Page 145 of A Palace of Smoke & Mirrors
“Who thefuckinvited the Court of Water here?”
A collective sigh gathered in all four of our chests, diffusing like the breeze spinning Enyd’s windmill as the High Lady and I stared at each other across the table.
“Well, they’re really fucking early,” the High King grumbled.
Enyd sniffed, picking up a silver spoon and beginning to scoop up the watery vegetable soup she had been served. She blew gently to cool it, and then commented innocently, “Everyone is early when you’re always late, Your Highness.”
fifty-one
Ogres Will Fly
The surprise announcement at dinner had sent everyone into a tailspin.
I’d never seen the High Fae quite so panicked, though it wasn’t in the familiar way of humans. There were no screams or tears. Rather, a newfound sense of urgency fell upon them like a second skin, like they’d finally started to hear the ticking of the clocks as time passed and realised with a start that not all things were infinite. The need to act—and to do so quickly—hit all three of them at once just as soon as Enyd retired to her room.
While Morgoya went to greet Ulyssa and the Court of Water, Wrenlock paid a brief visit to the armoury before meeting the High King outside the throne room. As always, I went with Lucais, and Batre had never shown up to dinner in the first place, so I had no idea where she was.
The pungent smell of the caenim was nearly enough to bring my soup up again as I followed the men into the throne room. Enyd was right—there was a whole platoon of foul beasts stored in iron cages, and the sight sent a cold chill down my spine. If I didn’t know better, I would also be questioning whether theman keeping caenim like circus tricks in the middle of his palace wasn’t actually the real enemy.
While the High King and his Hand decorated themselves with weapons, I counted the caenim in the room.
Twenty beasts divided by five Courts meant Lucais planned to release at least a few into each one—unless he was truly insane enough to think that he could recapture them to use again and again. I sincerely hoped he didn’t, but I also knew better than to hold my breath.
When the double doors to the throne room swung open with a loud bang, I was so distracted staring into the teeth-filled eyes of a nearby monster that I nearly jumped out of my own skin. Morgoya rushed into the room, waving a hand above her shoulder to command the doors to slam shut in her wake, and stalked straight between two cages of particularly large caenim positioned near the entrance.
“Ulyssa and the water faeries are settling into their rooms, but it won’t be long before they expect a host,” Morgoya announced, cheeks flushed as she fought for breath. Misunderstanding the fascination in my eyes, she glanced at me and explained, “We can talk freely here under the suppression spell. It covers noise and smelloutsideof this room, but not inside, unfortunately.” She threw Lucais a revolted look.
“You’ll have to play host,” he muttered obliviously. Lucais’s gaze was averted as he secured something onto his weapons belt. “I have to adjust the wards so our smelly little companions can do their job.”
“Where are you taking them first?” the High Lady enquired, her voice nasally as she pinched her nose shut with two fingers and glared sideways at a caenim drooling at her through the bars. Saliva dripped from its eyes, sizzling as it hit the iron.
“The Court of Water,” Lucais declared, hands going to his hips as he lifted his head to look at her. “We may as well start there since Ulyssa is already here—”
“No,” Wrenlock interjected, stepping between them. “That’s way too suspicious. I know you’re pissed, Lucais, but we’re logistically better off starting at the Court of Fire and working our way down the Map. It borders the Court of Darkness, which is where everyone’s going to assume they’re coming from, and besides that, Ulyssa’s Court is too random. It’s not even adjacent to Gregor’s Court, and to hit it first the night they arrive?”
Lucais hummed, considering. “Ulyssa’s going to fuck this up.”
“Not if we stick to the original plan.”
The sound of the caenim breathing heavily in the background was all we heard for a long moment as the men surveyed one another and contemplated strategy.
“Fine. Yes, you’re right,” Lucais agreed at last. Anxiety darkened each word. “The Court of Fire it is.”
The tension bled out of Wrenlock’s stature, and he returned to whatever he was doing before interrupting the conversation.
Striding over to me, the High King placed his hands atop my shoulders and studied me with warm, loving eyes. “Here’s the thing, bookworm,” he said softly. “You didn’t get as much time in the training room as you needed, but I can’t be more than three feet away from you without going out of my mind. It’s dangerous to bring you with us, but it’s even more dangerous to leave you behind, so which—”
“You’re not leaving me here,” I cut in firmly. The very thought made me feel weak and queasy. “There is no way.”
The High King smiled. “I’m not leaving you here,” he agreed, but then a shadow crossed his face. “I need you to understand that the cloaking spell I’ll be using to conceal the caenim will be quite labour-intensive. I have to remove every last one of thembefore Enyd does something stupid—like give Ulyssa a tour of the palace when I’m not looking. Once I’ve done that, I have to focus on manipulating the wards, so I can’t have my eyes on you the whole time.” His smouldering gaze flickered to Wrenlock’s face, hovering beside us, and then back to me. “I want you to take a weapon, Aura. You need to have one to defend yourself if something happens to either or both of us—especially if magic is still off the table.”
My heart beat so loudly that it hollowed out my chest, but I managed to nod, even though I almost wanted to keel over and vomit on the ground.
Within seconds, Wrenlock was slipping a dagger into my limp hand and forcing my fingers to curl around the hilt. “Here,” he murmured. “I’ve enchanted it so the blade will win your favour in a fight to compensate for any difference in skills between yourself and your opponent.”
I stared down at the red jewel encrusted in the hilt, sparkling with a depth and glimmer so strong it almost took on the illusion of an eye. “You mean you spelled it to cheat,” I mumbled thoughtlessly.
Lucais’s fingers grabbed my chin and jerked my head up to look at him. “Cheat, Aura. Fight dirty. Break the rules.” His thumb dragged over my mouth, flicking my lower lip, and I felt his gaze like a physical touch while it wandered across my face as if he was memorising every blemish and freckle. “I don’t care what you do to keep yourself safe as long as it works. If there’s a cost, I’ll pay ittenfold.” His eyes landed on mine. “Do you understand me?”
