The fae behind the counter wrinkled her nose as she eyed my necklace. “No, not me.”
Not a promising start.
But I was out of Bastian’s rooms and I was doing something, so even her expression couldn’t sour my mood.
“Any ideas who might’ve made it?”
More nose-wrinkling as she shook her head and wished us a good day.
“Don’t worry,” Rose told me as we left and started along the road, “there are plenty of jewellers to try.” She widened her eyes. “Dozens, in fact.”
The next place, Clio’s, with a moon forming the C yielded similar results. It was only when I glanced back at the sign as we were leaving that I registered. These were people from Dusk Court. I didn’t know who unCavendish had worked for, but since he tried to kill Bastian, it seemed most likely they were from Dawn.
“Maybe the necklace was from a Dawn jeweller, rather than a Dusk one. We could focus on them instead?” I glanced at Rose, all nonchalance.
Her brow furrowed. “If you think so. Seems weird that Bastian would buy a necklace from a Dawn jeweller.”
I barely kept the wince from my face. “It… wasn’t from him.”
“Oh.”
Even though I avoided looking at her, I could feel the closeness of her attention. She expected an explanation that I wasn’t going to give.
Still, the weight of her attention pulled on me, especially after she’d been so friendly, so I threw her a quick smile.
“We can go to some of Dawn’s jewellers—there are a couple on the next street. But, I warn you, they’ll charge us more and won’t be as welcoming. Especially when they find out this is to go on Bastian’s account.”
“What?” My eyebrows shot up. Since I wasn’t planning to actually buy any jewellery, paying for it hadn’t crossed my mind.
“Anything you want to buy is taken care of. You might want to make the most of that, since it’s a deep well you’re drawing from.” She chuckled.
I frowned and pulled my arms tighter around myself as we passed a large group of fae who watched us. Their darker clothes suggested they were of Dusk, yet their attention prickled over me, unsafe.
“And the price is different depending on who you are?”
“More… Dusk sees you as one of their own—they do with me, too. Dusk looks after Dusk, and Dawn… well, they might turn a blind eye if you were on fire.”
I scoffed at the image, and her grin widened. “It’s not entirely a joke, is it?”
“Afraid not. Welcome to a city of two courts.”
Although the city’s appearance changed with the sunset and rise, most streets tended to be dominated by one court or the other. This one we walked down was full of shop signs with constellations and crescent moons, decorated in the deep sunset colours of Dusk Court.
A palace divided by two planes of existence. Two courts divided by day and night. And, so it seemed, a city also divided.
Still, I had a mission, even if it might make Rose believe me a spoilt aristocrat. “Well… I still want these earrings to match, so…”
“Dawn jewellers it is.” She shrugged and led me to the next road over.
Suns and clouds took over the iconography, together with shades of soft pink, blue, and lavender. The change was so stark, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed before.
More gazes followed us, but here the eyes narrowed. Just a little, almost unnoticeably, but enough that I caught it. Conversations stopped. Folk turned.
I fought to keep my expression neutral.
Never reveal your heart. That included not letting them see I was affected.
We tried another jeweller. This one gave us a stiff smile as we entered, yet her eyes gleamed as she no doubt detected a great opportunity to overcharge Bastian’s account. But she shook her head when I asked about the necklace. “I haven’t seen it before. Though, I could make something to match.”
“Thank you, but I want it made by the same person.”
Her stiff smile remained in place, but the skin around her eyes tensed as though inwardly she glowered.
She didn’t wish us a good day.
“It’s probably going to take a few days to get to all the shops.” Rose spread her hands as we left. “And we have your appointment soon, so we should…”
I didn’t hear her next words, because amongst all the blond, green, and brown hair, a flash of auburn at the end of the road caught my eye. Tall, lithe, back to me as they moved through the city like they knew it well. Was that the fae I’d seen in Lunden? The one I’d seen at the race?
Pace increasing, I steered that way, but a crowd crossed my path. I tried to peer over them, but at my height it was a doomed effort.
Blinding sunlight flashed off pure, pure white armour, and a low hubbub of murmurs spread through the street.
“Kingsguard,” Rose muttered.
It was only when I gave up searching for another glimpse of fox-coloured hair that I registered what everyone was looking at—or rather, who.
Resplendent in gold-green iridescent silk, the man working his way through the crowd with a sunburst crown atop his head could only be the Day King. His long, pale hair caught the sun, transforming into gilded lengths so beautiful I couldn’t look away.
“The Dawn royals do this from time to time,” Rose murmured as we stood back for the growing crowd. “Come and talk to ‘the little people,’ giving gifts, winning hearts—that sort of thing.”
He shook a woman’s hand, nodding as she spoke and the man beside her beamed.
“I suppose the Night Queen does the same after sunset.”
“Or… never. I don’t think she leaves the palace—or at least I’ve never seen it.”
As though he felt my attention, the king looked up from pressing a wrapped gift into the man’s hand and met my gaze.
His eyes. His eyes.
They weren’t just sky blue—they were the bright sky overhead, with no pupils. Cocking his head, he surveyed me briefly and said a few words to the woman before turning this way.
The guards hung back as a path cleared for him, and I stood rooted to the spot.
A king—a fae fucking king was walking towards me.
Despite the sun, a chill fled down my spine.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t flee with it.
Instead, I stood and waited, taking in every detail I could to help me work out the safest way to respond. Was I in trouble? Or just a curiosity?
The slight lines bracketing his mouth and lingering between his brows suggested he frowned as often as he smiled, and made him look older than Bastian and Asher. He seemed to be in his forties.
But he’d allied with the Night Queen in the Wars of Succession a thousand years ago—like many things about fae, nothing was as it seemed.
Beyond him, a woman with hair the colour of summer oak leaves glanced after him, her crown a smaller version of his. His wife, Meredine. A queen, but one without a throne.