Shadowfever

Darroc and I enter one of the gardens. It’s so lovely it’s almost painful to look at. Paths of glistening gold pavers unfurl through exotic, perfumed bushes and circle clusters of willowy silver-leafed trees. Dazzling pearl benches offer respite from the sun beneath lacy leaves, and silk chaises dot outdoor rooms of billowing chiffon. Flowers bend and sway in a light, perfect breeze, the precise degree of sultry—not too hot or moist but warm and wet, like sex is warm and wet.

I have dreamed of a garden like this. Small differences but not many.

We pass a fountain that sprays rainbows of shimmery water into the air. Thousands of flowers in every dazzling shade of yellow circle it: velvety buttercups and waxy tulips, creamy lilies and blossoms that do not exist in our world. For a moment I think of Alina, because she loves yellow, but that thought reeks of death and brings other thoughts with it, so I turn away from the beauty of the fountain and focus on the hated face and voice of my companion.

He begins to give me instructions. He tells me we’re looking for a room with an ornate gilt-framed mirror that is approximately ten feet tall by five feet wide. The last time he saw the room, it was empty of all furnishings, save the mirror. The corridor off which the room opened was light, airy, and had a floor of unbroken white marble. The walls of the corridor were also white and adorned with brilliant murals between tall windows.

Keep an eye out for white marble floors, he instructs me, because only two of the wings—as of the last time he was here—have them. The floors in other wings are gold, bronze, silver, iridescent, pink, mint, yellow, lavender, and other pastels. The rare wing is crimson. If I see a black floor, I am to turn back immediately.

We enter a circular foyer with a high glass ceiling that collects the sunny day. The walls and floor are translucent silver and reflect the sky above in such vivid detail that, when a cream-puff cloud scoots overhead, I feel as if I’m walking through it. What a clever design! A room in the sky. Did the concubine create it? Did the Unseelie King design it for her? Could a being capable of creating such horrors as the Unseelie also create such delights? Sunlight bathes me from above, bounces back at me from the wall and floors.

Mac 1.0 would have hooked up an iPod and stretched out here for hours.

Mac 5.0 shivers. Not even this much sun can warm the part of her that has gone cold.

I realize I’ve forgotten my enemy. I tune him back in.

Assuming, of course, Darroc is saying, that the room we seek still opens off one of those white-marbled halls.

That gets my attention. “Assuming?”

“The mansion rearranges itself. One of those inconveniences I mentioned.”

“What is with you fairies, anyway?” I explode. “Why does everything have to change? Why can’t things just be what they are? Why can’t a house be a normal house and a book a normal book? Why does it all have to be so complicated?” I want to get back to Dublin now, find the Book, figure out what needs to be done, and escape this damned reality!

He doesn’t answer, but I don’t need him to. If a Fae were to ask me why an apple eventually rots or humans eventually die, I would shrug and say it was the nature of human things.

Change is the nature of Fae things. They are always becoming something else. That’s a critical thing to remember when dealing with anything Fae, as I learned from the Shades. I wonder how much further they’ve evolved since I last saw them.

“Sometimes it rearranges itself on a grand scale,” Darroc continues, “while other times it merely swaps a few things around. Only once did it take me several days to find the room I seek. I usually find it more quickly.”

Days? My head swivels and I stare. I could be stuck in here with him for days?

The sooner we get started, the better.

A dozen halls open off the foyer, some well lit, others soothingly dim. Nothing is frightening. The House exudes a sense of well-being and peace. Still, it is a grand labyrinth, and I wait for him to choose our path. Although I have long been dreaming of this place, I do not know this foyer. I suspect the House is so large that an entire human life of dreams would not be enough to explore it all.

“There are several rooms in the mansion that house Silvers. The one we seek holds a single mirror.” He gives me a sharp look. “Avoid the other mirrors if you stumble upon them. Do not gaze into them. I am not forbidding you knowledge, merely trying to protect you.”

Right. And the White Mansion is really black. “You make it sound as if we’re splitting up.” I’m surprised. He worked so hard to get me at his side. Now he’s letting me go? Have I been so convincing? Or does he have an ace up his sleeve I don’t know about?