Page 81 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

In what was only a couple of seconds, but felt much longer, the fairy blinked and looked back at me.

His brows knitted again, seeming distressed. “What are you?”

* * *

“I assumeyou know at least something about Underneath?” Ambrose asked.

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Good, then you know that it’s far more dangerous than every city in Elsewhere combined.”

We were standing once again on the upper deck of the ship, but for once there was nothing going on that might require the use of a sword. The sails billowed as the ship cut a silent path through the placid waters, drawing ever closer to the harbor of Underneath. I leaned over the railing of the captain's deck, peering into the heavy mist that hovered on the horizon, trying to catch the first glimpse of the shoreline.

I wondered how many people had sailed this close to the forbidden city before?

How many humans?

Had my mother made the same trip, or had she crossed the Hedge?

There were so many questions swirling through my brain, I didn’t know where to begin.

“Why is it so dangerous?” I asked.

“Unlike Elsewhere, Underneath is an absolute monarchy.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So is Elsewhere, or have you not been living in the same country I have all this time?”

He shook his head. “No. Elsewhere is a kingdom in a traditional sense, meaning the actual day-to-day governing has very little to do with the royal family. I would know, having been part of the court for more years than you’ve been alive.”

I frowned. I sometimes forgot how old he was, because the silver-haired prince looked roughly twenty-five by human standards, and because the other fairies I knew—namely Bael and Scion—were not actually that old in the grand scheme of things. Bael was only about ten years older than me, in his thirties, and to my knowledge Scion was somewhere between fifty and seventy, give or take. Ambrose, however, was over two hundred, and had only been exiled from the royal family for the last several decades. He’d had an entire life at court before I was born, and while it felt unimaginable to me, there were many alive today who recalled when The Dullahan was called “Prince Ambrose.”

How surreal it was to realize that the castle which he’d destroyed, had been his home once. How strange to think he’d likely been friends with Gwydion at one point, had verbally sparred over breakfasts with Raewyn, and terrified servants, just like me. The man in front of me didn't seem to fit that role at all.

I shook my head to clear it, realizing that Ambrose had still been talking the entire time I’d been thinking, and I hadn’t heard a word of it. “Sorry, could you repeat that?”

Ambrose gave me an exasperated look, but obliged. “Elsewhere is made up of multiple independent territories, each of which is governed by its own High Lord and Lady. At one time, every province was its own independent kingdom?—”

“Until Queen Aisling mated with all the High Lords and united the country—yes, I know the story.”

He raised an eyebrow. “It’s not a story, it’s a historical account. At the time of Aisling, Underneath did not exist as it does now, nor did the capital city. Everything below the Waywoods was Wilde land, overtaken by creatures either too monstrous, or too uncivilized to assimilate with the Fae—or the Seelie, as we were called in the old tongue.”

“Which is why Underneath is now full of Unseelie.”

“Yes. Back then, the Unseelie were not organized as the Seelie, but they did have a king who was their absolute ruler.”

I nodded. I knew this part of the story as well.

The unseelie king had been furious at not being included in Aisling‘s circle of mates, and had therefore attacked her kingdom. He killed her mates, and all but one of her children, before stealing the crown of Elsewhere, raping the queen and taking her as a hostage back to his court. As punishment, Aisling asked the source to curse the Unseelie king, and all his descendants with never-ending misery until such time as the crown was returned to its rightful wearer.

It was a story I understood well, because the Everlast family were the many generations removed descendants of Aisling and the Unseelie king. For thousands of years, they’d been unable to find the worthy wearer of the crown, and therefore remained cursed with unhappiness.

“You do not have to explain your curse to me,” I said. “I’m all too aware already.”

He looked at me gravely, and nodded. “Fine, then I won’t bore you with details you already know. What I mean to make you understand is that there is only one power that matters in Underneath, and that is the king. There are no lesser lords, no governors or dukes, and no real court to speak of. The position of Unseelie king is not inherited, but won, by way of killing the previous monarch.”

I snorted a humorless laugh. “That sounds familiar.”

He shared my smile. “Yes, quite. Only Underneath has never put as many rules or arbitrary events in place as we have. There, one simply challenges the current king, and the victor gets the crown.”

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