A Thief of Nightshade (6 page)

“Maybe it’s not what you think,” Sam whispered.

“It’s exactly what I think. I shouldn’t have listened to you.”

Sam started to reply, but Dr.

McCormick

cleared

his

throat

purposefully, so for the remainder of the class they both focused on what he was saying. When class was dismissed, Aubrey remained in her seat, taking in everything.

“I’m sorry,” Sam said

“It’s not your fault. I have no one to blame but myself.” Aubrey rushed to grab her bag and bolted for the door. She held it open for Sam. “I made a complete fool out of myself. You said yourself that he wouldn’t let Darin carry me into the house. God, what he must think of me.”

She put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes.

Sam, who faced the portico from the opposite direction, said, “Aubrey, look —”

“I don’t need a pep talk. This whole thing was ... I knew better than to get attached to him.”

“Aub—”

“I know what you’re going to say Samantha, and—”

“Aubrielle Wright will you shut up and turn around!” Sam shouted.

Aubrey, taken aback, turned to see Jullian. He stood with his back against a pillar, a dozen roses in his hands and a huge grin on his face. A small group of students stood around them, eyes glued to the unfolding drama.

“I can’t court you properly if I’m your professor, now can I?”

“I thought...”

Jullian stepped forward to give her the flowers. Once she had them in her hands, he took her bag off her shoulders to carry it. “You thought wrong.”

“GALYDON,” AUBREY SAID IN AWE. THEY

HAD
just passed through the main gates and though she remembered Jullian’s description of it, he hadn’t done it justice.

“It’s beautiful.” The architecture was simple yet elegant, the decor mainly wood and stone. They walked through several empty streets before coming to an open market, each stand covered in rich tapestries and filled with exotic wares.

She could barely hear herself think over the loud chattering and heckling. When they noticed that Aislinn escorted a human, all noise ceased.

Aislinn took her arm, urging her forward. “It’s okay, they won’t hurt you.

They just don’t see humans all that often.”

Hushed voices murmured all around them.

A human?

Does the King know she’s here?

What does it want? Haven’t they taken enough from us?

Don’t look at her!

Aislinn scowled and rose on two feet. “Enough! Go back to your business, all of you!”

She wanted to thank him, but something about his expression warned her not to bother. Lipsey clung to his shoulder, his ears twitching as the market gradually returned to normal. It wasn’t long before they reached the castle. Once beyond the central doors, they traveled down one long hall after another until they reached what she could only assume was the throne room.

“You’re on your own in there,”

Aislinn murmured.

She looked around, surprised by their lack of company. “No one watches the doors? Doesn’t the King have guards?”

Aislinn opened the door for her. “He has no need for them.”

She swallowed hard and walked over the threshold. That was intimidating.

The huge room had a grand hearth at the far end, where flames danced and sparked.

“Hello?” she called out. Nothing.

Maybe he isn’t here.

“So, you have decided that Avalar is real,” the voice came from the air and she whipped around, only to see the richly decorated walls. No throne or chairs, no table and stranger still, no King to whom the voice could have belonged.

“Not entirely,” she said.

“You’re certainly determined for one who isn’t sure whether or not they’re dreaming ... or insane, as you put it.”

“How did you...? Where are you?”

Yet another thing Jullian failed to tell me.

A great laugh erupted from behind the hearth and before her eyes the whole wall began to shift, the great hearth closing as it became a long jaw edged with sharply tipped teeth, the stones transforming into scales. The sidewalls melted into outstretched wings, which pulled away to reveal another room entirely. Suddenly, what had been so ordinary a room had become a huge black dragon.

She stared, entranced by how beautiful he was, despite the large scar.

She should have been terrified, but felt no fear. Should I kneel, bow? I thought the King of Beasts was a lion.

He laughed again, moving out of the way to reveal a throne of sorts at the back of the real room. It didn’t have armrests like a human chair, but sides where he could lean comfortably if he chose. “No need to kneel, Aubrielle. You are a guest in my court.”

“You hear my thoughts?” She caught the flicker of fire in his black eyes then, though no fireplace remained.

“Yes, I can hear you. And the eternal flame never goes out of a dragon. It’s what humans call the soul. Now, tell me, why are you here?”

“I thought you read minds?”

“I do, but after centuries you learn there is often a great difference between what one thinks and what one says. I know what your heart wants. I want to hear what your head has to say about the matter.” He sat down gracefully. His long tail curled along the length of the wall and came around behind her. He gently nudged her with it, encouraging her to sit down. She did and took a moment to gather her thoughts.

“Jullian is out there ... alive ... and I’ve got to reach him somehow. I need help to save him.”

Tabor stretched his neck, letting out a low groan as he did. A series of pops followed as he craned his large head to the left. “Even if saving him means you will never see him again?”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with me. Jullian doesn’t deserve this, to lose his life like this.”

He yawned. “Child, much fear rests in your heart and more importantly ...

doubt. You don’t even have faith that you can save him. Besides, humans did this to themselves long ago. Why should we care what happens to any of you?”

She stood, her hand clutched against her chest. “I asked Jullian the same thing once, when I still thought Avalar was a figment of his imagination. He wrote about the Kingdom of Beasts and how they’d vowed to find a way to save Avalar from the Queen. He apparently has more faith in your kind than you’ve ever had in his.”

She clenched her jaw before adding, “I will find a way to save him, with or without your help. Even if it means giving my life for his.” She turned to leave, disappointed, but as soon as she made it to the door, his great tail scooped her up and brought her back.

He laughed as he set her on her feet.

“You are a fascinating creature. I’ve never met a human whose thoughts matched their words.”

She didn’t see the humor in it. “Will you help me or not?”

“How do you know that I can? You asked if I would, not if I could.”

She sighed. Her head hurt from sheer exhaustion and lack of food. “Because

Aislinn said you helped bring Jullian to my world and ... I don’t know. Because I love him. Doesn’t that mean something in this world? I love him and therefore I have to believe that someone can help me save him, because I certainly can’t do it on my own.”

“Come, you are weak and you must eat!”

“But, the coronation—”

Tabor interrupted her, “Not another word! You need your strength. As will he who lingers in my doorway, pretending he could care less for our words. Aislinn, come and bring your little friend.”

“Are you going to eat that?” Aislinn had been eyeing the last roll for nearly ten minutes.

“No.” Aubrey looked back at Tabor, who patiently waited for them to finish.

They’d been brought more dishes than any of the formal dinners she’d been forced to endure with her family and despite her initial protests of not feeling calm enough to eat, she’d eaten until she could barely breathe for the discomfort.

“In the City of Man, Rheavon, you will find a madame who goes by the name of Lady Crimson. There you will learn what you must do to save your prince, but it will come at a price. You must give her this.” He uncurled his claws to reveal a tiny round object. “But only let it out of your possession in exchange for what you seek and not a moment sooner. You risk your life by going to her. She hates your world and everything it once was to her.”

“She knows of my world?” Aubrey took the object, and realized it was a button—an everyday, ordinary button.

“You’re kidding. A button?”

“In her you will see what will happen to you should you fail. She, like you, was not born of this world. Like you, she sought to save one who was fated to become the Faerie King.”

Aislinn set the roll back onto the table, half-eaten. “What? There hasn’t been a human from Aubrey’s world here in over two hundred years.”

“And she will continue to suffer her loss until Saralia’s reign has ended,”

Tabor said simply. “We summoned her here in the hopes that she could save our world. She had hope then, but she will not be pleased to see you now. You represent everything she has lost. Bitterness will destroy a human soul and so it has destroyed what is left of hers.”

Lipsey listened intently, having stayed quiet for most of their trip. He seemed frightened of Tabor, jumping with every move the great dragon made. Tabor took notice and lowered his head within inches of the little squirrel. “You think I care to eat you?”

Lipsey fidgeted with a piece of carrot in his tiny hands, rolling it over and over like a worry stone, his eyes wide.

“Y-y-y-you’re huge,” he stuttered.

Tabor grinned, showing his teeth.

“You haven’t noticed my eating habits then.”

Lipsey looked around him, eyeing the various empty plates and saucers, and heaved a great sigh. Vegetarian. In all truth, it hadn’t occurred to Aubrey what exactly they were eating either. She’d been so hungry that she’d devoured it immediately.

Tabor laughed. “A King can’t very well eat his subjects. That would be bad manners, to say the least.”

Aislinn rose. “Your Majesty, as always I am grateful for your help and your blessing.” He bowed his upper body in the same oddly human fashion Aubrey had seen earlier. “But we must go.”

She followed his lead and thanked Tabor. “I hope we will meet again, your Majesty,

next

time

under

better

circumstances. Thank you for everything.”

“Perhaps.

Be

safe,

Aubrielle.

Remember to listen to your heart. It will not lead you astray.”

“Are you all right?” Aislinn asked. They’d been walking for quite a while, listening to Lipsey talk about this and that. Aubrey hadn’t said much in the last couple of hours and the sun had begun to set.

“I’m fine,” she said quietly.

“If you’re tired, we can stop and rest for a bit.”

She’d actually been thinking about Jullian and what he would be going through, and wondering what the Winter Court was like. Then thoughts of Grant and Sam crossed her mind. “No, let’s keep going.”

Aislinn stopped her with a paw on her back and though she normally didn’t take to strangers getting anywhere near touching her, she felt safe with him— despite his grumpiness.