Previously on "A Court of Fear and Ice"

On Marella's balcony, Lexi has a girl talk with the fairies about siblings, love and friendship. She also finds out why Cerys and Zareen abandoned her at the birthday party and didn't want to admit they knew one another.

Chapter 31

After returning to my room, I stretched out on the bed and started staring at the beige ceiling.

At first, I thought that I didn't care about being friends with Marella and the Night Court fairies. I was perfectly aware that they were nothing more than made-up characters who would disappear the moment I would return to the real world and become just a weird dream. Besides, I didn't know them that well and I couldn't call myself a member of their group, because I was just an uninvited guest, wasn't I?

But the more time I spent on thinking back on their kindness and hospitality during those first days in Prythian, the sadder I felt about what happened yesterday. To make things worse, when I started comparing their previous behaviour with the indifference Cerys and Zareen were showing throughout the evening, the word 'betrayal' kept appearing in my mind. I wasn't sure if I could call it that way, though some parts of me were repeating it over and over again.

Secondly, there was also that infamous order. Had I known about it before entering the ballroom together with Zareen, I wouldn't have felt so weird, so alone and so stupid at the party. And surely, I wouldn't have been trying so desperately to catch someone's attention.

Sitting up, I realised that I had to know more about the order. My first choice of getting the information from would have been Cerys, but for obvious reasons I couldn't ask her. I could have also talked with Rhysand, yet I was too afraid to do that. Favourite character or not, he was still the most powerful High Lord in Prythian and the one who gave the order in the first place, so asking him about his reason seemed… well, stupid.

And this way I was left with two options, Meleri or Rian.

Feyre and Rhysand's youngest daughter seemed to be an easy source of information as she had already told me lots of things about her family, including the stuff about Rian and his ex-girlfriend, or whoever she was. The problem with Meleri was that I hadn't seen her for days now and I didn't know how to contact her without raising suspicion. I just couldn't text her, could I?

As for that handsome muppet, I had a feeling that he would eventually spill the beans about the order. But it would depend a lot on his good mood and my ability to win him over, which sometimes tended to let me down in the least expected place and time. All in all, he seemed to be an even more reliable source of information than my little kidnapper, yet I didn't know if there would be a chance to talk with him about the order as apparently none of the Night Court fairies wanted me around.

Groaning, I stood up and approached the window. There, I leant against the windowsill and fixed my eyes on the view in front of me.

Suddenly, I realised there was one thing that didn't want to get out of my head. One thing that had been hiding at the back of it and slowly emerging from the depths of my thoughts. One tiny thing…

I sighed loudly and then said it aloud, "And to think that I was beginning to feel at home."

###

Later that day, when I was observing the sunset, I got an invitation from Marella to sightsee the city. My first thought was to refuse, of course, because I was still upset about the conversation, and that last thing I wanted to do was to spend more time with the fairies. But she kept talking and talking about Adriata, describing its marvellous streets, squares and shops, and soon I realised that she persuaded me to come with them.

We met with the others in the palace's foyer.

Except me, Marella and Nerida, who joined us while we were walking in one of the corridors, there was also Cerys, Zareen and a rather short fairy whom Marella introduced as Calder, her personal guard. The Summer fairy just nodded when she said his name and rarely opened his mouth on the way to the city, though Nerida kept asking him all sorts of questions and tried to engage him in conversation. As it turned out later, the little princess was quite fond of the blue-eyed guard and considered him one of the most handsome males she had ever known, right behind her dad and Uncle Rhys.

The sightseeing tour began immediately after we got off the biggest bridge that connected the palace with the rest of the city. From there, I had an excellent view on the grand residence itself and I had to admit that I was frankly amazed.

When Cerys winnowed us to the Summer Court, we landed in the upper courtyard and were immediately snatched into Marella's living room. For the next two days, I had only seen some of the rooms and the harbour, but never the whole palace. And now I had a chance to finally do that.

Made of light-coloured stone, the Adriata Palace was perched atop an island that probably used to be some sort of a mountain. It was towering over the city and reminded me a lot of the small island in France that was the inspiration for Rapunzel's castle in 'Tangled.' Lights were glimmering in the windows and there were lots of fairies on every bridge, balcony and terrace, though the temperature hadn't dropped yet and it was still damn hot.

I knew I was able to stare at the beautiful palace for hours, but it was time for our next stop, so I rushed after the rest of the group.

Mallastrina, the oldest part of the city, was mostly known for its enormous fish market which stretched all along the bay and provided work and money for thousands of fairies.

The moment we entered the still crowded market, the smell of fish flooded my nostrils. At first, it was so strong and unpleasant that I couldn't focus on anything else. Instead of listening to Marella and watching the unusual seafood she was telling us about, I was too preoccupied with covering my nose and breathing through my mouth. Luckily, over time, I got used to the smell and walking around the stalls wasn't a problem anymore.

According to the High Lady, the market offered more than one hundred kinds of seafood, including various fish, prawns, clams and lobsters, and some were indeed extraordinary. There were fish with two faces and scales so shiny that I was able to look at myself like in a mirror. I saw also tiny greenish lobsters with two pairs of claws, white clams that had big dark spots on their shells and reminded me of Pongo, and purple prawns so big they didn't fit on my palm. But the most unreal was a giant red octopus that had to be put on two tables, because its arms were extremely long and thick.

Looking at the octopus, I couldn't believe my eyes. I was sure it was twice the size of me and it could have easily wrapped its slimy arms around me had we been in the same body of water. I suspected that meeting such an animal had to be really terrifying, but this one was harmless as it was just lying on the table.

And then it hit me. The octopus was lying on the table, because… because it was dead. Because someone killed it and put on display.

"You know," I said, keeping my eyes on the octopus and feeling a sudden pang of sadness, "I'm a meat-eater, but it's such a shame that the octopus is dead. I feel bad about it."

Marella approached me. "Well, it's a fish market and it's supposed to sell dead seafood."

"But it's a shame they killed it," Cerys added quietly and I noticed that she was also staring at the octopus.

I hadn't talked or looked at the Night Court princess from the moment I saw her and Zareen in the foyer, and, honestly, I wasn't going to change it. I was still upset about the conversation on the balcony and wasn't sure when it would go away.

Taking her eyes off the octopus, Cerys said, "Can we go elsewhere? I'm done with all those fish and I'd rather eat some lemon pies in Dorlido."

"Yes, that's a great idea." Marella smiled and grabbed Nerida's hand, saying, "Hold on to me, little one. Zareen," she added, "can you lead the way to the main street? Then we can go to the round bakery and buy pies."

The red-head fairy nodded and turned around.

Before joining the group, I took a last glance at the giant animal. Though I was perfectly aware of the fact that people – and apparently fairies, too – ate almost everything, I couldn't get rid of the thought that the octopus shouldn't have been lying on the table and waiting to be sold. That it shouldn't have been killed in the first place. But it was a fish market, not an oceanarium, and it was supposed to sell dead seafood.

But it felt wrong.

###

The lemon pies that Cerys brought up at the Mallastrina Market turned out to be very delicious and we were eating them while walking the narrow winding streets of Dorlido, the newest part of Adriata.

Looking like a charming Italian town, Dorlido was full of small partly hidden restaurants and cafés where music was playing on and on, and the smell of tasty dishes was wafting in the air, tempting everyone to get inside and spend the evening there. But before we were able to visit one of the restaurants and eat a yummy dinner, we decided to visit a bookshop at the request of Nerida who wouldn't stop begging Marella to go there.

This way, surrounded by tall wooden bookcases full of heavy dusty volumes, I was standing in the middle of one of the biggest bookshops in Adriata, feeling utterly bored.

Looking like a museum, the two-storey building was made of the same beige stone as the palace. It had high walls finely decorated with sculptures of scallops and different marine creatures, like fish and turtles, and a colourful glass dome that had to look spectacular during the day. All around the main chamber, there was an internal balcony with a stoned railing which looked like a rope and was probably supposed to resemble a ship deck.

Expect for the six of us, the bookshop was almost empty. Immediately, after we went inside, the Summer fairies disappeared in the first aisle on the left and I hadn't seen them ever since Marella looked over her shoulder and flashed me an apologetic smile. As I didn't want to pester poor Cerys and Zareen, I turned into the first aisle on the right and hoped I wouldn't get lost.

Needing no more than twenty minutes, I saw around the entire bookshop twice and was ready to munch on a delicious dinner. Slowly, I returned to the main door and waited for the rest of the group, but the fairies were nowhere to be found. To pass the time, I started admiring the interior of the bookshop. I looked closely at the stone scallops, touched some of the fish and turtles on the walls, and approached the dome again.

There, I met a green-skinned fairy who introduced herself as Naila. She was one of the sellers and probably a huge fan of colourful metal bracelets as they were covering her entire forearms and jingled every time she moved. We had a nice conversation about the history of the bookshop and I even got a souvenir when I mentioned the trip to the Crystal Waterfall with the Night Court fairies. It was a hand-painted map that, according to Naila, showed the fastest way to get to the waterfall.

As I was about to get back to the door, I spotted a flash from the corner of my eye. Turning my head towards the nearest bookcase, I saw several book spines that were glittering even though there was no magical light nearby. Feeling a bit curious, I got closer and decided to flick through these ancient-looking books.

Just like the ones I saw in the mountain residence, all books were written in a strange, unknown to me language. On the pages, there were squares, circles, triangles and other weird figures which resembled a bit the runic alphabet, yet they made no sense to me. The figures were organised into long lines that stretched from one side of the page to the other, and strangely, I didn't see any punctuation marks.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps in the distance, so I turned around and saw the Summer fairies. Walking at the front of the small group and smiling broadly, Nerida was holding the hand of a tall white-haired woman whom I had never seen before. Marella, on the other hand, seamed uneasy and kept glancing at the woman as if there was something wrong with the stranger. The only one who didn't give a damn about anything was Calder who walked at the end of the group and had his right hand on the hilt of his sword.

"There you are," the High Lady said when they all stopped near me. "Nerida was wondering if you got lost in the bookshop as we haven't seen you for a while. She even wanted to ask Calder to find you, but here you are." She smiled. "Safe and sound."

Looking at Nerida, I replied, "No, I didn't get lost. Actually, I saw around the bookshop twice and decided that it was time to find the main door and wait for all of you." I flashed them a smile and noticed a package in Nerida's hand. "Did you buy anything?"

"Yes, I did," the little princess said and let go of the woman's hand. Then, she lifted a small book and added, "It's a story about an ancient queen who ruled the Golden City in Montesere. The queen was very brave and decided to search for the last white lion to safe her beloved city." She glanced at Marella's personal guard and said quietly, "Calder told me about this book."

I could have sworn that Calder smiled a bit.

"Nerida found it so interesting that we had to look for the books and then buy it." Marella caressed her daughter's cheek. "She didn't want to take no for an answer."

"Good for you." I gave the little princess two thumbs up. "Remember, children should read a lot, so they can grow up to be intelligent adults."

Nerida nodded.

"I think it's time to go to a restaurant," the High Lady said, looking at the dome.

"Finally," I murmured, feeling rather hungry. And everyone knew that when I was hungry, I could get really, really angry.

"We should return to the main door as the rest of our guests are waiting for us and it's getting late," she added. "Nerida, say goodbye to your aunt, because she has other plans for tonight and, unfortunately, she can't come with us." Marella gave the woman a stern look and headed towards the door, gently dragging her daughter along and not giving a toss about the woman. Calder immediately followed his High Lady.

As I was about to join the Summer fairies, I felt that someone grabbed my elbow, so I turned around with a huge frown on my face.

Standing right beside me and keeping her hand around my elbow, the white-haired woman said sweetly, "You must be Lexi."

A bit taller than me, the stranger was beautiful. Bearing a resemblance to Marella, she had a lovely round face with big green eyes and a full mouth, and her white hair was long and left loose. The woman was wearing a long purple dress that clung perfectly to her body and emphasised her slim waist.

"My niece told me a lot about you," she went on and I noticed that her voice was very pleasant. "I'm so glad that I've finally met you."

Fixing my eyes on her, I deepened my frown. "And you are…?"

The woman cocked her head and said, "I'm someone who wanted to talk to you at my sister's birthday party but didn't get a chance to do that." She paused and let go of my elbow. "But here you are," she added and flashed me an unpleasant smile. "Alone. Without your two Night Court companions."

Oh, shit, I thought, feeling unwanted goosebumps. Torianna.

"You're lucky that my sister and niece are watching us," Torianna whispered, getting closer to my ear, "because otherwise our conversation wouldn't be so… pleasant." She smiled again and took a step back. "I hope that you're having a great time in our Court," she said louder. "I'm looking forward to meeting you again, Lexi." Flashing me another unpleasant smile, the white-haired woman walked away in the opposite direction.

As I was staring at Torianna's back and thanking for such a short conversation, I felt that someone approached me. Turning my head left, I saw Cerys who was looking at me with a frown on her face.

"Is everything all right?" she asked.

I took a deep breath. "Yes, I think so."

"Good," she said and glanced towards the rest of the fairies. "Marella wants to go to dinner, so we'd better join them."

I shook my head. "I think I'll pass. I'm not that hungry."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Go without me." I smiled slightly.

Because you don't want me there, I thought, fighting the urge to say it aloud. I still didn't get over our conversation on the balcony and didn't want to spend time with Cerys and Zareen, especially after talking with Torianna who clearly had it in for me.

Staring at me, Cerys said, "Fine, I will winnow you to the palace."

I nodded.

Pronunciation guide

Calder - [kol - der] - (meaning: rocky water)

Naila = [nah - ee - lah] (meaning: successful)