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As the music begins to play, the same music Finn entered to every night when he performed his acrobatics for the Sunborne’s entertainment, the crowd quiets.
The long tables have been set as if we really are waiting on a feast, but I have seen no movement in the kitchens to indicate that this is the case.
Alana enters behind me, barely making a sound.
She is radiant, and almost looks like one of them. Her hair is loose, gathered over one shoulder, with large, beautiful waves that make it shimmer as she moves.
And her dress... it is almost like a wedding gown. Long, and silver, and flowing over her curves like it was made for her.
She stands beside me, completely poised.
Her hands are clasped in front of her.
She really is like one of them.
Eldrion enters from the front of the room, appearing from the shadows without warning the way Finn used to. The crowd quiets. This is not the usual way of things.
“Good evening.” He addresses them, but he is searching for Alana in the crowd. When he sees her, his eyes flicker with something. Pleasure? Comfort? Relief?
“Thank you for joining us this evening.”
Eldrion has barely begun to speak when Alana moves past me, heading straight for him. He notices her and stops talking. The crowd parts for her as she beats her wings, purple magic flickering at their tips.
“I’m afraid” – she raises her voice – “that Lord Eldrion has asked you here under false pretences this evening.”
Eldrion stares at her in disbelief and mutters something I can’t hear.
She stands right in front of him, blocking him from view with her beauty.
“There is no feast.”
Whispers spread through the watching Sunborne. The woman who came to the castle to ask about the storm clouds in the sky steps forward. “My lord, why is this woman speaking for you yet again?”
Before Eldrion can answer, Alana draws herself up taller, tilts her chin, and says, “I am speaking because I have something to say. And you will listen.”
Suranna blinks at her incredulously. She raises her hands. Golden magic flickers in them. It is so beautiful I can’t look away from it; the Sunborne use their magic sparingly, and I have never seen it before in such close proximity. It changes the air. In an instant, power quivers in every breath.
Another Sunborne steps up beside Suranna and does the same.
Alana studies them, and her eyes twitch at their corners. She is staring at their magic, and in that moment, I know exactly what she is planning to do.
I spin around, heading for the door, but a sudden shaft of purple smoke slams it closed.
The crowd begins to shift, and more Sunborne bring magic into their hands.
The guards try the doors, but Alana’s smoke is holding them closed.
“Listen to me, all of you.” Alana’s voice fills the air. “Eldrion has not told you the truth. What you saw above the castle was the start of something unspeakable. An evil that will destroy this city if we let it.”
“What are you talking about?” Suranna spits, her magic still simmering in her hands.
Alana sighs deeply. Behind her Eldrion is watching as if he can’t decide whether he is turned on or terrified by what’s happening. “It doesn’t really matter,” Alana says. “I know what will happen if I explain it to you.” She beats her wings and rises into the air. “I will tell you what is to come, and you won’t believe me. I’ll ask you to fight for Luminael, and you’ll run. You’ll blame me. You’ll tell me it is all my fault, and maybe you’ll decide that I am the one who should be stopped and not Finn.”
“Finn?” Suranna looks at the fae next to her, then back at Alana. “The court jester?” A laugh escapes her lips, then she turns to Eldrion. “Is this some kind of joke, Eldrion? A new act? Because I have to say, I am not finding it very amusing.”
Still hovering in the air, Alana’s voice cries out. “This is no joke!”
She tips back her head and splays her arms. Her smoke multiplies, sweeping through the grand hall, wrapping itself around the ankles of the Sunborne and the Shadowkind. It grows, and grows.
