Page 141 of The War and Deceit Series omnibus

My eyes widen and my mouth drops open as I stare at him in shock. “What?” I’m not sure what I had expected him to say, but it wasn’t that. “What do you mean?” Mind spinning, I search for answers in his expression. How can this be happening? They are hailing him as a returning hero, we’re going to his homecoming celebration—how is it that he’s going on trial?

“I created elven weaponry for our enemies to use against us in battle,” he responds, his jaw tight. “I broke the law.”

This takes a few seconds for me to process before my icy rage surges to the surface. “You were forced to do it. You were a prisoner of war,” I point out, my voice cool and eyes narrowed, not quite believing what I’m hearing.

“Yes, and the queen plans to grant me a pardon,” he explains. “But there are people who believe I’m receiving favourable treatment, hence the trial.” I can tell exactly what he thinks of these people from the tone of his voice, and I get the impression he’s had problems with them before.

“What people?”

He frowns at the force of my anger, but he answers my question. “A group of some of the younger lords.” Shaking his head, he laughs humourlessly. “I think they enjoyed the benefits of me being away, and don’t like that I’ve returned and taken them back.”

Footsteps sound in the hall, making him pull away and offer his arm to me again. Curiously, I glance around the hallway,knowing that elves are quiet enough that I wouldn’t hear their footsteps unless they were walking loudly on purpose, and I see Naril walking towards us.

“Come, we’re expected. We can’t keep the queen waiting any longer.” He doesn’t wait for us, just simply speaks over his shoulder as he passes. Vaeril nods in agreement, and we follow behind him.

“What are you doing here? I expected that you’d already be down there flirting with all the lady elves,” I tease, smiling as I wait for his witty response.

Except that retort doesn’t come. Frowning, I watch as he shares a pointed look with Vaeril. “I was just dealing with some pests,” he replies, finally looking at me, his expression changing from serious to sly. “Just what were you two doing in a quiet alcove, all alone?” Wiggling his eyebrows, he laughs as my cheeks flush red at what he’s implying despite my innocence. Spluttering, I try to come up with a response, but thankfully, Vaeril takes over with a gentle squeeze of my hand.

“We’ve been discussing your trip to see the sea elves.”

He raises his eyebrows. It’s obvious he knows we’re lying, but thankfully, he doesn’t comment on it. “Yes, I think Clarissa was a bit underwhelmed by their caves.”

“No, I loved them!” I correct, frowning at the back of his head as he continues to walk ahead of us. “I was just surprised at the difference between the palace and their homes.” I remember how I felt this morning when we visited the edges of the palace and saw where some of the wood elves lived, and how uncomfortable I felt at how different their accommodations were. Not at their choice to live with nature, but how unfairly the obvious wealth of the high elves was spread out.

We enter the grand entrance hall and descend down the large spiral staircases to the ground floor, which is filled with more elves than I have ever seen in one place before. My chesttightens with a flash of fear at being surrounded by so many of my enemies, but then I remember that they aren’t my enemies—the King of Arhaven is. The elves, barring the queen, have been welcoming if not a little afraid of me, but those I’ve been getting to know are warming up to me.

The hall seems to amplify their voices, so a hum of lilting laughs and their musical language echoes all around me. Although, as we walk through the hall, the voices start to fade, until the only sound I can hear are my footsteps on the marble floor. As I feel their eyes on me, the old frightened part of me wants to hide. Attention was never a good thing as a slave, but I try to push those feelings aside. That’s not who I am anymore. Naril seems to be lapping up the attention as he strolls in front of us, a wide grin fixed firmly in place as he winks at a couple of elves who are looking at us.

“They’re all staring at us,” I whisper out the corner of my mouth, my palms sweating under the weight of their attention.

“No,” he disagrees lightly. “They’re all looking at you.” I’m about to bite out that his comment isn’t helpful when he quickly glances over at me. The look in his eyes makes my retort die in my throat. “They are all jealous of how beautiful you are,” he purrs, his eyes heating as he flicks his gaze over my body once again. “Jealous because they can’t be the one at your side.”

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, I raise my chin and try to channel my wood elf genes, assembling my face into a blank mask as we leave the stairs and keep walking through the gap in the group that seems to form like the parting of waves as a ship sails through, Naril acting as our bow. I want to ask where his brother is and if he’d be joining us tonight, but I know now is not the right time. So instead, I keep my eyes forward as I’m guided towards the large set of double doors that sit directly under the two staircases. The doors have always been shut whenI’ve been through here previously, but they’re open tonight, and my breath is taken away when I see the grandeur of the room.

If I thought the hall in Arhaven was grand, then this is on a whole different level. It’s made of the same pale stone and marble, but everything seems to be inlaid with gold leaf, making the hall seem to glitter in the candlelight.

“You might want to close your mouth,” Naril calls out, as he grins at me over his shoulder. Glaring at him, I do as he says, not even realising I had opened it in the first place. I turn that glare to Vaeril as he starts to chuckle next to me, and he wisely stops, but not before winking at me.

Leading me over to a long table at the back of the room, which is ladened with glasses, he takes two and passes one to me. I hold the glass up to the light, realising that it’s some sort of sparkling drink from the bubbles rising to the surface.

“What is it?” The liquid is pale, and as I lift it to my lips, I wrinkle my nose at the burning sensation as I inhale the strong smell of the alcohol.

“Fae wine. It’s much stronger than the human variety, so I would recommend sticking to the one glass,” Vaeril suggests, and I nod in agreement. This is the last place I want to get drunk and make a spectacle of myself.

Back in Arhaven, I had been introduced to wine when I became ‘Lady Clarissa.’ It seemed to be a staple at the table, but the liquid had been a deep red colour and hadn’t fizzed like this one seems to. The alcohol had always gone quickly to my head, so I used to water it down under the table or stick to water. Arhaven wasn’t the sort of place where you could make a drunken mistake and survive.

“Vae, you have to ruin all the fun,” Naril comments with a feral grin, swirling his own glass of fae wine, which I notice is already half empty. I’m sure he would like nothing more than for me to make a fool of myself. Throwing him a glare, I turn myback on him and look up at the elf on my arm. I’m acutely aware that everyone seems to be watching us, although as I glance around, most have the decency to look away.

Taking in the hall, I frown as something occurs to me. There are no tables other than the one behind us containing the glasses of fae wine. “I thought this was going to be a banquet to celebrate?” I ask as we walk farther into the room, noticing that everyone is standing in small groups.

“We don’t sit down to eat with our celebrations, although there will be some food.” He points over to a server I hadn’t seen before, standing by a marble pillar holding a tray full of small portions of food. Now that I look closer, I see more servers blending in as they stand still, holding out their trays, their expressions carefully blank. In the far-left corner is a band. The musicians are setting up their instruments, however some of the instruments are ones I’ve never seen before. At the back of the hall, an intricately carved white stone throne stands empty.

“Come,” Vaeril calls, pulling my attention back to him. “I want to introduce you to some of my friends.” I wince at his words but quickly try to school my expression. I knew I’d have to meet Vaeril’s peers at some point, but I don’t feel ready. Laughing at my failed attempt at a neutral expression, he leads me towards two immaculately dressed elves who are standing a little way from everyone else. “You’ll like them, I promise.” As we draw closer, I realise that they look older than everyone else—still beautiful, but soft creases line their faces. Thinking back to what Vaeril had said about elves’ ages, I can’t even imagine how old these two would need to be to show the signs of age.

The pair turn to face us as we approach. The female smiles kindly. She’s wearing a beautiful, understated, light blue wrap type dress, with her light hair up in a bun decorated with a thin silver chain. The male is watching me with a curious expression, like he’s not quite sure what to make of me. He’s wearing a fittedembroidered jacket that seems to be a popular style here, as most of the males, including Vaeril and Naril, are sporting one of the same style.

“Taelir, Saril. I’d like you to meet Clarissa,” Vaeril introduces us, gesturing first to the male, Taelir, then to the female, Saril. The latter of the two smiles warmly at me before her gaze flicks up to Vaeril, her eyes glittering with excitement. “She was instrumental in my escape from the humans,” he continues, nodding his head at whatever silent question Saril was asking him. Her smile widens at his confirmation, and she reaches out to take my hands, pausing at my slightly panicked look.

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