Shadow & Light

Chapter 7

The courtyard was definitely a sight when we finally made it there. Families were standing everywhere, still looking rather confused, not having gotten the history lesson I just had. Some fae were crying, some glaring. The bodies that had littered the stone floor of the courtyard seemed to have been moved, now no longer visible. Even though I had killed so many guards there were countless new ones mixed in with the Wrelians. I did see a few I hadn't killed who must have had protection underneath their dark armour. They looked banged up though, the clothing they had left had strange char marks. They also looked none too pleased with me but hid it well since I was with their king. I wanted to test my magic, see what this new power could do. I needed to figure out how it reacts with death magic. I curiously eyed the unharmed soldiers who had the dark armour still intact. I would have to ask Malichi how they created the armour, such a unique ability to turn death into something that protects. Since I had to learn to hone and train my powers on my own, I knew there was a lot more I could learn about them. It never helped that in this kingdom no one knew about my ability, no one knew what I should be able to do. Not that anyone would have been willing to teach me.

All eyes turned to me when I walked in with the two men towering next to me, and I could feel their gazes, some judgmental, some angry as if this was my fault. That may have had something to do with the king who had just upended everyone's lives, whom I was standing next to.

I caught sight of Judy and her family near the center of the courtyard and dropped my boxes, sprinting through the crowd, bumping into other people, and hurling myself into her open arms for a warm, motherly hug. Tears streamed down my face now, I could never keep my emotions hidden with her. Judy pulled back and looked at me, wiping tears from my eyes, then looked behind me to where I presumed Malichi and James were standing behind me.

"No need to cry dear, we’re okay. You were so brave and strong saving us from that guard. Thank you."

I nodded at her and said, "You have always been here for me, it was the least I could do."

Malichi cleared his throat and spoke up, "You're Judy I presume. Thank you for all the care you have shown my mate. If you ever need anything please don't hesitate to ask."

Judy looked momentarily pleased by his words, but that was replaced with some hostility.

"You are upending all of our lives, your majesty. I really hope you have an explanation for all this. And you better treat Alina right or you'll have me to deal with."

Judy's husband pulled her back and out of my arms, not wanting a pissed-off king to kill his mate. Luckily though, Malichi was calm and simply nodded.

"All will be explained once we are in my kingdom ma'am. And I plan to treat Alina a million times better than the people here have."

"Good."

I gave Judy a smile before running back to where my boxes were and picking them up, making my way back to James. Malichi had vanished and was nowhere to be seen. Just then I heard his booming voice and looked to the front of the crowd where he now stood.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad that you all decided to come willingly. I will explain everything once we are back on my soil but for now please follow my advisor and I and we will take you to the carriages that will bring you to your new homes. I promise you all that there is nothing to fear and you will not be harmed if you come with us willingly."

James began walking towards Malichi and stopped to gesture for me to follow him over there. Once with Malichi we made our way out of the courtyard and took a few turns. There was a road here that usually snaked into the forest, twisting and turning to match the terrain. If anyone bothered to follow that road for hours, which most people didn’t, it would lead straight to the edge of this kingdom, stopping at the walls. The road was in quite a state of disarray though after a prolonged lack of maintenance. On the usually empty road were countless gilded boxes on wheels with doors, covered in beautiful engravings. The boxes were pulled by horses attached with ropes which were brown and gold and equally beautiful as the boxes themselves. I guess they were carriages–I had never seen one before, only read about them.

I stood there for a few moments, staring at the expanse of forest where the road disappeared, and fear of the unknown crept in fast. Malichi nudged me gently and the guards from his kingdom began packing people's boxes into the trunks attached to the carriages, each family hopping into their own, while James and Malichi walked to the front. The carriages seemed to span forever, and it dawned on me that Malichi must have planned this takeover for weeks, maybe even months. We got to the front of the row, and there we loaded my boxes into the trunk of a carriage and a guard opened a door for us to get in. We hopped in one at a time, James with his back to the horse driving the carriage, which we could see through a little window, and Malichi sat across from him.

Approximately ten minutes later I felt the carriage lurch forward and we were off. The ride was spent mostly in silence, as I stared out the window in awe. Occasionally Malichi or James interrupted my sightseeing with facts about the kingdom. The forest was huge, and quite dark despite it being mid-afternoon, the tree canopy so thick that it seemed to block out three-quarters of the light.

A white blur on either side of the carriage caught my attention, and I looked out to see an armoured woman on either side of the carriage, riding white horses, and looked over at Malichi in confusion.

"Those are two of our warriors. We have them stationed every 5 carriages to make sure nothing happens."

I hummed my response and turned back to the window. An hour later we breached the forest and came to a large set of iron gates, guards posted along it in six-foot intervals. The guards nodded at the men leading our carriage and we rode right through the gates.

The ride through Ilecron took approximately twenty minutes where the lone rider twisted and turned before houses could be seen approaching. I guess the book I read might have been right. The Dark Kingdom was filled with towns and cities, all ruled under the king, in comparison to Wrelia's single town and population of ten thousand, which did not require whole towns and cities. My nerves skyrocketed and my heart stuttered as we made our way further into the large kingdom. Ilecron was much larger than Wrelia, with more cottages than I could comprehend.

As we rode for another while the castle could be seen up ahead and my jaw was on the floor. To say the castle was massive would be an understatement. I guessed the castle from Wrelia could probably fit comfortably inside this one. I could see beautiful pointed turrets and stone walls engraved with swirls. The carriages rode up to what looked like the courtyard and circled it, parking along the outskirts. I was frozen in place as Malichi and James hopped out and Malichi held out his hand to help me out. If I stepped out of this carriage I had to start a whole new life. Maybe I could just stay here. I stared at his hand like it would bite me if I went close. Malichi's eyes softened and he unexpectedly hopped into the carriage and closed the door. Malichi leaned forward and locked his vivid blue eyes on me, which I was sure would never cease to jump-start my heart.

"It's okay to be nervous Alina, I know this is all new, but I'm right here to help you."

I nodded rapidly and blinked back the tears that burned my eyes and threatened to fall.

"I just...in here it's just a fun carriage ride. If I step out there it's real. I have a whole new life and a possible family."

"Who are the kindest people you will ever meet. I know they have missed you every day since they lost you. But you can set the pace. Right now the goal is just to get you settled. No one is expecting anything from you."

Malichi's words did work to soothe me, the idea that I didn't need to jump into anything before I was ready. I nodded again, took a deep breath, and steeled myself. Malichi opened the door and stepped onto the stone road, holding out his hand which I apologetically smiled at and did not take, stepping out on my own. I wanted to keep some healthy distance between this attractive man and me at all times.

"We will come back for the boxes after I make an announcement."

I nodded and followed him into the courtyard, staring around in awe. This courtyard was double the size of the one in Wrelia. Music played in the courtyard and I spotted a band playing across the courtyard, all sporting grins, and happy people danced around the center of the courtyard. The band was made up of fae with musical gifts, their sound carrying vastly without any help. Merchant stalls were littered around the area selling food and goods, and the smell of meats and fresh vegetables wafted through the air. There was so much joy I could almost taste it, and could feel my unease flip and flop until it morphed into hopeful apprehension.

I heard murmurs and turned around to see the other families from Wrelia standing behind me watching the courtyard too. I looked up at my mate and he was looking down at me with a strange expression. Malichi led us into the center of the courtyard where everyone had stopped dancing to stare at the group of thousands of new faces. Of course, not everyone could fit into the courtyard. Malachi conversed quietly for a moment with the lead singer of the band before turning to the crowd. His voice bellowed through the expansive courtyard. The singer must have been amplifying his voice.

"I want to announce that today we infiltrated the kingdom of Wrelia and have brought home thousands of new fae. I want you to treat them with the same respect you would someone from our own kingdom. With that being said it has come to my attention that many important parts of history have been withheld from the people of Wrelia, so tomorrow afternoon once everyone is settled we will be hosting a mandatory meeting in the field behind the palace garden to discuss everything and to give everyone a chance to ask questions. The guards that brought you here have been given an address to take you to, so I will let you all take the carriage to your homes to get settled. I want to reiterate that you are safe here. As long as you are cooperative you will be protected under my rule and treated as my own people, since from this day forward you are."

With the finish of his speech Malichi handed the mic back to the band, who started up with another jolly song, and headed over to me and James, who had been with me the whole time. James turned to me with a big smile on his face which I was beginning to see as a permanent fixture on him.

"What do you say we get you settled Alina?"

I sighed a breath of relief and my shoulders sagged, the thought of a comfy bed after this long day was heavenly.

"So am I getting a little cottage like the others? I don't even care if it has plumbing or is a hundred mile walk from the nearest fae I'll be happy with somewhere to sleep." I had meant the statement as light hearted but both the men I said it to looked at me like I had grown horns and was running around on all fours talking in tongues.

"Alina you are my mate, my future queen, and possibly the long lost daughter of the formal royal advisor and sister of my current royal advisor, you sleep in the castle."

That's when my new life altering title finally clicked in my bird brain. He said his queen. As in the person who rules over an entire kingdom. The kingdom that James told me on the drive up was the largest fae territory in the realm. I didn't know how many people that was but it had to have been many thousands. I shook my head–couldn't think about any of this. The queen dilemma would wait for another day. Right then I had too much to deal with.

"Oh alright then." It was the only response I could give Malichi. So we walked together to the carriage and unpacked my boxes from the trunk. Malichi and James led the way to the castle entrance and I had to take a deep breath before walking in. You are a strong and independent woman Alina if a castle scares you you have big problems.

When the massive stone doors opened my jaw dropped to the floor. Inside was the most beautiful room...room was an understatement with it being so large I could have fit three of my old cottages inside. Opulent and extravagant and something I had only read about in books. Tile floors in scattered shades of deep brown and burgundy. On the far side of the grand entrance there were two massive grand dark marbled stone staircases. The first stretched far up before splitting into two and connecting to a balcony on the left and right side of the room. With gold gilded railings and wide round pillars holding up each balcony this place looked like something out of a dream. The second was straight forward above that, seemingly leading to a third floor. The ceilings had carvings of angels, swirls, and faeries with wings, flowers and gardens. I could get lost in the images. The beautiful carved chandeliers perched on a pillar on either side of the staircase and around the entryway lit the room in a warm, deep yellow glow. Everything in this castle fit the name of the Dark Kingdom. Dark, beautiful, and an air of mystery.

I hadn't realized I'd been frozen there and staring at the beautiful entryway until James cleared his throat, which came out more like a chuckle, and I saw them both staring at me as I was standing there dumbfounded. I should turn around and walk out right now. I looked way out of my league in this beautiful place while I was wearing a dirty workout tank and leggings, both of which were covered in dirt, slices, rips and splattered blood, and clinging to my skin with sticky sweat. My hair in a messy high ponytail pretty much looked like a rat's nest. An odd thought crossed my mind as I did a once-over of my appearance: I was covered in scrapes and cuts and bruises mere hours ago. They were all gone. I shook my head, this would be another thing to file away in my mind to unpack at a later date.

Malichi walked over and placed a gentle hand on my lower back, startling and spurring me into action as I jumped away. I tried to quickly play it off and we walked up the stairs together. We passed the branch off and kept walking up the second set of stairs, turning left at the top of the staircase with three possible hallways, we headed down the first one and took a right then left turn and got to a hallway with two sets of double doors and another four single doors.

We stopped in front of one of the double doors. James turned to me, placing down my boxes, sticking his hand out to shake mine. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"I am going to head to my room and I will let you get settled. I know you may not be ready for hugs yet, completely understandable, but I just want you to know how happy I am to have found you. Happy isn't the proper word but nothing describes it but-"

I laughed softly, staring at his outstretched hand without movement, before convincing myself to shake the hand. "It was nice to meet you James." James lingered a moment before pulling his hand away and walked down the hallway.

I turned around and looked into my mate's gaze, unable to find words to start a conversation, but he saved me when he cleared his throat and spoke up, turning and motioning for me to follow, guiding me to the second set of double doors.

"This, my dear, is your room." When Malichi opened the door I found my jaw on the floor for the umpteenth time that day. A beautiful king sized poster bed made of dark wood sat on the left wall farthest from the door, warm cream walls invited me in. Two doors were on the opposite wall from the bed, one was peaked open and I could see a glimpse of a beautiful white marble tile bathroom inside, the second door I opened and saw a massive walk-in closet inside, one that I didn't think I could ever fill.

"If you will allow it I want this room to be temporary." Malichi spoke softly as he turned me to face him, "When you are ready to accept me, to fully take your role as my mate and queen, I want you to move into my room with me."

My heart rate picked up and I must have looked more than a little panicked because his hands went to my shoulders, and when that made it worse he dropped those and just spoke instead.

"Not now, I don't want to rush you. I understand you need time, I know you have been through a lot and don't think I didn't notice you sugar coating the story of your life for me. I have been waiting for you since I knew what a soulmate was and I will wait until we are a hundred years old if I have to."

I giggled and said, "Oh but at one hundred and one you'll be done waiting?"

"Yeah that's a little too long I'm afraid." I laughed, and showed him a watery smile, my eyes leaking half from the overwhelming gratitude I had for my new mate, and half out of pure exhaustion.