Authors: Nia Davenport
Chapter
15
I
did not dream of the deliciously pleasant thoughts I went to sleep thinking of. Instead I dreamt of the boy who looked like Zander but not and the girl who looked like me but not. Unlike me, she was Seelie and a Princess of Faerie. Her magic was one of empathy. She wasn’t telepathic but she could sense the moods of those around her. Their innermost, unspoken emotions came to her via muted impressions. She thought of it as a generally useless skill and one she would cast away if she were able to. She hated living life feeling emotions that were not her own. She felt like a trespasser on people’s darkest moods. She trained herself to tune out the impressions of feelings that came to her. Her magic always left an unsettling taste in her mouth and so she never used it.
As soon as her magic fully manifested on her seventeenth birthday, she confined herself in forced isolation. She never left her family’s estate and she only left her quarters within it when necessary. The less people she interacted with the better. Her magic couldn’t be used if there was no one around to receive empathic impressions from. Her mother and father usually indulged her eccentricity and allowed her solitude. But one day they insisted she join them for dinner, though they refused to provide a reason why that evening was different than any other evening she ate alone in her quarters.
It was not long before she discovered why. The King of Faerie joined them for dinner and though her parents loved her, like most fae, they were not above scheming or posturing to increase their status and position of power in society. They knew their daughter’s beauty was unparalleled and expected the Fae King to become besotted with her. They were correct in their assumption. The Fae King became enamored the moment her saw her.
What they did not expect to occur so easily was for the girl to become just as besotted with him. The two experienced an instant pull toward one another as if they were two halves of a whole that had always been meant to find their way to one another. When the Fae King left their residence for his palace, the girl left with him. Their courtship was brief and their betrothal even briefer. Despite the brevity of which they knew one another, they truly did love each other deeply. The girl became his Queen and they ruled Faerie as one.
The dream should have been a happy one. It had all of the elements innate to the fairy tales of young maidens, and princes and true love I adored so much as a child. But there was no happily ever after for the girl and her Fae King. Even before the dream world warped into the doomed chamber in the palace’s south tower, my subconscious knew what was coming. The girl and her King lay ghostly still beside each other on the bed, the promise of forever abruptly cut short. Their story should have been one of an epic love. Instead, it was one of heartbreak and tragedy. My heart ached for the two of them just as it ached for Zander
and I.
When the dreamscape once again warped I looked upon us in the bedchamber of the leisure vessel we currently occupied. Just as we slept in reality we slept in the dream. Only we were not sleeping. He was un-made and so was I. I cried in the semi-conscious recesses of my mind. When I opened my eyes to dim moonlight streaming in through the tiny oval window above our bed, they were wet with moisture. Tears continued to slip down my cheek as I forced myself not to drift back to sleep.
Chapter 16
I
looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. My tears had long since dried but the evidence of their presence remained in the shallow circles beneath my eyes. In the time it took to make my way from the bed to the bathroom, I managed to avoid looking at Zander directly and having him look too closely at me in return. The red tint coupled with the bags beneath them would have instantly given me away that my eyes had been leaking for half the night. Explaining the reason why was not something I wanted to do right then. I spent half the night thinking about the dream and what it meant and possibly foreshadowed. I didn’t want to spend the morning doing the same thing. For just a little while I wanted to forget, not think about it and pretend like it did not mean anything.
“Breakfast is here,” Zander called from the opposite side of the door.
We would not be dining amongst the ships high society travelers again. Once was enough.
“I’m coming,” I called back.
I quickly rinsed my eyes with warm water, hoping it would lessen their now pinkish tint to near unnoticeable. I dabbed a bit of paste mixed together for the use of concealment of blemishes across the delicate skin beneath them. I was by no means vain and normally did not bother with such cosmetics. But as an assassin I’d become used to carrying it on me and it was a habit I had yet to drop. You never knew when you needed to cover-up a wound received as a part of a normal day’s work.
Zander eyed me suspiciously when I exited the bathroom. His gaze lingered on mine as if sensing something was amiss and trying intently to figure out what it was but failing to do so. I met his gaze straight on relaxing my face to appear as if I had not a care in the world. His answering stare told me he did not buy my act, but would not press me for answers either.
He gave up and gestured at the spread of an assortment of breads and pastries.
“I would ask if you want food but we both know the answer to that. You always want food,” he lightly teased me in jest, obliging my wish not to talk about what was niggling at me.
For him to comply so easily my eyes must not have appeared as bad to him as they did to me in the mirror.
---
Zander and I leisurely strolled the top deck of the ship arm in arm determined to make the most of our last day aboard it. It would be docking in Decretum in the middle of the night and its passengers would disembark at dawn. As we stepped foot off the ship we would also be stepping back into the reality of the very reason we embarked on the journey across the ocean in the first place. The visions we were experiencing were more persistent now leaving no doubt that they foretold a very possible fate Zander and I could meet. The answers to what they meant lay in Faerie. As did Belial, the tyrant King who would never give up looking for me or a way to get his hands on and murder Zander.
As we walked the deck the corner of my eye zeroed in on the sight of a rainbow of glittering colors. I knew it to be a frivolous weakness, but pretty sparkly things attracted me like a flame attracts a moth. I stopped in front of the display case to examine its contents. Reds, blues, pinks, yellows, greens, and every rich color in between glittered inside the glass. I saw stones of all shapes and sizes. Some were solitary and others were inlaid in precious gold and silver metals meant to be worn as necklaces, bracelets, earrings or broaches. One particular piece of jewelry caught my eye. A petite canary yellow diamond cut in the shape of a butterfly gently hung from a small silver chain. I quietly gasped at its subtle beauty, resting my hand against the glass in awe.
“You see something you like?” Zander asked from beside me. His eyes gleamed with amusement and mischief.
I pointed to the perfectly carved butterfly. “It’s lovely.”
“Not as lovely as you.”
My eyes were on the necklace but his were all for me.
“What?” I asked feeling a little self-conscious under the intensity of his gaze.
“I can see why you like that piece in particular. Butterflies are quiet in their strength and their beauty but their understated elegance by no means make them any less of a force to be reckoned with. Like you. A single flap of a butterfly’s wings can set in motion world-altering, cataclysmic events.”
Warmth and sunshine bloomed inside of me at his words. It still amazed me that he thought I was as extraordinary as I thought he was.
“Did you just call me a cataclysm?” I teasingly elbowed him in the side attempting to project the same confidence and self-surety he did with ease.
“I did,” he grinned back at me. “But I promise it’s a complement. From the fire in your eyes to the sun of your smile to the grace of your style, you are phenomenal Skyler.”
His words followed by the all-consuming kiss he planted on my lips turned my legs to jelly. Both left me breathless and more than a little disconcerted. But who needs oxygen? As always the case with Zander, it is trivial. He is all I need to go on living and existing.
The same steward from the day before approached us. He bowed to us both before asking Zander, “Your Highness, is there any manner in which I can be of assistance today?”
“As a matter of fact there is.” Zander’s eyes lit up with the facetious spark they get whenever he is up to mischief. “You can retrieve that necklace there for me,” he pointed to the canary butterfly.
The steward looked to the glass display case, then back at Zander. Hesitation churned in his eyes.
“Is there a problem?” Zander asked him, his tone still light and full of mischief.
“No, Your Highness, there is none. The Captain has the key locked away for safe-keeping. I shall inform him you are in need of it.”
I looked at Zander questioningly as the steward walked off to retrieve the key. “It is that easy for you? You ask and automatically receive?”
Zander shrugged his shoulder as if it were no big deal. “Being the Crown Prince sometimes has its advantages. Especially when this display is showcasing jewels from the royal family’s collection.”
He mischievous smile remained in place amused at finally letting me in on the secret he’d known all along.
My mouth dropped open. “These are
yours?”
“Well not
mine.
I would never be caught dead in something so flashy and unmanly,” he teased me. “But they do belong to the House of Roth, which means technically they belong to me. Technically they belong to you too now,” he reminded me. “From now on if you want something, all you have to do is ask.”
I blanched at the realization. I was comfortable being one of the masses. My betrothal to Zander thrust me into not just high society but into the same hierarchical position that the rest of the royal family occupied- right up at the very top looking down on all the rest who were meant to submit themselves to my every whim. I was now one of the very people I detested. My nose wrinkled in distaste at the thought.
Zander’s responding laugh boomed across the deck. Several heads turned to look in our direction.
“You look as pained as I feel about it.”
The steward cleared his throat. “Pardon the interruption, Your Highnesses. Here is the key you asked for.” He placed a faded metal key in Zander’s hand.
Zander opened the display case and retrieved the yellow butterfly I coveted. He locked it back then returned the key to the steward. He bid us good day in a sweeping bow before quietly retreated to return the key to the ship’s Captain.
“Whatever your heart desires, whatever you wish, I will always see it fulfilled,” Zander said into my ear as he secured the necklace around my neck. “I am but your humble servant, Princess. All you have to do is ask.”
I blushed at his use of the title I would claim if we were wed. I said if instead of when because although we were betrothed, who knew what our future held. Once we found another portal into Faerie and stepped into it, our future would become wholly uncertain.
“Perhaps, the Crown Prince and his betrothed would like to be next to have their futures read?” A voice within the crowd gathered across the deck from us called out.
The individual it belonged to was a young man who appeared only a few years older than us. His cotton breeches and unadorned shirt were a tale-tell sign that although he was on a ship full of nobles he was no noble himself.
“We would not,” Zander declined his offer more politely than I would have.
The ridiculous crystal ball he held before him like some precious and mystical object marked him as a con as much as the air of sleaziness that clung to him.
There was no such thing as crystal balls that foretold the future. Inanimate objects were incapable of holding magic. Magic was a living, moving, ever-active thing that needed a living being to house it. It was akin to a parasite dependent upon on a relationship with a host organism for its existence.
“Are you sure? I and my crystal ball are very wise. We have traveled far and wide and know many secrets. Secrets of the past and secrets of the future,” the young man insisted. “I believe the good people of Anthame would love to know what fate has in store for their beloved Prince and newfound Princess.”
As he spoke, he encouraged the crowd to erupt in cheers and calls of support.
“The Crown Prince said we will pass,” I glared at him through the crowd.
We would not be bullied or manipulated into participating in his con act. I kept my tone light but put the implicit threat of death in my stare.
To his credit, the con man held up under the weight of it. He held it for longer than a wiser man would, gauging the unspoken truth in my gaze. He must have eventually decided I would in fact dismember him as my stare threatened to do. He broke eye contact then dipped his head in a respectful bow.
“As you wish Your Highness,” he begrudgingly muttered.
He turned his attention back to the naïve nobles gathered around him. He made a spectacle of one of them after another as they eagerly volunteered to have the crystal ball reveal their futures.
Zander and I waited for the crowd around him to disburse before approaching him.
I didn’t believe for a second he or his farcical crystal ball knew anything beyond what common sense and loose lips would allow an intuitive person to infer from any stranger they met, but I did believe that he had traveled far and wide. Con men like himself never stayed in one place for too long. People inevitably caught on to their charades and came looking for reparations. I would bet that he had encountered a good number of loose-lipped fools in his wide travels. Fools that speak of things they shouldn’t and would normally not. It was a long shot, but one of those fools he encountered may have said something about the legend of a man who might possibly know something about real magic. Kade was a con man of sorts too and he had.
The con man blanched a little when he saw me coming toward him, then quickly recovered. “Has Your Highness changed his mind?” He asked with false bravado.
“No His Highness has not,” I snapped at him. “But we do have a few questions we would like you to answer.”
His eyes narrowed in offense at my dismissive tone. “You doubt the truth of my abilities.”
I laughed at his audacity. “My mind is clear of all doubt that you are a con and a fraud.”
“And what are you?” He spat back at me. “The common girl now engaged to Anthame’s Crown Prince. It seems I am not the only fraud present.”
The truth of his words cut me to the core. I violently recoiled from them on the inside, but I kept my outward appearance perfectly neutral and unaffected.
It was Zander who gave him the reaction he sought from me. He took a menacing step forward.
“Apologize to the Lady
now
and I might forgive your offense.”
The con man scoffed at him dismissively. “Technically, no offense was committed. You may be Anthame’s Crown Prince but you are not my Crown Prince. I am of Decretum. We have no Prince, only a Queen.”
The smile he gave the con man rivaled one of my most sinister ones. I witnessed a new side to him for the first time. He was normally so reserved and composed that little seemed to affect him. The mask he wore for the world was one of cool detachment. The real man beneath the mask I had come to know was just as cool and collected but he was far from detached or indifferent. He connected with and felt for the world around him on a far deeper level than most individuals that occupied his station in society ever did.
“Be that as it may, it is still within my right to reprimand any person beneath my station as I see fit if I feel an offense was committed by them. I am familiar with your Queen and that holds true even in Decretum. I doubt she will care if her number of subjects decreases by one meaningless fraud who does not know how to afford a lady the respect she deserves.”