“Morgan, take Tessa inside and get someone to show her to her room. Make sure she gets some food and drink and that she doesn’t try to explore the castle on her own.” He shot me a vicious look before parting. “We need to be careful with this one.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” The fae warrior bowed and then turned to me as the king bustled off. She gave me a quick once-over, nodding. “Well. Here we are. Welcome to Albyria. It’s nice to meet you, Tessa.”
I blinked, a little surprised she’d bothered with the niceties after the way her king had treated me. Of course, Iwasset to become her queen. Maybe she viewed me differently than he did.
“Come along,” she said, nodding toward the castle door. “They’ll have prepared a room for you, but it’ll be only temporary, of course.”
My brows arched in question.
She gave me a tight smile. “After the wedding ceremony, you’ll join the king in his bedroom.”
Horror whipped through me like a storm. My pointy shoe caught on the crack between two stones, throwing me forward. A shriek shot from my throat as I fell, my knees colliding with the hard ground. Pain flared like lightning. Teeth clamped together, I sucked sharp breaths in through my teeth, willing myself to stay strong, to block it all out. I couldn’t show weakness here.
“Careful.” Morgan knelt before me and held out a hand. “You mortals can be so clumsy. I forget how much you experience pain, even if you can’t be permanently wounded because of theOidhe.”
I lifted my face to meet her tense gaze. Understanding flashed through her eyes, and she gave me a slight nod, as if to say she knewexactlywhy I’d lost my balance. Not because of mortal clumsiness but because of her words. I’d have to spend every night in bed with the king.
For seventy-five very long years.
Shudders shook my body.
She tsked and helped me stand. “Don’t worry. Your mortal queens always fall in love with him after the wedding.”
My neck popped as I whipped my head her way. “What?”
Her eyes widened, and she hurriedly shoved her fingers against my lips. “Shush. Don’t speak. Just do what he says, all right?”
Dread coiled in my gut as she led me up the stairs. My mind raced as she signaled for the guards to open the door. Mortals in my village often acted the way Morgan did now. They’d always repeated the same thing. Obey the fae, especially the king. Never complain. Don’t say a word against him. But I’d assumed, maybe wrongly, that the fae of Albyria did not have the same fears we did back home.
The doors widened before us like the gaping jaws of a beast. My heart trembled in my chest as the cool air inside swallowed me whole. I stepped from one crimson monstrosity into another. A long hallway stretched out before me, the stone floor hidden beneath a pale orange rug. The wall to my right had been painted a deep red, and trails of orange stretched out in an elaborate, swirling design. The left wall was the opposite, red on gold. The sun streaming in from the enormous ceiling windows highlighted the glowing colors, almost blinding me.
It was even gaudier than the exterior, if that was possible.
A small figure stepped forward with her head bowed, her pale ginger hair pulled tight into a bun. I started when I saw the smooth curves of her ears and the short, stubby fingers. She was human.
But mortals weren’t allowed to step foot inside the city walls. No humans other than Oberon’s chosen future queen.
Confusion whipped through me. I turned to Morgan, my brows arched in question.
“You’re wondering about the maidservant. She’s human. They all are, including our cooks, our cupbearers, all of it. No fae inside this castle is forced to work.”
I arched my brows even higher. We’d never been aware of this, which made absolutely no sense at all. If humans were put to work inside the castle, surely we would know about it? Our village was not large enough for mortals to go missing without our notice.
“We have a stable of human families who have lived inside the castle for centuries. They are born here, and they die here. They never leave the city walls.”
Revulsion twisted through me. I’d had no idea. All this time…
“But no matter,” Morgan said briskly. “Maidservant, lead us to our future queen’s room.”
Maidservant.My stomach turned again. Morgan hadn’t even used the poor girl’s name. It was as though she wasn’t even an individual to these fae. Just an object. A creature to serve…like me.
Queen was a meaningless title. It held no true power in the Kingdom of Light, though it hadn’t always been that way. Before the Mist King had drenched most of the known world in darkness and shadow, the Kingdom of Light had been more than just Teine and Albyria. There’d been other cities, other castles, other lands. Women had sometimes ruled independently of their husbands. The responsibility went to whoever had the best claim—male or female, it hadn’t mattered. Not like it did now.
Of course, in the lands of Aesir, the rulers had always been elite fae.
Morgan fell into step beside me as the hunched maidservant led the walk down the hall. We turned into an arched doorway that opened up to a curving stairwell. I tipped back my head as we began to climb, our footsteps echoing like thunder. The stairs vanished so far above that I couldn’t see the end to them.
By the time we reached my floor, sweat dripped down my neck and my cheeks were flushed. As far as I could tell, my room was situated on the second highest floor, and I had a feeling whose room would be at the top. My gut churned. I might not have to live with him yet, but I was close enough that he could snatch me away any time he wanted.