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“You!”
Spinning around, the boy took off running.
I didn’t think. The bandages slipped out of my hands as I chased after him, heart pounding out of my chest. “Wait,” I cried. “I’m not going to hurt you. I don’t care if you stole that cane, I just want to talk to you! Make sure you’re okay!”
The boy ran faster. I lost sight of him whipping around the corner and picked up my feet, spurring my soft, princess body on.He’s here. I can’t believe after everything, I’ve found him safe, and just as eager to escape.
“Please, slow down,” I called. “I just want to help you. I—”
I turned the corner and met with nothing.
Skidding to a stop, I spun this way and that—disbelief throwing me for a loop. He was gone. Just like that, the child disappeared in an empty hallway as if he was never there.
“How?” I took a step, then another—slowly peering around.
There were no doors. No way in or out, barring the windows. Said windows were still intact, so the boy hadn’t done anything unbelievable like throwing himself through glass to fall three floors.
The only thing the hall had to say for itself was an unadorned, depressed wall, boasting two empty plinths. I flicked down to the base of the support, spotting a single brown shoe.
The boy’s shoe. What is it doing there?
I walked over, bending down to pick it up, and then I saw it.
A crack in the wall, imperceptible to someone looking at it straight on, with no reason to give a blank wall further examination.
Wedging myself through, I stepped into a curtain of ivy and blinked up through their twisting, tangled vines—basking under the orblights.
“Here you go, Alisdair!”
Alisdair?
I reached out, carefully parting the curtain. A courtyard opened before me—laying the path of auburn cobblestones and rose bushes pampered in their own heated oasis. Actually—
“Hot.” I peeled off my shawl and coat. The courtyard was as hot as the companions’ room. What was this place?
I peeked around a chin-high rose bush, alighting on Alisdair.
He gripped the jeweled cane and reclined on a stone throne, no doubt of his own conjuring since it was wholly out of place in the middle of the garden courtyard. His court didn’t seem to mind because all around him, children of different ages, heights, and animals ran playing and shrieking around him.
Off to the side, chatting quietly, were a group of four women—an elephant faeriken, two lioness faeriken, and a faeriken possessed by an animal I’d never seen before in my nineteen years of life.
Looking properly, the courtyard was actually more of an oversized balcony, rimmed by a large, stone railing that overlooked the snow and trees below. As dark as it was down there, it was well-lit above with orblights and torches.
“Are you going to come out or hide behind that bush all day?” Alisdair called.
Lifting my chin, I walked out—disapproval etched into my pores. “What are you doing out of bed? You woke up less than twelve hours ago, you’re in no condition to be moving around.”
“I’m much improved than I was twelve hours ago.” He lazily waved and a throne for me appeared by his side. Alisdair had freed his face from the bandages. Healing cuts and pinkish scars raked across his features, but did not diminish his handsomeness in any way. “My magic is slowly aiding the healing ointments and potions. Lying around like an invalid won’t speed up or slow down that process.”
“That’s not the point, and I’m fairly sure it’s not true. Running about the place will certainly slow down your healing.You’re going straight back to bed,” I ordered, claiming my seat. “After you tell me what’s going on here. What is this place?” I counted fifteen children, maybe sixteen. They were running around so fast it was hard to be sure. “Why are all of these children here?”
“This place is where you live, my queen. We’re still in the north wing. Just in the part of it that’s hidden.”
“Why would any part of it be hidden?”
“For the children,” he replied.
I gave him a hard look. “I require more explanation.”
