The Immortal Realm by Frewin Jones

Author:Frewin Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

XII

“Does nothing in this benighted world function without hideous din?” complained Rathina.

“Not if you want to get somewhere fast,” said Tania. “And we do. We’re on a really tight deadline, Rathina.”

“Aye, indeed, but it will take much effort to accustom myself to the noise, sister.”

They had found themselves a double seat in a crowded car near the front of the train. Opposite them sat a young man plugged into an iPod and a woman talking on a cell phone.

The train was speeding through an open countryside of fields and woodlands under a blue sky bubbling with clouds.

“This train will get us to London in an hour and a half,” said Tania. “How long would it take you to travel from Veraglad to the Royal Palace?”

“On a mettlesome charger such as Maddalena and at the gallop, mayhap I could make the journey in half a day.”

“There you go, then,” said Tania. “Trains are good. How’s your sandwich?”

She had bought them some sandwiches and snacks from the cart. She had also quite fancied some soda, but since that came in a can, she had to make do with a carton of black currant juice. There had been a tricky moment when the attendant had tried to give her some change and Tania had only just managed to snatch her hand away. The coins had gone clattering and rolling over the floor.

Rathina chewed a mouthful of sandwich. “It will suffice.” She looked around and shook her head. “I do not know how it was that Edric Chanticleer was able to live in this world for half a year.” She looked at Tania. “Did he not find it strange and harsh?”

Tania pursed her lips. “I don’t know,” she said sharply. “Maybe. I never got around to asking him.” Her fingers moved up to fondle the teardrop of black onyx at her throat. She had considered throwing it in his face or perhaps just hurling it from her balcony in the Sunset Tower. But she hadn’t been able to bring herself to part with it. Not just yet.

She was nowhere near ready to talk about Edric. She was surviving their break-up only by not thinking about it. But locked away in a miserable cellar in her mind a small voice was crying, It’s not real. It can’t be real. I love him. How could this have happened?

Change the subject. Now!

“Did you know our mother wasn’t from Faerie?” Tania asked. “I found out about it only yesterday.”

“The tale of our mother’s coming to Faerie is known by all,” said Rathina.

“Except that no one told me about it.”

“I thought you would have remembered.”

“Rathina, how many more times…? I can hardly remember anything. You know that.”

“Then listen and remember now, for it is a story we all know by heart,” said Rathina, glancing around the car to make sure no one was listening. “Some fifty years before the coming of the uneasy slumber of the Great Twilight, a small ship made landfall at the coastal town of Hymnal in the Earldom of Weir.

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