Hidden Wings

Chapter 6: The Court of Glass and Ash

The heavy, rhythmic thud of boots against stone stopped just outside the chamber doors. The air in the room grew instantly brittle, dropping in temperature until my breath plumed into a faint white mist. Beside me, Elaris stood rigid, his hand dropping away from my shoulder as he adjusted his posture into something fiercely formal.

The double doors didn't just open; they unlatched with a sharp, synchronized c***k that echoed like a whip.

Three figures glided into the room. They didn't walk so much as float with a terrifying, predatory grace, their long, ceremonial robes of midnight blue dragging silently across the polished floorboards. Like the monsters in the alleyway, their skin carried a faint, cool hue, but these weren't wild beasts. Their faces were devastatingly beautiful, sharp-angled, and completely devoid of human emotion.

And their eyes—radiant, piercing blue—fastened onto me instantly.

"So," the central figure murmured. His voice sounded like grinding tectonic plates, deep and resonant enough to make my teeth ache. "The hidden ember of Ivearona is finally uncovered. You took a grand gamble, Elaris, keeping her among the mortals."

"A gamble that kept the bloodline intact, Councilor Vane," Elaris replied, his voice carrying a steady, royal weight I was still trying to reconcile with the brother who used to drive me to school in a beat-up truck.

I instinctively tried to pull the silk sheets over my bare shoulders, but a sudden, sharp rustle reminded me of the weight on my back. My wings—those impossible, shimmering structures of green and purple starlight—flared outward defensively. The sudden motion caused a ripple of iridescent light to wash across the stone walls.

Councilor Vane’s eyes tracked the light, narrowing slightly. "The wings are undeniable. The signature of the true lineage remains. But she is raw. Unrefined. She smells of mortal dirt and fear."

"She has suppressed her nature for seventeen years to survive," Elaris shot back, stepping slightly in front of my bed to block their view. "Her power is volatile, but it is hers."

The female councilor to Vane's left took a slow step forward, her gaze sliding past Elaris to lock onto my trembling hands. "And what of the boy?" she asked, her voice like cracking ice. "The Unseelie weapon we pulled from the threshold of the veil? He carries the mark of the Winter Vanguard, Elaris. He did not follow her out of love; he followed her to claim the anchor before we could."

My chest tightened, a suffocating weight pressing down on my lungs. *Ashton.* Hearing them call him a spy, a Vanguard, a calculated weapon—it felt like a physical blow. I thought of the white-hot fire he had thrown to protect me, the desperate urgency in his voice when he told me I wasn't human. Was it all a performance? A beautifully orchestrated trap to win the trust of a clueless girl?

"He remains in the lower cells," Elaris said coldly. "He will be interrogated under the unsealed decree. If he is a spy, his mind will be stripped."

"No!" The word burst from my throat before I could stop it.

The three councilors froze, their heads snapping toward me in unison. The sheer intensity of their collective gaze made me want to shrink back, but a strange, hot pulse of adrenaline flared in my veins, answering the fear.

"Ah," Vane purred, a slow, humorless smile touching his lips. "The little bird finds her voice. Do you defend the predator that tracked you to our gates, princess?"

"I don't know what he is," I stammered, my voice shaking but holding its ground. My wings twitched behind me, casting frantic shadows against the canopy. "But he... he saved my life. If he wanted to kill me, he could have done it on Earth. He fought those things for me."

"He kept you alive because a living prize is worth far more to the Unseelie King than a corpse," the female councilor countered smoothly. "You are the key to the thinning veil, child. To them, you are an investment. To us, you are survival."

She turned back to Elaris, her robes swirling around her ankles. "Bring her to the High Court by noon tomorrow. We must test the depth of her core. If she cannot hold the frequency of the realm, Ivearona will continue to fracture, and no amount of hiding on Earth will save any of us."

With a final, lingering look at my glowing wings, the three councilors turned and swept out of the room, the heavy doors thudding shut behind them.

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by my ragged breathing. I looked up at Elaris, the betrayal and confusion finally bubbling over.

"You're going to let them torture him?" I whispered. "After everything?"

Elaris let out a long, exhausted sigh, his regal posture slumping just enough for me to see a glimpse of the brother I knew. "Ivey... Ashton isn't who you think he is. In this world, trust is a lethal currency. You need to rest. Tomorrow, everything changes."

He didn't wait for my response. He turned and walked out, leaving me alone in the dim, unfamiliar room.

I sat there for a long time, staring at my hands as the faint, golden magic sparked across my knuckles. The castle was dead quiet, but deep beneath the floorboards, in the dark stone belly of the eastern tower, I could feel a faint, magnetic pull. A matching frequency, humming through the rock.

Ashton was down there. And despite the terror, the doubt, and the warning of the council, the invisible rope in my chest was still pulling me straight toward him.