“Why not?” the other pixie argued.
Jerome turned to us. “Meet Wesley. He likes to suck the fun from everything.”
“Oh, we’re used to that.” Driscoll pointed a finger at Leoni, who shot him a glare. “C’mon Wes. Can I call you Wes?”
Wesley straightened. “No.”
“Are we going on this tour or not?”I signed, and Leoni translated.
“Yes,” Jerome said at the same time as Wesley said, “No.”
Jerome turned to Wesley. “You know you’re not the boss of me.”
Wesley turned up his nose. “Master put me in charge of the staff. You are the staff. That means I am your boss.”
“Well, Master also told me I could show the guests around. Make them comfortable. Do you want me to tell him that you’re going against his orders?”
Wesley yelped. “Don’t you dare!” He pointed a finger into Jerome’s chest.
Jerome gave him a lazy smile. “Didn’t think so.” He turned to us. “Ready?”
Jerome showedus the kitchen first. As promised, a red-faced pixie fluttered around amid boiling pots and bubbling cauldrons. Savory and sweet smells filled the air, and I had to admit, my stomach grumbled at the prospect of all this food.
“Cook hasn’t had a chance to show off his skills in a long time,” Jerome whispered to us before Driscoll snatched a piece of bread from the table and stuffed it in his mouth. Cook did not like that, shouting at us to get out unless we were going to pitch in.
After that, Jerome showed us the ballroom, filled with dust and cobwebs. He showed us the dining hall with a long table big enough to seat thirty. It reminded me of the table in the star castle where I so often ate my meals with Aron and other residents. And before that, my brothers and father. My heart clenched at the memories. At the reminder of how alone I was until I could break this curse. The entire time, Wesley flew behind us, a silent presence but an invasive one with the scowl lining his face.
It was clear he wasn’t happy with our arrival, but I wasn’t sure why. Jerome seemed to like us just fine, so I couldn’t understand why Wesley didn’t.
Goji had seemed more indifferent to us, but she wasn’t hostile. Just snarky. Wesley treated us like we were his enemies, sending glares our way, snorting and harrumphing any time we made comments, refusing to answer questions and cutting off Jerome if he felt the pixie was telling us too much.
We walked through a room of statues as Jerome pointed to different busts, naming the former rulers of the shadow court. Names that meant nothing to me.
“Of course, we haven’t had a ruler of the shadow court in over sixty years, not since?—”
Wesley pinched Jerome as he spoke, his face turning bright red with anger.
Jerome cleared his throat. “Well, there aren’t really any shadow elementals to step up to the throne,” he finished quietly, the tips of his ears red.
Not since Kairoth killed all of them. It was a stark reminder of whose castle we were guests in. Someone with the power to kill an entire race of people. Someone who had killed entire races. Someone who would do it all again if we didn’t stop him. It was a reminder that no matter how nice these pixies were, no matter how much they told us we were guests, we weren’t safe.
Leoni and Driscoll wandered around the room, looking at different paintings and other statues, but Wesley flew over to them and shooed them toward the door.
“Next, next, next,” he said, ushering us all out into the hallway.
“At least let them look at a painting,” Jerome said.
Wesley shot him a look. “I think they’ve looked at plenty.”
We walked out of the room, the main entrance of the castle far below with two winding staircases on either side that led down. Everything was black and glittering. From up here I could see across the way to an area we hadn’t explored. Tattered maroon curtains were drawn over the balcony, blocking any view of that area of the castle. That must be the east wing. Kairoth’s words came back to me, and I peered curiously at Jerome.
“What is over there?”
Leoni translated my question.
“Ah.” Jerome scratched the back of his neck. “That’s, uh?—”
“None of your business,” Wesley cut in.
