Two Wicked Courts

Chapter 3

My head pounded so badly I could feel my heartbeat in my temples and my muscles groaned in protest when I stretched. I knew I couldn't muster sitting up if I wanted to, so I remained lying down with my eyes closed to keep out most of the unbearable morning light. Alana shifted next to me and sighed in her sleep like she used to when we still shared a bed.

Warm and still exhausted from the night before, I drifted back asleep... until a distant, repetitive ringing woke me again.

Bells? When had the village gotten bells?

There were low voices speaking to each other as well, but not our parents.

Men?

I jerked awake, startling Alana, and scrambled backwards on all fours. My head was spinning as I tried to reorient myself, but the room with its three doors was unfamiliar, the view outside the open window, partially hidden by gauzy curtains, foreign. The breeze that came in smelled of flowers and salt, like the sea.

Alana rubbed her eyes as she sat up, yawning loudly. "Well, if my headache is any indication of the night we had, I'd say it was a success..." Her voice trailed off as she looked around. "Una?"

I couldn't hide the rising panic in my voice. "Alana, where are we?"

The pair of voices grew louder until the door on the other side of the room swung open and Alana scrambled towards me as two men sauntered in. They looked remarkably alike, with brown skin, golden eyes, and close-cropped coily hair that did nothing to hide their elongated, pointed ears. The air seemed to shimmer and waver around them until I was forced to look away.

"Look, Lys! Our guests have finally woken up!"

"They were being terribly boring..."

"Take us home," I tried to say it with conviction even if I was cowering against a wall.

The first twin spoke. "We couldn't, even if we wanted to..."

"Not that we would, of course," Lys chuckled lightly.

"What does that mean?"

"She's remarkably talkative for a sober mortal. Usually they're stunned silent from our brilliance, like the other one over there. It's refreshing, I think I like it."

Alana was on her knees as still as a statue, watching them with wide and vacant eyes. I reached out and tugged on the hem of her torn dress, but she refused to move. She didn't react to it at all.

The first continued, "Because, my darling girl, you invited us to drink with you, you shared some of yours, we shared some of ours..."

"No..." I murmured in horror.

"You're a clever one, we can tell, but the other one is prettier. I do think I like her more, Leander. Stand up, pretty one. Do a spin for me." Lys took a step closer to us and I watched in horror as Alana did what he told her. "Why would you want to leave us already?"

"Why would I want to leave? It's so nice here," Alana repeated in a daze.

"Your sister and you are now our permanent guests at the Summer Court," Leander smiled down at me. "Una, was it? Quit cowering. Stand up."

My head spun and my body complied to his command. I wanted to scream but my mouth wouldn't open as I was forced to stare straight at him. It wasn't just the air that wavered, his appearance did too. There were brief lapses when his teeth looked sharper, like fangs, and his eyes, already an impossible golden hue, reflected the light back at me.

Was this Fae glamour?

A sharp pain in my temple forced me to suck in a breath and I was able to tear my eyes away.