Page 20 of Hopeless Kingdom
And, like an idiot, I followed them. Because part of me knows they’re right.
I am fae. I am the Eminence.
Or, at least that’s what all these beautiful people want to believe.
A large woman in a tight dress leans into a man and holds her hand to her mouth as she whispers to him. Another person does the same. Then another, and another.
Until it’s an overbearing crowd of scuttling whispers.
The Eminence.
The rush of words turns into hissing sounds that sets my nerves on edge.
Daxdyn’s hand brushes over mine and he leans into me. “It’ll be okay,” he tells me, his head lowering close to mine, his soft brown hair skimming my forehead.
A faded feeling of calm pushes at the edges of my emotions but the anxiety out climbs it.
Tristan looks from Dax to me but I don’t give the judgmental king a second glance.
The whispers hush to a dull murmur as a shuffling figure appears on the oval stage at front of the room. Yellow lighting falls upon the figure, giving him a more sickly skin tone. The intricate golden trim of the room doesn’t catch the dim lighting. The grandeur of this castle is wasted with minimal lighting and dirty windows.
But the lighting doesn’t take away from the ominous presence of the Traveler. The ends of his dark cloak swish with every hobbling step he takes. Finally, his gnarled face looks sightlessly out at the horrified crowd who stares up at him.
“Our time has come, my children.” The Traveler’s voice crawls over us and I lean closer to Daxdyn’s calming warmth. “My Eminence, please join me.”
He can’t see a thing.
I have to remind myself that he cannot see a thing.
But it doesn’t stop him from skimming the crowd until his attention lands hard on me.
A chill scurries across my flesh, and I stiffen my spine against the fear that’s growing within me.
The long length of his curved fingers reaches out to me, cryptically inviting me to join him where he stands.
What kind of power resides within the Traveler? I felt it when we met. It’s a dark and chilling feeling that makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.
Two steps are all I manage to take before Daxdyn pulls me back to him. I look up at him, our eyes meeting as he searches my features.
Without a word, he kisses the top of my head before shoving me toward the stage.
I stagger, my boots scuffing the recently polished floor. The white tile gleams beneath my dirty boots and I wonder if I’m leaving a nice trail of mud behind me.
The mass of people part for me. My bare shoulders brush against theirs minimally and my fingers rake across expensive gown after expensive gown. I make sure to keep my head held obnoxiously high as I walk among the people of this kingdom. I meet a few of their gazes, looking into their eyes with a tightly held jaw and a hard purse of my lips.
No pleasantries are offered to them.
They think I’m a person of amplified strength.
And so I will be.
I walk with confidence up the few curving steps that lead to the hunched over figure at the center of the stage.
In a strange world of Travelers and Eminent beings, who holds the higher authority? I quickly consider which of us is more important.
I am.
I am the all-important, all-seeing, all-saving Eminence.
