Revealed in Fire by K.F. Breene
Nineteen
Sure enough,the journey to the castle was quiet.
Too quiet.
“My feet are killing me,” Callie murmured as we finished the last leg.
Romulus hadn’t plotted a path directly there, and it wasn’t because he was worried about meeting elves. We’d seen a few, watching us from a distance. Getting out of our way. They weren’t idiots—they knew we’d kill them if they tried to apprehend us. And why bother? They knew we would be personally delivering ourselves to them. All they had to do was wait. And prepare.
I filled my lungs, held the oxygen in, and then let it out slowly, ignoring my increased heart rate and the adrenaline soaking into my blood. This felt so wrong it was ridiculous. Charging into danger was one thing, but strolling in, asking which dish they’d like to see our heads on, and then showing up for our own slaughter? That was not the way I did things. Not at all.
Those Seers were the only reason this was happening. They didn’t even know what would come afterward! We were blindly following them and hoping for the best.
A fool’s hope, I was certain.
We’d taken a long, winding journey rather than the direct route because Romulus was advertising his presence in the Realm and dropping off some of his people in various old-timey strongholds. Which would undoubtedly go over about as well as lead boots in a swimming pool with the elves. They might not have stopped him, yet, but they couldn’t be happy about the situation.
The only good news was that people were legitimately happy to see the custodes. They smiled and waved, offering up food, drink, and lodging. One creature even offered her baby for a kiss. The custodes had been isolated for a long time, but they had not been forgotten.
We’d ventured close to the vampire lair, an area mostly ignored by the elves. The vampires obviously preferred it that way, but Romulus didn’t think it was right. Changes were coming, and I was pretty sure the vampires would hinder some of them. Then again, get in line. No one seemed to deal with change exceptionally well.
Reaching the lair had meant something else, too. I had kissed Darius goodbye, swallowed my heart, which had climbed into my throat, and tried to put on a brave face as I turned and walked away. My vampire crutch had been taken away. I sure hoped Emery was half as good at strategy.
That had been a while ago now, though, and we didn’t have much time before the battle or the ambush or whatever was going to happen when we reached the castle.
“Is it your bunions?” Dizzy asked Callie. They were walking behind me with the mages, while Halvor stoically kept pace with me. A circle of fae surrounded us, taking up the whole path, and for the life of me, I could not convince them to let me out. I had even offered to walk with the shifters. No dice.
“I haven’t had bunions a day in my life,” Callie replied.
He tried again: “Is it your secret bunions that you pretend not to have?”
“You know very well I don’t have bunions. Old people get bunions. I’m not old.”
“Not just old people have—”
I threw Penny a glare to shut her up. This wasn’t a conversation she needed to get involved in.
“I agree about the walking,” I said, watching as the landscape gradually became more floral. The trees looked too cultivated, like a kid had stuck a bunch of perfectly round green lollipops into the ground. Unlike in the Flush, there was no floral scent to accompany the rows of bright, multicolored flowers lining the gold-cobbled path. No lush feeling of foliage chilled the air.
“Is that real gold?” I scuffed the ground with my toe, not wanting to mess with the magic in case I screwed it up. This close to the elves’ home, they’d be sure to find out about it sooner rather than later, and it would be considered a serious offense. I didn’t want to add that to their list of grievances.
“Yes,” the woman to my right said, looking off into the distance at the spires of the castle. “They like to make a statement about the wealth of the Realm. They always have.”
I slowed and scuffed at the ground again. “Does anyone steal it?”
“Why would they need to? Everyone in the Realm is provided for,” she replied.
“Number one, that’s not true and never has been,” Emery said. “Number two, they most certainly do not steal it, no. The elves would hang you for that infraction. Or kill you in some other way, probably on display.”
“Stealing is a crime,” the woman said, and lifted her chin a little.
“Sure, if you get caught,” I muttered, watching my boots tread on the gleaming gold. “What a waste. I could make great use of one of those gold stones.”
“You have all the money you could possibly need,” Penny said.
“No, Darius has all the money she could possibly need,” Callie replied. “Reagan needs to get her own money.”
Dizzy scoffed. “I can’t see a blasted thing around all these bodies. But I’m sure you could take one or two and get away with it, Reagan. If you wait until there’s no one around, how would they know?”
“They’d do an inquiry, which is a very hostile way of asking questions until they find someone to blame it on,” Emery said.
“You’re familiar with how the elves do business, Emery?” Romulus called back.
“Very, which is why I am not overly enthused about heading to their castle. If I didn’t think this was the only way to clear my name, I wouldn’t go anywhere near this place.”
“Clear your name and help out a friend, I think you meant to say.” I glanced back at him with an eyebrow cocked.
“Are we friends?” A grin pulled at the corners of his lips. He watched the side, peering out between the press of bodies. “Penny seems to think you only tolerate me because of her.”
“Well, isn’t that a little self-centered, Penny?” I glanced at her this time. “You think my life revolves around you, do you?”
“It’s not like you have a friend factory you routinely visit,” she replied. “I doubt you’d give Emery the time of day if he didn’t hang around because of me. And he’d definitely keep you at an arm’s length. Admit it, I’m the reason you guys are in each other’s lives.”
“Wow. What a big head.” I clucked my tongue. “She seems so quiet and kind, and then she opens her mouth and everyone learns what she’s really about. Quite the ego.”
“You know it’s true,” she said. “Don’t try to make me the bad guy! I’m just being honest.”
“Honestly self-absorbed, yeah.” I shook my head, seeing a cluster of elves standing to one side of the path, watching us as we passed, carefully avoiding the flowers. I was tempted to unravel the magic then and there. “Very enlightening, Penny. Should we expect you to tell the elves that you taught me everything I know? That you hooked me up with Darius and found me a place to live? I mean, is there no end to the things you’ll take credit for?”
“You have been absolutely unreasonable since I accidentally barged in on you and Darius on the island. You really have, Reagan Somerset.” I could tell she was crossing her arms over her chest. “This is going to come back to you tenfold, just you wait. Stop laughing, Emery! This isn’t funny!”
My grin faltered as the castle came more fully into view. Unlike castles in the Brink, which were built for defense, this one did not have an outer wall, a drawbridge, or a moat. In fact, it looked more like an incredibly fancy hotel made to look like a castle, with a wide, gleaming path leading through an expanse of grass, with lines of flowers to a large arch with a red double door nestled inside. The spires on the roof were made out of gold, or at least covered in it, and windows dotted the front of the three-story structure, much larger than arrow slits. I didn’t sense any magic shielding the place from attackers. They were confident in their safety.
Several elves were outside, tending to grass or flowers, one chiseling part of a fountain, the water gurgling as it ran out of a fawn’s mouth and splashed into the basin below. None of them ignored us—they all stopped what they were doing and stared. Clearly they hadn’t gotten the memo that we were on the way. They weren’t important enough to hear the news.
How easy would it be to get them to rebel?
“They do their own landscaping, huh?” I asked, connecting eyes with one of the gardeners. The onlooker’s brows pinched together, its eyes rounding in surprise. I had a feeling it suspected who I was and why we were here. “They don’t hire out to other creatures?”
No one responded to me, and I wondered how many of the people in my vicinity had ever actually been to the castle.
A sinking feeling filled my gut as we drew ever closer. The insanity of what we were doing pressed down on me. I didn’t want to bet my everything on Karen and the Red Prophet.
“It’s probably wise if we nix this whole idea and just go into hiding,” I murmured as I drifted back between Penny and Emery, just in front of the older dual-mages. Halvor glanced back with a scowl. I waved him away. “You do you, bub. I played your game on the way here. Now I’m looking for a safer bet.” I lowered my voice and said out of the side of my mouth to Emery, “But seriously, probably better if we peel off now, run for it, and spend our lives in hiding.”
“I would never do that to Penny,” he said. “It’s no kind of life for a person like her. Or you. You remember that island—you were going stir-crazy. We all saw it. If Cahal hadn’t been there to train you—to challenge you—you would’ve swum out of there just to get a little action.”
“Don’t burst my bubble.” I felt my magic thrumming within me, responding to the mounting stress. More eyes found us as we approached the wide double door at the end of the path. Elves lurked by the walls, their hair as still as their bodies, watching us silently. They didn’t have weapons strapped to them, which wasn’t reassuring. They clearly thought they were weapons enough.
At the double door, one of the elves stepped forward, cloaked in a green tunic and purple breeches.
“Second, you have come to visit,” it said.
“I am now the First,” Romulus said, and I barely saw his bow through the thicket of people around us. “My mother is in good health, but she has decided she would prefer to stay within the Flush, governing the people there, than join the rest of us in resuming our duties.”
“Ah, I see,” the elf replied, and it didn’t seem like he really did. That, or he was relaying some subtle context that I wasn’t programed to pick up.
“Emery,” I whispered, and Halvor glanced back with a hard stare, no doubt to shut me up. Emery glanced over. “You’re going to have to start thinking things at me so I know what’s going on. I’ve gotten used to it, and now I’m flying blind. No one wants me to get bored.”
He nodded, and his thought message popped into my head. Can you hear me?
“Yeah. Good. What—” I zipped my lips as the elf continued.
“Your wing has been prepared, of course.” The elf fell silent as Roger made his way up the side of the procession with a confident swing of his shoulders and a commanding bearing. He was being professional. “Ah. And Roger Nevin. Yes, I had heard your two factions…connected once more.”
“Yes, it has been a remarkable pairing,” Romulus said, pretending the elf’s words didn’t drip with disdain. “Very effective.”
“Quite.” The elf paused, and no one rushed in to fill the gap with words. “Well. I’ll show you to your wing. Roger Nevin, your rooms are always available, as you know. My associate will show you the way. Romulus, you have some…guests with you, do you not?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, we do. We will be presenting them, in person, to the king and queen. Rooms within our wing will be sufficient for them.”
“Yes, except for the fugitive, of course. He’ll need to come with us.”
Penny shoved me out of the way and slipped her hand into Emery’s. “They won’t take you. If they try, we’ll resist.”
If they take me, make sure she stays safe, Emery thought, and I opened up my brain to all the voices around me. Thankfully, the shifters had taught the fae how to shield their thoughts, and I didn’t have dozens of voices battering me. Don’t let her try to rescue me. If they kill me, look after her. She’ll feel like dying. Don’t let her.
“If you die, we all die,” I said with zero sentimentality. It was a fact. Penny would resist, I’d help her, and we’d either all live and walk out, or all die for our efforts.
But if we were going to die, I intended to take as much of this castle down with me as I could.
“I am quite appalled by the lack of communication within your establishment, I must say,” Romulus said. “On our way out of the Flush, we left one of your smartest foot soldiers alive explicitly so that he might tell you our position on young Westbrook. I really dislike repeating myself, and I have had to do it far too often with your faction. Once and for all, he merely played a trick. Hanging does not fit the crime, not by a long shot. Moreover, anyone that is to be executed must have a trial with a high-standing custode present. Given he has not had a trial, he will not be executed, per the laws set forth long ago. I have brought him here in good faith so that he might have that trial, and I will stand up at it and wager his punishment, as is proper. Until then, he will remain in my care.”
“I understand, First, it’s just that… Well, that’s not how we do things anymore. Since you and yours walked away and left your positions empty, we’ve had to come up with other means by which to police our lands. The sun has set on your usefulness, something your kind brought on themselves.”
He just laid out exactly where the custodes stand in the Realm, Emery thought. On permanent vacation. They aren’t even going to pretend to honor the original agreement.
Darius had anticipated that, but he also believed Romulus would try to force the issue. I was safer with the warrior fae than without them, so said the Seers,but I’d be safer still with a big host of them away from the elves, in a place we could defend against Lucifer.
I just hoped I didn’t get kidnapped before any of that could happen. We were entering the belly of the beast.
