I nodded. Of course I wanted to see what he’d been talking about.
The king opened the door to a small platform, like a balcony, that barely had room for the two of us. I followed him onto it and clutched his arm tighter as a cold breeze called my attention to our precarious position. We were perched like little birds on a miniscule branch hundreds of feet above the ground. Frosty ice, a starry sky, and snowy mountains made a beautiful landscape, but all I could see was the several-hundred-foot drop that would be my death if I slipped. Or tripped. Or fell. Or…
“Are you afraid of heights?” the king asked.
The normal upright world started to tilt, as if someone thought it would be funny to turn the mountains at an angle so I wouldn’t realize how far away the ground was. I closed my eyes and gripped his arm with an entirely un-ladylike hold, desperate to force my mind to make sense of the tipping landscape.
“I think I’ve just developed the fear.” I hated how breathy my voice sounded, but I couldn’t focus on it when my mind was growing dizzier by the moment. And then a horrifying thought struck me. “Please don’t push me over the edge.”
Before I even finished saying the words, a warmth settled onthe arm I had wrapped around the lute, the scent of cedar and leather increased, and a gentle pressure nudged me backward. “Step slowly,” he said, guiding me away from a beckoning icy death.
When the cold wind disappeared from my face, I opened my eyes. The elf king filled my vision, a striking and impossible combination of power emanating from his body while compassion and concern filled his eyes. Behind him, moonlight from the open door lit his silhouette like a glowing halo.
“Are you hurt?” His voice was more gentle than I’d ever heard it.
I blinked. Twice. And swallowed. The king I’d known until this moment had been a monster who overreacted to everything that he didn’t like. Once as a drekkan. More than once as cold and unfeeling. Now—
I didn’t know what to think. This was not monstrous behavior.
“Are you hurt?” he asked again.
“No, I—” I didn’t know what to say. I was not hurt, though. “Thank you.”
“How is it that flying did not frighten you, but this did?”
I huffed and shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe because we were moving? That was definitely the highest I’ve ever been on a platform.” A shaky breath interrupted me. “And it was a small platform.”
He tipped his head. “I did not intend to scare you. I thought you asked to see it.”
I nodded, quickly. “I did. And I’m glad you showed me. I just…” Another uneven breath. “I understand Koan’s motivation much better now. And I… I appreciate you bringing me back inside too.”
Concern filled his eyes. “I told you that you would be safe. I would never have pushed you.”
So much sincerity. This seemed like an entirely different elf than the one I’d known so far. “I believe you.”
The concern vanished and he reverted back to the cold king I first saw in the dungeon. “Good. Let’s get you back to your room.”
He extended his polite elbow again, but instead of threading my arm through it I grabbed his wrist. “Wait!” His eyes flashed like fires, and I let go quickly. Too much. Too impulsive. We weren’t friends. I was a prisoner he’d taken pity on. I could not just grab him. I had to start thinking before I acted.
His eyes tracked my offending hand as I moved it to grip the lute. When my hands stilled, he brought his gaze to my eyes. “What are we waiting for?”
“I just…” Did I dare say what I’d thought of a moment ago? It had been spontaneous like everything else I did, but what if he found it offensive? After he’d just shown me a degree of kindness I didn’t think he possessed? I’d rather end on that note, even if it meant…
My mouth mutinied. “I just wanted you to know that I don’t intend to hurt anyone here either. I don’t have any grand plans to destroy anything, and if I could keep all your people perfectly safe, I’d do it happily. I only came into Hemlit to find my brother. And I wish you could believe that about me as well.”
And since I’d said all that, I added my last thought. “It’s not easy to be in a place where everyone thinks you hate them when you don’t.”
Chapter 8:Aedan
The fae shifted from meek and terrified one moment to sharing her deepest thoughts the next. How was I supposed to know how to respond to anyone so unpredictable?
Before I had a chance to say anything, she gripped the lute with both hands and sped away from me.
I don’t think you hate us.
That’s what I should have said. It was obvious she didn’t hate us. I could have given her that small reassurance. But instead I was too confused to respond in time. The only other people who had ever approached me with close to the same audacity were my cousins—who were all caught outside the curse—and the twins, who showed no respect unless I was threatening them.
But tonight, that had changed. Koan had shown more respect and solemnity when I found a mob in my corridor than I’d thought he was capable of. Was that this fae’s work? And if so, had she cursed him or…
