House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

6

The Princess

Two days went by with nothing.

An interminably long space of time alone with Fordham Ollivier in his bedchamber. Anything could have been happening. They could have been using the big, beautiful bed in his chambers, just to give someone something to actually gossip about. Not that they’d seen anyone, except Benton and Bayton delivering meals three times a day.

But no. No fun bed times.

Fordham retreated to the couch, and she had the giant, fluffy goose down bed all to herself. He left a few times to try to speak to someone who would get them an audience with his father. He only came back angrier every time he left. She’d taken to avoiding him when he returned. They alternated between arguments and cold shoulders, and she didn’t have the energy for it. He was out now and had been gone for an hour. She’d wanted out of the room bad enough that she even offered to join him. He’d almost laughed at her. As if her half-Fae presence would make everything worse.

“Miss Kerrigan,” a voice called after a knock on the door.

Kerrigan rolled her eyes at the use of miss but still hurried to answer. It wasn’t yet time for Benton and Bayton to bring lunch for her. Any reason for interaction would be worth it.

She flung the door open. “Yes?”

Benton and Bayton curtsied.

“Will you follow us, miss?” Benton said.

“Where?”

Bayton blanched.

Benton smiled warmly. “We’re to prepare you for dinner.”

“It’s not even lunch.”

Bayton nodded. “Yes, but we have our orders.”

“Are we finally going to meet the king?”

“That I don’t know,” Benton said.

“Right. Orders,” Kerrigan said. “Does Fordham know? I mean, His Royal Highness.”

“We do not know,” Bayton said with a shy smile.

They didn’t really seem to know anything, or they refused to tell her. But this was her ticket out of this room. She’d go with her worst enemy to escape another day of solitude.

“I’ll leave him a note,” Kerrigan said. “Just one moment.”

The attendants protested, but Kerrigan had already darted back into the bedroom. She found a scrap piece of paper and jotted out a little something to let him know where she was going. He’d probably be angry if he came back and saw she was gone. Even worse, if he had no idea where she’d gone.

“All ready,” she said, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her.

The twins took the lead, navigating the empty corridors with ease. And they truly were still empty. It was so disconcerting. She kept expecting to turn the corner and for the halls to be teeming with people. She found it hard to reconcile it with her home.

“Does no one live here?” she couldn’t help asking the twins.

Benton and Bayton shared a glance. Benton answered, “Did His Royal Highness not inform you of how the court functions?” Then, she swallowed at the question, as if she’d already misstepped by asking it.

“Prince Fordham is famously recalcitrant and restrained,” Kerrigan said.

Bayton stifled a giggle. “That he is, miss.”

“You can call me Kerrigan.”

Benton shook her head. “We couldn’t.”

“I assure you that I would not be offended.”

They shared another look that Kerrigan took to mean that she was odd. But they smiled lightly afterward, as if they liked her strangeness.

“We really aren’t supposed to discuss the inner workings of the court,” Bayton whispered.

“But it wouldn’t hurt her to have some knowledge of where she resided,” Benton said. Bayton blinked at her sister, but Benton continued right on as they went up a flight of stairs, “The entire court has recently been called back into attendance.”

Kerrigan tilted her head. That actually made sense. The court wasn’t always in attendance in Bryonica either. People had their own homes and lives. They were called back when the ruler requested it. But there wasn’t more land for their estates, just the mountain.

“Where do they normally live?”

“Well, Ravinia is the largest of three peaks, but the tunnels into this mountain expand to the other two—Valeria and Tesera. The three families of the House of Shadows have separated between the mountains. The Ollivier royals in Ravinia. We call the other two the little courts for Houses Laurent and Blanchard.”

Fordham had mentioned once about there being three families, but they weren’t like what she was used to. These were more factions, always vying for the right to rule. People could move between the factions, depending on their loyalty. They went to war against each other continuously, seeking to depose his father, and then war would start again until he got his throne back. It sounded barbaric. And explained so much about Fordham.

“So, Laurent and Blanchard are traveling back to court for …”

“The prince’s return,” Bayton whispered. She looked around, as if someone would catch them.

“Is it good or bad that he’s back?” Kerrigan asked. She could see it going either way, considering his exile.