Castle of Glass

Silence met my ears. Rob was sitting in front of me, dealing cards across the table in an attempt to hold my attention until someone told him what to do next. I felt numb, and even though I was totally exhausted, I felt completely alert.

"Where's my sister?" I asked him thickly as he picked up his cards.

"Got any eights?" he asked. I sighed and picked up my own cards, shaking my head at his question. He'd been dodging mine all day, only bothering to speak about the games he tried to get me to play, and after a while I'd given in.

We got a few pairs in before there was a knock at the door. Rob gave me a stern look and stood, moving over to it. I didn't move, knowing he would be on alert after what Eurydice did. He opened the door and I saw another elf, a woman who gave me a distasteful look and said something in another language to Rob in a curt town. It was completely foreign, and yet I felt like I'd heard it before.

I frowned as Rob responded in the same tongue and she sneered in response before barking something out and turning on her heel. Her hair whipped Rob in the face as she turned and walked away, and I saw his fist clench tightly before he slammed the door closed. His look when he finally turned to me was gentle, but I could see the anger in his eyes.

"What did she say?"

"I'm to bring you to the royal family so you can discuss Eurydice's punishment."

"And before that?" An amused smile turned up the corners of his lips.

"You're too perceptive Sayer." When I didn't move and I didn't respond, he sighed and his gaze turned downward. "She wanted to know why I didn't have you bound. I told her you weren't a threat anymore and she told me that you'd domesticated me." He rubbed his neck. "Vrishna, that's what they call elves who serve humans. It means flat-ear."

I stood and touched his shoulder gently. Despite my anger, it pained me to see the look on Rob's face. He touched my hand briefly before taking my hand and leading me from the chamber. I let him, taking as much strength from his grasp as he was taking from mine.

He led me to a dining room, where the queen sat, Michael sitting next to her. She watched me with the curt smile of angered royalty, while Michael stared at the spot where my fingers intertwined with Rob's. Rob dropped my hand to pull out my chair, and I thanked him as I sat. He stepped back into the corner as a different elf brought forth a plate of food and a goblet of wine.

I glanced at it briefly before looking up at the queen. Eating before she gave me permission would probably incur more wrath, and I wasn't even sure I could stomach the food anyway.

She lifted her goblet and gestured to me before taking a sip and I followed suit quickly, wetting my lips but barely drinking any. I set the goblet down slowly as Vira analyzed me.

"What do you think I should do with Eurydice, Sayer?" I felt my lip quirk.

"Surely that's a trick question, your majesty," I responded. Her expression didn't change, but her eyes twinkled at me and her lips pursed slightly. "You know what I think should be done with both my sister and I, and I know that you won't listen to what I have to say."

Her finger traced around the lip of her goblet and she glanced at Michael, who was tracing his finger around his silverware. "What do you think, my son?"

I watched him fidget before he said, "Eurydice seriously hurt my personal guard." I scoffed and his eyes flicked up to me, holding my gaze as he continued without fidgeting. "Guard that I personally assigned to her to make her feel comfortable until I could convince you to let them go back home." I carefully assembled my expression into mutual contempt, but I could feel an ache starting in my chest. "She also murdered several of the other guards, innocent people following orders."

I resisted the urge to tell him about where those orders could go and amusement shifted my expression. I dropped my gaze to my food quickly; Eurydice's influence was affecting my diplomatic actions.

Michael's voice hardened as he continued. "The softest punishment I could suggest is a few lashings." My eyes flashed up to him quickly, all amusement gone, replaced with fury, but he wasn't even looking at me. "A person who commits these crimes would normally be put to death." I swallowed - was he really telling his mother to kill my sister? "But there are other things to consider.

Vira watched me as her son went on. "Eurydice is a princess. If something - " he paused, "worse were to happen to her, it would anger Jakobi. Even now he must be wondering where his daughters are, and why their personal guard isn't around to find them." Vira's lips pursed. "Even now, there's cause for war - we took his daughters, held them captive, and one of them's been harmed. The question is not if he'll find out, but when."

A door opened and Chester stepped into the room. I watched him move over to the table, avoiding my gaze, and sit next to Mike. A plate of food was set in front of him as well, but he didn't touch it.

"The guise we were under has failed," Michael said. "Neither I nor my personal guard can return to the kingdom." The aching feeling in my chest increased and I looked down at my food. "We can send them home with an envoy and an apology and hope that Jakobi values his kingdom's safety more than the clear skin of his daughter."

I glanced at Rob. His face was carefully expressionless, but he met my gaze and his lip twitched up in an attempt to offer me a comforting smile.

"What do you want to do?" Vira asked. I looked at her, surprised by the soft tone of her voice. Her expression had shifted, and she watched with gentle eyes as Michael began fidgeting again. He didn't meet anyone's gaze.

"What I want is irrelevant," he said eventually. "Nothing about this can work out in my favor."

I breathed in through my nose and looked away, feeling eyes on me as silence fell thick and heavy like a blanket on the room. After a few seconds, there was the clink of metal against metal and Chester cleared his throat, muttering a quiet, "Forgive me."

"Well Sayer," Vira said, shooting Chester a short look of disapproval before turning to me. "How we deal with your sister has been laid out before you. Eat now, and Chester will take you to your sister once finished. You can discuss with her what you think you should be done." She stood and the rest of us stood with her. She nodded to me and left, Michael following after. The ache in my chest felt worse as I watched him go without looking back.

Chester sat and started eating. After a few seconds I sat, staring at the food I'd nearly forgotten about.

"Please eat," he said in a gentle tone. I looked up at him.

"Has my sister eaten?" He paused, eyes squinting slightly as he assessed me.

"Yes," he lied. I smiled slightly and leaned back in my chair, watching him as he sighed. "I had hoped you'd believe that and eat, but I knew you wouldn't." He leaned back. "I tried to take her something, but she wouldn't eat it. Part of the reason they're sending you to her is the hope that you'll convince her to eat something."

I hummed softly and sipped at my wine, glancing at the door Michael had left through. Rob shifted in the corner of my eye.

"He feels lost," Chester said. "You shouldn't have done that."

"You shouldn't have lied," I responded almost instantly. He looked taken aback, but then his gaze turned to his food.

"We were only trying to protect ourselves at first," he said. "But then we realized we needed to protect you too..."

"Take me to my sister," I said curtly, cutting him off. Hurt flashed across his face but he masked it quickly, standing and leading me from the room. Brad stood at the end of the hall, and Chester stopped as we reached him.

"Michael wants to talk to Sayer," he said. Chester nodded and glanced at Rob, who took my arm gently but firmly and led me down another hall.

"I want to speak to my sister," I told him forcefully. Amusement glittered in his eyes.

"In this realm, Sayer, it's not your orders I get in trouble for not following." I bit back an angry retort as he led me into an antechamber. Michael was bent over his desk, reading something quietly. He looked up as Rob closed the door behind me, leaving me alone with the prince.

We stared at each other in silence. He leaned back off the desk, arms crossing, deciding what to say.

"I'm sorry about your men," I said quietly. Shock flashed over his expression and he smiled slightly before looking down at his desk.

"As the prince, I'm supposed to lead the kingdom's guards," he said. "But I haven't seen these men in thirteen years. They only follow my orders because they're sworn to my mother." He turned to a book shelf and started looking through the various books and scrolls he had. "The only men sworn to me are the five men you know already."

I listened to him quietly. He seemed tense, anxious. "But thank you for the apology," he added absently, almost as an afterthought. He found what he was looking for and flipped through the pages. "I've been trying to figure out why the spell stopped working for you," he told me. "But so far I've found nothing."

"You lied," I said. His shoulders tensed up and his eyes closed.

"I lied," he conceded. He turned to me and stepped closer. "You have to understand, Sayer. When you found us, we were in danger. There was an evil from the forest after me, and we had to run and hide."

"After you?" I swallowed. "The things that attacked that village were after you?"

Guilt morphed his features and he moved closer. "I didn't know they would follow, Sayer. I didn't know -"

"You did!" I shouted, causing him to flinch. "You knew they were after you, you said yourself they were evil! You brought that attack on Eurydice's village! You got my parents killed!"

"I know!" he shouted back. "You think I haven't been beating myself up about it!? That I haven't spent the last thirteen years blaming myself for what happened!?" My hands clenched into fists. "Knowing that it was my fault, and that everyone already believed the elves to be at fault, do you now understand why we had to keep our secrets!?"

"No!" He opened his mouth to say something but I cut him short. "You could have told us! You could have told me! I would have kept your secret!"

"Would you?" Mike whispered. I paused, confused. "You couldn't keep Brad's secret from Eurydice." Stunned, I fell quiet. "Thick as thieves, you two. There's not a thing you wouldn't tell her."

"You wouldn't know," I said, anger flaring up. "You didn't trust me when it mattered most."

"We couldn't trust anyone. And with Eurydice being so against elves, how could you expect me to think she'd be kind enough to -" he was cut short as the palm of my hand met his cheek. My hand smarted as I glared at him.

"Don't you dare speak ill of my sister."

His head had turned with the force of the blow and he stared down at the rug, jaw working. He touched it briefly, and after a while he straightened out and gave me a cold stare.

"I'll advocate for the safe return of you and your sister. Please take that into consideration when you tell your father what transpired here." He turned on his heel and disappeared into his chamber. I stared after him, shocked at the obvious dismissal, and the door closed with a loud thunk.

Eurydice, my thoughts reminded me. I took a shaky breath and left the room, but Rob wasn't waiting for me. I glanced down the hall.

"Rob?" No response. I turned my head the other way. "Robert - " I saw him, lying unmoving at the end of the hall, and something was pulled over my face, making the world go dark.