“Your grandmother told me you spoke it. I normally speak Oestekommen.” she then launched into another language that sounded like gibberish to me. No prompt appeared, now that I had no points to spend.

“Sorry. I guess living in the palace had made me a little paranoid.”

“That is to be expected. The Seelie Fae love to deceive humans, and they have had plenty of opportunity to practice over the centuries. It what makes my job so dangerous.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Nearly all my life. I was taken by the Seelie when I was a baby, and replaced by a changeling. The Waning Moon Circle rescued me when I was six. They raised me, and trained me. Now, I help to liberate others.”

“Just like Doris. Shit, I forgot about Doris! I should have gone to get her.”

“It wouldn't have been a good idea. She might have raised the alarm. Once someone has been a prisoner long enough, they can start to see their captors as their family.”

The tunnel got colder and colder as we crawled. Frost started to form on the walls, and my breath came out in little puffs of cloud. Eventually, the tunnel widened out enough that we were able to stand. Then, the root ended and the cave opened out. We were in a huge cavern or grotto. The floor was covered in boulders, and the back wall was solid ice. Carved into the ice was another palace, even bigger than the Queen's palace above. The front was all done in Greco-Roman columns, carved with images of wolves, birds, and tangles of thorn. Different types of ice had been used to give the palace a subtle color pattern of pale blues, dark greens, and cloudy whites. I couldn't help but stare.

“This is the old palace of Hy Brasil. Long ago, this island belonged to a King of the Unseelie Fae. He liked to keep his palace far beneath the earth. He is long dead now, and his home is abandoned. Still, there is a doorway down here that the Queen doesn't know about.”

“A doorway? Like a portal?”

“Yes. The Unseelie created it, and used it escape from the island when the Seelie invaded.”

It was weird to be underground in such a well-lit room. The main gate of the palace was about twelve feet tall and surrounded by with dozens of statues, all made of ice. I was nervous about walking on the ice stairs that led up to the main gate. I had to choose whether to let my arms hang down to help balance me or hug them against me to keep warm. I chose the former. Estelle was watching, and I didn't want her to think of me as some scared little kid.

The inside of the palace was even colder. I had expected the ice floor to be slippery, but instead my shoes stuck to it. I thought that if I stood in one place long enough, I would have to tear myself free again. The main atrium had two sets of stairs leading up. The walls were covered in carved murals, and more statues stood in every corner. Everything I could see was solid ice. Estelle led me past the stairs to another set of steps leading downward. As we carefully descended these, I heard a loud tapping noise behind us. It sounded like someone drumming their fingers on a table. Estelle began moving more quickly.

“They're after us!” she hissed at me. “Hurry!”

It would have been nice of her to mention earlier that there was something down here that we needed to avoid, but maybe an uninhabited old ruin was too much to ask for in a game like this. We ran through a long banqueting hall and into another hallway, but the tapping noise just got louder and closer. We ducked into a bedroom off the hallway. The bed was made of ice, like everything else here, but the blanket that covered it was a polar bear's pelt. She motioned me to hide behind the bed, while she ducked into a closet.

The tapping slowed down as it approached. I still couldn't tell what was following us, or how many there were. My knees slowly numbed as I crouched on the ice floor behind the ice bed. It was a lousy hiding spot, but I couldn't think of a better one. I had no weapons, but my magic was a reasonable defense against one, maybe two opponents. I sat as still as I could and hoped our pursuers wouldn't search too carefully.

The tapping sound entered the room. It was like dozens of canes clicking and clacking against concrete. I knew if I looked at them, the jig would be up. I crouched and listened as whatever it was circled the room. There was more than one of them, and they were searching. The only good news was, they couldn't be very smart. Anyone with half a brain would check the bed and the closet without hesitation.

I heard Estelle scream. The tapping was joined by a rattling sound. The scream of terror was followed by screams of pain, and the sound of cloth being torn. I wanted to help her. I wanted to cast some kind of curse at whatever was attacking her. I just couldn't move. I stared at the icy floor as the screams faded into the distance, the rattling and tapping running out the door and down the hall. Tears began falling on the icy floor. She was gone. Just like that. And I hadn't lifted a finger to help her.

I stayed on the floor behind the bed until I couldn't stand it any more. The room was empty. The only sign that Estelle had been there at all was a splash of fresh blood on the floor near the empty closet. I was still crying, and I was so ashamed of what I had done that I didn't even feel like wiping away the tears. I had been lost and alone on this island for weeks, but now I felt more alone than ever. It had felt so good to finally have someone human to talk to. But I hadn't been brave enough to protect her.

After a while, I finally had the courage to leave the room and check the hallway. There was no sign of whatever had taken Estelle. I was reasonably certain that they had taken her back the way we had come. If I followed, I'd probably be taken too. I decided to head deeper into the palace.

There were more lavish bedrooms down the hall, all with more ice furniture. At the end of the hall was another large gallery. It had a wide area in the middle and a set of stands on a raised platforms around it. It looked like a sports arena. At the back of the arena was a huge throne, carved to look like two huge birds (I think they were ravens) standing back to back with wings extended. I could just imagine the great fae king sitting there and judging tournaments and contests. Maybe they hosted gladiator fights, and the king would give the thumbs up if he wanted to see someone die. Most people think its the other way around, but the Romans saw a thumbs-up very differently.

The second I saw that throne, I wanted to go and sit on it. It was a crazy thing to want, especially when there were things running around that wanted to kill me for whatever reason. Without Estelle, this palace was way too quiet. I would have been creeped out even if I didn't know there enemies here. Still, if I didn't sit on that throne I would always wonder what it would have felt like.

Trying to be as sneaky as I could, I crept up the stairs and through the stands to reach the throne. It did not look comfortable at all, but imagining it as the seat of power for an ancient king of the dark fairies made it irresistible. I sat down.

Instantly, my body froze. It was a trap. Of course it was a trap. What else could it be?