Deep in the Bavarian woods, where the faerie realm touches on the human world lies Schloss Mondschein. Owned by a corrupted human family, the castle is the playground of the Fae. The human staff are their toys.
Servant's daughter Andromeda Arendt h...
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A good girl? Pretty? If Andromeda didn't have so many questions for North, she might've killed him—he made her pout for crying out loud, but for now, she could recognize the advantages of being carried in North Winterborn's arms even with the glamour fading. Amongst others, it spared her from using her sore limbs and kept the comfy socks Akela had gifted her clean. Which brought her back to the mystery of her boots and why everybody wanted them.
"Don't look!" North cradled her face to his chest and away from the mirror that held her parents, and then, as if he knew she needed it, he whispered, "We'll come back for them later." She stifled a sob in the soft material of his cloak.
At the trunk of the tree, the chancellor waited for them, her mouth twisted in an amused grin. "I didn't think you'd manage but there you are. Smooth, Winterborn, real smooth." She held up her hand and North instructed Andromeda to reach into the side pocket of his cloak and fish out a satchel for the chancellor.
Clicking her tongue, the chancellor unfolded it and chose a polished jade stone from a collection of gems. "For my headache." She winked at Andromeda, then slid back on her formally stern expression to address North. "I've put both your names on the flight manifest so it will look like you left Hawthrone while you rest up in the belly. I've secured a servant's dugout for you. Eat, sleep ... then get her out of here as soon as you're both fit to travel again. I will not stand between you and the High King if he finds out you tricked him. I got a tree to run."
"That's all I ask. Thank you, Evie."
In return for the jade, Evie placed a key in the satchel. "There you go." She slipped it back in North's cloak and then they took off. Hugging Andromeda to his chest, North floated down the tree sticking close to the trunk. Midway, she recognized the level of the flight strip but North didn't stop, descending further and further down.
Darkness enveloped them as they whizzed between the tree's roots into an underground tunnel. The belly, she realized. It was eerily quiet and smelled of black earth, the temperature not much colder than above the ground. Fireflies lit the hop-off points to dug-out hallways. She counted six stories before North stepped aside and carefully lowered her feet to the ground.
The key opened a door to an unexpectedly cozy bedroom. In the middle, a four-poster bed basked in unexplainable rays of warm, golden light. One bedside table was stacked with linen: clothes and towels. The other with food: bread, honey, milk, and berries. On a sheep's skin next to the bed stood a pair of shiny high-laced boots in her size.
"So we're sharing ... I assume there's only one bed?" She groaned, knowing the answer already. From what transpired between Evie and North, she understood their sleeping arrangements were non-negotiable.
"There's a bathroom for your private business," North pointed at a door behind the bed, "and I promise I'll stick to my side. You don't have to worry about me." He sounded spent, his voice more monotonous than she had become accustomed to.
