Lies in the Dark (Liars and Vampires Book 4) by Robert J. Crane & Lauren Harper

Author:Robert J. Crane & Lauren Harper [Crane, Robert J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ostiagard Press
Published: 2018-08-23T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Starvale was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Enchanting wasn’t strong enough of a world, and other worldly seemed too mundane. Movie-style CGI wouldn’t have done it justice, either. The best way I could think of to explain it was to cross a rainbow with an anime scene that Xandra had tried to show me.

The gate to the city was a large bridge made of bright purple crystal, so clear that I could see everything through it, including that the city itself was on a floating hunk of rock large enough that I was sure that all of Manhattan island could have fit on it comfortably. Beneath the rock was a pool of glowing blue … something. Liquid? Gas? I wasn’t sure. It sparkled and swirled, but moved like water.

Seelie guards stood in white armor along the arching bridge that was as wide as a three-lane highway. They bowed to General Roseus as he strode across it. We had landed just shy of the bridge, and Orion was now carrying me across on his back as I took in the scenery, wide-eyed.

The city gates were wide open to all who wished to enter, but with every step, apprehension swelled in my chest. My time in Seelie thus far had made me wary that there was something here beyond the bright lights and big city. Something here that I couldn’t see.

Almost as if on cue, my vision flickered, and I stared up at a huge metal door, steel grey and forbidding, larger than a cathedral, with a thousand locks scattered over the surface.

I blinked, and the image cleared from my eyes.

A glamour? Was that what I was seeing in the rainbows and the glory of Starvale? A giant glamour meant to make it look amazing while the reality beneath was cold and forbidding?

Because if so, that suggested everything I’d seen—dead unicorns, the horrors of the hospital—it was all some sort of massive display of magic meant to … what?

Make everything seem more awesome than it was?

“Lockwood …” I mumbled, and he adjusted his pace to come alongside me. Once he was, I leaned down to whisper in his ear. “I just saw a door here.”

“Your sight flickered again?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t know … it sort of happened when I wanted it to this time. And it hasn’t really happened since we entered Seelie territory—”

“Come, friends,” Roseus said from the front of our little procession. He beckoned Orion toward a stable, where fresh straw sparkled like gold.

I patted Orion on the neck as he dutifully clip-clopped over and then knelt to allow me to dismount easily. I slung a leg over him and touched ground, then ran a hand along his mane as he rose again.

“Thank you, Orion,” I said. “You were amazing.”

Orion nuzzled his nose against my cheek. “It was a great pleasure, little one. I hope to see you again soon.”

I hoped so, too, but kept it to myself as I fell in behind Roseus and the others, into the bustling streets of Starvale.

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