Come Away

Chapter 20 - Gossip

After lunch, Orla brought me back to the castle and into a ornately decorated room where a group of faeries sat with strange instruments. I didn't believe Orla at first when she said they were going to play some music while I danced. But sure enough, the music started and I was given full reign of the dance floor. Orla's sharp eyes bore into me, her haughty demeanor making me squirm.

"I really don't dance." I said. The music wasn't half-bad. Some peppy tune with a lot of flute action going on. But that did nothing for my awkward sense of rhythm. I tried shifting my weight side to side, and even snapping my fingers a little for good measure.

Orla wasn't having any of it though. She soon gave up on me, saying that humans are a lost race if we can't even do a simple dance. I wanted to tell her that lots of humans dance. She just picked the wrong one.

Leaning back in the chair, I stretch against the tightness of my muscles. Between my first horse ride, and then a dance lesson that ended in a total flop, my body aches to climb into that glorious feather bed. I would be there right now if Lena hadn't shown up in my room this evening. Like most of the mortal girls, she hardly ever got to leave the basement kitchens anymore. But she was given a special errand to bring me dinner in my room, and then convinced me to join her and the other girls below instead of eating alone.

"You must tell us about your day with the King." A small girl with bouncing blond waves says to me. We're all sitting around the kitchen table, munching on leftovers from the feast preparations.

The girl goes on, her voice trilling like a bird's. "No mortal is allowed to wear gowns like that anymore. You must have had a glorious time."

I'm forced back into the discussion and away from the awful memories of the afternoon as all the girls watch me with wonder in their eyes.

Well, most of them anyway.

"Enough about the King." Markie snarls. "The beast can die for all I care."

Goldie-locks girl lets out a mortified screech, and several others gasp. But Markie just glances at me with a sardonic smile.

"Ignore them. They are the King's brides of recent years, still infatuated with him even after he banished them from the castle."

Before Goldie-locks can protest again, Lena takes my hand in her lap. "Tell us instead of how you came to the Otherworld. Did you fall in love with a faery?"

I don't mean for it to be my first reaction, but I laugh at her. "Not even close."

Markie quirks an eyebrow, tossing her straight brown hair over her shoulder. "Did you get captured?"

Again I shake my head. "No, I—I made a deal with a faery."

That incites the most dramatic response of all.

"You didn't." Lena gasps.

"Oh dearest me..." Genevieve hugs herself.

"What in the world led you to make such a poor decision?" Markie asks.

I fold my arms over my chest. "It was for a good reason." I say curtly. As if these chicks have any room to talk. The only reason most of them are here is because of poor decision making.

"Unless you have the upper hand, no deal is worth it with these creatures." Markie says.

Lena adds on, "But do tell us why you did it, Roisín."

Her deep brown eyes are kind and inviting. I sigh and glance around the room. I haven't let myself think about Darren, and especially not Cináed, since I got here. Trying to keep myself from getting killed takes up a lot of mental space. But now is as good a time as any to figure out how I'm going to get back to them. I have no intention of putting my neck on the line at the feast just to give the royal family some good entertainment. I plan to be long gone before then.