There was one question that was burning in me and I knew if I didn't take my chance to ask him now, I wouldn't be able to stick waiting until later.

'What is your name?' I managed to croak out.

'I am Eris, High Lord of the Autumn Court' and with that, he left, Inebra trailing behind him.

There were so many questions floating around in my head, I didn't have time to register any of them. Not before the nauseousness came back with a vengeance.

I looked at the small women who had been left in my room and managed to get 'I'm going to be sick' out of my mouth before I vomited over the side of the bed.

She appeared beside me in a moment, a bucket in her hand that seemed to appear out of nowhere, catching most of it. I had enough self-awareness to feel bad for getting sick on the floor.

With my head in the bucket, I felt a cool hand on my shoulder and with it, a sense of calm.

'Let's get you cleaned up then' she said quietly once I was done. I was grateful for the distraction of getting changed and washed.

As I eased my legs off the bed, I looked around me. The room I was in was exquisite. Nothing like my small room at home. The bed was huge, taking up most of the space in the room, the red sateen sheets gleaming in the evening light that came through the window.

The left side of the room was covered in wall to ceiling wardrobes with a small opening that featured a mirror and shelf beneath it. A small stool was pushed in under the shelf.

A plush room for a prisoner, I thought scathingly.

The carpet underneath my feet was a deep, ruby red. I was sensing a bit of a theme here.

On the wall that had the door that I assumed led to the rest of the house, there was a mural. If I was more arty, I was sure I would appreciate how lovely it was. A tree, beginning with roots near the floor, bloomed on the wall and reached the ceiling with autumnal leaves.

Eris, thinking his name made me feel odd. He had said he was the 'high lord' of the Autumn Court, whatever that meant. Everything in this room was autumn themed, even his wife was. What a strange spot and even stranger, it all felt wrong, like he picked the wrong season.

I realised that I had been staring into space thinking for a few minutes. I looked at the woman beside me, 'I'm sorry' I said.

'Not a problem, you have a lot to think about' she said back kindly.

I glanced down again, willing my legs to lift off the bed. Then I noticed, I wasn't wearing the clothes I had been wearing the last time I was awake. My white dress was gone, replaced with a lacy nightgown I had never seen before.

Someone had changed me out of my dress. Mortification climbed through my body and face, I was sure I was bright red.

'I have been with you since you arrived, nobody has seen you but me' said the woman, Eilidh. How could she have known that I was thinking that? In saying that, I'm sure it was written all over my face.

As we walked towards the bathroom, I asked her 'What is this place? Where am I?' She looked at me with kind eyes.

'I am sorry Samradh, we have been forbidden to talk to you about such things. Only Inebra or the High Lord can answer those questions for you. Now, come, you need to be dressed and washed in time for dinner.' Her grip on my arm tightened and she led me towards the bathroom.

In the door of the bathroom, I stopped and stared. It was extravagant. Again, the word prisoner rattled around in my head. If this was how they treated a prisoner, I couldn't even imagine how they would treat a guest.

The bath was more like a pool, with a waterfall coming from a stone wall on the other side of the room serving as the running water. The water was already running and bubbles and steam filled the room. I hadn't realised how much I wanted a bath until I saw this.

As bad as my situation seemed, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was exactly where I was supposed to be.

I let Eilidh do whatever preening she felt necessary to do. As I got out of the bath, she went to one of the wardrobes on the wall, pulling out a gold dress. I suppressed a laugh, it was like a costume, it was so old-fashioned.

It was beautiful and elegant but if Alec had seen me in it, he would have laughed himself stupid.

Alec. I made a mental note to ask them of my friend and brother who no doubt knew I had been missing for… a week now?

Eilidh indicated for me to sit down on the stool in front of the mirror and I obliged. I caught a look at her face as she stared at my mop of soaking hair. She waved her hand over it and it was dry in an instant, my curls tamed in a way I had never seen. They even.. Looked nice. My eyes widened, how had she done that.

'There is magic in these lands, Samradh. That much, I am allowed to tell you' she said.

My head was spinning, magic wasn't real. If it was, I would know about it.

That's it. I'm in a dream or hallucination, this isn't real. I obviously took something in Pimms that's turned my brain to mush and I'm actually in a hospital somewhere, asleep. I'll wake up at any minute now. I was actually a little proud that my brain had thought up something this imaginative. Go me.

Eilidh pulled the top half of my hair back into a loose bun, leaving the rest of my curls to spill down my back. It was a beautiful hair style, one I would never have thought to try on myself. She weaved small gold butterfly clips shaped like leaves through my hair.

All this grandeur was ridiculous and I was even shocked I came up with. I don't think I had ever seen anything like this before, in books or anywhere. It was straight up out of a movie.

It didn't feel like a dream. I remembered reading somewhere that you can't read in dreams or count your fingers. I looked down, all five of my stubby little fingers stared back at me. It just can't be real.

Eilidh silently indicated that she was done with a final swish over my face with a makeup brush. I wasn't really one for makeup during the day because of work but I would normally go for a heavier look than this.

It was basic, the foundation so light you could see my very faint freckles through it and one swipe of gold eyeliner lifted my eyes and made them shine.

Nope, that was tears. I could feel them coming then. I sniffled loudly and Eilidh handed me a tissue. She placed a cold hand on my shoulder and looked at me sympathetically. She didn't say anything and pushed me gently out of the chair.

'Just make it through tonight' she said queitly, 'he can be cruel so just humour him' she whispered fiercly. She look terrified about saying that aloud. I nodded my head and mimed locking my lips to her. She gave me a shy smile and moved me towards the door.

I decided that if this was my life now, that I'd put on a show for him. I'm not a person he can bully.

I stood up straight and made sure my footsteps echoed around the hallway I was walking down, I wasn't scared. Or at least that's what I wanted them to think.

I was directed into a small but beautiful room, like all the others bedecked in red and gold accents.

The roof looked like an autumn forest, all autumnal leaves that looked like they were falling to the ground, but none ever did. The table in the middle was small in the room but it was intricatley designed. Each chair seemed to have been carved from a large redwood tree, with designs carved into the back.

There was six chairs at the table, an intimate setting. And only two of them were filled.

Eris, this self proclaimed high lord, was at the head of the table and Inebra was sat to the right of him. The only other setting was on his left, presumably left for me.

'Welcome to the Autumn Court, Samhradh' he said.

My instincts was to tell him to get fucked but I bit my tongue.

'I would say thank you for your welcome but I didn't really have a choice in whether I wanted to be here or not, would a simple invitation not have sufficed?' I said snarkily.

He laughed, 'Fiery, you'd fit in well here.'

'I'm sure you are brimming with questions, but what kind of host would I be if I didn't allow my guest of honour to eat something before.'

He waved his hands and the table filled with food. Host, I thought, nearly scoffing out loud at the idea that I was being hosted here and not held against my will.

The food looked delicious but it wasn't my style at all, I was more used to pizza and chips, not roasts. I didn't have much of a talent for cooking and if I didn't cook it myself, I didn't eat at home.

As that thought came into my head, the food changed and morphed into a steaming hot stonebaked pizza. Before I could get the 'how' out of my mouth, I remembered the magic and tasted a rust flavour in the air. Weird

I wanted to be wary of the food but I obviously hadn't eaten in days and my stomach was growling so hard it sounded like a chainsaw.

I reluctantly took a bite. It was the best pizza I had ever eaten.

Once we were done eating, I looked up expectantly at my 'host', waiting for my questions to be answered.

'Is this a dream?' I asked

'No.'

'Where am I?'

'Prythian'

'Where is that?

'You wouldn't have seen it on any of your maps'

'Why?'

'Magic'

'Why are your ears pointed?'

'Because we are Fae' he answered.

I took a moment to compose myself. How could this not be a dream?

'Like as in faeries? I was led to believe you had wings and were little' I said with a smirk.

Inebra glanced at me warily and I remembered the advice I had gotten from Eilidh. This line of questioning was getting me nowhere.

Eris, despite the warnings, seemed amused.

'Tell me why I'm here then.'

Inebra glanced at Eris and he said, 'You have a certain, how would I say this, connection that we need.'

'Connection? I don't know anyone here, how can I have any so-called connections?'

Eris sighed, 'I'm not answering any more questions as to why you're here until you listen to what I have to say first. I'll explain our history and you will listen.'

There was a warning written into the phrasing. I nodded.

Eris started talking quietly, 'You are human, we are not. We are Fae and more importantly, we are High Fae. This land has been around for centuries, longer than you could begin to conceive. And so have we.'

`We used to live in harmony with the humans and then there was a war, which I won't get into now but following the war,The Wall was created, an invisible barrier on this land that cleaved the Fae from the humans. Humans wandered over but were mostly never seen or heard from again. I leave you to imagine what happened to them.'

'This land is called Prythian and another Fae land lies across the ocean, it is called Hybern.' 552 years ago, Hybern launched a secret attack on all of us, sending over one of his worst generals. Her name was Amarantha and she was ruthless. She invited us to festivities Under The Mountain and due to something that happened in a previous war, she tricked us into staying there, leaving only one avenue open to reverse what she had done.'

'Now that is not my story to tell, so we'll move on.'

'This land is split into courts, each court has a High Lord in control of the land and they represent different aspects of nature. This as you well know is the Autumn Court and I am the High Lord of the Autumn Court.'

He laid out a large map on the table in front of us.

'To the south is the Spring Court, to the west the Summer Court, to the north, The Winter Court, Dawn Court, Day Court and Night Court.'

'Following our release from Under The Mountain, there was another war. Much of a muchness to what happened before as I'm told. And there has been peace since.'

'Then 500 years ago, we decided to have no more involvement with humans on the Continent, to save ourselves and them. It worked.'

'All the High Lords came together and signed a pact to have no human involvement in the future.'

'A short while ago, that pact was broken.'

He paused and looked at me. It seemed like the whole room had sucked in a breath of air and was waiting for my response.

I managed to squeak out one word, 'how?' knowing that it had something to do with me.

'Somebody here wants you.'