The palace was closer than what I had thought but it was definitely ten times more majestic than what I was able to imagine. It was as if my mind couldn't process beauty further than a certain point but now I was being bombarded by the epitome of the word aesthetic. I stood frozen at the gate of the building, my head tilted up as I took hungrily the grace and elegance of the architecture. The sharpness of the tower heads, the bright light the walls emitted, and the polished marbles I stepped on. The interior somehow was as if you were outside. Columns everywhere and trees, grass, and gazebos while white curtains dance everywhere, vines spreading to the walls, water fountains, and the faint sound of a lyre playing in the background.
"This can't be real." I mumbled but at the same time, I was so sure it was. This place felt warm and familiar. Maybe it was the beauty, we are more prone to be kind and like beautiful things or people, our brains work like that even if it's flawed sometimes.
"Wait here." One of the guards told us. I hadn't realized when we reached our destination, I was too drawn by everything that the last thing I thought of was their queen. The Fae had stopped us in front of an enormous door. There was a painting on it, a battle. Fae against what seemed to be ogre-like creatures fighting each other with the Fae finally winning. They shone brightly stepping on the chopped bodies of their enemies, their swords dirtied with black blood.
The door was so wide that I did not have the time to study every part of the beautiful art and follow the storytelling before it opened revealing what was probably the throne room.
A round room surrounded by windows that made it seem as if there were no walls surrounding it at all with a tall ceiling in which crystals hung, moving with the air and creating little melodies as they clashed.
In the back of the room, the only piece of furniture was the queen's throne, made of pure diamond. I had never seen something like this before and as I kept looking at it it felt almost offensive to call such a piece of art furniture. The queen was elegantly seated on it, looking at us from afar as we entered hastily.
She was a gorgeous woman, seeming to be around my age but she was definitely a lot older, Fae don't grow old the same way as us. Tall with pale skin and golden hair that reached her waist, braided with purple flowers, her eyes were blue, clear as the sky on a summer day while her lips had the most beautiful pink shade, glossy and kissable. Her nose was small, pointy, and elegant while her dress was made of white silk, covering her body in a very sensual way. On her feet she wore golden sandals with golden leaves on them while her forearms were dressed in gold cuffs. The queen of the fae must be one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen after…the man with the green eyes.
I shook my head, throwing that thought as far in the back of my head as I could, and followed Sawn who had already entered the room. I was hiding behind him. I didn't know why but in her presence I felt small, too little to stand before her and look at her in the eyes. Sawn bowed and I mimicked him before I returned to being hidden by his body.
"You must be very brave to threaten my soldier like that." She said and her voice sounded like the sea hitting the waves. It was so beautiful but at the same time, it felt threatening, strong.
"Queen Iona…" Sawn said. "We had no such intentions. We simply wanted an audience with you to ask you for a favor. After that, we promise we will leave."
"I see….I understand though that you're not alone, Show me your companion" She ordered him and I gulped, knowing that soon I would get exposed to the most beautiful woman in existence. Sawn took a step to the side, his eyes stuck on me with a worried expression while the queen examined me.
She seemed to be deep in thought, tilting her head to the side as she examined my face. I couldn't help but blush. Having someone stare at me so intensively was very unfamiliar and quite off-putting. What if she thought I was ugly?
The more she looked at me the more her expression changed. Soon her blue eyes had turned round while her pink lips parted, forming an OH.
"There is no way…" She mumbled as she stood up from her throne. She walked down the little stairs and approached me. I took a step back, questioning what she might do.
"Your majesty…" Sawn called her worried but she raised her hand, signaling him to stop talking.
"I'd be damned if I didn't recognize those gray eyes of yours." she told me, causing me to frown. "Alice!" she exclaimed happily as she grabbed me, pulling me right into her arms. "You look like an utter mess, what in the holly forest has happened to you?" she asked me and I blinked looking at her like a silly fish.
"I am sorry but do I know you?" I asked, hoping I hadn't offended her. Forgetting a queen could be even punishable by death but I was sure I had never seen her before, someone like her would have been engraved in my brain for sure.
"Oh…" she exclaimed, looking slightly disappointed. "How old are you?"
"I will be eighteen soon." I answered her and with that question, I managed to put the pieces together. I did know her, not the me now, not the person I have been for the first eighteen years of my life but the one I will soon become. The Alice that has all of her memories.
"Make sense." She smiled at me, patting my head and I felt warmth travel all over my body, she was adorable. "We will talk when that time comes." Iona said and winked. "Well werewolf…" she turned towards Sawn. "You are very lucky to have a dear friend of mine with you. Stay in my palace, eat, drink, and enjoy yourselves. Tomorrow I will find someone to help you."
"Thank you, your majesty." Sawn answered her and added a second bow. "This will be…"
"My queen! A trespasser!"
Sawn's sentence was cut short when a guard entered the throne room, panting.
"What?"
"He tried to enter the castle. We have captured him but he is requesting to see you, he says he knows you." the guard told the queen. For a split second, she looked at me but it was so brief I could have easily missed it.
Iona smiled, grabbing the edges of her long silk dress.
"Visitors, visitors, it seems that I will be busy today."
"We will bring him here…"
"No!" She exclaimed, her eyes threatening the poor guard. "Take him to the dungeon, also make sure he understands why he shouldn't come into my home uninvited. As for you two…" she turned to us, her friendly smile returning. "I will send a maid to accompany you. Take a bath, rest and we will talk during dinner but please do me a favor…do not leave your room."