Anam Cara

The Champion Attends a Feast

Rowan escorted them through the corridors until they returned to the landing of the grand staircase. The stairs going down on the right led to a spacious ballroom. Its features were hard to make out in the unlit darkness. To the left, they descended into the Great Hall where the guests assembled. Sarah tried not to gawk at the spectacle of it all.

The ceilings and walls were painted with murals. Cherubs and clouds covered the powdery blue of the sky on the ceiling while landscapes of meadows and flowers decorated the paneled walls. One could forget it was winter here if not for the festive decorations festooned over doorways and along the staircase railings.

The Fae were dressed in regal finery. Some women wore gowns of sheerest material as they walked without a hint of shame. Others were in the finest velvets and furs. Feathers and tiaras were perched on elaborate coiffures. The men wore breeches with knee-high boots all shined to perfection. Their coats were elaborately embroidered some with metallic threads in intricate designs, others with beads and crystals designed to catch the light and the eye.

The humans in contrast wore plain but clean clothing. Some had collars with leashes they followed as their captors paraded them like a prized pedigree. Their faces were strained. Eyes shadowed and cheeks hollowed. They looked terrified. Others obediently followed their Faes freely, their faces enamored and eyes glazed with adoration.

"Look at how strong and virile this one is," a red-haired woman said as they passed. "He put up quite the fight but my charms won out in the end." Her audience laughed as the mortal man's jaw clenched.

Sarah noticed as their trio made their way through the room heads turned, eyes cut into thin glares, whispers followed in their wake turning the Great Hall into a hissing pit of vipers.

"They're seething with jealousy," Rowan whispered to her with a satisfied grin stretching his cheeks.

"Why?" asked Sarah as she strained to hear what the others were saying.

"Well, normally, we only present one human," he whispered as he inclined his head in greeting to an old friend. "I have two and they all want another chance."

"Another chance for what?" Sarah's eyes danced around the room. She should be looking, searching. It was difficult to do in such a crowd with all eyes on them. She had no intention of being so conspicuous.

"To win, of course," answered Rowan as he led them to the front of the hall towards the entrance.

"Dinner is served," a fox with its red fur and black-tipped ears sticking through its feathered flat cap announced. "This way, if you please." He opened two doors that led to an antechamber.

The room was decorated in rich blues and silver. Large portraits hung on the walls on either side of the double doors that were centered on three of the four walls. Windows to the front lawn were on the fourth. They traversed to the second set of doors at the opposite end of the room.

Through those doors, they entered a dining room with the longest table Sarah had ever seen. Garland, holly, and poinsettias decorated the room in centerpieces along the table, woven in the chandeliers above, and under every sconce around the room. Evergreen boughs were draped along the tops of the windows.

Karen would have died seeing the chandeliers, matching candelabras, and golden place settings on crisp white linens. Sarah must not have been the only one in awe of her surroundings. The other humans gaped at the riches surrounding them. One spoon alone was probably worth more than any of them had ever had at once.

The fox led them to their seats, near the head of the far end of the table. Rowan sighed with relief as he noted that Ivy would be sitting opposite him in between two relatively harmless guests. A young marquess attending in his father's stead. He was lascivious but not malevolent. And a human who seemed smitten with his Fae. His eyes never left her. Poor man would never be the same.