Lottery king, p.4
Lottery King, page 4
“Well, what are we waiting for?” I smirked. “Let’s go check it out.”
“As you wish, your majesty,” Cove said, and he dipped in a slightly less formal bow. “Shall I collect your personal things for you before we go?”
“Uh… sure?” I shrugged because I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by that.
Cove quickly switched into servant mode as he disappeared into my bathroom, and I looked around my living room to see if there was anything I wanted to take with me.
I figured I’d be able to come back and collect the rest of my stuff, but I grabbed my cell phone, charger, my messenger bag that had my laptop in it, and my wallet from near the front door. Everything else could wait until tomorrow.
The sounds of Cove opening my drawers and closet came from the other room, and a few minutes later he returned with my rolling luggage filled and neatly zipped.
“I packed your toiletries, a few sets of clothes to tide you over until the tailor can fit your new wardrobe for you, and the book that was on your bedside table,” Cove explained.
“Awesome, thanks,” I said, and then I looked around the place with a touch of melancholy. The apartment wasn’t anything special, but I’d lived here long enough for it to feel kind of like home. “What about the rest of my stuff?”
“Oh, I will have a few valets return tomorrow to collect the rest of your things,” Cove said. “They can dispose of the damaged items, make any repairs the apartment may need, and pack up the rest of your things to bring to the mansion. They’ll make sure the apartment is in good condition so you’ll get your security deposit back.”
“Sweet.” I gave the blue-haired fae a lopsided grin. “I probably don’t need it if my new house is in Winter Park, but I’d feel kind of bad about leaving the building management to deal with all the damage.”
“No trouble, your majesty,” Cove said. “You are king now. Anything you need or desire can be provided for you, all you have to do is say the word.”
“That’s…” My eyes went wide as I tried to find the right words to express how different that was going to be for me. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”
“I believe that is part of why you will be a good king, your majesty.” Cove smiled affectionately at me. “In my experience, those who come from a life of privilege don’t truly understand how good they have it. I believe a ruler should be able to relate to even the lowest level of people under their care in order to do a good job.”
“What happened to the previous king?” I asked.
“King Vairn, a vampire, ruled for ten years, and he died two months ago,” Cove said, but he didn’t elaborate. “His death has created a bit of a power vacuum that has allowed chaos to build in our Realm.”
“Is that normal?” I asked. “I mean, two months is a long time to go without leadership. Was there a reason the Goddess didn’t make a choice sooner?”
“There are ancient traditions that must be observed after the death of a monarch,” Cove sighed heavily and rolled his turquoise eyes with exasperation. “Some believe the funeral rites take more time than is necessary, but that is how we’ve always done it.”
“I get the feeling you’re one of the ones who think it takes too long,” I chuckled.
“You would be correct, your majesty,” the man confirmed. “But perhaps the extra time allowed the Goddess to find you. I have only known you a very short time, but I have a good feeling about you, if I may be so bold. Perhaps you are exactly what the Eternal Realm needs to regain stability after a long and chaotic era.”
“Maybe you’re right, Cove,” I said, and I tucked the rest of my questions away for another time.
I wanted to know more about King Vairn. Cove said his name with a fair amount of disgust, and I got the impression he hadn’t been a well-liked monarch. But it sounded like this kingdom had existed for a long time, and I figured there might be records or history books at the mansion where I could get more answers.
“So how do we get to the mansion?” I asked. “Did you drive?”
“Not today, your majesty,” Cove said, and he gave me a sly grin. “Come, and I will show you a little fae magic.”
“Shit, I didn’t even think about the magic side of all this,” I breathed.
Most of the creatures Cove mentioned had magical powers, according to the legends and myths I was familiar with. I wondered if faes could lie, or if vampires burned to ash in the sunlight, but I decided to save my questions for later. Right now, I wanted to see my new mansion.
Fuck, I never imagined I’d be saying that in my life.
Cove unlocked my front door and led me out into the hallway. As I paused to lock the door with my keys, the blue-haired fae stopped me and snapped his slender fingers at the knob. The deadbolt clicked loudly into place, and Cove offered me a slightly smug grin before he waved for me to follow him.
“I like this guy,” I murmured to myself, and I jogged a few steps to catch up with him. “Do all faes have magic?”
“Yes, but every fae has a magic that is unique to themselves,” Cove explained. “For the most part, our powers lie within the realm of enchantments or protective magic. Some can create shields or armor, many can do small things like I did with the door back there, others have enchantments of the mind, but each is entirely unique in some way or another. You will learn more about your subjects as you spend more time in our world.”
“What about other species?” I asked. “Do vampires burn in sunlight? Can you only kill werewolves with silver bullets?”
“No,” Cove laughed. “Many of the legends are false theories we spread among humans intentionally to protect ourselves. In the past, when we lived openly amongst humans, we learned that many are fearful of what they don’t understand. We let some secrets slip into their knowledge, and they often used them against us, so when paranormal beings made the collective decision to bring our world into hiding, we left behind incorrect information among the human world. Faes are not hurt by iron, and we can also lie. Vampires dislike the sun because of their overly sensitive eyes, but it does not hurt them. It’s more like a bright light when you’re hungover. It’s uncomfortable. And werewolves are no more injured by a silver bullet than any other kind of bullet.”
“What about garlic?” I wondered as we stepped into the elevator. “Does it have any effect on vampires at all?”
“Actually,” Cove chuckled as he pressed the button for the ground floor, “from what I understand, vampires prefer the taste of a human whose diet is rich with the flavor of garlic. I suspect they created that rumor in the sixteen hundreds to sway humans into becoming even more flavorful.”
“That’s pretty smart.” I smirked, and then I wondered how many of my new subjects were literal murderers. Then I swiftly shoved the thought away for the time being. “What about dragons? Or trolls? Are they real, too?”
“Not in the way popular culture would have you believe,” Cove answered as the elevator door dinged open, and he gestured for me to follow him. “This way, your majesty.”
“So there aren’t fire-breathing lizards the size of school buses lurking around in the mountains somewhere?” I asked with a bit of disappointment in my voice.
“No,” Cove laughed. “There are dragon-folk, though. You’ll meet one soon enough. The head guard at your mansion is a dragon-folk. His name is Firo, and he is a fine and loyal soldier to the crown.”
I tried to imagine what dragon-folk would look like, but then my attention was drawn to the strange people walking around my block.
Sure, there were a few regular old humans strolling around and enjoying the evening air, but that wasn’t all I was seeing now.
Two older women who had large, leathery wings folded against their backs stopped and bowed their heads respectfully as Cove led me down the street. Another man with sleek black hair and eyes that shone silvery in the light of the street lamp at the corner watched me with a look of complete disgust.
But the young human woman who was strolling his way didn’t even bat an eye at the foreboding man. She also didn’t seem to turn her head for even a second at the sight of the leather-winged women across the street.
That’s when I realized I’d come to a complete halt, and I was too shocked to take another step.
Apparently, I was walking down a regular old street in Orlando, but none of this seemed regular anymore.
Cove cleared his throat and started to reach toward my elbow. He stopped himself before he touched me, though, and I stumbled after him in a complete daze.
Then a short man caught my attention. At first, I would have dismissed him for a regular human with dwarfism, but then I noticed the pointed tips of his ears and the odd clothing he wore. He had a floppy hat on top of his gray hair, a leather vest with a gold chain stuck into the breast pocket, leather pants like I’d seen on horse riders, and bare feet. The tops of his toe knuckles were hairy like a hobbit, and I wondered if he was a goblin, a dwarf, or a gnome.
The small man stopped several feet before our paths crossed, and he bowed low as Cove and I approached.
“Your majesty, it is an honor,” the man whispered as I walked past.
“Uh,” I mumbled and blinked several times. “Y-yeah, um… I mean… thanks?”
I glanced back over my shoulder as we walked and saw the short man remained low in his bow until we’d gone another several paces. The older winged women had stopped to watch us as well, and the sleek-haired man scowled at me again.
And still, not a damn human had stopped along their route. They were all the way down the street by now as if nothing odd had taken place.
My feet kept moving as if they had an instinctual need to put some distance between me and the shocking sight of the paranormal beings. My mind was spinning, and I nearly tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. Cove reached out as if he were prepared to throw himself beneath me so I wouldn’t hit the ground, but I found my feet and straightened myself.
“What the hell was that?” I whispered to Cove after we rounded another corner. I glanced around and realized we were headed directly toward The Mennello Museum of American Art. “Where are we going?”
“I promised to show you a bit of fae magic, didn’t I?” Cove replied. “And those were two faes, a vampire, and a gnome. A few of your new subjects. As I’m sure you noticed, some are more… welcoming than others.”
“Yeah, the guy with the black hair and shiny eyes looked like he wanted to tear my head off,” I grumbled as I spotted the outdoor art installations around the museum ahead, and I realized this was all going to take a lot of getting used to. If that was just a small taste of all the paranormal creatures who’d existed all around me my entire life, I was in for a real mindfuck.
“As I said,” Cove sighed, and a deep frown formed between his blue eyebrows, “some of the species are less than pleased about the prospects of a human king.”
“Vampires are clearly one of them,” I said in a voice that was as dry as the Sahara.
“Yes,” Cove confirmed. “They are quite open about their opinions, and I personally believe it has a lot to do with King Vairn’s reign. He was a rather… selfish ruler, and he made it clear he favored his own species above all others. The vampires had it better than anyone else under his rule.”
“I guess that makes sense.” I shrugged.
“Come, we would do well to get to the mansion before nightfall.” Cove picked up his pace a half-step.
I moved my legs faster to keep up with the long-limbed fae, and I glanced around as I noticed more people with strange appearances around the museum.
There was a woman with feathered bird wings that made her look like an angel, and a young man with white spots across his cheeks and short antlers coming out of the top of his head. There was a creature I thought was just a tree at first, but then she turned around and smiled at me with straight white teeth and bright green eyes. Her hair came up around her head like huge curls made of little green leaves, and it was dotted with tiny pink blossoms. She was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, and she was somehow both entirely alien and completely beautiful at the same time.
“Your majesty?” Cove murmured softly. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” I nodded and pulled my attention away from all the curious people who seemed to have come out of the shadows and the cracks in the sidewalks. Somehow, they looked like they’d always been there, and the humans nearby acted as if this wasn’t even concerning. “Where did all these people come from?”
“We have always been here, your majesty,” Cove said in a kind voice. “The only difference is you. As you come to accept your role as King of the Eternal Realm, you will find many things about your human life have changed. The sight is only the first change you will experience.”
“The sight,” I mumbled in shock. “What does that even mean?”
“The sight is the ability to see through the glamours and magic that keep our people hidden from human eyes,” Cove explained succinctly.
“Right…” I breathed, but I was already too distracted again.
A man who was easily ten feet tall with huge shoulders and feet twice the length of mine walked up the road. He turned and nodded politely at me as I rudely stared at his enormous frame. The man seemed to find my shock amusing, because he rolled his shoulders back a bit and stretched to his full height as he grinned and waved.
“Wha… who…?” I whispered as I tried to get my brain to work again.
“Giants are real, too,” Cove chuckled. “It’s a lot, I’m sure, to finally see what the world really is like beneath the glamours that protect us from the unfortunate sides of human nature.”
“It’s definitely a lot,” I agreed. “So these humans out here… they’re not seeing all this? They’re just…”
“Seeing the glamours, correct.” Cove nodded. “For example, that homely young man over there by the trash can believes the woman passing him is quite beautiful, I’m sure. But he could never fathom how delicately her wings catch the streetlamp lights, or how her eyes seem to shine ever so slightly like a neon sign.”
I stared as the young man in question blushed and snuck a peak at the passing fae woman’s ass. But his eyes didn’t even venture toward the small pair of see-through wings on her back.
“Incredible…” I breathed.
Then I turned back to look at Cove, and I saw that he’d led us up to one of the newest modern art installations. There was a thirty-foot square area of huge plate mirrors that faced toward each other in different directions to create never-ending illusions of the world reflecting on itself. I’d passed through here with my best friend, Robin, two weeks ago, and when we’d stepped in between the mirrors, we’d been met with hundreds of versions of ourselves staring back at us.
“Okay… what?” I scoffed at the blue-haired fae beside me. “Why are we here?”
“Are you ready for the fae magic I promised you, your majesty?” Cove asked with a mischievous grin on his smooth face.
“Yeah.” I nodded slowly and braced myself as I waited for whatever was coming next.
“Then, please, follow me,” Cove said, and he took a step backward toward one of the mirrors.
Before I could even think to try and stop him from knocking over the mirrors and destroying the art installation, Cove smirked and slipped inside the reflective glass like it wasn’t even there. His image smiled at me from the other side of the mirror for a second before he waved me forward and disappeared completely.
“What in the actual fuck just happened?” I breathed.
Chapter 4
I looked around for proof that anyone else had seen what just happened, but the area around me was empty other than the sound of birds in a nearby tree and the gentle whistle of the evening breeze.
I was about to shrug off the entire evening as an insane acid trip and walk home with the expectation to find my place entirely as it’d been this afternoon when I got home from work.
“Your majesty?” Cove’s voice echoed to me through the mirror like ripples in a pond.
At the same moment, I felt a tugging sensation right in the center of my chest. It was like a need to move forward, as if the universe had tied me up like a marionette with the intention of pulling me right through the mirror whether I liked it or not. Out of pure curiosity, I resisted the urge for a few seconds, but it was like trying to force myself to breathe underwater. My body just wouldn’t let me.
I reached out with one hand and tried to touch the smooth surface of the reflective glass, but it slipped right through as a series of tiny waves rippled out from the tips of my fingers. What should have been the mirror was warm, and much to my surprise, dry to the touch.
There was a slight sucking sensation from within the mirror, and I allowed my arm to sink up to the elbow as I took a step forward. Then I plunged into the deep end, and I took a purposeful step forward.
I half-expected to be hurtled through empty air and thrown around like a tennis ball, but it was almost like stepping through any regular doorway. There was about a second where my body moved through a pocket of warm air, and it was very bright inside. Then I was just on the other side like nothing weird had happened at all.
It took me a few seconds for my eyes to adjust after the brightness of the mirror portal, and I blinked several times until my surroundings became clear again.
There was a sandstone-colored mansion with a terracotta-style roof, luscious gardens, and a perfectly level brick driveway in front of me. The place looked like a big suburban home, and I guessed it was at least five thousand square feet. It didn’t really seem big enough to be a mansion, so I wondered how many bedrooms and bathrooms there were, and based on the sound of water, I could only assume the house was on one of the lakes that made Winter Park so desirable.
Only after I managed to pick my jaw up off the ground did I realize Cove was standing just beside me, and we were up to our shins in a huge fountain. The fountain sat in the middle of the three-car-wide driveway between the antique-styled street lamps that illuminated the grounds.
