Worlds Apart

Chapter 7

Even before I've completely come to my senses, I can tell something isn't right. The air is different. Thicker. My bed is softer. And Gwendolyn's dead old person smell doesn't linger in the corners of the room.

No matter how much I tried, that stench will stay with me forever.

I blink open my eyes to take in the surroundings. I'm fed up with waking up in new places. But, at least each time I do, it's an improvement from the last time.

Thick, velvet red curtains blocking out the sun are the first things my eyes are drawn to. They're held up by a gold bar with a complicated design framing each end. As I turn, what I can see of the rest of the room follows the same ornate aesthetic.

Fabric draped artistically across one side of the four poster bed blocks out the rest of the room.

Unsure what to do with myself, I slip out of bed to find myself in the clothes I was wearing yesterday. My bare feet sink into the lush carpet.

The opening of the chamber door is silent, but the movement catches my attention. Driven by instinct to escape, I throw my body towards the gap, only to fall onto my hands. What feels like vines wrap around my feet and ankles, anchoring me in place. They creep up my calves, tightening with each pull. But when I straighten and look down, there's nothing there. Just my bare feet, toes pressed into the carpet.

"Onyxia?"

Resisting the urge to yank my legs free from my feet, I still and turn to the voice. An audible groan escapes as I take in my visitor.

A human-like creature stands beside the closed door, their back pressed against the wall. Their features are human, but distorted. As if viewing them through a lens not made for me.

Eyes too big for their face sit above a slim nose and wide lips. And their skin. Their skin is purple, shimmering under the artificial lighting.

Yet, there's something oddly luring about their beauty. Their features shouldn't work, yet I'm drawn to them.

Layers of fabric drape from their body in a structured dress that holds no shape to the body beneath it.

"I'm Ailbhe," They tell me, their husky voice steady, giving nothing away. "I'll be your guide during your stay."

"Stay?" I yank my foot, but the vines have gone, and I stumble into the bedpost. I grip onto the wood as I straighten, trying to keep my composure. "Capture, you mean?"

I stare up at Ailbhe expectantly, but their expression doesn't change.

"We aim to make your stay as smooth as possible."

I glare at their automated response, wondering if, like the vampires, whatever creature they are has no personablility either. With a heavy sigh, I sink onto the bed and drop my head in my hands. "Where am I?"

"The court of the Aos Sì."

"The what?" I lift my head and peer over my shoulder across the room. Ailbhe walks around the bed to stand before me. I'm defeated. Worn out from hiding in the dark. From being kept in the dark.

Every step I take into this world that I'm meant to belong to is ripped beneath my feet before I've made contact, and I fall. Only to land somewhere entirely different.

It's exhausting.

"Faery Court," they tell me, drawing me away from the thoughts that haunt me. Despite myself, a hum still buzzes over my skin. I can't tell if this is a good thing or not. I'm further into this life that George and Elizabeth intentionally kept me away from. But at what cost?