Page 37 of Till Kingdom Come

“Your natural powers are coming in since you’ve been here in the Elven city. You’re half Elf, you know. It’s to be expected.”

“I didn’t expect it. If the servants hadn’t come running in, I could have burned down the palace.”

Bracca started laughing and I punched his arm. “It’s not funny.”

“It is a little. Now get up and get ready. Hendris has arranged quarters for my men nearby, and I want to join them. We need to stay close together while we’re here. The room won’t be quite as luxurious as this chamber, but much more private. Come on,a chuisle, we’re going there now.”

I got to my feet. I was a little more tired and groggy than I thought, but I’d needed to talk to him and tell him what had happened. He pulled me to stand between his legs and arranged my coat, buttoning it to the top, shushing me when I tried to keep talking about it.

“You’re half asleep. We can talk more when we get to our new lodgings. Just let me get you ready now.” He wrapped a scarf around the lower half of my face and put a hat on me that he pulled down, so that between it and the scarf, I was almost totally obscured.

“Let’s go. The house is only a few doors down and used for Hendris’s special guests. It has a large central room that will house all my soldiers, and you and I will be upstairs in a private room.”

I nodded, giving up for now, and we left and went down the stairs. With his arm around me, holding me close and both of his men right behind us, I felt totally secure. We slipped out a door I hadn’t noticed before and then traveled down a dark alley between the palace building and another structure. About halfway down this alley, a door opened to admit us to a large entry hall.

It wasn’t nearly as nice as the palace, of course, but the floors were made of polished wood, and it smelled of woodsmoke from the constant fires burning everywhere.

A large common room lay beyond the broad entryway leading to the central room, where Bracca’s soldiers had taken up residence. This room smelled a little of whiskey and ale. It was really warm inside, with a huge fireplace carved right out of one the cave walls. The fireplace was large enough for several men to stand up in it and had a roaring fire blazing inside it. Cots were laid out along the other three walls in neat rows, along with tables close by where some of Bracca’s men were sitting and eating. My own stomach gave a little growl at the delicious aromas of baked bread and cooked meat.

We went up some stone steps leading to an upper level where there were sleeping rooms. Most of the light in the room came from the fire in the hearth, but as soon as we entered, Bracca lit one of the lamps by the door. It was a large, pleasant room with a big, four poster bed dressed in white linens and heaped with blankets and furs. There was a small table and two chairs by the fire and thick rugs on the floor.

“Ask them to bring up some supper for us and then get some for yourselves,” he told the guards, and they bowed to him and left.

“These are nice quarters,” I said and Bracca nodded, looking around a little dismissively. “But I still need to tell you what happened.”

“These quarters will do for now. And anything you have to tell me can wait until after you have some supper and rest. Hendris offered the room you were in at the palace, but I wanted more privacy and my own men around us, with all that’s going on.”

“What do you mean? What’s going on? Tell me about it.”

He smiled and perched a hip on the table. “You nearly caused a riot with that little stunt you pulled earlier. I have to admit it surprised me when you sat down on the king’s throne. That was a little surprise that could have wound up with someone trying to cut your throat by the way. What in the world were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I’d better sit down before I fell down. I got really dizzy, and I think I more or less fell on the throne rather than taking a seat on it. You seemed to be preoccupied with arguing.”

“Yes, Hendris had just accused you of being a charlatan who was trying to trick him. I took exception to his tone, not to mention his accusation and threatened to cut his throat for him.”

“Oh my God, in his own throne room? What were you thinking?”

“That no fucking Elf was going to insult me and my consort to my face in such a way. Have no doubt, I was fully prepared to do it.”

I sat down hard on the bed and put my head in my hands. “And what was your plan for getting us out of there afterward?”

He shrugged. “I’d have thought of something.” When I groaned, he just chuckled. “Oh, stop worrying. As it turned out, there was no need. While I was arguing, you went and made yourself the true-blood King. Very impressive, by the way. I never had to do a thing to help.”

“Oh, Bracca…”

There was a knock on the door and Bracca called out for whoever it was to enter. A very lovely lady came in—she was perhaps of middle age, though it was always hard to tell with the Fae, and she really didn’t look much older than me except for those small, tell-tale lines around her eyes. She didn’t look Elven either—no pointed ears at all. I wondered who she could be. She gave me a very intense look and could hardly drag her gaze away from me when she spoke to Bracca.

“Your Highness, the food you asked for is coming up now. May they bring it in?”

Bracca nodded and she turned back to open the door and make a motion to the men standing outside. They were both young and had dark red hair and beards. They were really large and looked like the Vikings I’d heard about. But they were carrying heavily laden trays, and they came in right away and began setting out plates and bowls of food, as well as dishware and put several dishes down onto the snowy white tablecloth on the table.

She exchanged a few words with Bracca in the Fae language. Her voice was very pleasant. More long looks for me and then she smiled at me as they left. I immediately looked at Bracca. “Who was that?”

“She and her family work here, I think. I have no idea really.”

“They’re not Elves.”

“No.”

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