The World Below, page 47
A gasp escapes my lips. ‘Who would do that?’
She tilts her head to the left, and the expression of her eyes turns from sorrowful to flinty steel. ‘Really, Percival, you have to ask?’
‘No, Effie, you must be wrong. Magnus, Bernais, and their cronies may be purists, but so long as the Unseelie stay above ground, they leave them alone.’
Effie nods. ‘They did… until they decided to make a bid for power. They were not able to gather enough followers by using the usual tactics, so they turned to the tried-and-true method of finding a target for everyone to hate. After all, hate bands people together to fight a common enemy, and the Baaronsons chose to use our court as their target. The attacks have been so violent, court members have been reluctant to return from their homes for some months now.’
I stare at Effie, not quite able to believe what she is saying, but at the same time, her words resonate with what I know to be true.
My friend still will not meet my eyes, so I am guessing there is more to come.
‘Then, a little over a month ago, the King’s consort was returning from a visit with his family when he was brutally attacked. He managed to make it back here, but when he arrived, he was barely breathing. The poor creature did not last the night.’
‘But… but he was so young…. Only a little over 200 years old.’
‘As I said, the attack was brutal. He was not meant to survive.’
‘How did we not hear of this?’ I ask, still stunned and unable to comprehend what this means to our mission.
‘I guess you could say the King and the court went into immediate mourning. We battened down the hatches and withdrew into ourselves. None of us have any idea how to respond to creatures who have such malicious intent against us, and, until we do, we will remain in hiding.’
I study Effie as she stares into her wine. It is only now I notice the tightness around her lips and the fine lines around her eyes that were not there when I last saw her six months ago.
She takes a deep breath before continuing. ‘A couple of weeks or so ago, Lady Susan arrived with the news that Prince Malachi and Princess Cecily were taken to face charges in the World Below. Priscilla disappeared soon after. The King panicked and sent his men to bring Princess Petunia to court, worried she might be a target too. Few people have come or gone since then, and under the circumstances, it is difficult to be joyful when we live under such a dark cloud.’
‘Oh, Effie, if only we had—’
‘You would not have been able to do anything. Nor would Ellie or Eugenia. Still, you are here now, and I cannot help but think that your mission is somehow tied to all of this.’
We drink our wine in silence as I attempt to fit all this new information into my picture of the worlds.
‘Effie, I am not sure how all this goes together, but I am sure we have the right people here to figure it out. We have overcome these creatures before, and we will do so again.’
Even as I try to boost her morale, my words sound hollow to my own ears. Last time we faced the traditionalist in our world, we had the Queen standing by our side. Now we are alone.
A door opens, and a fully dressed Snake pops his head into the room before his body follows.
‘I heard voices. I thought perhaps Pris….’ His smile slips as he catches sight of Effie.
‘Snake Fieth, may I introduce you to my friend, Lady Euphemia.’
Snake blinks a couple of times, his eyes adjusting to the light.
‘Pleased to meet you,’ he says politely, but he is clearly distracted. ‘I think I’m going to find Pris. I hate that she is alone, and she said she’d be here.’
I rise to my feet. ‘Snake, you cannot. The guards will not let you.’
As I take a step towards him to put a restraining hand on his arm, the door crashes open, and a booming voice announces, ‘I see our guests have arrived. Perhaps we can stir up a party in here, since no one in the dining hall wanted to join in.’
Standing in the middle of the room, shaking my head slowly from side to side, I feel like I’ve lost it. I must look that way too. Overtired and restless, I thought I heard a female voice next door. To be fair, I did hear a woman speaking, but it wasn’t who I expected it to be. Instead of finding Pris, I find a mini-Eleanora.
Part of me wants to make polite conversation because that is what is expected in these situations. The bigger part of me wants to find Pris and make sure she's okay. As I tried to sleep, my anxiety levels rose as I managed to convince myself something was wrong. If she was all right, she would've found a way to come to me.
At that moment the door flings open, and someone whose face I have only seen in a picture is standing in the doorway. A little worse for wear and sporting what appears to be an alcohol-fuelled grin, but he’s recognisable as my grandfather nonetheless.
My grandfather’s eyes slide over me, dismissing me as unimportant.
‘Percival, me old mate, great to see you in the flesh, so to speak.’
He attempts to stagger forward, and the creature holding him up struggles to prevent him from falling. ‘Heart tried to single-handedly motivate the court into a singalong,’ the other creature tells the room.
The gnome leads my grandfather to the sofa and helps him to sit, then moves the carafe of wine away before grandfather can take a drink. When the gnome guard sits down, he seems to be protecting the wine.
I am frozen in place, but I force myself to turn and face the creatures seated by the fire. Percival is eyeing me warily, as is the creature who arrived with my grandfather. He too looks strangely familiar, but all my attention is for the creature trying to keep himself upright while grinning stupidly at Percival.
‘You’re not a cat.’
Percival presses his lips together as if he is trying to stop himself from saying something. Unable to keep quiet, he says, ‘No, I am not.’
My grandfather doesn’t even have the wits to ask why. He stumbles on. ‘So you are staying here with us? Excellent. And you can use a guest room rather than curling up by the fire.’
‘You? You are here?’ The words slip out as a whisper. ‘You were in the World Above the whole time.’
The eyes my grandfather turns to me are cold and rather more focused than those of someone who is completely blotto. He leans forwards and peers at me before dismissing me again.
With his attention back on the others, he says, ‘Euphemia, I might have known you’d be here, gossiping, no doubt. I could have used your help jollying everyone along.’
‘Heart, you do know that you are a bard and not the court jester, do you not?’ she asks dourly.
For a moment the creature’s face clouds over. ‘I know better than anyone that you cannot wallow in self-pity when you have lost the love of your life. So what are the two of you doing here? Catching up on the family news?’
Percival takes a deep breath. ‘Actually, Heart, you could say we have been catching up on some of your family… ah… news.’
‘What? Percival, why are you staring at me like that? And Drow, you look like you have just discovered a miracle, or at least something very interesting in one of your books. Why have you all gone quiet? And you have not introduced me to your young friend. I am sure he would love to meet the famous bard of the Unseelie Court.’
‘Mmm,’ Percival starts, his voice dry. ‘He might have, had you not made such an ass of yourself.’
I remain where I am, not believing this is happening to me right here, right now.
Percival stands up, takes a step forward, and says, ‘Snake Fieth, may I present your grandfather, Breaker of Hearts, called Heart by his friends. And this is your great-uncle, Drow Fieth.’
If I was shocked by my grandfather’s appearance, he was more shocked when Percival introduced me. He mumbles something, stands up, sways, grins at me, steps forward as if to catch me in an embrace, stumbles, then collapses back into the chair.
I follow his actions, unable to move as a war rages inside me. Once the initial shock at finding Heart here at the court settles, little waves of anger travel through me, taking its place. He lived so close and could have helped my mother and me, and he didn’t. This thought is followed by gut-wrenching hurt because none of this appears to be a big deal to him.
My grandfather was living in Scotland while my mother and I struggled in the World Above, not even knowing he was here. In the end, anger wins out, and I take a step backwards. Heart makes to stand again, but Drow, perhaps reading the room, stands up and lays a restraining hand on his shoulder.
‘If you were in this world, why didn’t you help Mum and me? How could you leave us to fend for ourselves like that?’ The words tumble out, and my voice cracks with pent up emotion.
Heart stares at me, and I watch his face as he sobers. Was his drunken babbling all an act? I fear it might have been, because there's no sign of it in his voice as he says to me, ‘Your mother worked so hard to distance herself from me and from the Unseelie Court.'
He stares down at his hands for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. ‘She ignored my letters and did not answer my calls. After a while I stopped trying to contact her and let her drift away.’
He pauses and runs a hand through his hair. ‘Once her mother died, she wanted to be seen as a gnome. She did not enjoy being in the spotlight, and she did not want to join our fight for creature equality. She would not be a part of this court, and, after all we had been through together, I could not desert my friends. We were at an impasse, so I decided to let her live her life her way. I promised not to contact you or her directly but always thought she would relent.’
He glances up at me, and I glare back.
He blinks back tears and attempts a smile. ‘Over the years Eleanora kept me updated on what your mother was up to. It was through her I learnt that you were born. When your father left, I sent money to ease your path a little, and Eleanora saw that you got it.’ He stares me straight in the eyes as he tells me, ‘I always hoped you would find me when you were old enough, and now you have.’
Astonishment and anger are now joined by confusion, and they are vying for dominance in my head.
‘How would I find you?’ I choke out. ‘I didn’t even know you existed until a couple of days ago.’
I expect him to say that was my mum’s decision, but Drow interrupts. ‘Many see our court members as outcasts, and it is easier to ignore our presence than face our existence. I am afraid your mother was one of those. And to be fair to her, I think she always wanted Heart to choose her rather than us. It cannot have been easy for her to stay behind.’
‘I couldn’t stay,’ Heart’s voice breaks, and this time he lets the tears run freely down his face. ‘To stay with her required me to deny her mother, and I could no sooner do that than pluck out my own heart.’
Families are complicated. I don’t know where the thought comes from, but it pops into my head anyway. Perhaps I was better off not knowing who mine are?
‘Whatever your reason for being here, I am happy you are here now,’ Heart says, giving me a look of such hope, I find the ice around my heart begin to melt.
Still, I’m not ready to forgive him, and I remain rooted to the spot.
‘Well,’ Percival says into the awkward silence. ‘Fun though this is, we are not exactly here for a social call.’
At this Drow’s attention moves back to the sprite, but Heart still holds my gaze.
‘We are here to present a royal petition to the King,’ Percival finishes.
Drow’s eyes crinkle with a smile. ‘So, once again you and I must work together to petition royalty, old friend. Let us hope we are just as successful this time.’
It is then I remember that it had been Drow who worked with Percival to have transformation banned as a form of punishment. Pulling my gaze from Heart, I study the creature who is my father's uncle.
‘Will you help us?’ I ask him.
Euphemia learns forward in her chair. ‘It is perhaps more pertinent to ask, will the King allow him to help?’
To be honest, I had almost forgotten she was in the room.
Drow raises his eyebrows. ‘I do not see how he can deny me time with my family and friends. If we happen to spend that time working in the library….’
The room falls silent again. I want to say so much more, but where do I start?
Euphemia stands up and stretches. ‘Come now, it is late. We are all tired, and we should perhaps start afresh in the morning.’
I turn to the door. ‘But I was—’
‘Going back to bed,’ Percival finishes for me. ‘I don’t think now is the time to take on the court guards and rock the boat.’
‘What had you planned?’ Drow asks me, his eyes narrowing.
‘The other member of our party is a female,’ Percival says, and Drow nods understandingly.
‘Look, Snake, sneaking round corridors for illicit liaisons is not the way to make an impression on the King, and I am sure your friend’s chaperone is telling her the same. Best you get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow is not that far away, and you will see her again then,’ my uncle counsels.
I’m not sure which of my newfound family members I prefer. Heart, who wears his heart on his sleeve, or Drow, who is coolly practical. If I am honest, at this moment, I wish, instead of meeting either of them, I were well on my way to finding Pris.
‘All right,’ I say. ‘I bow to your superior knowledge—this time. Good night, everyone.’
Heart stands up to do… I don’t know what. Fortunately, Percival intervenes. ‘Let me have a word with him, Heart. This has come as a bit of a shock to him. Besides, there will be plenty of time to build bridges tomorrow.’
I sense rather than see Percival follow me into my room. He shuts the door behind him, blocking out the tangle of trouble in the room next door.
‘I know this is difficult. If I had known we were staying with your family, I could have warned you.’
I flop down onto the bed. ‘It’s not that.’
‘I know, you want to make sure Pris is all right. I understand, but please believe me when I say that what I learnt about the Unseelie Court tonight…. Well, let me just say, it is best if we do not break any of the rules.’
I sit up and study Percival. He is so serious and clearly worried about something, and he has not led us astray yet. ‘This is why you are here with us, isn’t it. Not only do you know these people, but you’re here to make sure we don’t do anything stupid.’
Percival laughs, and the sound eases some of my tension. ‘I guess I might be, at that.’
‘All right. But if Pris is angry with me, I expect you to back me up and tell her how you virtually locked me in my room.’
‘Deal,’ Percival says. ‘Now, get some sleep. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow.’
He closes the door, and I crawl beneath the blankets, still in my clothes, planning to wait until everyone is in bed before I go find Pris. I’m asleep before my head even touches the pillow.
I want to scream, ‘Just leave me alone for a minute’. There are so many creatures dressed in maid uniforms from some bad gothic movie crowding me, all vying for attention, asking if I need this or that. I don’t want anything except some peace and quiet.
I frantically scour the room and finally find Susan. I send a silent plea to her, and she nods once before ushering the others not only out of the bathroom, but out of the entire suite.
‘I’m out here if you need me.’ Susan closes the door behind her, leaving me in blissful silence.
I strip off my filthy clothing, and I leave them in a puddle on the floor before stepping into the steaming hot bath. I shiver as I slip under the mass of lavender-scented bubbles, then I relax and allow the water to work its magic, easing away my stress while cleaning the dirt from my skin.
The bath is the most enormous claw-footed affair I’ve ever seen. It is so large, I can lie back with my legs stretched out and still not touch the end. All right, I am not as tall as I am in the World Below, but I’m not short in my human form either.
I curl a strand of black hair around my finger and am surprised I kind of miss the white it turns when I’m in my true form in the World Below. One thing I don’t miss is my pointy ears. It’s disconcerting enough to grow a couple of inches and have white hair without my ears changing shape as well. That transformation is so much more… personal.
Enough self-indulgence. I need to plan a way to get to Snake. I sink a little lower under the bubbles, leaving only my face exposed, and begin to plot. This corridor may not have guards placed at either end, but there is the gaggle of maids who I’m sure have not gone far. I’ll have to dodge them if I’m to meet up with him.
The door handle rattles, and I shift so I can growl at the maid who has dared to interrupt me. I catch a glimpse of pink floral silk—this isn’t a servant. Closing my mouth, I warily eye the door.
The woman who enters is dressed in a silver-and-pink off-the-shoulder gown with an impossibly slim-fitting bodice flaring out to a skirt caught up at the back, making her bum look enormous. Her auburn hair is swept into an elaborate bun held by a sparkling comb. My eyes widen. Are those real diamonds in the comb? And in the drop earrings and the choker around her neck? She could buy a small country with that set.
This woman is so put together and has such presence, I’m suddenly all too aware I’m lying naked in a bath. Thank goodness for the modesty-saving bubbles.
Without saying a word, my visitor glides over and perches on the rim of the bath before studying me, her face not giving anything away.
‘So you are Cecily’s daughter,’ she says, her voice a rich purr.
I nod.
‘And the rumour amongst the maids is that you have come to petition the King on behalf of Queen Ariana?’
I nod again, not quite sure where my voice has gone. Somehow this woman’s imposing presence has robbed me of the power of speech.
‘My sister has sent numerous creatures begging for his help, and he has sent them all away. But perhaps you might stand a chance where others have failed.’
