Woman of Silk and Stone (7 page)

The palace hovered over the city like a
golden cloud; a winding, paved road led a circuitous path up the
side of a rounded hill, each level beautifully landscaped with
flowers in full bloom, some in shades and hues I didn't know
existed. The blur of color burned into the backs of my eyes until
everything I looked at seemed to be made up of that eccentric
rainbow, a nauseating whirlpool of images and scents sucking me
down into a Dali nightmare.

After a while, I just closed my eyes and let
Sandu lead my
sisu
, trying to block out
the fact that I was riding a horse that looked like a leopard up a
hill to a golden castle.

There's only so much surrealism a girl can
take in one day.

"Honey Sullivan, we are here," Sandu's voice
took on a more urgent tone and I reluctantly opened my eyes.

I'm sure had I been in a better state of
mind, I would have been awed by my first sight of the Royal House
of Solis, but at that moment, all I could see were more golden
walls and yet another set of sky-high gates. A cacophony of voices
greeted us as the gates swung soundlessly open, and I was dismayed
to see the longest receiving line in recorded history stretching
far along the path to the ornate entrance doors.

Deferent voices murmured "Welcome
Halqu
Beleti
," as
we passed. The faces all blended together, but even in the haze
surrounding my thought processes, I registered that every
expression held hope.

Now dread settled into my bones, the
realization that something great was expected of me. The girl who
just got fired from a thankless job, the girl who couldn't make her
own dreams come true.

I was so screwed.

I waved as cheerfully as I could manage,
considering the uncomfortable churning in my stomach, and the
people seemed to respond well, hands reaching out to brush my leg
or touch my hand. After a while, some of the raw terror began to
fade; it was hard to believe that these friendly people would
demand my head if I failed to perform.

Of course, Marie Antoinette probably felt
the same way about the French peasants.

At long last we reached the doors, which in
my detached state, I imagined looked like the doors to the
afterlife; heavy and gleaming with that same golden hue as
everything else in the city, they opened slowly into a cool, dark
hall with no end in sight.

Sandu paused at the door and leaped off of
his mount to help me with my own descent. I wobbled on my feet for
a moment, my legs still believing they were wrapped around the
sisu
, but once I got my bearing, I waved
off his attentions. For a girl who'd never ridden a horse before, I
felt like I'd mastered travel by
sisu
.

"Honey, may I introduce you to Sukkall
Efrim, the king's head advisor. He will prepare you for what is to
come," Sandu said, his voice shaking a bit with the weight of his
duty. Clearly this was not an everyday introduction for the young
city guard.

Pushing aside my weariness, I pasted on a
smile and turned to the man waiting at the doors. I had to choke
back an inappropriate giggle when I saw him.

He looked like Jafar from Disney's
Aladdin
.

Tall and weedy, he undulated and twisted
like a reed caught in the wind, his movements oddly graceful and
yet off-putting. His face was long and full of sharp edges, bright
purple eyes gleaming with keen intelligence. I could clearly see
him measuring me, calculating my worth to him and determining how I
could best be used. That disembodied voice to which I was beginning
to be accustomed whispered, "
Do not
trust
," and I listened. No one who looked this much like a
Disney villain could be good news.

"
Halqu beleti
, we
are honored to welcome you to the Golden City, the jewel of Solis.
Please come inside and be refreshed. We will see to your needs and
then you will be embraced by our king." His voice was low and
musical, pleasing to the ear, and still I was on edge around him.
The formal speech seemed to mark a different language or dialect,
the way I noticed the difference between the casual way Temuk and
Khenti spoke and how Sandu addressed me. I could only guess that my
hidden translator, or whatever was done to me in the void, made no
clear distinction between languages, simply allowing me to
understand and respond in the appropriate one.

I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or
not.

"Thank you, and please, call me Honey," I
offered, reminding myself that I needed to make a good
impression.

Efrim smiled widely and with apparent
warmth. "How appropriate. You are as lovely as the
melammu
, and no doubt sweet as its honey."

Okay, I officially hated this guy.

"How charming," I mumbled and reluctantly
accepted the hand he extended. The fingers he wrapped around me
were cold and bony, and squeezed just a bit too tightly. As he led
me inside the doors of doom, I shuddered, knowing that I had just
crossed some great divide, a chasm with no bridge by which to
return.

The hall was lined with people, looking both
curious and avid. They were all dressed differently, and I could
guess their station by the sumptuousness of their garments, clearly
picking out the servants from what I assumed were nobles. Even
amongst the clearly privileged, I could see the differences
indicating higher rank or wealth. Oddly enough, this gave me some
comfort, and I began to think that my freshman history courses and
brief love affair with historical romances might come in handy.

"As you can see Honey, we are most pleased
to welcome you. I'm not sure what you have been told thus far, but
it has been nigh on ten years since the last Halqu came to Solis,
and he stayed only a short while." Efrim's mouth twisted for a
moment with displeasure before he regained his good humor. "We must
hope that you remain with us much longer."

Why did that feel like a threat?

"That's very kind of you," I said, well
versed in being polite to stuffy morons thanks to my PR training.
And my parents told me my degree was useless. Ha.

"Perhaps you could clear something up for
me," I said, hesitantly, not really wanting to ask this man for
anything, but too curious to wait. He looked at me expectantly, so
I continued. "Temuk, who found me, told me I was the third, uh,
Halqu
he had found. How is that possible
if it has been so long since the last one?"

Efrim nodded and gave me a calculating look.
"I'm sorry my dear, but I haven't been told from which realm you
come?"

I wondered if there was anything dangerous
about giving him my answer, but couldn't come up with a good reason
not to. "I come from Earth. I lived in a country called America, in
the capitol city." Thinking it might not hurt to flesh out my
resume a bit, I embellished. "I was an advisor to our leaders in
public matters."

An evil gleam flashed in Efrim's eyes before
he regained his composure. "How wonderful. The king will be
pleased. And may I ask how long your people live in this
Amer-ca
?"

Somehow I knew he was mispronouncing the
name on purpose, but I was an old hand at ignoring subtle insults,
so I continued as if I hadn't noticed. "On average, around eighty
to ninety years. Some lucky few make it past a hundred, but that's
pretty unusual."

He smiled. "I see. It's rather different
here, I'm afraid. For instance, Temuk of the Horde is approaching
his two-hundredth year. I am fortunate enough to have celebrated my
two-hundred and fiftieth year this past month."

Even the smug tone in his answer couldn't
have penetrated my utter shock. Two hundred and fifty years old?
Dread clung to the back of my neck with clammy hands as I
considered what this might mean for me.

"My father, may the
Ilati
embrace him, passed on when he was four hundred
and eighty. That is fairly typical for our people. Other races have
different expectations, but all live for several hundred years at
least."

I swallowed my unease and gave a hesitant
smile. "You are a very fortunate people then, Sukkall Efrim. People
from my world would pay a great deal to live so long." I paused,
allowing Efrim his moment of superiority. He was so obviously
enjoying it. "Might I ask about the other races?"

At long freaking last we reached the end of
the hall and entered into a large, round chamber resembling a
beehive; doors covered the stucco walls, much like in the spa. I
couldn't help but feel dumbfounded by the sheer vastness of the
place, sure that if I were separated from my guide I would wander
the palace endlessly. Efrim led me to one of the many doors on the
left and ushered me through it into what was probably a sitting
room. Couches and body sized pillows were scattered through the
space; the wooden floors were covered in thick rugs in bright, bold
colors, giving the room a middle-eastern feel. A roaring fire
called to me from beneath an intricately carved mantelpiece,
promising me warmth and security. I felt as though I had walked
into a Moroccan fantasy living room, but the clear dedication to
comfort made some of my disquiet fade. All I could think about was
lying down on one of those plush couches and going to sleep for a
week.

As he gestured for me to sit on the couch
nearest the fireplace, he finally answered me. "There are ten
different races on Edin. Most have similar life-spans, but a few
have been blessed with longer." He paused and an ugly expression
crossed his face. "One has been granted immortality, but they are
few."

Well here was something familiar; a man
envious of immortality.

"Immortality? Well that's...nice," I
muttered, wondering how I was really going to cope with the vast
differences I was experiencing in this new world. I just hoped the
existence of immortal beings didn't mean there were vampires too.
That might be one step too far.

Efrim twisted his lips in a sad attempt at a
smile. "Yes, well, the
Darisam
are not
known for being nice, so I would caution you against them." He
glanced past me at the fire and paled, his eyes darting away
quickly before returning to me. "But they are an honorable race,"
he added, a tremor in his voice. "They are the guardians of Edin,
and do not generally mix with the rest of the population; but there
is always one that shows up at court periodically to observe and at
times mediate. They are not to be crossed."

Distracted by his odd behavior and little
speech, I glanced over at the fire, wondering if there was
something there he had seen, but though the flames seemed to flare
and burn brighter for a moment, there was nothing to make my
companion nervous. Returning my attention to him, I nodded and
waved my hand in dismissal. "I get the picture. So what else do I
need to know for now?" Once again I could feel the rising swell of
dread, the sense that my breaking point was rapidly advancing.

Efrim gave me a measuring look, clearly
trying to determine my worth and what good I could do him. Oddly
enough, I found it comforting. I was a woman who worked in crisis
management, which, for a low-ranking employee such as me, meant I
primarily dealt with panicky corporate drones that misused company
funds or patted the secretary's ass. In my time at Marduk, I had
only ever worked with another woman once, and her public relations
needs had actually been pretty simple. She was a newly appointed
replacement for a lobbyist who was caught with his hand in the
cookie jar, and she simply wanted to spread the good news. It was
the best two weeks of my entire career.

Mostly, I worked with men who were already
troublesome, or they wouldn't have needed my department's aid, and
all but a few of them were incredibly misogynistic; assuming that
because I was young and a woman that I couldn't possibly be of any
use to them. Once they got a look at my press releases and social
media campaigns on their behalf, opinions usually adjusted
slightly, but not enough to ever allow me to believe for a moment
that I would have the upper hand with my clients. It was part of
why I hated my job at Marduk so much; I was working to save the
reputations of people who didn't deserve it, and no matter how good
I was, I was never going to be truly appreciated.

Efrim's expression now mirrored the last
year of my professional life, so for the first time, I almost felt
at ease since waking up in a world with purple skies.

"I believe the king will want to explain
what will be expected of you himself, but I can assure you that you
will want for nothing as long as you remain in Solis.
Halqu
are valued here, treasured, and we will endeavor
to make you comfortable as you fulfill your purpose."

Well, there were a whole lot of warnings
couched in that pleasant little bundle of assurances. Clearly, if I
tried to ditch the Golden City, my safety would be in question, and
I could only count on being "treasured" as long as I was benefiting
the kingdom in some way. Good to know.

"I am sure that my purpose is to bring
greater glory to Solis, so I don't doubt that I will be well looked
after," I returned, pasting a falsely sincere smile on my face.
Probably it would be too much to flutter my eyelashes as well.

Efrim's smile was thoughtful and for a
moment, I thought I glimpsed admiration in his dark, shielded eyes.
The corner of his mouth twitched before he bowed over my hand,
touching the knuckles with his forehead, a gesture I assumed meant
respect or genuflecting.

"I believe you will bring glory to Solis,
Honey Sullivan. I imagine you and I will have many enlightening
discussions. But for now, I will depart and allow you time to rest
before you meet with the king." He glanced over me, taking in my
dress and pale skin, my long red tresses. "Please do not concern
yourself with proper etiquette at this time. You will be assigned
an advisor in due course who will educate you in the ways of the
court, but for now the king will know that you are not familiar
with our customs. I take my leave," he murmured, backing away from
me, a Cheshire grin widening his cheeks. "We will meet again soon,
Honey Sullivan."