A Solstice Journey by Felicitas Ivey

Author:Felicitas Ivey [Ivey, Felicitas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press LLC

CELYN LED me into a huge hall. The walk had been mostly silent, the quiet broken by Celyn pointing out various pieces of art along the way. I had given up trying to track where we were going, since the castle seemed to be all twisty corridors of stone and a large number of heavy wooden doors. Nothing actually stood out, and I didn’t think I could find my way back to Celyn’s room if my life depended on it. By the time we arrived, it felt like I had been walking for ages in those winding halls, and I had seen no stairs, so as far as I could tell, this entire place was only one floor, with a very impressive front wall.

A large number of people stood around in groups talking in the hall. All of them were dressed in the same tunic and pants Celyn and I wore, in various colors, embroidered in different patterns. Everyone we passed stopped and stared at us. Celyn nodded at several of them, and I started to wonder who exactly he was. I hadn’t thought about it before, because of everything else that had been happening. But corporate politics had taught me how to read a room, and I was doing it now. Celyn was someone important, more important than the horse and the armor told me. Now it was evident because he was being treated like he was a director conducting a tour of the office. People acknowledged him, and while they weren’t bowing, he was being treated with respect. They all seemed surprised to see me, so I guess elves weren’t too popular here.

“Don’t worry,” Celyn told me with a smile as he slipped his arm around my waist. We were the same height, so it wasn’t awkward, but it felt odd because I wasn’t used to such public displays of affection from someone who wasn’t family. “You have nothing to fear because you are with me.”

“Are you going to tell me that I’m under your ‘protection’?” I asked dryly, looking at him.

Then I noticed the huge cat in one corner of the room, licking its paws and acting like a housecat… except it was the size of compact car. I shivered when I realized what it was: the Yule Cat, straight out of the Icelandic legends. That was the cat that was supposed to eat you if you weren’t wearing your new clothing on Christmas Eve. It yawned, showing its long and sharp teeth, and my stomach did a slow roll. I wanted to blurt out that I had new clothing, and it couldn’t eat me.

Celyn saw where I was staring in horror and then laughed, the asshole. “She’s harmless.”

The cat looked over at us, and I didn’t believe she was harmless, even as she purred loudly, sounding like a car with a bad muffler. She was glad to see Celyn, at least.

“She eats children,” I hissed.

Celyn laughed again. “She steals children to bring them to a better place,” he corrected.

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