglasses perched on his nose, but even just looking at him, I can hear his nasal voice assessing the authenticity of my gold.

The jeweler from Albrecht’s castle. My mind whirls, wondering what on earth he would be doing here…and then my eyes fall on the book lying on the table beside his elbow. It’s one of mine. A notebook filled with my research from my alchemy experiments.

Ruskin nudges me in the ribs and I jerk into motion, tearing my gaze away from the group. When we’re out in the corridors of the Seelie palace I turn to Kaline.

“Who are those men?” I ask. “What are they doing here?”

“The humans? They showed up a few days ago. Evanthe must’ve brought them from your realm, but I don’t know why.” She shrugs. “We’re working on getting more information.”

I don’t like the vagueness of the answer, but don’t push her, knowing we have other things to think about right now. After we’ve dealt with Evanthe, maybe we can get more details.

The buildings look totally different from the last time we were here. Back then the palace and the rest of the court were all but deserted, and overrun by the thick, twisting tendrils of iron. Now those tendrils have retreated, and I can once again see the bright, blousy flowers that the dark metal hid. We pass several High Fae lounging in courtyards and gossiping in alcoves, as if the terrible iron curse had never been there, as if the kingdom wasn’t locked in a power struggle between mother and son. I suppose that’s exactly how Evanthe wants the High Fae for now: complacent and compliant.

Their self-absorption helps us, however, as we move through the palace. Most of them barely spare a glance for us. It’s as if we’re invisible. It’s easy to see how the Low Fae have learned to use this to their advantage. Forming a resistance was inevitable.

We get closer towards the private quarters of the palace. These places that are warded against intruders, but Ruskin is still High King—the palace still recognizes him. We glide easily through closed doors and charmed archways, with Ruskin leading the way—right through to Evanthe’s quarters.

“We haven’t been able to recruit her maids,” Kaline explained to us before we left the safe house. “And the guards are all High Fae, so we haven’t dared approach them, but according to the kitchen staff, she usually takes lunch in her own dining room, away from the court, at two. We should be able to catch her unawares then.”

“Of course she eats alone,” Destan commented at the time. “She can’t stand her own court. You’d think her followers would have worked that out by now.”

“She’s a good actress,” I reminded Destan. “She had us all fooled.”

“Besides, the members of the court are used to a ruler who doesn’t want to spend time with them,” Ruskin pointed out. “I certainly never did.”

Now I mentally prepare myself to face that woman again. Who knows, maybe after I remove the iron she will rediscover some of her old self. If there’s any chance of that, I’ll hold on to it for Ruskin’s sake.

The first set of guards waits for us at the entrance to Evanthe’s rooms, as we expected. I rip the weapons from their hands when we’re still several feet away, as the vines that cover the palace walls spring up, gagging the guards and binding them to the stone pillars that flank them. Ruskin’s High King magic is at full strength now he’s on Seelie ground again.

We keep moving, striding through the chambers.

“There, that’s her dining room.” Ruskin nods towards a set of double doors where two more guards wait. One of them is fast enough to cast a spell this time, the same kind of flashy light magic Vanis used on me once, but General Sunshard deflects it with the sword she hid under her long cloak. They’re bound and silenced by vines moments later.

Without breaking our stride, I use my magic to push on the handles of the two large doors, and they swing open.

Evanthe sits at the end of a long table, quite alone, a plate of food in front of her. She lifts her long, elegant neck and I can’t help but feel a chill at her icy stare.

“Ah,” she says, laying her cutlery down as if she’s been expecting us. “So helpful of you to come to me, Miss Thorn. I had intended to fetch your father from Albrecht’s dungeons to draw you in at last, but now I see there’s no need. And you’ve even brought Ruskin too. Good, that will speed everything up.”

“Don’t give her time to stall,” General Sunshard tells me.

I throw my magic towards Evanthe, searching out the dark shard I’ve seen buried in her heart.

But even as I do so, doubts tug at my focus. Her mentioning Dad has thrown me, and besides, it’s been too easy up to this point, hasn’t it? Why didn’t she post half an army outside her doors?

Because she’s confident we can’t hurt her.

Around me, there are shouts, and I’m vaguely aware of more fae entering the room. I try to keep my mind locked on Evanthe, following the channels of her body, leading back to one source.

But every time I think I catch a glimpse of her heart, it slips away from me, disappearing behind a dark cloud. My magic probes at it, but the cloud simply swirls thicker, blocking me off. I think this must be Cebba’s magic—maybe Interra’s too—protecting the shard from me. When I push against the darkness directly, it fights back, striking at my subconscious. It feels like an icicle being driven through my brain, and I flinch back, the connection broken.

I stare at the chaos around me. The Sunshards are locked in battle with half a dozen guards, a blur of flashing weapons telling me they’re holding their own. Destan and Kaline are fighting guards too, but Ruskin’s grappling with Evanthe, dancing between rogue shards of iron springing up around him. Branches and vines surge across the room, trying to bind the queen and block the iron from reaching our allies, but the iron is stronger, slicing through the organic matter like its paper.

And around every shoot of iron, the shadows of Interra swirl. I try to touch Evanthe with my magic again, but I can’t even get close this time, she’s too strong—whatever dark power is protecting her heart is too powerful, and all I can do is focus on redirecting the iron shards, aiming them away from Ruskin and the others as best I can.

“Ruskin!” I shout over the grinding of metal and the grunts of the fae. He locks eyes with me, and I shake my head. He knows I’ve failed, which means we have to get out of here as fast as possible. Evanthe has a palace of powerful fae following her orders. Even if some of the servants are secretly on our side, there are likely limits to how much they’d be willing to risk to help us. For the sake of Seelie, Evanthe mustn’t capture me and Ruskin. If she does, she could force us to give her access to the founding stone.

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