Read Online A Fey Harvest by Amy Sumida - Free Book Online Page B

overflowing as well?”
    “ It is,” He frowned. “It flows back underground and returns to Water, refilling the ocean. It's a circle, which is a type of magic.”
    “ You never told me there was a second river,” I rolled my eyes.
    “ I assumed you'd figure that out for yourself,” he looked at me like I was an idiot. “How else would it replenish itself?”
    “ That's why I asked,” I groaned.
    “ There's another river of lava which flows back to us as well, replenishing our fire.”
    “ You suck as a teacher,” I grimaced at him.
    “ I'm an excellent teacher, I just made the mistake of assuming that my pupil could think on her own.”
    “ Watch it, snake breath,” I growled, “or I'll be thinking up ways of making you pay for that comment.”
    “ I'll wait with bated snake breath,” he laughed and I punched him in the arm. Hard. Which I think he enjoyed.
    We traveled up the path carved into the side of the cliff, and up to the castle, where it sat on an outcropping of stone. There were two ways in, one on each side of the outcropping, as there was a river of water flowing through the center. A bridge connected the two sides, at both the front and the back of the castle but hopefully we wouldn't be seeing the back. That was where the tubes leading underwater were and I was fervently hoping we wouldn't be going to the other castle, the one in the center of the sea.
    “ Welcome,” King Guirmean himself came out of the door on our side of the castle. “It's an honor to have you here, you're my first guests as King.”
    “ Thank you,” I glanced past him to the bright interior. “Will we be dining here or further into the kingdom?”
    “ Oh,” he lifted his brows, “here of course. We do all of our entertaining in the main castle. It's the whole reason we have it.”
    “ Really?” I shot Arach an annoyed look. “I'd been led to believe that you sometimes brought guests further in.”
    “ Not usually but if you'd prefer-” King Guirmean looked worried.
    “ No!” I interrupted him and then lowered my voice. “No, I ah, this is so much better. I didn't really get a chance to see the castle last time.”
    “ Oh wonderful,” Guirmean sighed in relief. “Please, follow me.”
    I slapped Arach's arm before taking it properly and he laughed, then shrugged. A psychotic five-year-old, I swear. I couldn't believe he let me think I'd have to go underwater again. We walked into a open entryway, bisected by the river which rushed past us on the left. The ceiling was vaulted to the level of the second floor but all we could see of the second floor was an open walkway going across from one side of the room to the other.
    There was no furniture in the room, only stairs to either side of the river. The ceiling did drop beneath the walkway but the room continued on beyond it, straight to the back of the castle, where it opened to another promontory which led to the sea. We didn't head that way though. Instead, Guirmean led us to the right and up some stairs along the wall. I glanced at the shimmering color it was painted and then realized that it wasn't paint, the walls were coated with mother-of-pearl. We went into a doorway to the right, at the top of the stairs, which opened up into a large dining room.
    It looked like a successful pirate had added his own touches to a Victorian formal dining room. Successful in that he'd had a lot of available treasure to throw around. The room wasn't as large as I'd been expecting, with only a single table running its length, though it was a long one. The walls were papered in a gilded and hand-painted wallpaper with pictures of shells on it. A large mirror with a gold frame hung in the center of the wall across from us and a long side table sat beneath it with a beautiful coffee service displayed on top of it.
    The table linens were white, the silverware was actually gold(did that make it goldware?), and the chairs were gilded and upholstered in a blue tapestry