Page 9 of A Touch of Poison
But those canines were gone as quickly as they’d appeared, smoothed away behind a bored expression like the one he’d worn the first time we danced.
We were in public—in his city, no less. Of course he had to maintain a certain façade: he was the Night Queen’s Shadow, after all.
All of this is real.
I pushed the echo of his voice away and focused on the road ahead. The palace grew as we approached, spearing the sky. It dwarfed everything else in Tenebris-Luminis and the palace back in Lunden.
I raised my eyebrows at the gates. Tall and elegant, rather than thick and sturdy like those in Riverton Palace’s stone walls.
But that wasn’t what surprised me the most—carved in the form of branches and flowers with dragonflies and butterflies nestled amongst the leaves, these gates were made ofcrystal. Or glass or diamond, perhaps. Whatever the exact material, they were clear and refracted the sunlight into a thousand rainbow fragments.
Aside from the impossibility of their creation, I’d have said making gates from such a material was foolish—they’d be beautiful but brittle. Yet this was Elfhame, and I doubted they were as fragile as they appeared.
Magic was truly a marvel… when it wasn’t responsible for making you poisonous.
Either side of the gates stood a dozen guards, half of them in black armour with Dusk’s insignia across the chest in gold, the other half in white emblazoned with Dawn’s rising sun. The six from Dusk turned and bowed their heads as we approached. Their armour caught the light as they moved, gleaming not black, I realised, but the darkest possible shade of midnight blue.
Across from them, the guards from Dawn studied us with narrowed eyes. It was only as we drew close that I realised they didn’t wear white, but a pale, pale grey like shadow on a cloud.
Beyond the guards, the graceful arc of a bridge spanned a gorge and the rushing river at its base, but before we reached it, one of the Dawn guards stepped forward, hammering her spear into the ground. “Marwood.” She cocked her head at him before surveying me. “And who is this?”
4
Kat
Icould feel the calculation in her stare. She didn’t only want to knowwhoI was, but why I might matter. I returned her look, keeping my face neutral. Dawn and Dusk cohabited this city and the palace, but I didn’t understand the intricacies of their arrangement. And hadn’t all the stories warned against offending the fae?
(Fairly sure almost poisoning one was considered offensive, though.)
“Amandine. A delight to see you as always.” With the flat line of his lips, Bastian looked anything but delighted. “Katherine is a guest of Dusk and will be staying in the palace until she’s ready to return home.”
“A long way for a human to come.” There was the briefest hesitation before the word “human” like she found it distasteful to say.
Behind her, the other Dawn guards stood at attention, but I caught their gazes snapping this way. To our left, I could feel the scrutiny of the Dusk guards and when I glanced over, I found one had stepped forward, both hands on her spear.
Clearly, it wasn’t standard procedure to stop the Night Queen’s Shadow from entering the palace.
Tension twisted through the air. Not only did I not fully understand the undercurrents here, but I had no power to do anything to defuse the situation or get Amandine to back down and let us inside.
Either she didn’t notice the Dusk guard’s approach or didn’t care as she went on, “Has His Majesty authorised her entry to Elfhame?”
Bastian’s mouth curved in what might’ve been a pleasant smile, but the way it made his eyes glitter reminded me of the murderous look he’d given me when I’d stolen his orrery. “HerMajesty has. We arrived by moonlight.”
Amandine gave a soft grunt. “Of course you did.”
It sounded as though that meant all was well and I should be allowed to pass, but she remained there, spear blocking our path. The hair on my forearms prickled against the silk of my sleeves.
The Dusk guard took a step closer and opened her mouth.
But with the slightest twitch of his fingers, Bastian silenced her before he met Amandine’s sharp gaze. “Was there something else?”
The guard’s jaw shifted from side to side before she exhaled and took a step back. “Not at this time. I trust you’ll warn your human to follow our rules, Marwood.”
“Of course.” He smiled blandly as we continued on our way. “And when she awakens, I’ll ensure Her Majesty understands just how helpful you were.”
I caught Amandine flinching as we passed. I didn’t know whether to revel in the small victory or reassess Bastian—even with his “diminished” power, he had more than I’d ever known in my life.
The bridge’s gentle arch made itlooksafe. It was perhaps wide enough for four people or two sabrecats to walk abreast, but it had no guard rails. A moment’s carelessness andsplash—I peered over the edge—make thatcrash. Unless you fell from the very centre, you’d be lucky to avoid the dark, jagged rocks on the way down.
