Page 161 of Faeling
She wished she could ask Allarion, but there would be no opportunity. It also didn’t matter. The fate of the fae wasn’t Ravenna’s concern and never had been. She couldn’t indulge in empathy now.
The walls of the palace finally rose above them, thegates thrown wide. Great wooden doors had been reinforced with bronze polished to a mirror shine, yet the heavy iron hinges carried flecks of rust. Pavers were missing in the wide promenade leading up to a set of shallow white steps, and the lawns of the front pavilion had been left to grow wild.
Up they went over the stairs, beneath a scallop-edged arch leading into an open-air hypostyle hall. Old wisteria vines snaked up the fluted marble columns, obscuring the worn friezes carved into the rounded surfaces. The air was old and chilly inside, long shadows pooling in the corners and giving the painted figures along the plastered walls an almost ghoulish appearance.
Led through the hall, they found the open sky again. To the right, through a crumbling peaked arch, stood a crystal pavilion. Geodes the size of Ravenna had been artfully laid around the pavilion, as well as bursts of celestine and quartz tetragonal clusters bigger than an onager. They looked like great blooming bushes or hedges, warning all not to touch with their pointed edges.
To the left was a pavilion full of ornamental trees and hedges. Some had been cut into figures. Many were some sort of flowering fruit, like cherry and apple and plum, which in spring would fill the space with fragrance and delicate petals.
The beauty of it was marred by two conspicuous dark stains on the white pavers.
A cold weight settled in Ravenna’s stomach.
That’s where they died.
Keep your focus,Oberon warned gently.
With effort, Ravenna pulled her gaze away. She couldn’t think of them now. Even if this had all begun in their name, she couldn’t allow their deaths to haunt her in these next criticalmoments. Nothing could distract her aim.
Through the palace they climbed, more sets of shallow steps leading incrementally upward. They passed through so many halls and pavilions, it was almost a surprise when they finally reached the citadel.
Tall iron doors creaked open, spreading a shaft of light onto the otherwise gloomy floor. The white marble, inlaid with star motifs of different colored stone, looked almost soft with the layers of dust coating it.
Grimy stained-glass windows let in meager shards of colored light, but most of the illumination came from a hole in the far wall, the top of one window and casement broken. It allowed in the sounds of the sea and the late afternoon sun, just enough to see by.
The citadel itself looked to be a great peaked cylinder, rising in a spiral to a point. At the front of the space was a large stained-glass circle above a wide stone dais, with shallow steps leading up to and flanked by ornate marble vases that once held exotic flowers. The walls had been inlaid with crystals, jewels, colorful glass, and lacquered tesserae, all meant to catch the light in a cacophony of color—yet all sat dully in the stone. Fluted columns rose high in the air around the perimeter, creating an aisle between them and the rounded walls. More than one column had toppled, leaving drums of stone littering the floor.
It was near one of these piles of rubble, beneath a rounded niche set into the wall, that Vallek sat.
Ravenna couldn’t help it—her hopes and temper flared, and the thread of their bond snapped taut.
He lifted his head with some effort, eyes hazy. Stripped to just his trou, wicked red lines scored his chest, dribbles of dried blood beneath them. Claw marks.
As the fae forces gathered on the far side of the citadel, the berserkers took their formation. All were too well trained to make a false move now, but she could feel how their attention focused on their king, wounded and chained like a diseased dog.
Oberon moved to stand at their head. From atop his back, Ravenna spotted a strange shadow lurking to the side of the dais. She watched as it tumbled like smoke across the dais, finally gathering form as it touched the light.
Iridescent wings the color of a starry night caught the sun more brilliantly than the stained glass behind her. As if emerging from a cloud, Amaranthe glided forward, robes of pale blue silk rippling around her lithe limbs. White hair studded with crystals and delicate chains of diamond hanging between fingers, arms, and neck, she looked like every story of the beautiful, benevolent Fae Queens.
But just as in her city and palace, there was decay.
Folding her hands before her, Amaranthe greeted, “Welcome to Fallorian. It pleases me to see such loyalty for your king.”
As Amaranthe began to float down the dais steps, Ravenna dismounted. Sliding onto the marble floor, she took half a moment to catch her breath.
Steady now, Crow. I’m with you.
Ravenna patted her old friend before turning to face the Fae Queen.
She took a few steps forward, separating herself from the group behind her.
The fae soldiers split fluidly to allow Amaranthe to pass between them, reforming their line once she’d taken the center of the space. Ravenna took a few more reluctant steps forward, not quite meeting her there but enough to show she’d come and fulfilled their bargain.
Dark eyes glittering, Amaranthe smiled. “So you are the one who’s caused me such trouble.”
Ravenna stared at the one who’d murdered her parents in silence. She’d already been stupid—she wouldn’t risk Vallek with tempestuous snipes. It didn’t matter if she bested Amaranthe with words, only with steel.
The Fae Queen began to walk in slow circles around Ravenna, taking her time to assess her.
