Lachlan nodded. “Physically, yes. The palace of both the Winter and the Summer Courts are in approximately the same spot in the Realm. Everything else ripples outward. Most places mirror each other on both sides.”
“Of course, there are spots where they diverge,” Bran offered. “The place where my childhood home was located is one of them. There was a clear demarcation between the Summer and Winter Realms there.”
“We may share the space, but I assure you the Winter Court has many more delights, Granddaughter,” Mab said.
She walked over to the cake table, which was present in this (reality? dimension?) as well, and nodded at the towering cake. The brilliant gold and royal purple icing was grey and black in the Winter Court.
Mab carved a slice from the enormous confection and put it on a plate. She held it out to me.
“Would you care to sample those delights, Granddaughter?” she asked, smiling brightly so that her teeth—very white and very sharp, I saw—were clearly visible.
“Um…no thank you,” I said as politely as I could. I could still hear Queen Elia’s voice telling me that I must not let a crumb or a drop pass my lips while I was in the Winter Kingdom. Honestly, though, I didn’t need much willpower to resist what she was offering me. The cake—which had looked so light and fluffy in the Summer Court—was grey and moldy now that we were in the Winter Court. The change wasn’t exactly appetizing.
“Ah—such a pity.” She sighed and put the cake down. “Maybe you’ll change your mind later. In the meantime, I’ll have the three of you shown to your rooms.”
“You can’t divide us,” Bran said, frowning. “Lachlan and I won’t be separated from Emma!”
“I would expect nothing less,” Mab said coolly. “I shall put the three of you into a suite.”
She clapped her hands and a tiny, stooped woman with a wrinkled, wizened face came hobbling over.
“Yes, Milady?” she asked in a cracked voice.
“Sirella, my dear, please be so kind as to show the princess and her two consorts to one of our finest suites,” Queen Mab said. She smiled at me. “Sweet dreams, dear Granddaughter—I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Then she glided away, leaving a trail of smoke and shadows behind her.
86
For a moment, I just stood there, watching her go. Then my eyes fell on the enormous cake again. Looking up, I saw that—just like the cake in the Summer Court—this one also featured a bust of me done in marzipan at its top.
As I looked up at it, the marzipan me moved. It looked down at me and winked and I saw that it had the same mad smile Mab wore.
“Ugh!” I gave a little jump, feeling like my skin might crawl right off my body. It was like looking in the mirror and seeing your reflection wink at you. Again I got that haunted house feeling and chill bumps broke out all up and down my arms. “Let’s get out of here!” I pleaded.
“Right away, my lady,” the tiny little hunchbacked woman said to us. She hobbled towards the door of the banquet hall and I followed quickly behind, making sure not to look back at the marzipan me again. It was just too creepy for words!
Bran and Lachlan followed too and I noticed that Bran had drawn his sword and Lachlan was holding his staff at the ready. Did they expect us to encounter a threat here in the Winter Court palace? I wouldn’t be surprised if we did. The whole place felt dangerous and wrong. I felt like we were actors in a horror movie—the kind of movie that, if I was watching it, I would be thinking how stupid the characters were for going into the haunted house or the old abandoned mental asylum or wherever they shouldn’t be going that they went anyway.
But we were stuck here now, for a day and a night at least, and there was nothing we could do but try to get to our suite and stay safe until we could get out of here.
As it turned out, we did meet a threat—though not right away. Our guide, the little old lady Queen Mab had called Sirella, led us through a labyrinth of dimly lit black halls and corridors and we were just rounding a corner when we ran into a tall woman with pale blond hair that gleamed almost silver in the weak light.
“Oh!” she gasped and took a step back, her hand going to her heart. She was dressed in a simple green gown that picked up the color of her eyes—which were emerald.
“Mother?” Lachlan stared at her, clearly as shocked as she was. “What…what are you doing here?” he asked.
“Oh, my darling!” She held out her arms to him and he went to give her a hug. “We were all summoned to the palace by the Queen,” she said, taking a step back. “But who is this? Is he your friend, who you told me about so many times?” she asked, looking at Bran.