Page 13 of Crown of Briars
“No, my lady,” he supplied. “You will find in our kingdom that there are different types of shadows. This is the Umbra Mist that follows us when we leave our court. It is harmless to both fae and humans.”
Fascinated, I inspected the shadows with more scrutiny. Now that I thought about it, the mist did look thinner and more transparent than the thick, rolling shadows I’d spotted from the castle towers.
Just before I reached Clermont, footsteps sounded on the gravel behind me. I turned to find Ramia, my maid, marching purposefully toward me, a traveling bag in her hand. Her graying brown hair was tied into a tight bun, and her mouth was pinched in that disapproving look she often gave me.
I frowned at her. “Ramia, what are you?—”
“You cannot present yourself to the king without a lady’s maid,” she said in a clipped tone. “I am coming with you.”
The blood drained from my face. I wet my lips and leaned close to my maid. “Ramia, youcan’t,” I said in an undertone.
“I have been charged with caring for you since you were barely old enough to stand,” Ramia said, something in her brusque tone softening as she looked at me. “That’s not about to change now. I am coming with you, my lady. You cannot stop me.”
To prove her point, she stepped around me, handing her bag to Clermont with a brief curtsy before climbing into the carriage.
I looked at Clermont, who seemed unperturbed. He offered me a pleasant smile, as if to reassure me. I sighed before following after Ramia, my feet unsteady on the steps leading to the carriage. In a flash, Clermont was there, his green hand on mine to steady me. I resisted the urge to snatch my hand away, expecting his skin to feel slimy. But it was surprisingly smooth and dry.
Darkness pressed in on me the moment I stepped inside. The curtains were drawn, blocking out all light. As my eyes adjusted, I made out Ramia sitting off to one side, her hands folded in her lap. I took a seat next to her, marveling at how spacious the carriage was on the inside. It was large enough to comfortably fit six people, at least.
After the servants returned with my trunk and tethered it to the carriage, Clermont climbed in, sitting across from me and Ramia. He was still wearing that strange smile on his face, as if he didn’t have any other expression to offer. He rapped his knuckles on the roof of the carriage, and the driver urged the skeletal beasts into movement. The carriage jostled, and I couldn’t stop myself from peeling back the thick curtain to gaze at the mountains and castle one last time. A lump formed in my throat as we made our way down the gravel road.
No more late nights in the library.
No more trysts with Gerard.
No more cave adventures with Azure.
The lump in my throat tightened, making it difficult to breathe. But I continued to stare at the stone-and-steel fortress that was once my home, trying to memorize every angle of it before it faded from view. When we rounded the curve, the mountains swallowed up the palace, much like the Shadow Court was swallowing up my life.
A heaviness filled my heart, and I closed my eyes, unable to contain the hot tears as they streaked down my face.
From this point on, my life was not my own. I was at the complete mercy of the Wraith King.
Within minutes, Ramia had fallen asleep, her head propped up on the wall of the carriage as we jostled down the road. But I couldn’t possibly sleep. My mind was spinning, my body warring between nausea and panic.
Too late, I realized I had never sent my letter to Princess Eira. And I hadn’t had time to tell her I’d be leaving for the Shadow Court.
It had all happened so quickly. Would I even be allowed to send letters, once I was in the clutches of the Wraith King?
“What is the Wraith King like?” I asked Clermont, trying to distract myself from my nerves.
Clermont winced, his face twisting into a pained grimace. “I would advise you not to refer to him as that. It was a name given by those who claim his appearance to be ‘demonic,’ and it’s rather offensive to our unseelie kind.”
My eyes grew wide, and I felt the blood drain from my face.Shit.“I’m so terribly sorry. I had no idea.” Stones, would he tell the king what I’d said? Would I be imprisoned the moment I entered the Shadow Court?
Clermont waved a green hand. “Don’t fret, my dear. Youwere raised by humans. It’s hardly your fault what you were taught about our kind. But please be aware that we take pride in our unseelie forms, and to insult them is the gravest offense.”
I swallowed hard, committing this piece of information to memory. “Do you—I mean, do the Shadow Fae have seelie forms as well?” From what I’d studied, there were two kinds of fae: seelie and unseelie, or civilized and wild. My mother had been seelie, so she had only had one form. But the unseelie had two forms and could appear as either seelie—ordinary fae—or unseelie, which was often more beastly and animalistic. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, trying to stifle my anxiety at the thought of encountering so many monstrous creatures.
But, if some of them had seelie forms, perhaps it wouldn’t be too terrible.
Clermont was silent for a long moment, his gaze shifting to the window. Sorrow and longing filled his yellow eyes. “We did, once.”
I waited for him to elaborate, but he said nothing more of seelie forms. Instead, he answered my first question. “King Varius is a strong and powerful leader. He is seen as ruthless and callous by some, but he does what is best for his people. No one has sacrificed more for our court than he has. He does have a bit of a temper, though.” He chuckled to himself as if this were an amusing tidbit and not something that terrified me to my core.
I had many other questions. Would he harm me in any way? Would he take me to his bed by force? Would he have other wives or concubines? But all of these questions would be far too inappropriate to voice, so instead, I looked out the window again. The ground had transformed into a stony gray expanse, all foliage and plant life now gone thanks to the shadows. Mist filled the air, swirling around us as we traveled, and I shrank against the back of my seat.
“Fear not,” Clermont said. “The shadows cannot reach us in here.”
