Chapter 5 - section 3

These weren’t my own quarters, but a chamber down the eastern wing reserved for guests. Needless to say, this was the part of the castle I was the least familiar with. It also explained some of Tristam’s irritating amusement; particularly if he realized who I was. He had to have known. Why else would he bring me to this place? And yet, I wondered, for there was such a distinctive lack of fey awareness from his presence.

Relieved at my safety, delighted to be here, I rushed through the door and down the hall. My intent was to find my father in order to tell him about Vicky and Cullen. I was so intent, in fact, that the wisdom of changing out of the nightgown I had been dressed in during my unconscious period didn’t occur to me until my precipitous journey had led me through the hall, down the stairs, past numerous servants and rooms and straight into an ongoing meal. At the shocked expressions, I curtailed my headlong flight, suddenly quite conscious of my dishabille and opted to try for humor, offering a cavalier smile. “Sorry I’m late. I hope you saved some for me?”

There were a few titters and far more disapproving stares from the finely dressed courtiers arrayed at the table. I was disappointed to note that the head of the table was empty, unset, and that Dad was nowhere in view. The solid bulk of my chestnut-haired half-sibling, Garrett was there at the right-hand seat, clearly doing his best to act as Dad’s proxy. His expression barely altered as he stared at me humorlessly. Across from him, the twins, Eva and Yves offered up faint grins: Eva’s honestly amused and Yves’s sardonic. The slender pair was as inseparable as they were similar in appearance, but their personalities were like night and day. Both had brown-gold curls, framing heart-shaped faces. Like many full-blooded fey, they were not only exquisite of feature, but with an innocence of expression that could be deceiving. For them both, this impression was like their smiles: Eva was as sweet as Yves was cunning. But it was the reaction of Rhynn, my father’s steward, that warmed my heart and helped me to forget my discomfort.

The grey-haired, craggy man whom I had known since I was a child rose and stretched out his arms in welcome. His florid nose and watery eyes made him appear older than I remembered, but as he approached and placed a sheltering arm across my back, he felt as sinewy and tough as I remembered. Rhynn had been in our father’s service for longer than I had been alive and he had always been a staid and stalwart presence that even we children could rely upon. I loved him and respected him, so I didn’t balk as he drew me away from the table in the direction of my own chambers.

“Tara,” he smiled, “food aplenty, but now that you’re up, we should get you dressed first.”

I grinned. “You want me properly attired so I don’t injure anyone’s delicate sensibilities?”

Rhynn didn’t smile back, but I caught the corners of his lips twitch and his eyes shone with suppressed mirth. No doubt he was considering the indignities I could visit upon Garrett given what appeared to be a formal meal. Even my appearance was bound to cause a stir of gossip, but Garrett’s lack of a sense of humor made him an ideal target in my eyes. Not to mention Garrett’s disapproval of my tainted blood only encouraged my spiteful jibes. Rhynn had plenty of memories of similar antics to draw upon, so I really couldn’t blame his amusement or his quick defusing of the situation

“It looks like almost everyone’s here early,” I commented as we moved slowly down the hall. I was paying the price for my earlier haste, because my shoulder throbbed with every step.

Rhynn nodded, solemnity creeping back in and making him look old and forlorn. “Everyone but Cullen and Vicky. And Sylvia, but she’s unlikely to show.” I nodded at that: Sylvia was the one half-sibling who came to the Mistlands less than I did. For her own reasons, she rarely left the sanctuary of her mother’s woods. “Your arrival certainly caused the greatest stir, however. You’ll have to explain, but it can wait for everyone.”

My brow furrowed with my frown. “Explain? There’s not much to tell. Didn’t Tristam give you the details when he brought me in?”

Rhynn’s guiding footsteps halted and I stopped as well. Silence fell like a curtain between us as we stared at one another. His confusion caused a chill to run from the base of my spine to the hairs on the back of my neck. Dizziness rolled around me and I heard a rushing in my ears -- the sound of my own blood? My face felt warm, but I couldn’t hide the quaver of my hand as Rhynn’s quietly spoken words seemed to echo in my ears. “Tara, nobody brought you here. You arrived on your own.”

I fought back against the discombobulation, holding onto Rhynn’s arm. I closed my eyes. That helped a little, the dizziness receded from my deep breath. I knew it was from pushing myself with the wound as much as the disclosure. I tried to smile reassuringly at Rhynn, although my mind was still racing. “I don’t understand. I was unconscious. I had been shot, how could I get myself in here?”

Apparently reassured, Rhynn resumed movement, his arm still around me as my protective escort. “You were unconscious and bloody from that wound, but the report from the drudge who found you was that he was cleaning the reeds from the dining hall. One moment you weren’t there. The next, you were lying on the ground, unconscious.”

I frowned, edging up the stairs with the older man’s guidance. My focus switched back and forth between the wide stone steps I ascended and Rhynn’s grim features. “Rhynn, be reasonable, nobody can glimmer like that. Not unconscious.”

Rhynn’s rheumy blue eyes were dark and concerned as he regarded me. “No, nobody can,” he agreed.

“So, what, you’re telling me I’ve done something impossible? And what about Tristam? He said that he brought me here.”

Rhynn’s concern abated not in the slightest as he shook his grey head in absolute negation. “Tara, calm down, there’s got to be a reasonable explanation. We’d hope you could supply it, but obviously whatever happened was possible. You’re here. You appeared inside the castle walls. By yourself.”

This alone was enough to give anyone pause. To glimmer to a direct location is incredibly difficult and I knew that I wasn’t anywhere near making it into the Mistlands from the place I had been shot. I had at least three more boundaries to go, possibly more. To glimmer inside the castle walls themselves should be impossible; Dad had built this castle himself with protections that went far beyond the guards on the walls. And to do it alone and unconscious? Unless I had been hallucinating, Tristam was both very real and very necessary to make all of this possible.

“I don’t understand.” I shrugged free of Rhynn’s helping arm at my chamber door, my frustration at a lack of comprehension transferring to a frustration I could control: being led along like an invalid. “Tristam was there with me when I woke. Where is he staying? We need to have him answer some of these questions, even if he wasn’t the savior he wished me to believe him.”

Rhynn’s frown caused his lips to almost disappear in the lines creasing his worn skin. “Tara, I don’t know who you’re talking about. There’s nobody named Tristam among the staff and the only guests present were at the table we just left.”

This was like a bad nightmare. I knew I hadn’t imagined him. He had to be here, somewhere, even if he had been lying about everything. He was the holder to some of these answers and aside from Dad the only one in a position to really help me makes sense of it all. I had to find him. “Someone was in that room with me. He was six feet tall and built, grey eyes, black hair. He told me his name was Tristam before he left in a huff. And he told me he had brought me here. I’ve never seen him before in my life, Rhynn.”

Rhynn nodded, still concerned. “I’ll get the guards to search for him. If he’s still here, they’ll find him. Do you need any help? I can send up Eva and a maid, if you wish?”

I crossed the sitting room and plunked down in a high-backed conveniently placed beside the window and shook my head. “I’ll be fine, just slow. I don’t need anyone, just let me know what you find out. And if you find him, I want to talk to him.” I scowled. If they found him, he was going to have a lot to answer for.

Rhynn gave me a quick glance over, probably checking that I wasn’t about to faint, before he nodded again and backed out of the room. “You’ll be the first to know,” he reassured me as he swung my door closed behind himself.