Page 25 of Crown of Briars
But when the door swung open all the way, I gasped. Light filtered in, but it wasn’t the dull gleam of the white orbs I was accustomed to in the castle. This was outdoor light. Pinks and purples and reds from the setting sun cast a warm glow on me as I stepped forward, entranced.
Through the doorway was a courtyard surrounded by several burning braziers. A square fire pit stood in the center, within which burned an ethereal violet flame. Mighty pillars supported a dome-shaped pavilion that provided shade for the entire square, and directly across from my doorway was a decorative archway made of stone. Intricate designs had been carvedon every inch of it, and I yearned to draw closer and inspect it with greater scrutiny.
The courtyard was full of unseelie fae, most of them castle staff I recognized from my arrival. They were flitting about, arranging flowers, painting what looked like runes in crimson paint on each of the pillars, and tending to the roaring fire in the center.
I stared at the scene before me, transfixed. “Is this—is this real?” I wanted to reach through the doorway and try to touch it, expecting the image to ripple like water. Was I looking into a magical portal? We were in the highest level of the castle, and yet, this door led to an outdoor courtyard.
“Go,” Enzira said, nodding her head. “Is fine.”
There was that word again.Fine.I inched closer, trusting her, but Ramia gripped my arm, her face stricken with terror.
“We are human,” she said to Enzira, her voice a touch too loud. “Will this harm us?”
Enzira pointed to the courtyard. “Safe,” she assured us. Then, she gestured to the doorframe. “Magic. The door knows.”
The door knows.It sounded rather cryptic. But I recalled her admonishment to keep all doors open, and I wondered if this was why. If the doors closed, did that mean they somehow became portals to other places? I was torn between curiosity and fear. The idea that these doors couldthinkwas terrifying. What if they could read my mind? What if they knew of my plan to kill the king?
Ramia’s fingernails dug into my arm. It was clear she wouldn’t let me step through the doorway.
Enzira seemed to notice this. She sighed, then drew forward, walking over the threshold and emerging into the amber light of the courtyard. Sunlight illuminated her form immediately until she stepped underneath the pavilion cover for shade. A few servants muttered something in Agnarrish as they jostled past her, one of them bumping her shoulder.
She was there. She wasactuallythere in the courtyard.
“It’s fine, Ramia,” I whispered.
She shot me a dubious look but loosened her hold on me. Her hand was still clamped around my arm, so I linked our elbows and walked us both through the portal.
The effect was instantaneous. One moment we were standing in the hall of the castle, our surroundings dark and chilled. The next, warmth and light engulfed us, a stark contrast to the confinements of the castle. Even with the shade of the pavilion, the area was soopen. A wide expanse of forest surrounded the courtyard, and the sky seemed to stretch on for an eternity. In the distance, I could make out the mountains of the Earthen Court.
A wide smile of amazement spread across my face. I turned around completely, facing the way we’d come, and found the open door. The frame was built into a stone wall, and as I looked beyond it, I made out the turrets and towers of the castle. It was much farther away than before—perhaps a quarter of a mile.
How did we get transported so far? What kind of magic was this?
I turned to Ramia to share my wonderment with her, but I found her face pale and her eyes wide as saucers. The sheer horror on her face was so different from my excited curiosity that my exclamation died on my lips.
For her, this was just a reminder that we were in a strange land with a strange magic that could easily destroy us if we weren’t careful.
Someone nudged my shoulder, and I turned to find Enzira beaming at me, a pot of crimson paint in her hand. “I paint you now,” she said.
I nodded, holding perfectly still as she painted runes along my arms and shoulders, then one on each of my cheeks. Theywere similar to the runes being painted on the pillars, and I wondered what they meant.
Before I could ask Enzira, she had finished painting and was ushering me toward the stone archway. I gladly obeyed, moving close enough to gaze at the carvings on the arch. At the bottom was a large cloud next to a lightning bolt. Above that was a figure with horns and a tail with a crown atop his head. As my eyes moved over the carvings, I became more and more enthralled. They seemed to be telling a story of a king’s demise. I saw a woman with a mighty scepter, and several people with anguished expressions on their faces.
My heart lurched in my throat when I reached the other side of the arch and found a single rose etched into the stone. My pulse quickened, and I glanced around, worried someone was watching me. I looked back at the rose, running my fingers along the grooves of the carving.
What did this mean? Could these carvings tell me where I could find the enchanted rose?
“Enzira…” I began, turning to find her, hoping to coax some words out of her. But when I looked behind me, I found the castle staff parting, scurrying like frightened ants until they formed an aisle between them. When they were in position, they went perfectly still, chins lifted and backs straight.
Shadows poured down the aisle between the servants, curling and coiling like smoke. I flinched, ducking my head to avoid the toxic fumes that would almost certainly kill me.
But when the chilled tendrils of shadow brushed against my arms, raising the tiny hairs on the back of my neck, I realized they weren’t poisonous. The air was clean. In fact, the faintest smell of dark spices and heavy rainfall reached my nose. Far more pleasant than the putrid scent I envisioned.
I had never encountered shadows like this before.
I extended a hand, and the shadows twisted around myfinger. It was colder than the air around me, and slightly moist, like a cloud.
Before I could inspect it further, every single servant fell to their knees, heads bowed. I stiffened, glancing around to find a dark figure making its way down the aisle, moving slowly toward me.
