The mountain grew closer, and I could make out the lake and the extensive grounds that were lit by torches. People strolled and mingled, oblivious to our approach. I studied them in their court finery and wondered how they could live this life of idle luxury day after day, year after year, without going completely insane from boredom. It had only taken me a few days of life at court to know I could never be happy living like them.
Gus circled the grounds, dipping lower with each pass. Shouts sounded from below, and people scattered when he flew around the perimeter of the lake. One group was too slow to get out of his path, and I heard female squeals and splashes when they went into the water.
He landed on a grassy slope near the lake and set me down gently on the ground. I immediately fell back on my ass. I stood, rubbing my backside, and looked up at the drakkan.
“Thanks, Gus.”
He snorted, and smoke billowed from his nostrils. His big head lowered, and he nudged me hard enough to make me stumble. The next thing I felt was a massive gust of wind as he leaped into the air, pushing me back onto the grass. I lay there watching him rise higher and higher until the darkness swallowed him up.
I stared up at the stars winking in the night sky until running feet alerted me to someone’s approach. I sat up as two males in guard livery reached me, looking at me like I was an alien that had fallen to earth.
“It is you!” One of them hurried forward to give me a hand up. “Are you hurt? Do you require a healer?”
I didn’t need his help, but I accepted his hand. “I’m okay, thanks.”
“We could not believe it when we saw the drakkan set you down,” he went on. “Half the court thinks you are dead.”
“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” I joked as I brushed grass and dirt off me.
“How could they not be?” he asked. “You were carried off by a drakkan.”
The second guard spoke for the first time. “Prince Vaerik and half the guard are out searching for you. We will escort you inside and send word to him that you are back.”
“I don’t need an escort. I think I can find my way by now.”
He blocked me when I made to move past them. “We have orders to accompany you if you returned before his Highness.”
One glimpse of their serious faces told me I wasn’t going anywhere without them. I gave them a resigned nod, and they fell into step on either side of me. I could feel eyes on me as we walked to the entrance, but I ignored all the onlookers. I was getting used to being stared at.
We entered the mountain and took the lift to the upper floors. When it stopped, I was surprised to see the large indoor terrace area I’d passed on my first day here. The two black-clad guards posted there were not the same ones I’d seen on my arrival, but they looked every bit as threatening as they faced the lift to see who had dared to enter their territory. When they saw me, their expressions barely changed as they stepped back to allow us entry.
“This is not my level,” I protested when I was ushered off the lift.
“We will take her from here,” said one of the guards in black. The next thing I knew, my escort had returned to the lift, and the guard who had spoken was steering me toward the courtyard where I had first arrived in Unseelie.
We entered the courtyard and crossed it to the set of double doors I’d noticed my first time here. He laid a hand against one of the doors, and there was a click as it unlocked. Then he opened the door and motioned for me to enter. I did, expecting him to follow me, but all I heard was a soft whoosh as the door closed behind me.
“Hey!” I spun and grabbed the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. I was locked in.
“Not cool,” I called irritably, turning to see my prison.
My anger evaporated as I let my gaze sweep the living area that was at least twice as big as my generous suite. This one had more couches than mine and a dining area that could seat eight. It was softly lit by crystal lamps, but the darker fabrics and a collection of weapons on one wall gave it a masculine feel.
I walked over to inspect a charcoal gray shirt carelessly thrown over the back of a couch. I felt a jolt of recognition, and I picked it up to sniff it. It was the shirt Lukas had worn to town, and it still carried his scent. That could only mean I was in his private quarters.
Holding the shirt to my chest, I explored the suite. It was laid out much like mine, only a lot bigger. When I entered the bedroom, I discovered his balcony stretched the entire length of his suite from the living area to the bedroom.
It was his bed, though, that really caught my eye. The black, carved headboard reached halfway to the high ceiling, and the blue coverlet was so dark it was almost black. I had thought his bed back home was huge, but this one could probably fit him and his whole personal guard. I grinned at the mental image of the six big faeries lying side by side in the bed. That image was replaced by one of Lukas and me alone in here, and heat suffused my body.
I gave into temptation and lay back on the bed with my arms splayed. The coverlet felt like silk under my fingers, and Lukas’s familiar scent enveloped me. I would have curled up and gone to sleep there, but the last thing I wanted was for Lukas to walk in and find me in his bed like a stalker.
I gave the bathroom a cursory look before I walked out onto the balcony. It was too dark to see much, but the view would be the same as the one from my suite two levels below. Leaning on the rail, I scoured the valley for the torch lights I’d seen when we flew over it, but they weren’t visible from this height.
Turning, I spied an oversized chair behind me, and I made myself comfortable on the plush cushions. I tucked my legs under me and tried to process what had happened today. I had met the goddess… again. She’d been with me during my conversion, and it was because of her that I was alive.
Now she wanted me to accomplish a feat that apparently no one else in this realm could do. What if she was wrong about me, and I couldn’t do whatever it was that needed to be done to save Faerie?
I rested my head against the cushion and stared at the dark sky. I couldn’t think that way because there was too much at stake for me to fail. Aedhna wouldn’t trust me with the fate of her world if she wasn’t sure I could handle the job. I only wished she’d told me why she’d chosen me. It would make the wait a whole lot easier.
Raised voices startled me, and I realized I must have dozed off. I was halfway out of the chair when a male spoke from inside the suite.
“I brought her here myself, Your Highness, and she did not leave.”
It was followed by Faolin’s voice. “She must be here somewhere, Vaerik.”
I grimaced and walked toward the open balcony doors to the main living area. I was met by Kaia, who rubbed against my legs and nearly knocked me over. Petting her head, I moved to the doors where I saw Lukas with Faolin and the guard who had escorted me here. Lukas and Faolin wore pants and jackets made of some kind of dark leather, and swords hung at their sides.
Lukas’s back was to me, but Faolin spotted me the second I appeared in the doorway. He tilted his head in my direction, and Lukas spun to face me. The wild look in his eyes when they locked with mine sent my pulse racing. I couldn’t remember ever seeing him like this, and I didn’t know whether to be afraid or happy to see him.
“Jesse.” He was across the room before I could speak, his arms wrapping around me to pull me tightly against him. “I thought… I didn’t know if you were…”