Page 25 of Lord of the Hollow Court
And I think of the High Fae as so civilized.But he could not say that. Not when his position as lord of an independent court rested largely in Bakker’s hands.
Now that the morning had shown the extent of the ruin, Braam wished he had said it. After all, there was nothing left to lose.
In a few months’ time, the Hollow Court would no longer be his.
Between the room full of moving, glowing eyes that lay beyond and the chunks of lath and plaster around her feet, Katty was rendered speechless. She stared through the massive vent in the interior wall, knowing “hole” was not a good enough word. This was a tear, as if yet another beast of legend had crawled from the woods and ripped through it with a massive claw.
“Got our marching orders,” Rineke said, voice noticeably softer when she returned. She pressed a broom into Katty’s hand, then shifted her own so it rested on her shoulder like a musket. A bucket dangled from her free hand—as if that would be enough to fix this wall. “We’ll have to leave this mess for now. They want us to focus on the exterior walls first. We’ll be working with Bibi and Hugo. You’ll want to get on Bibi’s sweet side, which, to be fair, is most of her—she’s a wondrous friend in rough times.” Rineke’s eyes raked the wall. “Rough times, indeed,” she muttered.
Katty nodded dumbly. What manner of creature could be strong enough to destroy such well-built walls? And how brutal would they be if they’d gotten hold of a mortal girl like her? She trailed after Rineke on numb legs, nothing left in her to recoil as a pair of fae joined them. Even if one of them had devilish black horns. And a head full of blue ringlets that were a truer shade of azure than any Katty had ever seen before. And cat eyes.
“Hugo,” Rineke said to the faerie with cat eyes and black horns. His hair was how Katty pictured the ocean. She was so fascinated with it, she almost missed the brightening of Rineke’s eyes when she greeted the horned faerie, the way she straightened up.
And the way he straightened in return.
“Hi, Rineke,” he said, face taking on a worrisome turquoise hue. Fluttering his moth-like black and gold wings, he jetted ahead.
Katty felt like she’d seen this exchange a dozen times before in Sleepy Hollow. There, the participants had been wingless, with normal colored hair and no horns. But it was strikingly the same. There was a shy courtship afoot.Veryshy, judging by the distance Hugo flew ahead.
A worrisome thought occurred to Katty. Should she trust these fae around her, and think of them like humans, knowing they were also capable of such wanton destruction?
Then again, the revolt against England had ended not long after Katty was born. A great battle had been held not far from here. Whether through gunpowder, bare hands or sharp tongues, humans were beastly in their own way. Yet the fact could not be denied: no human couldrake through a wall.
She was just a powerless human girl among strange creatures, with what looked increasingly like an impossible task ahead of her.
“Rineke,” Katty squeaked, then had to clear her throat of the plaster dust in the air. “How long do you think this will take to clean?”
Rineke frowned. “It’ll be all hands today, but the Hall has to run. There won’t be many to help.” She scratched her chin, tipping the bucket beneath it. “All told, I think we’ve months of work ahead.”
Katty’s breath caught in her throat. Then, as if the news had not rooted her to the spot, she coughed, straightened, and resumed walking as though it did not matter. The thought of months here with the fae, while her family waited for her at home, was too much to shoulder. It sat on the surface of her thoughts, unable to sink in.
Because it was worse than that, wasn’t it? A night away was bad enough. Returning home after weeks away, without a husband, after disappearing on the night of a ball? How long would it be before someone swore they saw her leave with a man? Would the hostler know she had chased after Ichabod? Someone must have seen them!
She was ruined.
“Unless his lordship brings some craftsmen up from Boogard,” the other faerie chimed in. When Katty let her eyes focus on the colorful fae, she saw purple eyes staring back at her with concern. The faerie’s transparent wings were laced with plum—and her hair of the color exclusively.
“He’ll have to bring in help,” Rineke agreed, eyes sliding over Katty. And no wonder. Katty was so stiff now she walked with a peculiar gait, like someone pretending to be human. “We don’t have the skill set.”
Ahead of them, Hugo’s black and gold wings slowed their fluttering. “With winter coming,” he said so quietly Katty almost did not hear him, “how will he pay the craftsmen and us, too?”
The faeries fell silent at that, until Rineke clucked her tongue. “We’ll have to make do, that’s all. And those High Fae will have to pay for the damage they caused.”
Hugo’s voice came out as a whisper. “We’re the hosting court.”
No one explained what this meant—what any of it meant. But the mood had noticeably soured.
Katty remained stuck on the termHigh Fae.What was Rineke, then? What was the difference between High Fae and faeries? Katty had so many questions she needed to ask. Right now, she had the will to ask none of them, especially after passing a set of goblets dripping blood onto a side table.
Someone let out a gasp. Lost in her confused thoughts, Katty knew to look up only because Rineke had stopped walking.
A half-dressed fae stumbled through the double doors ahead of them, appearing in a cloud of dust and golden light. One of the doors hung precariously on its hinge. He nudged it, then poked it harder, as if trying to make it fall.
Rineke cleared her throat. Seeing them, the tall fae’s icy eyes widened. He recovered quickly, running a hand through his silver-white hair—as if that would help his dirty and bedraggled appearance—and sauntered past them. “Wonderful party,” he purred as he neared them, his shapely, wicked mouth drawing the faerie girls’ eyes—and Katty’s. He was the prettiest and most terrifying man she’d ever encountered. And she would crawl from her own skin if it meant getting away from him.
Katty instinctively clutched the sachet at her chest. The smell of mint filled her nose in an instant, followed by the softer notes of lavender and thyme.
He sauntered by them without ever noticing, returning their appreciative gazes one by one—then sneering when his gaze landed on Rineke.
