Marked By The Unseelie

Chapter 11 Royal Archives

Chapter 11 

Going through the fairy palace and walking alongside Zhier made me feel like I was in some kind of fairy tale. Everything, that is, except for the fact that every other fairy I encounter gives me the death stare. I paid as much attention as I could to Zhier's warnings about what to watch out for and how to avoid them.

"Aside from the food, when you are in the palace and in an unfamiliar room, you should never stay in a single spot. The walls will sing a song in your head, and you will be trapped and become its servant."

"Sounds like I am in a horror movie than a castle." I commented.

"What's a horror and what's a movie?"

"Nothing. Please continue." It's a pain to explain technology to him, so I decided that it would be safe to keep my mouth shut through the rest of his lecture.

"If you hear a whistle, don't look if you don't want to disappear. Don't ask me where you will be going because no one who has ever disappeared made it back, so I have no clue if you die or get trapped somewhere."

I bit my lower lip to keep them from shivering. Okay, maybe these are the worst parts and I might hear some less...spooky warnings?

Wrong. Things just got worse from here.

"Just because fairies cannot lie, doesn't mean that you should trust them carelessly."

"Never keep your eyes away from the end of a hallway at night if you are walking. Your eyes will play tricks on you that will make you turn crazy."

"If you hear someone whisper a name in your ear, don't say it out loud. You might summon something that you don't want to."

"If you see a mirror, never look through it or you will be taken."

"Singing or humming is prohibited unless there is a special occasion."

All in all, I would just like to state my conclusion in all of this - make sure that I have Zhier with me or at least Serafina at all times. Aside from that, I should just stay in my room and behave.

Honestly. Isn't the human realm safer compared to living in a place with so much rules!?

As for the mirror part, I learned that fae only use water to see their reflection. It would seem like they all view the mirrors in our world as cursed.

"There are a lot of rules, Zhier. I don't think that I can memorize them all." Right now, I am even having a bit of trouble recalling the rest of the rules.

"Memorizing them is a must for you since you are a human. Speaking of which, you should not display your mark like it is a trophy. Not everyone in the seelie court knows that you, a human, bear Prince Klovis' mark." I feel his shaded eyes looking down at my hand, which I am trying hard to cover with my other one to cover the mark.

Zhier stops talking all of a sudden, and I have to do the same. As soon as we enter the garden, he reaches out to me with his free hand and plucks a flower. "Give it to me for a bit."

He's still staring at my hand, and I finally realize what he's trying to convey. The meek part of me gives him permission to hold my hand. When I feel his cold touch, I almost flinch. Zhier places the flower he's holding onto my palm. It's a miniature blue flower that looks a lot like a sunflower but is actually quite distinct as it is blue in color.

When Zhier places it on top of the mark, I see brown vines sprouting from the flower and moving so that they can tie my middle, thumb, pinky, and wrist like a bracelet.