Taking a slow step towards him, she stops just inches away, her face pulled into a snarl. “I didn’t ask you,” she bites out, before remembering we have an audience. Her face smooths into the tranquil expression I’m used to seeing on her face, but she just leans forward to speak into Eldrin’s ear. “And if you ever stand in front of me again, I will kill you.” Her whisper is meant for him, but her eyes flick to me as she speaks.
Stepping back, she finally pulls her gaze from me and looks to Vaeril. “Come,” she demands, giving him no room for argument. Stiffening beside me, Vaeril removes his hand from my shoulder and begins to move forward, throwing a look at Eldrin.
“Stay with Clarissa?” I almost miss the words, they’re said so quietly, but I know the queen hears them because she clicks her tongue.
Thankfully, she doesn’t say anything else, simply turning and leaving the room with her entourage following behind. With one last glance at me, Vaeril follows her, the entrance hall becoming suddenly empty.
Naril appears in front of us, his jaw tight as he looks from his twin to me. “Well, that was interesting.” There’s a pause when neither of us responds. Eldrin just stares at the floor, and I’m pretty sure I’m in a state of shock as I look around at the now empty hall with a frown. “I thought we weren’t going to tell the queen yet,” Naril continues, snapping his fingers in my face to bring my attention back to him.
Frowning, I reach up and bat his fingers away as my brain tries to comprehend what just happened. “She was berating Vaeril in front of everyone. I wanted to take the attention off of him,” I finally reply, glaring at him. I can’t help but wonder how much of the spectacle Naril saw. Obviously, it was enough to hear me tell her I was part elf, but Naril did nothing to stand up for his brother. How often does this kind of thing happen? At least Eldrin tried to help. “She’s cruel. I’d like to see her survive what Vaeril went through and come out even semi-whole,” I continue with venom in my tone. I reach up and rub at my chest, trying to ease the ache that has settled there.
“Keep your voice down,” Naril snaps, glancing around to check that no one is listening. “She’s the queen, she can do whatever she likes.” He speaks louder this time, as if to placate any listening ears.
Turning, I ignore him and look at his brother who is still staring down at the marble floor, his face twisted. “Eldrin, are you okay?” I place a gentle hand on his shoulder, but this is the wrong thing to do as he flinches away from me, his eyes wild.
Naril suddenly jumps in front of me, placing both hands on his twin’s shoulders. At first, I think it’s to comfort him, but as I see his arms straining, I realise it’s to hold him back. “Eldrin—brother! It’s okay.” His words are tight, as if he’s using all of his energy to keep the other elf in place. “We’re back at the palace. Vaeril is here. He’s safe.” The words seem to break through whatever dreamlike state he’s in, and he slumps against Naril, his breaths coming in fast, hard pants. It doesn’t last long, but for those tense couple of seconds, I’m terrified.
“I need to get out of here,” he mumbles into his brother’s shoulder.
Naril nods. “Let’s take her to the cliffs,” he suggests, patting his twin on the back a couple of times.
Nodding, Eldrin pulls away from his brother and straightens. His gaze instantly falls on me. I stayed completely still during his whole episode, not understanding what happened, but in my soul, I recognised his pain. Whatever he’s been through, it was awful and has damaged him in a way most will never experience.
“Let’s go,” Naril announces, seemingly oblivious to our silent acknowledgement of hurt as he starts striding away, expecting the two of us to trail after him. Eldrin blinks first and gestures for me to follow his brother. What just happened here?
Taking a deep breath, I turn and hurry after the elf, his long, fast strides meaning I have to almost jog to keep up. Eldrin is behind me, I can feel him, but I don’t look over my shoulder to check, I don’t need to. We’re all quiet as Naril leads the way. I should be taking in the beautiful architecture of the palace as we descend to the lower levels at the back end of the building, but I’m too caught up in my thoughts to truly admire it.
It’s cooler down here, and I can hear the rushing of the river beneath us, the steady rumble of hundreds of gallons of water as it travels to the ocean. I’m not sure how many different floors we pass, since the stairs are seemingly endless as we keep walking down, down, down. The architecture here, although obviously of high quality, is much simpler than the main castle.
“You need to learn to defend yourself.” Eldrin’s voice makes me jump, and I clutch my hand to my chest as my heart pounds from being startled. He sounds frustrated, like this is something that’s being playing on his mind for a while, and as I glance over my shoulder, I see he’s frowning at me. I’m surprised he cares about my safety, and my face must show it because his expression changes to a sneer. “Vaeril might not always be around to protect you,” he says snidely. “You’re just a liability at the moment. You could get him killed.”
Ah, there’s the cruel Eldrin I’ve come to know. Shaking my head, I turn forward as we climb down another tight spiral staircase. I know he doesn’t like me, and I don’t expect him to. I’m everything he’s been taught to hate, but every now and again, I see a different side to him. Someone who cares too deeply and has been hurt for it. I know some of this anger and rudeness is part of his mask to protect himself, but I’m starting to lose my patience with him.
“I survived slavery for twelve years, I’m stronger than you think,” I retort, my tone harsher than I meant it to be. I sound like I’m trying to justify myself.
“You survived what others didn’t because of your fae heritage,” he counters. “You need to use it, use every advantage you have.” His voice gets louder, and thanks to the tight stairwell we’re in, his words bounce around me and seem to be coming from all angles.
He’s right, not that I’m going to admit that, but I realise now that’s the one thing I had that the other slaves didn’t. Since we arrived here, I’ve just felt like ‘the human,’ unwanted and in the way. I need to learn to embrace this other side of me if I’m going to survive.
“He’s right,” Naril chimes in ahead of me. “The queen has taken a disliking to you. You need to be able to fight.” The fact that it’s Naril telling me this makes me think that the queen is more of a threat than I originally thought. Vaeril cares for me, and Eldrin, well, I don’t know what’s going on with him, but I would expect a comment like this from both of them. Naril has no feelings for me, other than perhaps as entertainment and a fragile friendship, so if he’s warning me, then I’m going to take that seriously.
“You think she’s going to attack me?” My voice sounds calm and even, completely at odds with my pounding heart and turbulent thoughts.
“Not directly. You’re a curiosity at the moment—especially after that spectacle.” I can practically hear the eye roll in his voice. “The elves will want to know more about you, so she won’t kill you outright.”