My mother’s warning came back.
Don’t drink.
My hands were shaking. How was I going to get out of this?
As I was fretting over it, something was tucked between my fingers. I opened them to see a bit of sponge. I stepped out of line and turned around and coughed loudly as if having a fit, and then tucked the sponge under my tongue. When I came around, I was next in line.
Risa handed me the cup, and I quickly titled it back and let the drink slowly pour into my mouth, hoping the sponge would soak it up. I kept my mouth closed and handed the empty cup back to Risa.
Being careful to not bite down or drink any of the liquid that was soaked up in the sponge in my mouth, I turned, grabbed the edge of my cloak and coughed again, spitting out the sponge. I squeezed it so it would soak into the black cloak, and then I could discard the sponge. Despite my attempt to not drink any of the liquid, some slid down my throat.
Risa went over to Lord Dyer and carefully added a few drops from her vial into his open mouth, making sure to close his lips until he had drunk the same amount as we did.
She stepped back and snapped her fingers, and Lord Dyer opened his eyes and sat up, completely under a spell of compulsion. She looked over at each of us, her eyes filled with sadness—but she ignored me.
“I’m sorry, but this means protection for only one of us. Do your best to survive another night.”
Risa tilted her head back and drank the last of the vial, letting it fall to the ground with a thud on the rug.
Despite my resolve to not drink, I could still feel the effects. The room spun. The floor moved like waves, and I was pretty sure the trees in the painting were moving in the wind.
Not only that, but I could also feel the wind in a windowless room.
My feet moved of their own accord, and the hardwood disappeared. I was walking on soft earth through the woods.
CHAPTER TWENTY
We were no longer in the palace. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if we were in Sion. The surrounding trees were sordid; their colors just a bit off as if they faded in the sun before deepening. We had walked through the painting in the sitting room and transported somewhere else.
The painted trees became clearer. The bark lost its brush strokes and turned into actual bark. As we walked, I brushed my hand against the tree and felt the scrape of the wood. It was real.
The forest shifted as we came to the edge of the painting. A black stairwell led down, and Lisbelle lifted a lantern high, headed into the darkness.
Nimm was invisible and was struggling to keep up with all the stairs. He tripped and fell down a few steps and brushed against Willa’s leg.
“What was that? Something touched me,” Willa called out fearfully.
“No one touched you. Keep up,” Risa said irritably.
I focused on Nimm cowering against the wall while trying to avoid getting bumped again. As I descended to his step, I kneeled and scooped him up. Quickly, he climbed up onto my shoulder and clutched my hood.
“Have you ever seen this place before?” I whispered.
I felt Nimm’s head shake.
We walked until the stairs evened out, and we stepped into a grove of trees. The moon shone against the silver bark and leaves, and it seemed to glow a reflective white. Never had I seen such an oddity, and I found myself slowing to brush my fingers against the leaf. The leaf was cold to the touch, just like silver. I thought nothing could top the beauty of the silver grove until we entered a grove of golden thorn trees.
Immediately, I recognized the tree and the correlation to the golden thorn comb Ardax had given me.
This was Thornhaven. I did it. We passed into the sacred realm through a painting in the palace. A painting enchanted and connected to a ley line.
The other princesses weren’t as enthralled with the trees as I was. In fact, they seemed to have picked up their pace as if in a hurry. I grabbed the hem of my dress and followed suit, racing after them and trying not to stare like a poor man in a market as we ran through a diamond forest.
As we ran, I could feel my slippers sink into the earth, and then the earth turned to sand as we were on a sandy bank. In front of us were twelve colorful boats bobbing on the water. Sitting in each boat was a man, dressed in black clothes wearing a white mask, waiting patiently.
One by one, the girls stepped into the boat, the masked men standing to help them settle before reaching for the oars.
I hung back and waited as the others had already selected their boat and were casting off across the moonlit water. I approached the last boat hesitantly. The man in my boat didn’t press me, but waited patiently.
He cocked his head and gestured to the bench seat. I wasn’t a fan of water, and I was terrified that I’d fall in and drown. Silly for a trained fighter such as I, but it wasn’t so much that I couldn’t swim. I had an unnatural fear of water if I couldn’t see the bottom. And during this dark night, the bottom of the lake could have been endless.
But tonight, I wasn’t Honor. Tonight, I was Princess Grace, who had probably taken this same ferry ride across the lake before with this same man many times. I had to gather my courage.
I took a deep breath, lifted the hem of my dress, and stepped into the small boat, and it rocked. I let out a yip and quickly plopped down on the wooden bench, grasping the edges of the boat for dear life.
I heard the man chuckle, and he reached out and grabbed the handles of the oars and pulled, shooting us across the water. He too, wore a cloak that covered his shoulders and head. The black mask was so obscure, with deep-hooded sockets and a wide nose that it made it cast his eyes in shadows, but it left his mouth and chin exposed. The whole outfit made him look menacing.
Even more so when he seemed to focus on my neck.
I tensed, and absently touched the quickly healing wound.
Was one of these men the son of Allemar? Were they in league with the southern elves? This was very powerful magic, indeed. I wasn’t even sure my mother could conjure this spell, but an apprentice of Allemar could. I needed to be wary and keep my guard up.
“You can relax your grip.” His voice was husky. “I’m not going to capsize us. The boat is too wide bottomed for that.”
Feeling a bit better, I lifted my hands to place them in my lap.
“See.” To make a show, he shifted his weight side to side, causing the boat to sway and water to splash up, but there was little movement. I slammed my hands back on the edges again.
I heard a chuckle, and I glared at the big-nosed mask, letting him be the recipient of all of my hate. Of all the escorts, I got the idiot.
He seemed to quiet down after my cold stare. I only hoped it was haughty and princess-like, and not Honor’s I’m going to kill you in cold blood look.
The lead boat with Risa had already pulled up to the other side of the lake, and they were mooring the boat to an ash tree. Because of my hesitation in getting in the boat, we were still pretty far away from the others. Risa and her guide headed into the woods, and I felt myself tense.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you there on time.” The apprentice leaned back with each stroke, and our little boat picked up speed, skimming across the water and overtaking the last two boats.
“Slow down,” I hissed. “You’re making a scene.”
The boat was still coasting so fast we practically crashed into the embankment, and I flew forward into the chest of the apprentice. He caught me and helped steady my balance.