The Clockwork Fairy Kingdom Read Free Page B

their own gear-cutting tools.
    As the first of the warriors disappeared under the ground
beneath Adele, she let out the traditional loud wailing cry of mourning.
Everyone in the court joined her, as well as the servants massed behind them,
their shrieks bouncing off the cliffs and rocks, rising to the dugout roof above
them, echoing through the vast underground kingdom.
    Adele still refused to weep. The fierceness of her continued
howling served two purposes: to show her broken heart, as well as to serve as a
warning to that thrice-damned dwarf, Kostya . He would
pay.
    ***
    After the entombment, Adele walked restlessly from one
waiting room to the next. Cornelius trailed behind her like a sad cloud. She
couldn’t blame him; he worried about her. They all were. The somberly dressed
court sat in clusters on backless couches, their wings drooping with mourning, their
eyes hooded and darting, not having the courage to speak with her and risk her anger.
Servants, also in black, walked between them, serving chilled moonbeam wine.
The southern contingent had been politely directed to different rooms.
    The brightly painted, unmatched walls of the waiting rooms further
set Adele’s nerves on edge, and her rage continued to build. Everyone in the
fairy kingdom had forgotten how they’d once been. They should be tearing their
clothes or destroying everything around them in rage, not politely talking in
whispers. She ached to see how far they’d fallen.
    Only the priests broke the solid collection of fine black
mourning-frocks. The priest of Anabnus , the sun god,
wore brilliant yellow robes; while the priestess of Clotana ,
the moon goddess, wore only a white skirt, with glitter covering her torso and
breasts. Matching streamers decorated their wings and floated in the air behind
them. The priests eschewed all clockwork and followed even older ways, without
gears or mechanics, as the southern court appeared to. Adele didn’t want to go
all the way back to the bad old days. She’d grown up in the country, barefoot
and dirt poor. She appreciated running water, clean clothes, and soft sheets.
The priests didn’t present a threat, though; they came from the smaller servant
caste and would follow her lead as they always had.
    Cornelius finally got Adele to stop for a moment in the far
room, where few had gathered. The green walls reminded Adele of slime-covered
water.
    “You need to rest,” he told her sternly, bending his gray
head toward her. Most fairies never showed their age, and Cornelius wasn’t that
old. He’d just gone gray as a young man. Adele had teased him that he thought
too much. He wore a black-on-black striped vest with matching pants, and a
blinding white shirt under his dark coat. Rings with precious rubies, emeralds,
pearls, and other gems covered every finger. “You can talk with me, if you need
to. He was my best friend as well.” As the Master Jeweler to the kingdom, he’d
worked closely with Thaddeus, the Master Tinker.
    “Not—not yet. I can’t,” Adele confessed. She winced as
her wings moved. A gear had slipped out of place on her left one, making the
mechanism that opened them grind.
    “At least let me take care of those for you.”
    Finally Adele nodded. “Later tonight.” She looked around.
The servants were now serving the cold mourning tea. “Help me escape,” she
whispered. Her own petticoats and underskirts chafed her. At least she’d been
able to remove her veil. Looking through it gave her the impression that
everything was dirty. She longed to be as free as the warrior she’d once been,
screaming and stomping her feet in anger, stripped bare of gown and corset. She
consoled herself that soon she’d lead the raid against Kostya .
He’d die more honorably than her husband, who had been killed with a booby trap
while exploring one of the deep tunnels. Only the dwarf would have set such a
trap.
    Cornelius pressed a finger against his nose in thought, and
then nodded. “All right.”