Previously on "A Court of Fear and Ice"

Walking with Rian to the dining room, Lexi learns the story of Yareli, a mermaid and legendary Queen of the Sea. They both join the rest of the fairies for breakfast and eat delicious pancakes.

Chapter 30

It was late afternoon and we were sitting on Marella's balcony. Looking at the busy harbour below, I was fanning myself, but it was no use. The air was still as suffocating as it had been hours ago, and it seemed that the night might be just the same.

"I admire you, Marella, for being able to live in such conditions," I said and drank my lemonade that was too quickly losing its coolness. "If I were a resident of this palace, I would surely die on one of those balconies because of the heat, and the only things left would be my dried-out body and lots of flies."

Marella laughed. "At least, we would know where to find you."

"Definitely." Cerys made a face. "The smell of your decaying body would surely give you away. And believe me, finding a corpse isn't… pleasant, so you better not die on any of their balconies." She wagged her finger at me.

"You've convinced me. I don't want to turn into a stinking wrinkled prune," I said.

Zareen plucked some purple grapes from a glass bowl. "No one would want that. Surely not Rian." She gave me a look.

Raising an eyebrow, I asked, "Why him?"

She shrugged and replied, "To start with, you were brought to Prythian for him, weren't you? So he must care about you in a way."

"Besides," Cerys added with a strange smile on her lips, "he let you stay in his tower room. And that has never happened before. I was surprised when you told me that you were supposed to spend the night up there."

"I was also surprised when I woke up in the morning and saw a naked male torso next to me," I admitted. "I didn't have the faintest idea that I was going to sleep with him in one bed."

I couldn't tell them that I was sleeping naked and accidently put my hand on his naked torso, thinking it was a big pillow, right?

"I'm not sure I would have been able to resist touching a naked male torso." Cerys moved her eyebrows up and down several times. "My hand would have even wandered to all the nooks and crannies of that torso's owner."

We laughed.

"I think someone's really sex-starved," I said, reaching for the green grapes.

Cerys battered her eyes. "Well, I wouldn't say no if I were asked to tumble in the bed tonight."

"Can I have another room, please?" Zareen asked quickly, making a face. "I don't believe I will be able to sleep, even with those thick walls between our rooms."

"I'd try not to be that loud," Cerys whispered.

Having sent her a doubtful look, Zareen said, "And we need to rest because Rian wants to go to the Crystal Waterfall tomorrow evening."

"You have a waterfall in Adriata?" I asked.

Marella nodded. "It's about two hours away from here if you go on foot. I usually walk there with my daughters and Tarquin when the weather's fine and we want to escape the palace for a while." Smiling, she added, "The waterfall is an excellent spot for swimming or simply wading in the water, and a lot of fairies have picnics there."

"Is it big?"

"It's enormous!" Cerys responded. "When you stand near the edge of the lake, you have to perk your head to see the top of the waterfall. And as you can imagine, climbing up is really tough, but the view is amazing."

"We sometimes hold a contest to see who is the best jumper," Marella said. "And it's usually Ciaran."

"Don't forget that I won it twice," Cerys broke in with a small smile on her face. The smile suddenly disappeared when she added, "But both times happened because my twin brother was absent."

Zareen pouted a little. "I've never won the contest."

"No worries." Cerys put her arm around her. "We have many years ahead of us, and I'm pretty sure that you will win one day."

Zareen sighed. "I hope so."

"I take it you don't use your magic," I said, still eating the sweet grapes.

"Of course not," Marella replied. "What's the fun in winning a contest if you do it with the help of magic? The males always want to exhibit their strength and abilities, and we just can't spoil their fun by cheating, can we?" She winked.

Cerys sighed. "And it's always nice to admire some muscled male bodies. Just imagine… Naked torsos, soaked trousers exposing everything–"

"Good God, Cerys!" I laughed. "What is wrong with you?"

Shrugging, she replied, "Every time I'm in the Summer Court, I feel an overwhelming need to cuddle up with someone and spend several minutes in my bed… Mostly in my bed. But I don't mind other places." She flashed me a flirty smile.

"You don't want to see her when she's in the Dawn Court," Zareen broke in, grinning. "She has to put a shield around her so no one would smell her."

"And when Taranis is around–" Marella started.

"Stop it," Cerys said angrily and stood up. "I don't want to listen to that shit anymore. I have told you countless times not to make strange allusions to him, but you two just don't care." She approached the balcony railing and grabbed it. "Don't you understand that he doesn't want me?" she asked quietly, not looking at us. "That he treats me like his younger sister, not like a grown-up female?"

We all got quiet.

"Have you told him that you want more?" I asked carefully.

Quickly, Cerys turned around and gave me a cold look. "Many times," she replied. "I have told him that many times, but his answer has always been no. It didn't matter if he was sober or drunk, if I were sober or drunk, or even if we were alone or with company." She crossed her arms, adding, "No. It's always been no."

"Well," I said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. I didn't like talking about such things with my sisters or friends as I knew that I was no expert on relationships. That's why brining it now seemed slightly unwise, but I continued anyway, "Maybe he's not ready for a relationship. Sometimes men need more time to realise they have met the right woman. Or maybe there is another reason. You know, maybe he prefers… males."

"Impossible," Cerys chimed in, still crossing her arms. "I asked Rian to check it for me." She blushed, having realised what she had just told us. "I mean…"

Zareen gasped. "What did you do?"

"I would have never thought that our sweet Cerys would be able to make such a request," Marella laughed, sitting up straight and putting her glass on the table. "When was that exactly? Why did you never tell us about it? Did Rian really ask him that? Are you sure about Taranis?"

Cerys shrugged, turning around and leaning across the railing. "It was some years ago. Yes, he did ask him." She sighed and added quietly, "Or at least that's what he told me."

Zareen giggled. "Mother above. Cerys, you're unbelievable."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Marella repeated her previous question. "We're your best friends and we have always supported you. I know that it might be sometimes hard to believe, but we want the best for you… and him."

Cerys remained silent.

"Cerys, please," Zareen added. "We're just having a little laugh with you. We're not trying to make you feel bad."

There was still no answer.

"If I may," I said, drawing Marella and Zareen's attention. I wanted Cerys to look at me too, yet she kept staring at the harbour and seemed completely uninterested in what I was going to say. "I was listening to your conversation and something came up to my mind," I went on. "As you probably know, I have two younger sisters, Evelyn and Jasmine, and when they became teenagers, I started feeling super responsible for them and tended to protect them at all cost. It began with checking up on them during each break in school, and ended with chasing the wrong, in my opinion, boys away."

I sighed, feeling slightly guilty about me being a helicopter sibling in the past.

"Over the years, I realised that they didn't need that kind of attention and my overprotectiveness did more harm than good. True, I was their eldest sister and it was my responsibility to make sure Eve and Jazz were safe, but I couldn't live their lives for them, could I?" I flashed Marella and Zareen a sad smile before continuing. "At first, it was hard to ease up on them, but eventually I managed to do that, and now we all do what we really want to. I love those two chimps very much and the last thing I want to do is to make them unhappy."

Cerys turned her head and glanced at me, but didn't say anything.

"You see," I added, "being the eldest can make people do things which are supposed to protect their siblings, but eventually they can turn out to be stupid or even selfish ones. It's not like they don't care about them. It's… I think it's more like they care too much and don't want to admit their brothers or sisters are adults capable of making their own decisions and choices."

Finally, Cerys turned around and looked at me. "Do you want to tell me that Rian has something to do with his reluctance?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I just told my perspective. From what I've noticed, grown-up men can be very protective when it comes to their loved ones, but that's not always the case." I grabbed some grapes and said, "Maybe it has nothing to do with any of your brothers. Maybe it does. Maybe Taranis wants to protect you as well but doesn't want a romantic relationship. Well, it's hard to say, because I've just met him."

She frowned, probably mulling over my words.

"If I were you," I added, "I would talk with Rian about the whole thing. But don't tell him that it was my idea. I don't want him to get angry with me." I made a face.

Zareen smiled. "So you do care what he thinks about you."

"Is that something wrong?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Well, when I heard that you were going to spend the night with him–"

"In his room," I chimed in. "I spent the night in his room, but we didn't have sex."

Come on, I thought, blushing a little. Another one that is sex-starved?

"Fine, in his room." Zareen rolled her eyes. "I thought you would get angry and leave the room immediately, but as it turned out, you stayed there until the morning."

"It's because I fell asleep right away and didn't realise it was his room until the morning. The rest you already know because we ate breakfast together," I responded.

Marella seemed uneasy as she said, "I still wonder who decided to put you in the same room. I promise it wasn't me."

"I'm not mad at you." I flashed her a reassuring smile. "Sleeping there was okay."

And touching my big pillow was okay as well.

"I'm sure that if Lexi had grown up with us, you wouldn't have felt so bad about putting her in the tower room," Cerys broke in, sitting next to Zareen. "I would even say that you would have given your permission for it."

The High Lady smiled mysteriously. "Second-guessing is a waste of time, my sweet princess," she said, sipping her lemonade.

Cerys looked at her doubtfully, and then fixed her eyes on me, saying, "She would do it."

"Unbelievable! You call yourself my best friend?" Marella asked with a grin. "I think I'm going to put you in one of the dungeons on bread and water for a few days. After all, I'm the High Lady of the Summer Court, and you've just insulted me."

The Night Court princess sighed loudly. "But don't put me into the one where you almost ravished your handsome High Lord."

Marella gasped. "Cerys, it was supposed to be a secret!" she whispered angrily. "I will never again trust you with any information."

"My bad," Cerys replied, but her voice wasn't apologetic.

Zareen and I started laughing.

"This will certainly make me think twice about inviting you to our palace again." Marella pouted, looking away.

Cerys smiled sweetly. "It's a good thing that Zareen and I tend to come around uninvited."

"Oh, I'm sure that it will change in the nearest future," Marella added, looking at her and raising one eyebrow.

"No, it won't," Cerys said with a cocky grin. "Because, my friend, you love us too much to forbid visiting you, and we love you too much to stop coming here." She reached out her hands towards Marella and Zareen, and added, "Forever and ever"

"Forever and ever," Zareen repeated and grabbed Cerys's hand, flashing her a smile. Then, they both looked at Marella and waited.

The High Lady glanced at their outstretched hands, but didn't touch them at first.

Having bit her lower lip, she stared at her own hands and said quietly, "It's true that I love you too much to forbid visiting me. I can't even imagine my life without both of you." She fixed her green eyes on Cerys and Zareen, and smiled shyly. "Forever and ever," she repeated, taking their hands.

With curiosity, I was observing the three fairies. They kept smiling and holding hands, surely forgetting about me and the rest of the world. I suspected that Cerys, Zareen and Marella were best friends, but I hadn't realised they created their own motto. Forever and ever.

I smiled, feeling a tiny pang of jealousy. "This is wonderful."

"We came up with these two words several years ago," Marella said, letting go of her friends' hands. "We usually repeat them when we're on the verge of quarrelling as they help calm ourselves down."

"And we need calming down mostly because of Cerys and Marella's disagreements," Zareen murmured.

Cerys rolled her eyes. "Those so called 'disagreements' are always brief and fade into oblivion quite quickly," she replied. "We always come to terms, sooner or later. No matter what might happen, we would never abandon one another."

They smiled happily.

Swallowing hard, I tried to shut out the image of Zareen's back as she was leaving me at yesterday's party, but I couldn't. I felt it once again – shock, disbelief, and finally anger. Before I knew it, I heard myself asking, "Why did you leave me at the party yesterday?"

Their smiles disappeared.

I noticed there was something like shame on Zareen and Marella's faces, but Cerys seemed unaffected by my words as she kept staring at me.

"Yesterday I met Torianna, Marella's eldest sister," she said with a blank face. "Every time I see that… female, I know it can only end badly, and I wasn't wrong. We had a very heated argument about many issues. You among them."

I raised my eyebrows. "Me?"

"She accused me of deliberately disobeying my father's order to cease any liaison with humans," Cerys went on, "and wouldn't believe that you were invited to the party by Marella. After much deliberation, the only sensible thing that came to my mind was to stay away from you and not give her any reasons to talk to you."

I gasped, remembering all the strange things about humans that I had heard since the day I ended up in Prythian.

Well, for such an ordinary mortal like you, I may seem like a god.

I don't remember the last time we had a human guest in the residence.

How can a human girl be the guest of the Night Court? It's been years since the last time I saw a human in one of your residences.

I don't have any mortal family or friends. Well, it's… it's been years since the last time I invited humans to the palace. After all, there aren't many humans in the Summer Court these days.

Belatedly, I came to realise that most fairies whom I had met were more or less surprised that a human girl was staying in the Night Court. Back then, I didn't pay much attention to it, thinking that Prythian was again inhabited only by magical creatures and meeting a human was uncommon. But now… finding out about the order made me see everything differently.

"Rhysand gave such an order?" I asked with surprise. "But why?"

Cerys shrugged. "He had his reasons."

Fixing my eyes on her, I waited for more details, but I soon realised that she wasn't going to continue. Slowly, Cerys stood up and approached the balcony railing again, leaning across it and staring at the harbour.

"Torianna is known for her… sharp tongue and stubbornness," Marella said suddenly. "She's been always keen on reopening old wounds, and quarrelling with Cerys, of course. But this time, she excelled herself. I don't remember a worse confrontation than yesterday's one."

I glanced at Cerys's back.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked quietly. Honestly, I had forgotten about the whole damn thing because I was too preoccupied with saving Nerida from the swimming pool, and then with sleeping in the tower room with Rian. If they hadn't told me about their motto, I wouldn't have remembered the party. I looked at Zareen. "I really didn't know what had happened back there."

She seemed uneasy as she said, "We thought it would the best way to handle the situation."

"It doesn't change the fact that you should've told me," I replied. "I wouldn't have felt like a freak, just standing there and drinking juice."

"We didn't want it to turn out like this." Cerys turned around and fixed her eyes on me. "But it did. Next time–"

"No," I said quietly, standing up. "There won't be a next time. If it's so wrong for the Night Court to spend time with a human, then I'll stop accompanying you. After all, it's your world and your friends. I'm just an uninvited guest who is leaving you any time soon." Having said that, I left the balcony and headed for my room.

I knew when I was unwanted, and it hurt like hell.

Pronunciation guide

Torianna = [to - ree - ya - na] (meaning: winner)