The Cursed Deal ✓

Chapter 58

Guests of all shapes and sizes arrived at the high elf palace to celebrate what was to be the high elf son's marriage. They dressed in their finest suits and gowns, sported the richest swords in their sheaths and the boldest jewelry on their bosom. From all corners of Pinedon, the closest supporters of the land's leaders had finally arrived.

They flocked from one room to the next and carried chalices of immortal wine handed out to them by the tightly dressed mortals. Hardly breathing in their suits and high collars, the mortals were treated as little more than ghosts and regarded as pillars or coat hangers. That was the common trend amongst all the visitors and the high elf family themselves, they didn't care about those that were beneath them from birth. In fact, they treated the mortals like they should be worthy of such an honor. As if their presence was to be considered such.

The high elf palace had never seen a grander day. The decorations of streamers and ribbons—bright red—covered the walls and the balconies of the palace and shined against the golden walls of intricate architecture. Everywhere—something had a decoration. Even the trays of food in the great hall were decorated with ribbons around the small desserts.

Wagons and carriages belonging to the rich lined the long bridge leading from the innards of Isflean and to the palace itself. The music played outside the doors matched that of what was shared inside, echoing through the halls, all the way to the darkest corners and alcoves.

It was a grand affair. Not only for the guests but for the entire land of Pinedon. The gates to the palace were shut, but an array of beasts pressed themselves against the iron to view the rare spectacle of a royal marriage. The guards pushed them back with spears and demanded they behave, but no one could contain their excitement on a day as warm and sunny as the one the wedding occurred on.

Guests brought their blessings along with them, the seers and fortune-tellers and wizards granting the couple a life of safe-passage, love, and no harm done. A blessing for a family, a fertile marriage, and an endless amount of riches. Provided, of course, that those things already existed. It was merely a play on words and false advertisement to put hopes in young minds.

Faine viewed everything in the throne room from the dark rafters above the mezzanine. She lied on her stomach, bracing her elbows against the wooden board provided to them by the high elf father—the best he could come up with—and peered down at the mingling guests. Most were standing around and gathering in the room itself, migrating from the great hall or the courtyard after strolling through the maze of gardens with fountains and carved hedges.

Their positions were undetectable by the rest of the crowd and the room. The base of the dome ceiling sat at the beginning of Faine's head poking out from within the ledge she fit onto, golden trim scratching against her horns when she tried to get a visual on all corners of the ground floor. Wiggling her way in between the roof of the high mezzanine and the beginning of another wall was the difficult part, waiting was another.

Luckily, the mezzanine was high enough that no one down below could see them. The tallest point of the wall before it stuck out in a dramatic ledge of swirling gold, behaving like waves crashing against the shore, but sunk in enough that Faine saw over it.

So far, nothing seemed out of sorts. She spotted no one suspicious on the floor of the throne room; then again, the high elf family had yet to arrive. The guests were waiting around, like fish in a barrel—at least, from Faine's point of view—and she finally considered what it'd take to kill them all. It'd be an easy task. No one could get out of the room fast enough if they didn't know where the shots were coming from.

The crossbow was armed and ready in front of her, all it would take was one simple motion to shoot at whoever was attempting to assassinate an innocent member of the high elf family. The tight space above the mezzanine wasn't a prime condition, but she'd seen worse. And still managed to get the job done.