Page 79 of House of Ydril

“Just the man we’re looking for,” Harry barks out as soon as he walks up to Faust. “Your Majesty, will you do us the honor of going to the Seven Dwarves’ with us?”

Faust shakes his head, smiling. “Maybe some other time. You should all get some rest tonight.”

“The Seven Dwarves’?” I cut in, frowning at Harry. “But they don’t allow anyone under forty.”

“They do if you come with the right person,” he replies, gesturing at the real-life prince standing next to me.

“Ah,” I just say, an interesting idea popping into my mind. I turn to Faust and throw him a smirk. “I think you should go. You know, live a little.”

For a second, he just looks at me. Then his lips curl into a smile. “Sure, but only if you’re coming, too.”

He says it as if he’s challenging me. I let out a chuckle. “My god,” I say, feigning shock, “you want me to accompany four youngsters to some dingy bar?” I walk up to Harry, Sarya and Zelda, who are all grinning. “I don’t know…” I shake my head. “Someone might steal my pearls.”

Harry barks out a laugh and Faust rolls his eyes at me, but then he snaps, “Fine, let’s go.”

It doesn’t take us long to get to our destination. Another perk of being the prince seems to be the fact that you can just use the Pull whenever you please. Once we’re on the other side, I’m relieved when I see I’m not the only one to throw up. We all do, everyone except for the smirking Faust, of course.

But I don’t linger on it. I’ve stopped feeling so worried and I now seem to be overwhelmed with a nervous sort of excitement. And the Seven Dwarves’ looks just as I imagined it, ever since Nuala told me about that one time her brothers got to go. It’s a wooden shack in the middle of the forest, warm light and muffled music spilling out through the cracks.

And there’s no signs anywhere, no indicator whatsoever that this is the most popular bar for Originals in the entire area. Just a plain-looking double door. As soon as Faust approaches it, the door flings open and reveals a grumpy looking old woman, my ears instantly getting assaulted by the actual volume of the rock music playing inside.

“Your Majesty,” the woman says when her eyes land on Faust, surprising me when her mouth cracks into a smile. “Always a pleasure to see you.”

As we file inside, she throws us all suspicious looks, but doesn’t say anything. And just like that, we’re in.

The place is so crowded, we have to elbow our way through. Everyone except Faust, of course. For him, apparently even the Red Sea would part without so much as a moment’s hesitation. Walking behind Zelda, I struggle to catch up. I have to zigzag so as to avoid slamming into dancing people and getting the beer from their overflowing mugs all over me.

But by the time Faust leads us to what seems to be a VIP lounge, I’m practically giddy with excitement. While getting settled next to Zelda, I let my eyes take the place in, one detail at a time. The light reflecting off the rows of liquor bottles above the enormous wooden bar. The collection of posters, records and other colorful shit pinned to wooden walls. And the metalwork, the magnificent metalwork all around me, like the delicate thorny branches winding around the staircase leading to the upper floors.

I lean forward in my seat and look up, trying to see exactly how many floors there are, which is why I barely even register the waiter until it’s my time to order. “It’s all on the house,” he says with a smile.

I grin at him. “A Poisoned Apple. No, ten of them.”

They just appear on the table before me. I almost fail to suppress a squeal. And for a while, I just look around, sipping the intoxicating, bright green drink and listening to the Vipers’ banter. Unlike me and Faust, they can’t seem to shut up. And as usual, Zelda is far from smiling, Sarya is taking every opportunity to be bossy and Harry is mostly cracking jokes.

As I look at him, an image pops into my mind of him asking Nuala to dance at the Ball. It was all so sweet, the way he shifted on his feet and avoided looking her in the eye. It strikes me as odd, that I used to think Harry was this violent guy. Sure, he acts tough, but I’ve never really seen him do anything of that sort and even when the Vipers still despised me, his greatest transgression was teasing me. I almost let out a chuckle thinking how the two of them, him and Nuala, would actually make a good couple.

What snaps me out of thinking about Harry and Nuala is Faust leaning in to say, his voice a bit hushed, “That book Moswen had me get for you…”

My head snaps to him. When did he switch seats with Zelda, I think to myself.

“Did it help?” he asks, locking eyes with me.

It’s hard to concentrate on what he’s saying when he’s being so annoyingly hot, his rolled-up sleeves revealing all the glorious muscles of his forearms.

But I snap out of it and turn serious, throwing a glance at the others. They seem to be immersed in their own conversation so I just make sure to keep my own voice low as I say, “Not really. Not even a single mention of the Stone.”

“I see.” He looks away for a second. “But don’t worry about it. Tomorrow’s what matters. If the third ritual doesn’t happen, we can just move on with our lives. And if it does, we’ll know more.”

I smile and shake my head. “That would’ve made me feel better if it weren’t for the other thing. Leo is ouronlysuspect and we still haven’t even confirmed his part in it, let alone used him to find new clues.”

He lets out an impatient breath. “I thought I told you I’m waiting to hear from someone. It should be any day now.”

“Fine, don’t get your panties in a bunch,” I say as I roll my eyes at him.

For a second, I think I see his lips curl into a smile.

And then there’s a moment of silence.

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