Page 15 of Lord of the Hollow Court
Braam could smell nothing now. His nose was full of the vanilla and honeyed milk scent of Madeleif. But this was yet another thing he could not let show, all of his important moments hidden behind a mask designed for the High Fae’s approval.
“One day,” Braam warned the Lord of the Court of Swords as he ascended the stair, “you’ll meet your match. And you’ll be so slow to see anyone as your equal, they’ll best you before you ever see it coming.”
But Aleksandr only laughed and continued on, the next in a line of too easily discarded lovers. Maybe Aleksandr and Madeleif deserved each other after all.
Braam’s heart ached at the thought. His heart could not accept he’d been discarded, though the evidence was clear.
The moment Aleksandr was gone, Braam pulled out a handkerchief from his inner pocket and blew his nose. The low fae servants bustling through the hall did not bat an eye at this; amongst half his company in the front of the palace, it would be as if he sounded a bullhorn during a harp recital. The High Fae were immune to far too many humbling things.
Tilting his head back, Braam took in a deep breath. No, he wasn’t imagining it as he stood in the drive, or in the moments before he ascended the stairs. He’d been too intent on Madeleif to give it the consideration it deserved. And now he was paying for it doubly with the persistent ache in his heart and the scent wafting through his manor.
There was a human here. And they were bleeding.
Fear jolted through him. This was the definition of a disaster.
With bitter regret for all his foolishness, Braam entered the kitchens, cursing all the way.
When Katty had enough breath in her to raise herself onto the heels of her hands, her eyes nearly bulged from her head. As she took in the sheer quantity of flour she lay upon—more than she, a miller’s daughter, had ever seen in a private pantry—her eyes roved over what might have been a thousand sacks, tins and jars. This pantry was twice the size of the room she’d shared with her older sister.
Standing on shaking legs, Katty took in the shelves, trailing her hand along the neat calligraphy on the labels. Some were of words she could not pronounce. Some jars were unlabeled, bearing vivid red fruit with bluish spots that seemed to glow. She trembled a little and moved away from that side of the pantry, still ignorant of the cuts on her arms and legs, or that blood beaded upon them.
Was this a witch’s pantry? Did witches live in such mansions? Katty had always heard of candy shacks and the odd shanty on a chicken foot—or dark and wicked castles. This whitewashed manor was nothing like she expected.
She’d grown up with stories of these woods, that all manner of strange things happened around Sleepy Hollow. Witches would certainly explain it. As Katty gaped at the plentiful store—not just at the quantities but at the variety it boasted—she wondered whether she’d made a wrong choice in her life. She could be a very fine witch if she wanted to.
This she thought rather primly, before hearing a squeak in the doorway. Katty whirled.
A tiny person, the size of a small baby, hovered in the air. A tiny person with delicate, prismatic wings, fluttering in a blur of rainbow color.
Katty shrieked.
“Human!” the little sprite screeched. “Human in the back store!”
Recoiling against the back-most shelves, Katty’s mind grappled for a way to escape. But there was nothing for it: she must rely on her comparative size, and run by the little faerie like a bull.
Katty put her head down, lowered herself to charge—and felt her lips part in a silent cry as the sprite zipped from the doorway.
Faltering at first, Katty exited the pantry after the sprite as quickly as her tired legs would allow her, before any other creatures of legend could hem her in. She was not fast enough. As she burst into the hall leading to the outer door, a myriad of strange creatures greeted her there, their brows furrowed. Some had thick fur on goat’s legs, and some great wings. Others looked so much like a human it chilled her, but that they were impossibly tall and reedy. Each face was framed by a pair of long, pointed ears, the faces uniformly curious. She felt like a butterfly pinned to a board, though it was they who had the wings.
With a yelp, Katty dashed for the open door and the misty night beyond it, dancing briefly as she considered the headless horseman that brought her here. In the end, she’d rather take her chances with one creature than half a dozen. She pointed her body toward the woods, shins aching the moment she hit her stride.
Katty slid through the opaque night, praying she would lose the frightening beasts in the fog. But it was not the perfect escape she’d hoped.
Half-blinded by mist, Katty crept along the tree line, tripping on stones and statues and the edge of a garden bed that ran deep into the woods. Where could she hide? She did not know her way back from here—not through the thickest of the woods, where the full moon would be of no assistance. Nor did she think she could run the entirety of the night.
Skirting a raised bed full of graceful, gold-leafed trees that made Katty’s eyes bulge—that was real gold!—Katty slowed her pace in order to catch her breath. Hand pressed to her side, she drank in her murky surroundings.
The moon chose that exact moment to hide behind the clouds. Katty found herself lost in darkness again, hands skirting stone and wood beds and trailing through plants that left her hands tingling.
“Are you alright, miss?” a concerned voice asked.
Katty nearly went limp. They’d found her.
Thinking quickly, she brushed her hair over her ears before turning with a smile. “I was just enjoying the gardens here. You see, I’ve lost my—”
Her throat bobbed soundlessly. A tall, beautiful fae male stood before her, brows raised in concerned inquiry. Her eyes traced the long lines of his pointed ears, of his limbs. Seeing the inhuman details of him up close made it that much clearer: he was a creature straight out of a fairy tale.
“You’re lost?” he prompted, leaning towards her slightly. Quite unintentionally, Katty found herself blushing as she nodded.
