Chapter Text
Ash
I sighed softly to myself, while watching the rulers of the Nevernever argue with each other like usual. It was Elysium again and for me the most boring time of the year. My only source of amusement was Titania's face whenever she looked like she wanted to rip Mab's head off.
On top of that, it was also outrageously stifling hot. The uncomfortable creeping sweat on my skin was bothering me constantly, made only worse by the fact that it wasn't something I was used to, not even in the Woods. It's usually quite cool there, except for certain places, but I (like most Winter fey) shied away from those.
Actually I'd much rather be hunting in the Woods right now, at least I'd be able to make myself useful there. Instead I had to be here as a symbol of power and to spite the Summer monarchs. Mother wanted to rub the fact that the Summer Court had no heirs to their throne - despite being married - in their faces.
My brother, Sage, was sitting next to me, looking just as bored as I was, his hand stroking the soft fur of his loyal companion. While Rowan was off somewhere, doing who knows what. And to be honest, I really didn't want to know.
Suddenly a bright light erupted in the middle of the room, right above the monarchs and seemingly out of nowhere. For a few seconds everyone was simultaneously blinded. The light dissapeared as fast as it came and left something on the table.
Chaos ensued.
Fey frantically reaching for their weapons, pushing each other, yelling questions and-
"SILENCE!!"
Everyone froze.
King Oberon was standing, emitting strong waves of power.
"Everyone quiet down and put your weapons away, it's still Elysium!" he demanded.
Everybody reluctantly did what they were told and slowly calmed down, muttering and talking amongst themselves, most of them were smart enough to realise now that whatever happened wasn't an immediate threat. At the same time Rowan decided to show up and appeared next to Sage, I briefly noticed his messy hair and traces of bright red lipstick on his pale neck. 'Yes, I had been right about not wanting to know his whereabouts earlier,' I thought with a shudder. Pity for the poor girl who'd put her mouth on him, his skin might be just as poisonous as his being.
Now that the chaos was dealt with (at least for now) and I looked away from Rowan, I was able to see what the mysterious light had left. To my disappointment, it was just a piece of paper and a couple of books. Not that those couldn't be dangerous - who knew what sort of curses were on them? - but it was far less exciting than I had anticipated. Oberon leaned closer to the piece of paper and without touching it, read it out loud:
Dear monarchs and the rest of Nevernever.
I sent you these books to read about the future. First of all, you are not allowed to kill or harm anyone in this room or you will damage the future and possibly destroy the Nevernever. And then you'll be stuck here forever if you do so. You will not be able to leave this room unless you have read all the books. Time will remain frozen until you finish reading. Read them in this order: The iron king, The iron princess, The iron queen and The iron knight. Have fun and excuse me for interupting your festivities!
There was a short silence. Until chaos erupted for the second time and everyone tried to get out, certainly not liking the threat of emprisonment in the Summer Court of all places. No one was going to believe what some random note said, of course, I certainly didn't. There was yelling and pushing to get to the exit as fast as possible and more than once some unfortunate fey was trampeled to death. However we soon realised that both our weapons and powers were useless. There was no way out.
Most gave up after a while after this realisation (at least the one's who had enough brains did). The letter wasn't lying. Not even the Summer monarchs were able to find a way out of their own kingdom. I half expected Mab to go crazy on the Summer fey and accuse them of this whole thing being a trap, that they've somehow set up. It was a ridiculous idea of course, but I wouldn't put it past Mab to come to such a conclusion in the heat of the moment. Thankfully she kept her mouth shut, avoiding a bloodbath by doing so and went to sit down. I was relieved that we would at least not start slaughtering each other, I had no desire to die here.
It was quiet for a while, no one really knew what to do and the ones who did have an idea, didn't dare interupt the silence (most of them at least as we're soon about to learn). "Well...I guess we should start reading, if we want to get out of here someday." commented Rowan, he was sitting down, legs crossed at the ankles and resting on the table, "I dunno about you, but I don't fancy staying here for eternity."
I tried not to roll my eyes at his calm demeanor, lest Mother sees it. He was just as concerned as we all were about this emprisonment and the identity of whoever sent the letter. Who or what would have the power to lock up the Summer monarchs in their own palace and the rest of us on top of that? Well, he should be concerned about all this if he has sense whatsoever, which I wasn't completely certain of, maybe I was giving him too much credit. Hopefully this wouldn't start another fight.
"Who will read the first chapter, then?" Oberon quickly intervened in order to avoid any more chaos, while carefully picking the first book up. I held my breath for a moment, half expecting something to happen. Nothing did. Seems like just a regular book then, at least for the time being. Goodfellow was the first to volunteer, of course. Surprise, surprise. That airhead clearly didn't care about the fact that we were basically stuck in a prison. Idiot. Oberon nodded and wordlessly handed him the book, he opened it to start reading.
Chapter one: The Ghost In The Computer.