Page 8 of Enchanted Kingdom
The roads of Savaryn were smoother than that of Rallis. And again, I noted that there wasn’t dirt or dust around, even more so than in Rallis. The roads were again paved, but this time smooth and clean. And though I knew most of the Enchanted lived in Savaryn, there was not a soul in sight. It was eerily quiet.
As we turned around the first bend, continuing our slow climb up, my predominate thought was what a waste of space. The houses were huge. I wondered if two or three families each lived in those homes, but I also knew better. This was Savaryn. These were the Enchanteds’ homes. I was now surrounded at any turn by the very magic I had rarely seen but always feared.
It was strange to think that hundreds of years ago there hadn’t been all these walls, these levels to Wylan. But when the magic had settled, considered a gift from the gods across the entire realm, it didn’t take long to learn the gift of magic was genetic. And by that point the Enchanted in Wylan already fancied themselves superior. Since the reigning Valanova king at the time had been given magic, he took that as a sign the magic was to help in ruling over those of us without. The levels of the kingdom were created to separate those of us without magic from those with it, the Enchanted. Because I had no magic, I was now somewhere I was never even meant to see.
That thought had me sobering up and sitting up straighter for the rest of the trip through Savaryn. As expected, we had far more stops through Savaryn as other carriages joined the procession. One of the bends was a bit steeper than the others, so out the window I was able to see black carriage after black carriage on its way to deliver the women to the castle. Our carriage—of course, the Nerede women–was the last in line. And I had no doubt that had been an intentional move by our beloved king.
“They have flowers,” Ivy said, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Around their homes.”
I had been intently looking out the window, but I had been too busy scanning the homes and lawns for the Enchanted that I hadn’t even noticed.
“What are those flowers?” Ivy exclaimed. “They grow in bushes around their homes. They’re beautiful.”
My heart hurt a little thinking of that. That these people just had flowers sitting around their homes when it cost my father dearly to buy just one flower for my mother for their anniversary. Again, I wondered if it was wasteful. What was the point of all this blasted grass anyway if they had no livestock or animals to graze it?
But Ivy was right. The flowers were beautiful, their houses colorful and bright. The houses were now so large that I understood why people had referred to them as the Savaryn estates. They were not just homes, they were plots. Given to the most powerful Enchanted for their protection of the kingdom. Or really, protection of theking.
Savaryn was large. So large I wondered if we were ever going to leave the winding streets and make it to the castle, which kept getting bigger and more grandiose the longer we trudged on. I knew we were much higher in altitude at this point than when we had begun. We had to be getting closer.
The castle had been built into the side of the mountain long ago. On a clear day in Nerede, we could see it towering above us. To the west of the castle was a forest of sorts that was kept within the wall, and other than that, all the highest level of the kingdom contained was the forest, the peak of the mountain, and the castle itself. Kavan Keep was impressive.
As we got closer, the castle somehow seemed even more massive than the mountain. It was a fortress of gray spires, turrets, and stone among the greenery of the trees. From Nerede it looked as if the castle sat on top of the mountain. From this view, it looked like the castle had swallowed the mountain whole.
Thirty minutes more, just when I was convinced Savaryn would go on forever, I got my first glimpse of another wall. But this one was more imposing than the rest had been. It was taller. It was a light gray stone that was either just cleaner or was a different type of stone entirely. I wondered if they washed this wall regularly.
As we approached, I tried to compare the wall height with the other walls. The closer we got, the more convinced I became that this wall was twice as tall.
As the clicking sound started up, the long line of carriages were all stopped, waiting.
“Onward to the castle,” Ivy whispered.
“To whatever awaits,” I whispered back. “But hopefully there’s chocolate.”
She snickered.
My first thought once officially inside the castle wall was that the streets were made of some sort of marble. I was pretty sure they were so clean and smooth you could see your reflection on them. And if that was how grand the roads were, I couldn’t imagine how the inside of the castle would seem.
We wound upwards for five more minutes before the carriages all slowed to a stop. We had arrived. And there were a lot of us. Far too many women for just two men, but what did I know. Even if it was tradition, the whole thing gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
“Guess we will be waiting a while,” Ivy said, disappointment easily heard in her voice.
“Best for last?” I offered.
But on the inside, my temper flared. I knew why they were leaving us for last. We were from the lowest level. The princes would be far too busy and distracted by the others to even notice our arrivals.
Or so I could only hope.
CHAPTER4
Iwas introduced at the doorway at the top of the grand staircase by some sort of court worker. He spoke my name and where I was from, but from where I stood at the top of the stairs, everyone was so busy chatting and eating and drinking from fancy flutes that no one even turned in my direction.
I headed down into the fray of potential princesses without bothering to care. If they were going to treat Nerede women like paupers, I surely wasn’t going to let them get to me. I would hold my head high the entire evening.
Ivy was introduced right behind me, and I made sure to look back up at her and smile.
There was a conglomeration of gowns and sparkling chandeliers in the ballroom before me that took a minute to take in. There were women of all colors, shapes, and sizes from all the levels of the kingdom. There were also gowns of all colors, shapes, and sizes.
No one knew for certain the number of women who would be chosen for this, but judging by the amount of people before me, I knew it had to be close to a hundred.
