The Seven Year King (The Faerie Ring #3) Read Online Free Page A

them down.” His evil laughter filled the hall until it echoed from wall to wall.

Chapter Five
     

    T iki’s arrival with Larkin and Rieker in the Night Garden, the area surrounding the Palace of Mirrors, was similar to the first time she had visited. Darkness stretched like spider webs from twisted barren trees. Shadows shifted and lingered, nebulous beasts measuring their prey. A luminescence glowed from a number of magnificent flowers, their colorful petals the only bright spot within the garden, beckoning. Music wafted on the night air, beguiling and seductive, creating a longing in Tiki’s chest, despite the dark and unsettling atmosphere.
    In the distance stood the palace, perched on the rocky pinnacle of Wydryn Tor. To the right, sunlight radiated from the horizon—the Plain of Sunlight where the Seelies lived when they weren’t ruling Faerie. Tiki couldn’t stop herself from glancing left, where darkness, as thick and impenetrable as an inkwell, colored the sky of the Plain of Starlight. It was there that the UnSeelies lived in their madness and depravity during the summer months from May through October.
    “Remember, these plants are predators who sing to call their prey.” Larkin pointed to the saw-toothed edges of a nearby bloom. “That’s someone’s blood. Don’t walk close enough to become their next victim.” A corner of her mouth quirked. “They don’t differentiate in their taste between royal flesh or peasant—mortal or fey.”
    Tiki shuddered and stepped closer to Rieker.
    Larkin led the way down an uneven path, littered with broken stones. As they walked, Tiki could see glowing eyes watching their passage through the barbed underbrush. The bushes shook and rattled as creatures scuttled away.
    Up ahead, Tiki recognized the statue of Danu, the original goddess of Faerie. As before, the stone woman reached towards the heavens as if in supplication, her face frozen in permanent agony. One great wing arched from her back, while the other lay broken on the ground next to her. Larkin had told Tiki a human had torn Danu’s wing off to keep the faerie in the mortal world. Tiki shivered as she passed through the winged statue’s shadow, as if chilled by her eternal sadness.
    “It’s important when we enter the Great Hall that you command Donegal to relinquish the throne,” Larkin said softly over her shoulder. “He cannot deny the cry of the Cloch na Teamhrach identifying a true high queen of the Seelie Court. He is obligated to turn the power of the Courts over to you—for now. But you can leave no doubt that you are the true high Queen—just as you can never let your guard down, for he has murdered O’Riagáin already in his quest for total control and I’ve no doubt he will murder again.”
    Tiki concentrated on the path before her, as if by keeping the writhing vines snaking along the side of the walkway from wrapping around her ankles she could also keep the Winter King at a safe distance.
    Larkin jerked around. “Did you hear me?”
    “Yes,” Tiki snapped in a low voice, the tension getting the best of her. “I heard you.”
    “Keep going, Larkin,” Rieker said in a soothing tone. “We know what to do.” He reached back for Tiki’s hand.
    She slid her cold, shaking fingers into his warm grip, unconvinced she knew what to do. She hadn’t been the one who grew up around royals. She’d only known a middle-class upbringing before becoming a pickpocket. What did she know about anything?
    Her heart began to pound erratically in her chest as they approached the steps. The Palace of Mirrors in the Otherworld was the equivalent of Buckingham Palace in London—the only difference was that control shifted in the Otherworld. The Seelies ruled during the summer months from May first—Beltane—to October thirty-first, known as Samhain. As summer gave way to winter, the UnSeelies took over and ruled during the dark months of the year until May first again.
    Great columns lined the