Page 36 of A Palace of Smoke & Mirrors
twelve
The Lapsus
How many fractions of a broken kingdom make a High King?One High King. One thousand pieces of him scattered through time and space. Light. Darkness. Water. Fire. Earth. Wind.
Ruins. Caeludor. Fog. House. Palace.
Humans. Soulmate. Land-dragons. Slaves. Gift War. Secret-Keepers. Prophecy. Forest of Eyes and Ears. Portals. Keys.
Mind. Body. Soul.
Kingdom. Crown.
Caenim. Curses. Mother. Father. Friend. Witches. Banshees.
Malum.
Me.
The most powerful man in all of Faerie was crumpled up at my feet like an unwanted love letter.
Time stood still while I teetered on the brink of something finite, my mind reeling as it played flashbacks of the day in the field outside of Sthiara when the caenim snapped and drooledall over the beautiful blond man I had believed to be named Wren. I had made a split-second decision not to save him back in that moment because I had been absolutely convinced he was working against the High King of Faerie.
Aura, my love.
Will you please pick up the dagger at your feet andkillit?
I’m so in love with you, it’s made me sick.
But hewasthe High King of Faerie.
And I didn’t want to make that mistake again—even if he insisted upon repeating his own blunders.
“Lucais,” I murmured, delicately lowering myself to the ground in front of him. I sat on my knees, one hand in a fist, touching my knuckles to the cool floor for balance.
The High King was coiled up, his head hung low between his legs, his hands knotted in his thick, golden locks. I laced the fingers of my free hand with his, softly untangling each thread like I was handling sunbeams in physical form, and slipped my hand beneath his chin to coax his head up until I found his eyes.
They were haunted, bled of their colour and power. The one thousand pieces of a High King were sharp and jagged, slicing into Lucais as they orbited his mind, trying to return home to complete the picture in a frame that something had shattered once upon a very different time.
The light in the room began to dim ever so slightly. I didn’t risk tearing my eyes from him to check if the sun was setting outside in the make-believe sky. Even if it was, there was nothing I could do to save it.
“Your truth is safe with me,” I whispered. It was my final effort—the only idea left in my arsenal. All I could do was hope that he would believe me.
He has no reason not to.
One step forward.
The High King shook his head, nuzzling his cheek into my palm, a solid and harmless warmth. “Aura…”
I waited, watching him expectantly. Lucais’s hand came up to grip my wrist, holding it firmly as he dragged it down until my palm was sitting directly over his heart.
Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk.
Faerie hearts beat in threes, I’d learned in the House’s library, but I counted five echoes inside of the High King’s hollow chest. Over and over again, his heart slammed into my palm with five consecutive beats. I didn’t question him about it in the moment, choosing instead to hold space for him in my quiet.
At last, he spoke.
“There was something trying to get into the Court of Darkness,” the High King of Faerie revealed in a low voice. His eyes were closed, his face tilted up towards the ceiling. “Or maybe it was trying to get out. It created such an intense, chaotic pressure in there that I couldn’t actually be sure which way it was headed when I picked up on it.”
