Chapter Text
The sound of trumpets drew all eyes to the entrance of the throne room.
Summer had arrived.
First were a pair of Seelie knights, dressed in dark green armor, both bearing the banner of the Seelie Court, a magnificent stag. Following them was a gigantic troll, glaring menacingly at the ogre guards stationed in the corners of the room, who glowered back.
Piskies fluttered in, trailing long strands of flowers and bells; centaurs and satyrs trotted behind them, their hooves clacking on the frost-covered floor; gnomes, dwarves, leprechauns, kitsunes, sylphs, sprites, wisps, even a pair of rock giants, entered the room, sweeping in with the smell of flowers and sunshine. There were so many, I could scarcely believe my eyes. I'd never seen a single Summer faery, never before in my short life, and seeing this many in one place was almost too much for me to take in at once.
The Seelie nobles came in, bright hair of gold, copper, chestnut, and amber done up elaborately with ribbons and jewels, in beautiful dresses and tunics made of everything from gemstones to butterflies and colorful flowers, to strands of woven grass, their skin glowing and warm from the eternal sunshine of Summer.
I was well aware that I was gawking, but no one was looking at me anyway. The Unseelie fey tensed, not mingling with the Seelie fey, due to an eternity of hatred interspersed with battle and bloodshed and shaky truces that lasted only a few centuries at a time. It was a horrible feeling, this hatred, pulsing through the throne room, a sleeping beast that could awaken at any moment. Though it was against the laws of Elysium to engage in violence, it still lingered just beneath the surface. Waiting to strike.
"His Majesty King Oberon, King of the Seelie Court, and Her Majesty Queen Titania, Queen of the Seelie Court," a voice announced.
The Seelie rulers entered, along with a legion of Summer knights.
King Oberon, the Erlking, was tall, slender as the limb of a willow tree, his long silver hair shining like moonlight. Green eyes smoldered beneath his antlered crown, and an aura of flickering, immense Summer glamour thrummed around him with the deep, ancient presence of an old forest. His presence was about as subtle as an earthquake.
Queen Titania stood beside him, dressed in a gown of glittering sapphires that matched the blue of her eyes, her pale, luminous gold hair piled on her head and topped with a diamond-encrusted silver crown. Her power was a deadly summer storm roaring around her, snapping with lightning and thunder.
Mab stood and floated gracefully down from her throne, her ruby gown pooling around her like freshly spilled blood, to take a seat at the head of the long white table in the center of the room, and began talking with Oberon and Titania, welcoming them to the Court.
Elysium was a show; by attending it you demonstrated your dedication to Winter and to Queen Mab. There were no official proceedings except for the discussion of treaties between Seelie and Unseelie rulers.
Music began to play in the corner, beautiful, dark, passionate music that drew my eyes away from the fey rulers to a corner stage, where an orchestra played their instruments. But the musicians weren't fey. I did double take and squinted at them, then glanced in surprise to Ash. "Humans?" I asked, entranced in the lovely song and my first sight of what had been, until now, only myth to me.
He nodded, his gaze following mine. "Mab collects some of the best musicians in the mortal world. They'll have no memory of this when they return," he said, then amended, "If they return." His voice was dismissive.
I shuddered as I saw a group of goblins eyeing the humans hungrily. "That doesn't seem fair," I said, still watching the glazed eyes of the mortals as they played with sparking, passionate emotion. It rose off of them in waves, dizzying in its intensity. I already felt stronger. "Taking them away from their homes and families to serve us."
"Mortals are blind, and their lives are short," Ash responded, as if that explained anything.
But I wondered; he was older than me, and surely he knew more about the nature of mortals than I did. The music swelled around me, urging me to dance and leap and spin, but I stayed put, eyes on the humans. "All that emotion... don't you think it's beautiful?" I asked.
I finally turned to look at Prince Ash. He still stood a few steps below me, gazing out at the crowd of fey with a faraway expression. Sensing me watching him, he glanced back up at me, silver gaze impenetrable.
The music serenaded me, promising relief from all of the stress I'd been experiencing since I got my first vision, and I voiced the question that the song called out to me. "Care to dance, Prince?"
His face was stony. "I don't dance."
I narrowed my eyes for a second, weighing the best words that would convince him to lighten up. I felt a sudden desire to see him smile again. "You don't, or you can't?" I teased. "Afraid you won't be able to keep up? That you'll step on my toes?" When music played, I felt daring, and I suspected Ash wouldn't back down from the challenge. He was too proud.
"I'm a prince of the Unseelie Court." He half-smirked, as he offered me his hand, eyes sparking. "I'm not afraid of anything."
I grinned, placing my palm in his. "All right, Prince," I said. "Let's see what you can do."
He drew me down the steps of the dais, out into the center of the crowd. A little bubble of space seemed to form around us, and I knew it was due to Ash's presence. The courtiers were constantly aware and wary of him, though they watched us now with an edge of predatory curiosity.
Then we were off, a blur across the ballroom. When I spun, the skirt of my dress lifted around us, sparkling blue, my loose hair a streak of silver billowing out behind me.
When the song ended, I swayed in Prince Ash's arms, closer than I remembered being. I laughed, faintly embarrassed but not caring, and pulled away, relaxed and smiling.
"So, Lady Ariella," Prince Ash murmured. "What's the verdict - can I in fact dance?" He asked this with a small smile that told me he knew the answer.
I was still breathless, but I managed a smirk and said, "You can, but that doesn't mean you should." My taunt was diminished by the breathiness of my voice. I felt light as a snowflake, careless and dizzy with the abundance of human emotion in the room. It was like a drug.
Prince Ash's eyes glittered; I knew he felt it too. "You like dancing; admit it," I said.
"It's been a while," was all he said.
I let it drop and brought up something else instead. "You never answered my question, you know," I told him.
His lips twitched into the tiniest of bemused smiles. "Which one? You have a lot of questions."
I rolled my eyes."Why are you helping me?"
Shadows flickered across his face and were gone. "I don't mean you any harm, Lady Ariella," he said, which wasn't the answer I wanted.
"Ari," I blurted reflexively. "Call me Ari, please, Your Highness." My father called me Ariella, and right now I didn't want to be reminded of him.
"I will agree to call you Ari," he challenged, his eyes glinting, "if you call me Ash."
My eyes widened, then I realized, seeing the challenge in his gaze, that he was making a joke... A joke? I decided to play along. "Oh, Your Highness, I really shouldn't," I teased. "It would be improper. Who knows what they would think..."
His silver eyes narrowed, his amusement vanishing, and he said in a hard voice, "Don't make me order you to call me Ash."
Did he really mean it? Oh, this was unbelievable. But his face was serious, all hints of humor gone, replaced with that glacial mask. I waited for it to fade, for him to drop the act, thinking he still might be joking... His face never changed.
Until he grinned. "You know, if I wanted to trick you, it would be very easy," he said.
I scowled, trying to retain a sense of dignity, though the corners of my lips resisted, tugging upward. "I am not easy to trick. I knew you were joking. Suspected it. Somewhat." He smirked. I tried to keep the glower locked in place, but it was no use. I smiled back. "You cheated."
"Oh? That's a dangerous accusation." He lifted a lazy eyebrow.
"You pulled the Prince card. If you ordered me to call you Ash, I would have to."
Ash waved a hand dismissively. "I only used one of the many resources at my disposal. That's hardly cheating."
We were drifting around the ballroom, dancing to a new song played by the orchestra accompanied by the haunting singing of a faery, when a beautiful girl with green-streaked azure hair and milky skin floated up to us. Her dress, I noticed, was made completely of a material that appeared to be semi-transparent snowflakes. It invited stares, and I didn't blame her. She was beautiful, like all of the fey gentry.
"Prince Ash," she purred, gazing up at him through long indigo lashes.
"Snowberry," said Ash, seemingly uninterested. "What do you want?"
"Oh, Prince Ash, won't you dance with me? We had such a great time at last Winter's Elysium..." The girl, Snowberry, pouted at him.
I looked back and forth between them. They obviously knew each other. Ash stared flatly at her, but I smiled devilishly. "Go ahead," I told Ash, who barely had time to shoot me a surprised, rather accusing look before a triumphant Snowberry dragged him off.
I snorted in amusement, relishing that look on his face. It was fun to catch him off guard, now that I knew that I could.
After they left, I gazed around at the dancing, milling faeries and wondered where Tiaothin was. I searched for a top hat and furry ears, but saw no sign of the phouka. I did see other phoukas, as well as a variety of other Unseelie denizens - redcaps, goblins, ogres, spriggans, hobs, bogeys, kobolds, and many others.
The Unseelie danced wildly in celebration of Winter, filling the massive room with their presence. The Seelie didn't dance much. They were mostly grouped together in the corners and behind their rulers, looking uncomfortably cold, clouds of breath misting the air in front of them. Curious, I drifted toward a party of Summer sidhe girls.
"Hello," I said to one of them, a girl with chestnut hair and mossy green eyes. "I'm Ariella." I smiled, hoping it would make me less intimidating.
The girl blinked in shock and her friends around her twittered like anxious birds. "Annwyl," she murmured at last, with her own hesitant smile.
"What brings you to the Winter Elysium? This is my first time at Court myself. A lot to take in, isn't it?" I gestured around us at the icy throne room and the dancing Winter fey.
I stared at the Summer girl, fascinated. Her skin seemed to glow with sunshine even in the cold light of Winter. Having never been outside of the Winter realm of Tir Na Nog, true, undiluted sunlight wasn't something I'd ever experienced.
"Yes, it is a lot to take in," Annwyl replied carefully. "This is my first time, too. Queen Titania brought me along." Annwyl flicked her eyes to Titania, seated at the high table - who happened to be looking right at us, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Annwyl swallowed. I noticed then that a lot of faeries in the crowd around us were staring, a few of them whispering.
A Winter girl and a Summer girl, speaking.
The implications struck me. Even if Seelie and Unseelie were in a truce, socializing with one another and doing anything but avoiding each other like the other was made of iron was considered unusual. I'd been raised with the idea that Summer was the enemy, but had never been able to hate those I'd never met. It was just one more thing to set me apart from the rest of the Winter fey if I acted friendly.
"I apologize for bothering you," I said quickly, giving her a small departing smile before retreating back into the crowd.
As I turned away, my eyes caught on Prince Rowan, standing in the corner with a beautiful girl, her hair the color of red wine, hanging thick and tangled down her back, though her skin was a bright, unnatural white, like the color of sun shining off the snow. Unseelie, then. While I watched, Rowan pushed her up against an ice pillar, none too gently, and whispered something in her ear that made her laugh and kiss him.
I gawked for a moment at the open display before I turned and walked in the opposite direction.
And ran straight into my aunt, Lady Chillsorrow.
My aunt was just how I remembered her. She looked unnervingly like the picture of my mother, despite them being only half-sisters - raven hair, snowy skin, heart-shaped face, and large, bright teal eyes, the same ones I possessed. But that was where the similarities stopped. She was taller than me, the planes of her face sharp and cruel, her pale mouth pursed to a wicked, calculating line. And her eyes had none of the sparkle that my mother's had in her portrait, the sparkle that made me love her despite never having known her; Lady Chillsorrow's eyes were as flat and dead as a shark's.
She gave me a chilly smile that didn't even try to be friendly. "Hello, niece," she said. "Fraternizing with the Seelie? Thinking about converting?"
"Just talking." I tried to summon up a smile, but the truth was that my aunt and I had never gotten along. In fact, I loathed her probably more than anyone else I'd ever met. Ever since she visited me when I was ten years old and still a child, I had despised her.
I remembered her unannounced visit to the manor, how my father had greeted her and welcomed her in. I could tell he was uncomfortable even as he tried to be civil. She'd glanced around and made some snide comment about my father's title being superfluous, though I hadn't known what that meant at the time. And then she'd seen me, grabbed my chin roughly and looked at my face, studying it. "Just like her mother," she'd said, as if it were some insult.
Afterward, I'd asked my father why she hated me so much. He explained that back when he and Crystalia met, before he'd won his title, he'd been far below her in rank. Lady Chillsorrow was Crystalia's older half-sister, and her only surviving family. She forbade Crystalia from marrying my father, several times, though they still met each other in secret for years. When he'd finally been granted Glassbarrow and the title of Duke by Queen Mab, Crystalia and the Duke married without her blessing anyway. Lady Chillsorrow hadn't spoken to my sister since, and only visited that one time, almost ten years after Crystalia's death. To see me, I supposed.
Now, Lady Chillsorrow tssked. "Consorting with the Seelie. What would your father think? Tarnishing the esteemed Ice Baron's reputation." She laughed mockingly. Ice Baron had been my father's title shortly before he was promoted to Duke of Glassbarrow. Some still called him that, but the way she said it made me angry.
I gritted my teeth to prevent myself from snapping at her, from letting her get any sort of rise out of me. I would not give her the satisfaction of seeing her words have that effect on me.
She continued before I could come up with a response. "I heard about your father's accident. I do hope he recovers soon. And if he doesn't, well, I suppose you could come live at Chillsorrow with me until you're old enough to manage his lands."
I couldn't help it; I flinched. "He's recovering just fine," I said stiffly. "And begging your pardon, but I am quite old enough to be Duchess."
She smiled indulgently. "Oh, I know, dear, but you should have some instruction from someone who has real experience."
I narrowed my eyes. "My father's been duke of Glassbarrow for most of his life. He has plenty of experience with ruling." There was some other thing that she wanted, probably, some cost for her offered assistance, and I wouldn't take the bait.
"And I've been Lady of Chillsorrow since before he was even born," she said, raising an elegant eyebrow. "You're my niece, Ariella. Offering you guidance is the least I can do." Her voice was too sweet, her words honeyed, and I knew there was some underlying message or purpose to them that I didn't understand.
"I appreciate the offer," I said, failing to keep the sharpness out of my voice this time. "But I don't need your help."
Lady Chillsorrow tittered. "Well," she said, with a scornful air, "At least I tried." Throwing me a mocking smile, she took the arm of some gentleman I didn't recognize who had been standing nearby and drifted back into the throng and out of sight.
I felt like shooting something. I glared in the direction my aunt had gone, wishing I could put an arrow through her face.
"How interesting," said Prince Rowan, materializing beside me. I startled, and whirled to face him. His blue eyes burned into me, a smug smile curving his lips at having caught me off guard.
"Your Highness," I said cautiously. The way he watched me, like a hawk tracing the movements of its prey, made me nervous. I didn't like it at all. In fact, it rather made me want to slap him. Not that I would, of course, unless he really made me mad. I resolved that I wouldn't let him.
"Lady Ariella, I believe you promised me a dance earlier," Rowan said with a grin that made my heart beat faster, despite myself. The sensation unnerved me. "Unless you've changed your mind, of course. I'm sure there are many other gentleman that you'd much prefer to dance with. I won't keep you from them."
It was true that I'd rather dance with an ogre than with Rowan, though I doubt he would appreciate me voicing this thought out loud. But however I declined his offer to dance, it would be an insult.
"There's no one else," I told him, as I took Rowan's offered palm. If he tried anything with me, I swore to myself that, prince or not, I would kick him very hard in an strategically important area.
"What about my brother?" he asked, putting one of his hands on my waist familiarly.
"Another girl asked him to dance. Snowberry, I think her name was."
Rowan looked smug. As a new song began playing, he led me into the dance. It was an unfamiliar, more complicated step and I realized Rowan was possibly the better dancer between him and Ash, as he probably had more practice.
"So what about you?" I asked when I finally found my footing.
He raised a bemused brow at the question.
"Don't you have someone you'd rather dance with? You and that girl seemed very intimate earlier."
"She's just a friend," he murmured, blue eyes blazing into mine.
I dropped my gaze. "I don't believe I've ever behaved in such a way with one of my friends." My cheeks went hot.
"Behaved in what way?" he asked. I looked up to see an amused grin on his face. He was teasing me.
"W-well," I stuttered inarticulately. My blush deepened, and I made the mistake of gazing directly into his sapphire eyes as he spun me closer. I was momentarily entranced, as I had been earlier, and I had to force myself to look away before I did something stupid.
Furious at myself, I let out a breath and looked up, anywhere else but at the prince, as if I could escape him just by pretending he wasn't there. Will-o'-the-wisps bobbed among the icicles on the ceiling and the ice pillars holding it up, like dancing stars moving to their own beat.
Prince Rowan followed my gaze. "Enchanting, isn't it?"
I found myself murmuring agreement, forgetting to be careful around him as the music grew to a crescendo. For a moment I was lost in the dance, my breath coming in gasps as it drew to a close. My skin was flushed, my whole body alight as it had been earlier, when I danced with Ash.
Rowan dropped my hands in the momentary pause between music, watching my reaction with a curious expression.
"It's the music," I explained, my voice coming out slightly breathy. "And the dancing. It always does this to me."
His puzzled expression only seemed to intensify. "Why?"
"I love music. Dancing to it makes me euphoric, like..." I paused, frowning at him. Was I actually having this conversation with Prince Rowan? "It's incomparable to anything else, really," I finished hesitantly.
He cocked a brow and then leaned closer to me. "I can think of a few things," he purred in my ear.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him. Rowan couldn't toy with me if I didn't let him. He only wanted me because he thought he could have me, but I was the one with the power here. With this in mind, as a new song started up, I asked, "Dance with me again?"
He grinned. "I would love to," he said, and put his hand on my waist again, taking my hand. His smiles came easily, unlike Ash's, and unlike my aunt's they held traces of real humor and amusement. This, I realized, was his way of hiding his true emotions. Rather than pretend he didn't have any, as Ash did, he covered them up with a careless smile that said he thought the whole world was a joke.
"Do you mean it when you smile?" I asked, curiously.
He cocked his head to the side, smirking at me. "Yes," he said confidently.
I nodded. It was real amusement, I thought, but the question was if it concealed anything. "Do you have any other expression besides amusement?" I asked, letting annoyance color my tone.
He laughed. "No," he said, with a grin.
"Hmm," I said, as he spun me. "That's boring." I pretended to yawn, covering my mouth with a hand, and blinked innocently at him, concealing the laughter that threatened to bubble up in my chest.
Rowan's sapphire eyes twinkled as he narrowed them. "Come here and say that," he purred, his voice a challenge. He applied a gentle pressure to my waist that drew me closer to him. There was something about his voice - a thorn embedded in velvet, caressing me even as it drew blood, somehow blurring the line between pain and pleasure.
I shook my head and pulled away, smiling slightly. "Not interested," I said, shrugging one shoulder rather apologetically.
His amused demeanor didn't even slip, and he shrugged and smirked, spinning me around again as we danced. "A heart of stone," he mused. "I can see why you and my little brother get along so well."
It wasn't that I was choosing Ash over Rowan. In fact, I wasn't choosing Ash at all. But I felt no curiosity about Rowan, whereas with Ash I couldn't help but wonder what exactly his motivations were for helping me. Rowan's motivations were clear. Ash's weren't. That was all, I told myself.
As the dance came to a close, I spotted Ash in the crowd, coming toward us. "I appreciate your company, Prince Rowan," I said, meaning it. "It was very nice to meet you."
"The pleasure was all mine," Rowan said, sapphire eyes still studying me as he spoke.
I dropped into a curtsy and allowed him to kiss my hand. Ash appeared at my side, expression unreadable as always. I stepped away from Rowan and smiled at him, about to ask about Snowberry, but he spoke first.
"Ariella," he said, not even glancing at Rowan. I blinked at the casual use of my name without the honorific. "Before we were interrupted earlier, I was going to show you the gardens. Would you still like to go?"
I almost grinned. "I would love to." I linked my arm with his and glanced back over my shoulder at Prince Rowan only once as we walked away.
He winked, catching me looking, and I whipped my head back around, flustered. Unbelievable! It was as if he wanted me to shoot him in his annoyingly handsome face.
***
"Where are we really going?" I asked, a little while later.
Ash gave me an unreadable look.
I glanced around for the lurking form of Snowberry, but she was gone. "How'd you get rid of Snowberry so fast?"
"I have my ways," he responded darkly, as he guided me away from the crowd.
Something about being back in his presence made me reckless enough to joke with him. I felt as giddy as if I had downed too many glasses of Frostwine.
"Well, you didn't have to kill her," I pointed out with an innocent smile. "Poor girl just wanted some princely attention."
Ash glared. "I didn't kill her."
I grinned, knowing I was getting under his skin. "You knocked her out and hid her behind an ice sculpture?" I asked sweetly.
"No."
I let myself be led out of the throne room, relieved to be away from the prying eyes, and into a passage smaller than the one we'd come through before, with walls of the same smoky ice."That's what I would have done."
He gave an exasperated snort. "I didn't want to dance with her," he said.
"Why not?" I asked innocently.
"You seem to find ways to get into trouble even in my briefest of absences."
Ash didn't want to dance with her, but he wanted to dance with me? I bit my lip to hide my smile."What trouble are you referring to?"
"I saw you speaking to the Summer girl."
"Yes, and it was just that. A simple conversation. I was only curious, Ash." I realized with a start that I'd said his name, no 'Your Highness' or 'Prince' attached.
He continued speaking as if I hadn't called him by just his name. "And you got the attention of Queen Titania. Don't do that again. There are consequences to consorting with Summer. If you're going to commit treason, at least do it where no one can see you."
I rolled my eyes. "Talking is treason, now?"
"Talking to the wrong person is."
"Why do you care what I do?" I asked. I had to know; I knew what I hoped his reason was.
"I shouldn't care," Ash said, almost to himself.
"Please tell me what you mean." I watched him, and though his face betrayed no emotion, I could tell there was something just beneath the surface.
Then he pushed me into an alcove. A very small alcove, hidden behind a column of ice. My heart thundered, being alone in such close quarters with him as he turned to me, pinning me with his silver eyes.
"When I saw you, I knew that you would be a target for the courtiers. You don't realize it, but every thought you have, every emotion, shows on your face. I couldn't let them destroy you. And I don't know why, but against my better judgement, I decided to help you." He spoke quietly, slowly, as if it were difficult to say.
"Well," I whispered, a little breathlessly, "I'm sorry for making it so hard on you, then."
He breathed a laugh. "Would you like to see the gardens?"
"Yes," I said. Anything for a little more time with him, though I knew it was foolish of me to want that. I almost didn't care.
***
It turned out that there was a hidden door in the alcove that led to the gardens. I tried not to be disappointed that had been the reason he'd pushed me into the corner, not that he planned to kiss me ravenously. Embarrassingly, that had been my first thought.
On the other side of the hidden door was a courtyard. Snow dusted the cobblestones, and the winding paths were lined with bare-branched trees, limbs covered with frost and icicles hanging precariously from the undersides of the branches.
"These are the gardens?" I asked, eyebrows raised at the barren landscaping.
"Shortcut," he explained. He offered me his arm and this time I took it without hesitation.
Peaceful silence stretched between us as we walked, filled with the faint song of tinkling icicles during a phantom breeze.
I realized I didn't really know anything about Ash and tried to come up with a way to ask about him."What do you do when you're not being a prince?"
He raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm always a prince."
I laughed. "You know what I mean."
"What would you say if I asked you what you do when you're not being a lady?" he asked, deliberately avoiding the question and turning it around on me.
I fell for it. Talking to him was too easy. "I like archery. There's this tree at the edge of the forest at Glassbarrow that I sometimes use for target practice. I also like maps." I winced as the last bit came out.
Ash noticed my expression. "Maps?" he asked, touching the back of my hand and cocking his head to the side as he looked at me. "Of Winter?"
It was impossible to refuse him when he looked at me like that. And he knew it, too. His silver eyes drew the answer out of me. "Yes, but Summer and the Wyldwood too. And... the mortal world. I like studying them. And drawing them."
We reached an archway covered in dark, thorny vines, the entrance to the gardens. I momentarily forgot everything as I took in my surroundings.
The pathway was lined with Winter flowers - blooms in indigo and scarlet and inky black, all dusted with a layer of frost. Among them were sprinkled a few of the crystal flowers that grew around Glassbarrow, petals made entirely of ice. The frozen forest around us was filled with life, slumbering beneath the surface of everything and exploding in sudden bursts of color against the stark black and white.
Ash brought me back with a question."Why do you study maps?"
I bent to examine a blue rose and the lace-like pattern of ice on its petals, partly to hide my pained expression from Ash. "Maybe because I've never left Glassbarrow. I suppose I hope to see the rest of the world, someday. But that probably won't happen," I said bitterly.
"Why can't you?"
Did he ever stop asking questions? And to think he had complained about me earlier. I answered anyway. "My father."
"So that's why you never left until now."
I blinked, surprised at how perceptive he was. "You knew?"
"I had suspicions."
Of course he did. And if he kept up this interrogation, he'd end up knowing everything about me. I decided to turn it around. "You never answered my question. What do you do... in your spare time? And don't even think about evading the question this time. I told you about myself. It's your turn."
He stared at the trees on the side of the path with a small smile, and then spoke to me surprisingly openly. "I hunt."
Hunting. I wouldn't have pegged him as a hunter, but now that I looked at him it made sense. He had a sword at his hip, his hair was slightly untidy, as if it hadn't been trimmed in a while, and he moved with a sort of lethal grace that spoke of long practice. I could picture a bow and arrow strapped to his back easily, and I wondered instantly if I could outshoot him.
He laughed, and it was then that I realized I'd spoken the last part aloud. "You don't think I could?" I asked, a little offended. "I might surprise you."
"You might," he murmured.
"Do you enjoy hunting?" I hoped for some insight into whatever emotions played behind that mask.
Ash chuckled without smiling. "It's much better than being stuck here. Yes, I suppose I enjoy it."
It occurred to me that if he hunted a lot, he might have a hunting partner. "Alone?"
His lips twitched. "Sometimes."
I wished he would stop being so cryptic. So he didn't hunt alone all the time.... Who did he hunt with, then? "Do your brothers hunt with you?"
"Rowan did, before he became so entangled in Court politics. Sage and I have, a few times, but he tends to distance himself from both me and Rowan."
I knew Ash and Rowan didn't get along; it surprised me that they had ever been close, with the way they seemed to dislike each other now. Or maybe it had always been that way, for all I knew. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like to grow up without any sort of love, without any real family.
I thought of my own family. Of my mother and of North, who were gone. Of the Duke, sitting in his bed, ill and weak, and for a moment I couldn't breathe. I stopped walking in the middle of the path.
"Ariella?" he asked, turning back to me.
I shook my head. I couldn't go back there, to Glassbarrow. With all its ghosts. How could I face anyone? My father, most of all, after what I'd said to him.
Ash took my hand, and I jumped, startled from my thoughts. I gazed up at him, my heart beating erratically. He was close. Too close. I wanted him closer. Why did I want him closer? "Would you like to come hunting with me sometime?" he asked me.
Startled from my heated thoughts, I could only blink. "What?"
"You want to see more of the Nevernever. I can show you."
For a moment, I considered it. We could leave right now. No one would know.
I gasped as I felt the tug of my secret promise to my father tug at my heart, like a string. Binding me to Glassbarrow. Pulling me back.
I'd promised that I would go home if I even considered leaving. That oath compelled me to return now. It was impossible to ignore, to fight, but I struggled against it anyway. Not now, I thought frantically.
Ash stared at me, concern in his eyes. "Ari?"
My name on his lips made me meet his stare. "I can't," I whispered. "I have to go back. I'm sorry." My hand slipped out of his. Turning on my heel, I fled the garden, leaving a lovely, enigmatic, and very confused prince in my wake.
***
Tiaothin pounced on me as I entered the throne room again. "Where did you go?" she asked, her sibilant voice slurred. She had a nearly empty glass of Frostwine gripped in her claws, and a smear of lipstick on her cheek. Her top hat was slightly askew.
"We're leaving," I told her, before my body carried me away. I kept thinking of how I'd run away from Ash like a complete idiot. He must think I was out of my mind.
Bewildered, she half-ran to keep up with my long strides. "Why?" she asked.
"Ash asked me to go hunting with him," I told her under my breath.
"Ash!" she exclaimed, loud enough for those around us to hear. We received a few inquisitive stares. "As in Prince Ash?"
I nodded, focused on fighting my way through the crowd without falling flat on my face. Whenever I slowed, the string attached to my heart gave a sharp, painful tug.
Tiaothin chattered questions at me, which I mostly ignored. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and wishing I'd never made that promise. I wanted to go with Ash. I wanted to spend more time with him, get to know him better, see places with him. It was a completely alien desire for me. Which was exactly why I had to leave. Glassbarrow tugged on one side of my heart, the longing for what Ash had offered me pulling on the other.
As soon as Tiaothin and I were alone again in the courtyard waiting for our carriage, Tiaothin started giggling.
"What is it?" I asked, trying to keep the edge out of my voice. If she was laughing at me, I might consider feeding her to a goblin tribe. I wasn't in a particularly good mood.
"Cinderella," she snickered.
"What?"
"A human... fairytale." She giggled again at the term, then hissed at my blank stare. "A girl goes to a ball, dances with the prince, then flees before midnight."
I raised a brow, thinking that the story sounded familiar. I thought Isolde had told it to us once. "So, are you implying that this story is about me?" I asked, hopelessly missing the point.
"No, it's about me." She rolled her eyes.
I pretended not to recognize her sarcasm. "Which prince did you dance with?"
She threw her clawed hands up in the air in exasperation. "I'm not Cinderella! I'm the fairy godmother!" She mimed waving around a magic wand.
I laughed, feeling better already at the thought of any princess unlucky enough to be cursed with Tiaothin as a fairy godmother. And yet, the thought failed to distract me from my sudden - and disturbing - longing for someone I'd only just met.
***