Page 20 of Arise the Queen
Indeed, without both their help, Gwendolyn might never have overcome the challenges she’d faced already—everything from Málik having saved her from Locrinus’ men in the forest after her escape from Loegria, to then helping her win Caradoc’s favor, and then aiding in the return of Trevena. Most recently, risking their lives during thesprigganattack.Gods knew.Having considered every scenario, this was not how Gwendolyn had supposed her arrival in the Fae realm would go, but, after all, what point would there be in keeping her alive if they’d meant all along to send her to her death?
It made little sense.
Therefore, Gwendolyn must believe that whatever the reason for them sending her on this quest, alone, it was because it suited the quest. Above all, she needed to believe Málik had forced her to do so only to protect her…
And then it suddenly occurred to her, with some certainty, that he had perhaps done this because he didn’t trust himself to stand by her side before Esme’s father. If his King should compel him to complete the task he was assigned, he must do it, and Gwendolyn couldn’t stop him. So much as he had taught her, Gwendolyn was still very much the student. And, really, how awful would it be… to face Málik at the Fae king’s court only to spy regret in his beautiful blue eyes, even as he slid his blade across her throat?
Worse than Locrinus’ betrayal!
Indeed, that night Locrinus cut her hair now seemed only a mean prank, and everything else he had afflicted upon her people and her land far worse.So what?He’d cut her hair. Had it not been for that, Gwendolyn would never have learned the truth about her prophecy, and Málik might never have been pressed to repair her hair. And Gwendolyn would not know that… well…
Málik loved her.
He did.
The proof was in the gold that fell into her lap.
Undeniable.
Irrefutable.
Unquestionable!
He didn’t need to say those words aloud. Gwendolyn knew it, and the more she thought about the turn of events that had led her to this moment in time, the more certain she grew there was a reason he’d pushed her through the portal.
But why couldn’t he have told her she must travel this path alone instead of lying to her at every turn and then shoving her so rudely into this wretched domain?
Why couldn’t Esme?
Why couldn’t someone?
Gwendolyn could have handled the truth, though she wouldn’t have liked it. Still, she trusted Málik so implicitly that if he had told her she must swim to the depths of the sea to fulfill her destiny, she would have spent her final breaths at the bottom of the ocean.
Presently, the landscape changed—no longer so grey or so dull. Indeed, the darker it grew, the more color emerged. Everything glowed, including the spider webs, and all the insects, and the lichen. Quite abruptly, they wandered into a forest unlike any forest Gwendolyn had ever seen, where the trees grew upside down.
But nay, it was the roots of wizened yews that had crept down into the underworld, creating merely the illusion of a forest—as though the trees had two lives, one Above, and one Below. But unlike the boughs of trees Above, what passed for leaves here were thick clusters of glowing moss.
Darkness fell away and light poured down through the arches, revealing beauteous scrollwork, and now and again, bridges spanned the crystalline waters. Beneath those bridges, a never-ending pool glistened like molten silver.
Gwendolyn gasped with wonder at the sight. Even after all she had endured, she could not be so jaded that she could not be in awe of the beauty.
At home, perhaps, and no longer so concerned over Gwendolyn’s welfare, thepiskiesall wandered about, their wee pricks of golden light floating about like stardust amidst the odd, tree-like shapes.
More bridges, more arches, more scrollwork.
Lily-like flowers bloomed with a delicate light, and Gwendolyn surmised they must be getting close to the City of Light. She might have inquired, but the Púca took a sudden detour, returning to a shadowy realm, and before Gwendolyn could ask where they were going, they had arrived at their destination.
“We’re here!” he announced.
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“Here?”
Gwendolyn’s tone failed to mask her dismay.
After the scenery they’d only just encountered, she’d dared to hope they were attending a great house, and its lady was perhaps someone who could influence the Fae king—a new ally in her bid for the sword.
Instead, this place was a smaller network of tunnels, illuminated only by patches of moss and crystals. The walls, draped with intricate webs, created a maze-like environs that utterly confused her. The air was cool and damp, filled with the scent of earth, but also with decay. As it was in thefogous, the only sounds to reach her ears were the occasionaldrip, dripof water from stalactites and the soft rustling of their own movements as they navigated their way into the heart of the lady’s domain.
