Castle of Glass

Hushed whispers woke me.

I was pressed against Eurydice on a very comfortable bed. I blinked my eyes open slowly, her face coming into focus, and I smiled sleepily. We hadn't slept in the same bed since we were ten years old, but it was nice to wake up next to my sister again. It seemed like she was still asleep, and as I watched her her fingers twitched over mine. No, definitely not still asleep.

Why would she be pretending...?

I tried to keep my pulse from spiking when I remembered what had gone on before we fell asleep. The psychic, the drugs... Were we still with her?

I listened to the hush voices intently, and relief washed over me as I heard Michael whispering to Robert. Chester interjected, whispering furiously. His voice carried over to us, and I heard him say, "... should have taken them back to the kingdom."

"Do you know how suspicious that would have looked? We didn't even know what was wrong with them."

"Do you think Jakobi would accept our words over the psychic's?" Robert interjected. Both the other men fell silent. Eurydice's hands brushed over mine again, a silent question of what to do. I grasped her hand gently and sat up.

Everyone's focus turned to me. The place we were in was unfamiliar, and smelled of trees and tree sap. All six knights were in the room, worry etched on their faces. As I stared at them, the shimmering I'd noticed the day before hovered on their faces and faded away.

I sucked in a breath and threw my hand out to Eurydice, who sat up and saw what I had. Michael swallowed and glanced at Phoenix.

"I couldn't hold it," Phoenix muttered. Chester's expression darkened and started forward, but I scampered back up the bed, while Eurydice jumped off, hand going for a blade that wasn't there.

"Sayer," Michael said gently. My eyes flashed to him, and I wanted to scream. He was Michael, but he wasn't Michael. His features had morphed, his ears came to a tapered point, he was no longer human. His mouth set in a firm line as he watched me, then glanced at Brad. "Go tell her they're awake." Brad nodded and left.

"Tell who?" Eurydice demanded. "Where are we? Why did you bring us here?" Chester stepped forward again, and her hand balled into a fist, ready to strike if he took another step. He paused, assessing her.

"The psychic was going to hurt you, Eurydice," he said, voice hard. "I got the other knights and followed you out here, and we stopped her before she could. She ran off before we could ask what had happened to you, so we brought you here."

"Where's here?" I asked. My voice was quiet, but each of them looked at me like they'd heard.

"You're in Vira's castle," Robert said after a few heartbeats. "In Zratil les." He bit his lip and stepped closer, and I thanked him quietly. "We weren't sure what was wrong with you, so we brought you here to be healed. You're safe, now," he promised. I looked away from him, toward Eurydice, who stared at me with pursed lips. Her expression was asking if we should trust them, but I didn't know. I shook my head helplessly.

Brad appeared soon afterward, telling Michael that she was ready. Eurydice demanded to know who she was again, but everyone ignored her.

"You'll find out soon," was all Robert said. We were led from the room, down sets of stairs and into a large throne room, nearly as big as Jakobi's. Sitting in the throne was an elven woman, who wore a deep green dress and a gold crown styled to look like branches, or stag antlers. Next to her stood another elf, with shoulder length brown hair and beady looking eyes that studied every part of us.

The knights led us to her, stopping just in front of her, and all of them except Michael bowed to her. Eurydice glanced at me, but neither of us bowed. This caused the woman to smile, and she stood, stepping down from her throne slowly, studying all of us.

She stepped up to Michael first, brushing her hand under his jaw.

"You've grown so well," she said gently. Her lips pursed slightly. "You could do with a shave." His smiled, his eyes crinkling slightly, and she smiled back at him. "It's been so long, Michael. I'm surprised to see you here again."

After a heartbeat, he said, "I hadn't intended to return so soon." His eyes flicked to mine. "It was an emergency." I looked away from him, and Eurydice squeezed my hand gently.

The woman stepped into my field of vision, studying me with a straight face. Nothing gave her expression away as she took my chin, forcing me to look at her straight on. I gave her a stony expression, determined not to give away my thoughts. After a few seconds, she smiled.

"Princess Sayer, yes?" She let my face go. "I've heard much about you. Robert thinks very highly of you." I glanced at Robert, slightly alarmed, to see him cowering back from Michael's own gaze. The woman in front of me commanded my attention again. "You gave to my boy when others would rather ignore him. For this, I must thank you." I couldn't help the alarm on my face. Her boy?

My gaze flashed to Michael as her attention moved to Eurydice, who stared at her, chin up. Michael caught my gaze briefly, then looked away. My eyebrows scrunched together, and I almost missed Eurydice taking Chester's sword from his scabbard and lunging for the woman.

I jumped back in surprise, but Brad was already countering her blow, preventing her from moving forward. I started forward to stop them, but Michael grabbed me from behind, pulling me away from the fighting as Eurydice fought against Brad.

"Stop!" I yelled as she hit him, causing him to hiss in pain. Both of them froze, looking at me, and I fought to regain my composure, nails digging into Michael's arms. "Stop fighting, Eurydice." She stared at me, and Chester pulled his sword from her grip.

The woman waved her hand, and Joe and Phoenix started pulling Eurydice from the room. She fought against them, reaching for me, but Chester stepped between us and followed them out of the throne room. I stared after her, eyes wild, and Michael set me down gently, hand still on my waist. I batted it away.

"Where are you taking my sister?" I demanded.

The woman gave me a grave look before moving to sit on the throne again. "She attacked the queen," she said. She gave a quiet order to the man sitting behind her and he left the throne room. "I've simply sent her to her room. I understand that she doesn't quite believe the elves are innocent of the attack that killed your parents." I stiffened. "Some time to herself will help her cool off and be more receptive to the truth." Her back straightened, and she stared at me. "Besides, it's you that I want to talk to."

Her eyes flit to Michael, who met her gaze, expression determined. "I'm aware that shortly after arriving in your father's kingdom, Michael and his guards became indentured to your service." Michael and his guards. The other knights? "Tell me why."

I blinked as her gaze returned to me and said, "The day after the attack that killed my parents, Michael found me in the market and asked for food. The guard with me was very rude, and I told him to stand down and fed Michael myself."

She studied me intently. "Why?"

The question gave me pause. After a moment, I said, "Because he asked nicely." An amused look crossed her face. "When the king returned to where I was, he noticed Michael and the others and told them he'd give them work within the castle. When they were trained, he assigned them to our personal guard."

She laughed then. "Trained. Like they would need training."

Michael said quickly, "You expect us to go into human work and act like we knew better than them?" She sobered, giving him a dark look. "We did what we had to survive. Eurydice isn't the only one who believes the elves destroyed that village."

I watched their interaction, eyebrows scrunched together, trying to understand. Brad and Robert stood behind us, hands clasped together in front of them, watching the interaction without a word. After a while, the queen's gaze turned to them.

"I trust you've been taking care of my son?" They nodded quickly.

"Not that he's made it easy," Brad said with a smile. The queen laughed.

"Michael has always been difficult." My gaze flicked to him, and he caught my gaze, his expression unreadable. I'd never felt more upset than I did at that moment, the weight of Michael's lies falling onto my shoulders and making me want to sag to the ground.

The queen was looking at me again. "I've heard much about your disposition, Princess." My gaze flicked back to her. "It would seem those stories are true." She stood then, and the elf who'd been standing at her shoulder appeared. "Morcaus will take you to your new chamber. Brad, go with her. Robert and Michael, I'd like to discuss some matters with you."

Brad took my arm gently and led me away. Michael tried to catch my attention, but I refused to look at him, following Brad and Morcaus to a room without Eurydice. I sat on the bed and rubbed my face, taking deep breaths.

Brad stepped up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. He apologized, but I hardly heard it, shaking my head quietly.

"I should've made the connection when I learned you were an elf," I told him quietly. "I didn't want to think about it." He was silent for a few seconds, and then he procured a letter with silky, familiar writing.

"I wanted to thank you," he said gently. "I now have a face to put to this letter." I looked up at him and took it slowly, looking down to read it.

It was an apology, written many years ago, meant to be read as Brad got older. It was signed from his father, and as I read the signature, I realized that I knew where I had seen the handwriting before - from the little note telling me not to trust my guards.

I managed to keep a straight face as I handed it back to him. I glanced around the room and asked him where my weapons were, and he said that Joe had them placed in the armory.

"Michael is a prince," I said after a moment. Brad nodded slowly. "And you're a part of his guard." He nodded again.

"It's more like an honor guard," he said quickly. "As you know, he's very adept at fighting himself."

"I don't know anything anymore," I muttered quietly.

"We're the same people you grew up with, Sayer," Brad said gently. "We just have pointy ears."

"And magic, and super strength, and the ability to see in the dark." I rubbed my face. "Everything about you has been redefined." After a second, I glared up at him. "You let me win against you the other day."

Startled, he shook his head. "No, Sayer, you really beat me." I glared at him, and he held out his hands. "It's the truth. You're a very good strategist, Sayer, you knew exactly how to get me out of the fight."

I turned my head away. "Now you're just kissing ass." He laughed at that, then sobered.

"We still care about you," he said gently. I knew there was an underlying meaning to it, but I decided to ignore it.

It didn't matter, because Michael had lied.