Page 24 of A Court of Ash and Midnight
She was in a new city by that point. She’d fled the first, Terlian, the morning after she came to. Managed to hide in a hay cart and travel fifty miles to the next city, more of a town, really.
It had been a hard week. The first few days her only focus had been staying out of sight, and finding food. Most of the food she stole, or plucked out of trash that others had thrown away in alleys behind their houses. At night, she slept in barns, only horses and cows to keep her company.
But it was the deep, aching hole inside of her that was the hardest part. Themissing.
Not having any recollection of what her life had been before that moment seven days before was jarring enough. Maddening. Infuriating.
Theache, though… she knew there had been people in her life. Family. She could still feel them, could see flashes of their faces when she closed her eyes, even though she didn’t remember anything else. Parents, a man and a woman. A sister, or a cousin, perhaps. And she missed them, with a painful longing, even though she didn’t remember them.
But hunger didn’t care about her sorrow. Nor did rain or sleet. And certainly not the men who leered at her from dark alleys if she wasn’t careful where she traveled within the town. She made very certain that she was inside one of the barns before twilight had faded from the sky and darkness fell, thick and full.
Surviving alone was difficult enough. And thentheycame.
She first saw them on one of her food runs on the morning of the eighth day. Down near the market, where she was lurking in the shadows between the ramshackle carts clustered practically on top of each other. Three men, dressed in black and carrying swords. It was instantly clear they were not from town. They had a distinct sense ofothernessabout them.
As she watched them, merely curious at first, she saw that they were questioning the locals. Merchants, farmers, people riding on the street in wagons or on horses. And then, to her astonishment, she heard them describing a girl who looked like…her. Long red hair. Fourteen years of age. Pale skin, a dusting of freckles along the cheeks.
They wanted this girl, they told the locals. She was family, and she was not right in the head, and she’d run off. They wereoh so worried.
And the girl knew, even though she didn’t remember, that these men werenother family. They were not the source of the deep ache in her ribs that felt as if someone had taken a very vital part of her, a part that could never be replaced. She could also hear the lie in their tale, and how very much not concernedfor her wellbeing they were. She may have just awoken, but she could tell a lie when she heard one.
So, she slipped away again, deeper into the shadows, until night fell, and then she hitched a ride on a merchant’s caravan heading to Tervanne, an unknown passenger inside a wagon full of wine barrels.
And after that, she never stopped running.
Chapter Eleven
It’s been rainingfor nearly two weeks now, which is to say that I’ve been in Shadow’s Keep for nearly as long. I count the days as I stare at the water running down the windowpane in my room. Fifteen days, actually.
Fifteen days since I arrived mysteriously at a castle I’d never been to.
Fifteen days during which I’ve been interviewed, examined, and tested in all plethora of ways by just about every fae within these walls.
Fifteen days during which I’ve nearly been murdered.
Fifteen days since a pair of jade green eyes appeared, and everything changed.
Things have been quiet since the attempted poisoning. Well, in a manner of speaking. Nothing else of a deadly nature has happened to me, but it’s been far from quiet. Everywhere I go I hear people talking in low voices, whispering in corners. Eitherabout me, or what happened to me, or about the general unrest in Aureon.
Ever since the attempted coup on Queen Sarielle, and the infamous siege on the Court of Nightmares in Valaron, there has been peace. And that happened nearly a quarter century ago. But always there are tales, rumors… I hear them in every city I’ve ever traveled to. Fae and human alike, wondering when the next evil will rise. When the next power-hungry militia will attempt to overthrow the Queen. There’s always someone unhappy with the current ruler, someone who wants to sit on the obsidian throne in Selaye.
And usually, that’s all it is—rumors.
But here, inside the walls of the headquarters of the Queen’s most trusted force—after all, Queen Sarielle’s consort was a Guardian,herGuardian, before they married—the rumors bear substantially more weight.
I get out of bed when I hear the breakfast bell. In a few minutes I’m dressed in my usual pants, boots, and tunic. My face is washed in the small basin on the far wall. Trix receives morning scratches along the soft spikes at the back of her neck before I step outside and join the throng moving down the hall. I give a passing nod to my night guard, a Guardian named Olsa who probably wishes she was doing something more exciting with her life than babysitting a human that showed up at the castle like a stray dog.
At breakfast I hear talk of forces coming from across the sea from the west to invade. I’ve heard rumors like this before. Some far-off land of savage warriors. Depending on who tells the tale, they have red hair, or silver hair, or black. It’s said they have a host of dragons, or giant birds, or fearsome wolves. This morning, it is red hair and wolves. I catch more than one sidelong glance in my direction, as if my hair is somehow incriminating.
In espionage class, three people behind me talk about the City of Night, far to the north of Aureon, in Illiare. Long ago, nearly a thousand years ago now, the City of Night stole all the magic from the rest of Aureon. For more than two centuries, they hoarded it behind their walls, the city itself encircled by miles of impenetrable fog and terrifying monsters. Later, after the magic was released, they said the whole thing had been a terrible accident, but the rest of Aureon has been suspicious of them ever since. So, naturally, they are high on the list of those accused of trying to overthrow the Queen.
Throughout the day I hear more whispers, with rebellions suspected in literally every realm of Aureon, including from within Valaron itself. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. The Queen had wrested her throne back from enemies inside her own realm centuries ago, when she first wore the crown.
By the time the dinner bell rings, I’m exhausted, and sick of being inside for days on end. There’s an almost frantic anxiety in my chest. I’ve never been anywhere that I haven’t breathed the air outside every single day. The majority of my nights had been slept beneath the stars, or about as close to it as I could get.
It feels claustrophobic inside the castle, which is odd since it’s so massive. I go to my room and I read for a while as Trix prances around the corners of the bed. The rain pelts against my window with metallic monotony. I will myself to get tired so I can sleep, but the more I long for it, the more energy courses through my veins. My restlessness can’t be quelled or contained. And it’s not just the endless days of rain—how long am I going to be here? In this castle, with these fae who are so different from me? I don’t know if I’ve ever had a life, not exactly, not with the constant fight for survival.
But this? This waiting for something, forwhat? I don’t know why I’m here and neither does anyone else.
