Ever Fire (5 page)

No way! Totally forgot about that. Oh crap
.

Before she could answer him, Camulus opened the door they had gathered outside of and let the group file into a large sitting room. Large and intricately designed rugs lay uniformly across the floors with plush sofas in a u shape facing a large marble fireplace. The marble stone was exquisitely carved into what looked like smooth vines and tree limbs. The vast windows let the brilliant light of day flood the room enough for there not to be a need of any kind of lights. Shade wanted to walk around the room to study the elaborate designs, paintings, and trinkets on the various tables and shelves lining the walls, but someone caught her attention instead.

The Elven Prince stood by the massive fireplace and turned toward them. Shade stared at the tall Faery. His hair was silver-grey and hung down to his waist. It was partly pulled back with a leather tie. It reminded her of liquid mercury but lighter with its shining highlights. His skin was a pale milky-white, and his lips were the color of a dusted rose. They were thin and firm. But his eyes were what caught Shade. They were a deep emerald green. So deep that they seemed like an endless bamboo forest. She was sure she had seen eyes like his before. Soap had similar eyes, but these seemed to match a distant memory of hers that she could not quite put a finger on. She gulped as the Prince approached them, walking with an air of power that pulsated across the air.

“May I introduce the warriors of the Guildrin Court, Your Majesty,” Camulus said as he introduced them to the Prince. “They are Stephen, Than, Sary, Dylan, Shade and Rylan.” Camulus’ voice echoed in the room as he spoke. “This is Prince Lotinar, the Crowned Prince of the Northern Realm of Faerie and Lord of the Santiran City.” He bowed before the Prince and the group followed his actions.

The Prince also bowed his head slightly, his eyes never leaving the group. They seemed to settle on Shade, and bore into her like hot pokers. Shade felt the scarlet heat flush across her face again as she averted her eyes to the floor. She was never going to get used to how much the Faeries seem to stare at her, as if dissecting her and examining the little pieces inside her like a science project. She gulped and let her eyes dart to his still face again. They continued to drift back and forth from his ghostly skin and metallic mane, to the soft rugs under their feet.

“I am most pleased to meet all of you, especially you Shade. The Water-Wielder of the Sacred Santiran Fountains. Your reputation precedes you, and I am most interested to see if all I have heard is true.” He glided towards her as everyone parted and she became lost to him as he trained his eyes on only her.

Shade felt like a mouse in a lion’s den as she was swallowed by his eyes. He was definitely powerful. His magic poured off of him in a tidal wave, crashing into her. It made her feel faint as she felt the room swirl around her. Again the feeling of déjà vu crept into her, his voice, his overall essence felt so familiar. It was as if she had known him before, maybe in another life, long ago.

She shook her head and felt the magic recede like low tide. Her head cleared up immediately as she felt Soap place a hand against the small of her back, helping her clear her mind. Prince Lotinar reined in his magic and shut it deep inside him as he realized how much it affected her. Shade bore her eyes into his and tried with all her might to remember how she would know him, yet her memory failed her.

“My apologies, Shade. Seems your powers have flared my own to life. I will try to be more careful.” Prince Lotinar’s voice was a low, sturdy, jaunt. Shade couldn’t ignore the slight feeling that he was a bit angry with her. She was hoping it was all in her head, but her gut feelings always seemed to be right-on.

“Pleasure to meet you, Prince Lotinar,” Shade said. Her voice caught in her throat and came out just above a whisper as he turned away and walked to the enormous glass windows. He stared out of them as the breeze swayed the lush trees outside.

“I have been waiting for all of you to arrive. I can feel much unrest in Faerie, and as it grows, Queen Aveta becomes more restless, and more powerful. She sends her winter abound. Frost scorches my lands and withers the forests, burning the soils with its death grip. She holds the Eastern Realm, but I think she will be mobilizing soon. I feel her taint crossing the borders into the neutral territories. Wild magic is pouring out of the Sacred Vices of Faerie with her disturbances, and I fear she is pawning to capture Shade, since she holds the key to the water magic of Santire.” Lotinar turned then, looking stern and seriously at Shade. “Tell me, Shade, have you mastered the water wielding arts yet? We will need them when Aveta decides to invade the other three territories.”

Shade clasped the small ampoule dangling from her neck. Ilarial had made her split the original flask of Sacred Santiran Water; one part into a necklace she now wore. The original flask was safe in Guildrin, but since no one could wield it but her, Ilarial thought it better to have Shade keep some with her at all times, that way she could wield it whenever she chose. Unfortunately, no one alive knew how to use the water magic. Shade had been doing exercises with Ilarial. She was able to move water around from bowls to glasses and make it float all around her in a dance of small water baubles. She definitely had not mastered its power yet, let alone be able to use it as a weapon against the dark Unseelie Queen’s army. She slowly shook her head.

“Pity. I had hoped we had one thing going for us.” Prince Lotinar’s icy voice echoed in the room. Shade caught his cold stare before he turned back towards the dance of the landscape outside.

*****

“
WOW, PRINCE LOTINAR
is some kind of stone-cold ruler, huh, Shade?” Sary smiled, crinkling her beautiful hazel eyes. “I have to say, I guess after what happened to him though, he has all the excuse in the world to be so hard.” She sighed and flopped herself on the second bed that was in the enormous room they had been given for their night’s stay at the Glass Castle. Shade sat on the edge of her bed, staring out the obscenely large window into the darkening world.

“Ya, he’s a whole different kind of Fey.” Shade murmured as she turned towards her roommate with a puzzled look splayed across her face. “What exactly happened to him, Sary?”

The svelte, redheaded, Warrior, Princess smiled as she leaned on her elbows, her body draped over the width of her bed. “Oh yeah, you probably haven’t heard. He just returned from years of exile. He was cursed, or something like that, by some crazy witch. He disappeared for over a hundred years, and just recently returned. No one knows what happened to him in all that time, but from what I hear, he came back a different Faery. Quite changed they say. Almost like the old Prince was completely gone. Apparently his identity had to be confirmed by his own mother. She knew immediately it was him, and no one argues with the Queen.”

Shade pondered her words. She wondered what had happened to him that he would be so hard and cold now. Maybe it was all a front to shake them up a bit.

Oh, whatever.

“What time is dinner? I’m starved.” Shade asked. “I can’t nap anyway, not in this see-through ice house. It’s so cold in here! No wonder they call it the ‘Glass Castle of Winter’!” Shade rubbed her arms and shivered. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a soft, blue, cashmere, sweater. She slipped it on and hugged her arms in its warmth.

“I know what you mean. Definitely not the kind of ‘summer’ home I’d want. I wonder just how cold it is at his main home in Santiran City. It must be full of icicles there!” Sary laughed as she swung her legs back and forth.

Shade yawned and scooted back until her back hit the pillows. “Ya, probably. I just know that he seems eerily familiar to me. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him before, but he ‘feels’ familiar. Is that weird, Sary? Or am I just insane already?” She sighed.

Sary sat up in her bed and watched her. “No, you’re definitely not insane. You have no idea what kinds of magic you possess do you, Shade? I’ve heard of the things you have done. No one I know can do such things. You are one of the most powerful Fey I know. If you could control your magic, who knows what you could do. I believe these feelings you’re getting are based on real things. Trust yourself, you might find that you’re right about it.”

Shade smiled at her friend. Sary had been a comfort since Brisa had packed and left for college. She was alone now; her one friend moving on to a normal life. She had never felt more alone than the few weeks she had had without Brisa. She called her up frequently, but it was definitely not the same. It would never be the same ever again.

She sighed as she leaned down to get her pack off the floor when a knock echoed from the door. She glanced at Sary, who shrugged. Turning back to the door, she got up and moved towards it. Turning the knob, she felt the door give under the weight of whoever now shoved at it.

“Shade Dyer? Your presence is requested by Prince Lotinar.” A large massive man entered, he was clad in metal and leather, followed by his identical twin. Shade’s eyes widened and her mouth opened to scream, but stopped when Camulus slipped in behind the guards. Shade eyed them both in confusion.

“Camulus, they’re part of Aveta’s guards!” Shade exclaimed. She backed into the room and ran towards her backpack on the floor, hoping to yank her sword out in time.

“Shade, stop, it’s ok. Draden and his brother Andraste are no longer part of Aveta’s troops. They have sworn allegiance to Prince Lotinar. It’s ok.” Camulus’ hands were up, trying to persuade her that they meant her no harm. Shade’s frantic eyes stared at the pair and widened even more as Draden approached her. She gripped her pack to her chest, afraid to let go, and so ready to run for it if she had to.

“What?” She shook her head in disbelief. Sary shimmied over to her and held her around the shoulders, whispering to her to calm down. Shade refocused herself and looked up to Sary, who despite the scare, appeared calm.

“It’s ok, Shade, Camulus is trustworthy. Let’s just see what Prince Lotinar wants,” Sary said.

“Only Shade is summoned, Sary.” Camulus nodded toward them and beckoned Shade to follow them. She moved her eyes to stare at Camulus. Pulling back her fear, she nodded softly and proceeded to follow him while still clutching her pack.

Shade glared at Draden who watched her with calm, ocean-blue eyes. His hair was pulled back neatly, and his scruffy stubble was now shaved clean. He still looked like he had seen a little too much hard soldiering, but he didn’t seem as dangerous this time around, as he had at the Santiran Fountains. He stared right back at her and grinned as she approached them. She eyed him up and down and continued on past him, following the green Elven-Pixie.

In the hall, she fell into step behind Camulus. Shade glanced back to watch the twin guards bringing up the rear, and the door to her room grow smaller the further away they went. She felt so alone again without Sary by her side. Even Soap and Dylan seemed to feel far away in their chambers on the next floor. She wondered if Dylan could feel her panic. She breathed in and tried to calm her nerves before he was compelled to run out here and save her. She felt a little less apprehensive the closer they got to the Prince’s chambers. The feeling of danger subsided slowly as curiosity flooded her mind.

Chapter Five

THE PRINCE’S CHAMBERS
were just as elaborate as the sitting room. Here there were threads of deep purple and blue in the rugs that ran along the stone floors as well as the length of the curtains that ran the expanse of the windows. The prince probably liked to block out the bright daylight that constantly poured into the room in waking hours. Shade was escorted into the room and directed to sit on one of the lush settee chairs. She watched the twin guards and Camulus bow to her and the Prince as they turned and shut the heavy wooden doors behind them. She wrung her fingers together while glancing up at Prince Lotinar, whose back now faced her, as he again was lost in a stare out the windows.

Suddenly, he reached up and loosened one of the knots that held the massive material of curtains. The mass swayed with a whoosh across half the windows, swinging gently into position. He followed the curtains as they came to a halt, and then he turned toward her. He watched her for a moment, causing Shade to squirm in her chair quietly. She mentally forced herself to stop it and straightened, feeling the weight of his stare.

“Do you know that Queen Aveta has her Lonares spies crawling all over Faerie, watching us with their insolent eyes, taking back any little bit of information, useless or not back to her? I found that I had to fit all the windows to my castle with lengths of curtain; that took half a year to make, to keep her spies at bay.” He glided over to the second set of tied curtains and loosened them too, throwing the room into the soft dark light of the chandelier.

Shade watched intently. Without his stare bogging her down, he was easy on the eyes. He wore a long silver-white coat that fastened up to his neck, it was tailored to hug his thin waist and accent his broad shoulders. Swirls glinted down the sides of it like glimmering snakes. Glittering diamonds fastened the long sleeves around his wrists, while his pants of the same color were adorned down the sides in a similar swirled fashion. His silver-grey hair draped down over the white-silver of his garments much like a spill of mercury. His shoes were custom made to match the outfit perfectly, but appeared to be made of something soft and pliable, like some sort of dyed leather.