Excalibur's Seven - Chapter 23: Chapter 23

PRINCESS GISELLE TOOK THE stairs up to the balcony which overlooked the dancers on the ballroom floor. Those who preferred to drink and watch the party were there, sharing silent conversation or standing alone. Giselle, however, wasn't there for pleasantries.
She drew attention with her enormous skirts and her clear status as the Vernal Princess, but no one bothered to question where she was going as she disappeared into the west hallway which the balcony led to. She was taking the upper west end of the palace, Selene taking the lower. Chalice and Eurion took east, while the boys took everywhere else.
She hoped everyone had enough experience with Sídhe by now to get around any they might come across.
The palace was huge, but Giselle was determined to search the whole section she was given. She walked into every room she came across, searching through drawers and behind paintings on the walls and between cushions. She searched high and low in every room, but came up empty every time.
At last, she stumbled across a museum, displaying the most holy Seelie artifacts. This had to hold it.
"Your Highness," someone said. Giselle turned to find a palace guard looking her over.
"Well hello," she greeted politely, holding her skirts and curtsying.
He gave a tight smile. "Hello. What might you be doing in here? The ball is elsewhere."
"But of course, I was just searching for a place to powder my nose and got lost in the beauty of all these artifacts." Her voice was painfully sweet. "May I ask about one?"
The guard clearly didn't want to deal with her, but it was his job and he couldn't deny the Princess.
"I suppose, but make it quick."
"Right. Well, I heard this museum has a piece of the very sword Excalibur," she told him wistfully. "I was wondering where I might find it?"
He was trying very hard to polite. "You've got the right building, but unfortunately it's too valuable to be on display. Only the Seelie Queen knows where that is."
Giselle sighed and stuck out her lip. "A shame. I've been learning of Excalibur recently, fascinated by it really. Just wanted to see it."
The guard was at his limit now, and he motioned for the door. "Truly sorry, Your Highness. Now, may I escort you back to the ballroom?"
Selene's luck wasn't much better. She was very thorough in her search, and when she came across an armory, she was sure she would at least find a clue. She searched in everything, even picked the lock of a chest and sifted through a whole pile of gold. She came up with nothing.
Her eyes landed on something then, a door concealed behind a shelf which held helmets of all sorts. She ran her hands over the stones in the wall, until he heard a creak. The shelf turned, allowing enough room for her to sneak in before putting it back in its place behind her.
What she found was a small, dark room, carved in stone. Tucked within a glass box was a crown. She thought she'd found the shard, tucked in the jewels, but there was no such luck.
Before she could leave, the shelf groaned again. There was hardly a good place to hide, but she tucked herself behind a statue, hoping to the Gods the low light would conceal her.
The wall turned, opening to a woman almost as ethereal as Giselle. Maybe she was just as ethereal, but Selene was only in love with one of them.
This woman had impossibly golden hair, tumbling down her exposed back in perfect waves. Her skin, only a few shades lighter than Kit's, shimmered just as Giselle's did. She was truly beautiful, but Selene didn't care about that. She just wanted the woman to leave.
Her eyes scanned the crown, fingers tracing over the glass, but she didn't seem to want the crown itself. There was something somber about the way she looked at it, and she was there for far longer than Selene was comfortable with.
When she left, Selene left the room with haste, making her way back to the ballroom as if nothing was wrong.
The east end was not much promising either. The druid was careful as they searched through the rooms they passed. At one point, a nobleman passed by them and they slipped into a room along the way in a brief moment of déjà vu, but this time, they were going into the room on purpose, in search of something other than a prince.
They turned to see the room behind them was a study. One wall was stacked high with books, and a large wooden desk sat in the center of the room. The druid was hopeful about this room, though they tried not to tell themself they would find it here.
First, they searched the drawers of the desk. No luck there, so they looked in the various chests and on a shelf displaying dozens of trinkets and tools. They tried to see the shard in any of them, but they came up empty.
They scoured the bookshelves next. Not only did they try to find it tucked in the books itself, but they tried to find any information about it that they could. There was nothing useful, until they came across a dusty old hunk of a thing.
It was a record book, they found as they pulled it open. Over a century old, they discovered, and it recorded gifts the palace received.
"Come on," they whispered to the book, flipping back until they found what they were looking for.
It wasn't anything they didn't already know. A human knight came to deliver a gift to the Seelie King Oberon, who he trusted to protect it with his life until the Gods told him it would be needed again.
They closed the book, returning it exactly as it was on the shelf. They didn't think the shard would be there after all, but maybe the confirmation would be useful somehow.
It was very tempting for Eurion to take everything of value she came across as she searched her section of the palace, but she knew the repercussions of stealing from a faery. She couldn't imagine it would go well if she stole from the whole royal family.
There were several rooms along this wing of the palace, and Eurion had to wonder how many people lived here for there to be so many rooms in just one section. She encountered at least two feast halls and a number of libraries, but the room that really caught her attention was a bedroom.
Somehow, she'd found herself in royal sleeping quarters, and thought for sure she'd find something of value. It shocked her how easy it was to get around the guards, but she was in the room now, searching through some very fancy things.
It took several minutes to look through everything, but then she stumbled across a well guarded chest beneath the bed. Eurion's chest constricted at the sight of it, almost like it was something else prodding at her.
She found it.
This felt familiar, she thought as she used hairpins to open the chest. It took a lot of twisting and maneuvering to get it to open, but somehow she managed it. She pulled it open, preparing to find the shard.
She was right about one thing. There was a distinct shard-shaped clip hidden beneath jewels and gold, where she knew it was supposed to be. But it was gone.
The boys were just as unlucky. Kit and Lionel went together to search high and low, but they found nothing. It was a massive palace, he was sure it was there somewhere, but no matter how long they searched, the prince didn't think they'd ever find it on their own.
He returned to the ballroom with a dejected sigh. His eyes scanned the room for Morgana, who said he'd look there, but he couldn't find him. The happy music changed to a slow tune, and he was grabbed by a very eager woman. He didn't pay an ounce of attention to what she was saying, just trying to find Morgana.
He found himself dancing with several of partners until finally, he was thrown into Morgana's arms. The Unseelie was not pleased about it, but Kit couldn't be more relieved.
"There you are," he said. "Any luck?"
Morgana was visibly irritated at their proximity, but he was just as aware as Kit that they'd look suspicious standing there speaking in low voices, so he kept dancing. "No. You?"
Kit sighed. "I wish. Didn't even get a clue."
Before they had to stand there dancing awkwardly for too long, Giselle returned to their side.
"Was I interrupting something?" she asked innocently.
The two men stepped apart like they were each touching a hot stove, Morgana going as far as to dust his hands on his pants. "No," he grumbled.
"Did you find anything?" Kit asked her. "We've both got nothing."
Giselle frowned. "No. All I've got is that the Queen is the only one who knows where it is."
His aunt appeared next, a bitter look on her face. Her hand made its way to Giselle's back. "I just found a crown," she said when she was asked. "I did see a girl there, must've been the Summer Princess or something."
Giselle hummed. "I don't like her."
Eurion and Chalice appeared at almost the same time, interrupting anything else they would've said. The thief's eyes were frantic, and he thought for a moment she might've found it.
"Any luck?" he asked her.
"I know where it was about ten minutes ago," she told them. "The magic is still there, so I know it couldn't have gone far."
"The Queen already has it," Giselle concluded. "We just need to f--"
Before she could finish what she was saying, a fanfare began and silenced the whole room.
"Bow down," Selene hissed, and they all followed suit, kneeling to the ground when the Seelie Queen herself entered the room, settling in front of the throne, which sat gloriously in a balcony of its own above the ballroom.
She came forward, looking over her subjects. "Welcome," she said, voice imposing and powerful. Kit could feel her magic deep in his bones. This was an ancient woman, as ancient as time itself, and he knew it.
Silence settled over the room, the weight of her voice still lingering in the air. She let the tension grow before finally, in a startlingly cheerful tone, she spoke again. "What are we all bowing for? Dance!"
All at once, the music began again and everyone rose to their feet, carrying on their joyous dancing. No longer bowing, Kit could look up at her, and the breath was gone from his lungs as soon as he did.
The Queen did not look nearly as ancient as she was. Her hair was long and silver, tumbling down her back, skin a warm, iridescent olive. Antlers sprouted from her hair, decorated in flora and jewels. Her dress was more extravagant than any he'd seen at the ball thus far, covered in more jewels than anyone else in the room.
She was descending to the floor, waving away anyone who tried to bow to her. Kit was so entranced with her ancient beauty to realize that she was coming right to him. Everyone cleared a path for her as she passed, but he was frozen in place until she stood right in front of him.
"You," she told him, and he could feel thousands of years in that one word. His knees weakened, but she took his hands to steady him.
"Y-your Majesty," he stammered, nodding his head respectfully. She put a finger beneath his chin and tilted his head up so he was looking at her again.
"None of that," she ordered. "If anything, I should be bowing to you. You look just like a Summer Prince."
"Well, I'm hardly--"
"And you're the one the Gods told me about."
He froze in place. He could hardly comprehend what that meant, but he could hardly keep his wits about him in the Queen's presence anyways.
"I'm sorry, they--"
She pried his hand open, slipping something cool and metallic into his hand. "I've been waiting for you. You didn't need to search the whole palace, you know."
His breath shuddered, and he looked down at the shard in his hand. "Thank you, Your Majesty, I can't--" When he looked up, she was already gone, socializing with her people like nothing happened. He checked again to see if he'd dreamed that whole encounter, but the shard was still there.
"Kit!" Selene called, yanking him from his thoughts with a violent shake of his shoulders.
His stomach dropped when he saw the look in her eyes. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Prince Connor," she said urgently. The name sent a shiver down his spine. "He's here, and they've got your son."