Page 39 of A Blade of Blood and Shadow
While the exterior had made the building look abandoned, the inside was pure dark decadence. Pristine. Golden chandeliers glittered from the sweeping arched ceiling, and the dark cherry woodwork gleamed as if it had been recently polished.
I followed Kaden toward a grand wooden staircase, gaping up at an archway carved with strange winged beasts. Among them was a pretty young maiden, who stared forlornly over her shoulder as elves and redcaps leered from the trees.
Tearing my gaze away from the archway, I quickened my pace to catch up with Kaden, passing an enormous stone fireplace large enough for me to stand in. Beyond that, another arched doorway led to what looked like a library.
“Youlivehere?” I hissed at Kaden’s back, unwilling to raise my voice in the eerie, beautiful house.
“Yes.” He didn’t turn to look at me, but I could hear the amusement in his tone. “Welcome to the House of Guile.”
The House of Guile — an appropriate name for the home of a dark fae, I thought.
Still gawking, I followed him up the stairs, which led to a magnificent sitting room. The domed ceiling was painted midnight blue, flecked with minuscule golden stars. Low-slung velvet chairs were arranged around a comfortable-looking settee, and dark-leafed plants accented the room.
It was then that I noticed there was something not quite right about this place — at least, not quitehuman.
Two sets of French doors led out onto a veranda that I knew hadn’t been visible from the outside. Rather thanfacing the second story of the derelict buildings across the street, the view was the full sprawl of the Quarter under the twinkling night sky, as though we were suspended hundreds of feet above.
“Is this place . . .”
“Glamoured.” Kaden stood with his back to me, staring out at the view. “The cities in this realm are a bit dreary for me. But it’s home for now.”
I blinked and looked around at the magnificent sitting room. A ten-foot tall gilded archway framed a hallway, and another sweeping wooden staircase led to the upper stories.
Kaden started up the stairs, and I found myself staring at the carvings along the wall, which featured more of those eerie creatures. Pixies with feline faces and sharp, angled eyes leered down at me. Goblins lurked from the mouths of mossy caves, and small birdlike things peered from trees.
Up, up, up we went until I was certain we would reach the uppermost story. Each time we rounded a corner, I would peer down more dark hallways, stealing glances at the carved wooden murals, gigantic oil paintings, and odd relics that looked as though they were from another time.
Finally, we reached the top floor, and I nearly fell over, craning my neck to take in the tall stained-glass windows. A naked female with pointed ears dominated the center pane, her long flowing hair a rainbow of gold, copper, and white. On her head sat a crown of laurel leaves, and chains of flowers encircled her wrists and ankles. Jewel-toned wings took up most of the far windows, each wing a canvas of stars and drifting petals that seemed to leap off to join the bluebells at her feet, where sprites frolicked between toadstools.
“Wow,” I said, staring up at the window. “That’s . . .”
I didn’t have the words for it. Beautiful? Obscene? Terrifying? Each fit, and yet none seemed adequate to describe the mural.
“My mother.”
My stomach lurched, and I whipped my head around to look at him. “Your —”
I broke off, reeling with a mixture of shock and disgust as I looked from him to the window and back again.
When I met his gaze a second time, his concentration shattered, and he doubled over in a laugh. “I’mkidding! Gods, do you really think I’d glamour my home to include a naked stained-glass portrait of mymother?”
I opened my mouth to form a reply, but Kaden had already turned down the corridor, his laughter echoing off the wood-paneled walls.
He led me to the very end of the hallway to a set of double doors. “You can dress in here.”
He thrust the doors open, and my brows shot up.
This room wasn’t decorated in the sedate tones of the rest of the house. The colors hit me like a clash of bells. Every shade of blue and yellow beckoned me into a narrow passageway lit with dainty glass sconces.
The passage opened into a round chamber that was mostly made of windows. White gossamer curtains billowed in the chill night breeze, which smelled faintly of lilacs. The fresh floral scent seemed at odds with the fetid air of the Quarter, which reeked of death and decay. Perhaps the house’s glamour took care of the atmosphere as well.
An impressive chandelier hung over an enormous canopy bed, where a riot of canary yellow and sapphire throw pillows accented a duvet made of periwinkle silk. Icaught my reflection in the gilded oval mirrors mounted over the dressing table and closed my gaping mouth.
“I think you’ll find something in the wardrobe that will suit you,” said Kaden, nodding toward a tall armoire decorated with the same woodland carvings as the rest of the house.
I turned to look at him, my mouth forming a question that I couldn’t quite articulate, but Kaden simply bowed out of the room and snicked the door shut behind him.
My head swiveled this way and that as I stepped into the room, treading over plush floral-patterned rugs in every shade of gold and blue. I recoiled slightly at the carving of a redcap that seemed to ogle me from the top of the wooden bonnet. Whatwasit with the fae and their creepy decor?
