Kingdom in The Sand

Sunlight and Secrets

Marie-Fey eyed the grand iron gates before her that were no longer drowning in greenery. The untamed jungle had been entirely cut back and controlled until it was manicured and neat.

Guards pulled the gates open for her and Zaydan and something made Marie-Fey hold her ground as Zaydan walked through.

She could see the building from where she stood.

Down the end of the grand, white stone path – lined with trees and blooming flowers of every colour, the gardens threaded with little streams and two large fountains – the building was like a smaller version of the main palace behind her.

With cream walls, intricate latticed windows, rounded roofs and arching wooden doors, it looked no different.

But a silence carried from it.

It hadn't been used in many, many years of course, but there was an emptiness about it.

Marie-Fey couldn't say she cared for the women who lived in the palace behind her, but she also couldn't say she cared to be separated from them.

There was life behind her.

There were ghosts ahead.

Zaydan looked back at her, eyes questioning.

Then they flicked to the side.

"So you're moving here, I see?"

Marie-Fey's eyes darkened and she looked to her left to see Zaafira walking towards them, arms folded, holding that ever-present peacock fan, eyeing the building down the path with cold eyes.

"So it would seem," Marie-Fey replied as Zaafira stopped beside her.

"Hmm," Zaafira mused, tapping her fan against her perfect lips. Her sharp eyes drifted to Zaydan and he narrowed his gaze at her. "Let us have a look then."

With that, Zaafira swept through the gates to follow Zaydan, her maids trailing behind.

Marie-Fey's ladies quickly looked at her and Marie-Fey let out a sigh before lifting her skirts and sweeping through, neatly bumping Zaafira out of the spot beside Zaydan with her skirts – earning a glower – and striding towards the doors, guards waiting to open them.

The entrance hall was done in white and gold, impossibly finely detailed carvings scored into the white walls, revealing their stories only as the sunlight moved across the walls, casting tiny shadows in the grooves. The scene at that moment appeared to reveal a woman preparing for something, perhaps her own wedding.

Despite the empty feel from the outside, servants were already in the building, lining the walls, bowing low to the group as they glided through.

"How many rooms?" Marie-Fey asked.

"More than one lady needs," Zaafira replied.

"Thirty-two," Zaydan answered, "Not including the kitchens and servants' quarters."

Marie-Fey nodded, not bothering to look into the rooms they passed as they made their way beyond the entrance hall, onwards up stairs and along corridors – until they passed one particular doorway and she froze.

She was still for a moment, then stepped back and pushed the door aside.

Her eyes widened as she stared into the room before her.

Until that moment, all the rooms had been similar to the rooms back in the women's palace. All done in the style she couldn't get away from while stranded in the desert.

But this room...

This reminded her of the blue parlour back home in Fetchfield Manor, which her family used during colder summers.