There was a flash of light as Kheelan opened the door and we were no longer in the cemetery but in some sort of maze. My first thought was it was like a maze from a horror movie, the walls were made of thistles, sharp prickles pointing out. The purple flowers were faded, almost lilac in colour instead of the deep purple they should have been.

The sky was overcast, light barely breaking through the blanket of clouds. Everything seemed dull and plain.

Nothing like what I had imagined or read about.

Kheelan walked ahead, turning a corner and I ran to keep up with him.

"Don't touch the walls," he explained. "They are quite sharp and make sure you stick close to me. It's easy to get lost in here if you don't know the way."

"I thought Faerie would be brighter than this." I said, slightly disappointed.

"This isn't really Faerie,' he said calmly, taking large strides. "It's more like the in-between of worlds. There are many different gateways, not all of them lead to your world, however."

"How many worlds are there?"

"More than you can imagine."

We fell into silence and I tried to remember what way he was going but every turn looked the same and four turns later I was completely lost. Every now and then, out the corner of my eye I would see something down another path but we were moving too quickly for me to take a closer look.

The one time I did get to look, I saw a large troll walking down another path, dragging his large club behind him, large elongated teeth reaching up to his eyes. He moved out of sight and I moved a bit quicker after that.

We remained in silence for some time so I decided to put the time to good use.

"So,' I said coolly, jogging lightly behind him. "Who is the girl?"

Kheelan stumbled. "You mean the lady I love?"

"That's the one."

"Her name is Sorcha." He said her name with such tenderness, I found myself wishing someone would say my name like that. "She is a lady in my mother's court as I have explained to you. She is not a higher class fae, her father who lives in the Faylinn mountains exchanged her to my mother for greener lands."

I gasped in shock. "He didn't? That's awful!"

Kheelan nodded. "She's been with us for many years now and you must understand that this is normal occurrence in Faerie. She is liked by many of the fae at court, but because she is not of the higher class, my mother won't accept her as a possible bride. The only way to overcome that is like I told you yesterday; I must convince the Queen that we are truly in love."

"Okay,' I said still uncertain this plan would work. "Do you know much about Sorcha? Like her interests, her favourite colour, that sort of thing?"

My questions were met with silence. Leaning around, I took in Kheelan's blank look of horror.

"You have no idea do you?" I surmised.

He nodded stiffly and I resisted the urge to slap him.

I sighed in frustration. "Well I guess if I'm going to be spending time with these women, I'll do some snooping and find out for you. If you're going to be wooing this woman then you at least need to know the basics."

Kheelan looked at me in surprise. "You would do that for me?"

"Sure,' I shrugged, "The quicker I help you two fall in love, the quicker I get my father back and I get to go home."

"Indeed." he murmured.

We lapsed into silence once more and continued walking. It was then I noticed I hadn't seen any creatures now for some time. "Hey Kheelan?"

"Hmm?"

"Where are the other creatures? I saw a troll a while ago but I've seen nothing since. I thought gateways were filled with dangerous creatures."

"They are here,' he spoke calmly. "They just don't come near because I am here and they fear me. If you were to traverse this path alone, they would overpower you."

I tucked that piece of information away. No going into the thistle gateway without Kheelan.

The clouds started to break apart and the day seemed to get brighter. Kheelan also began to slow down.

"We're nearly there, Laila. It's still a day's ride to the Seelie court though."

"Are we riding horses?" I asked nervously.

"Of course, what else would we ride?"

"Can't we just walk?"

"No,' he said voice laced with impatience. "It would take too long."

We walked in silence for a few steps before I decided to come clean. "Look, Kheelan I've, ah... I've never ridden a horse before."

He spun around, glancing at me in surprise. "Never?"

"No, never!" I snapped defensively. "I've never had to before!"

"Oh, well don't worry, you will pick it up quickly. Drake will teach you."

"Who's Drake?"

"Captain Drake, he is the head of the Seelie guard and my close friend. We grew up together; I trust him with my life. He will look out for you when I am not around."

"Does he know about our deal?"

He shook his head."No, the only one who knows is my brother Kalen and he has sworn to keep this a secret. It would be best if we kept it just between the three of us for now."

I nodded in agreement. "So what does this Captain think then?"

"He just thinks I've gone to collect my bride."

I hesitated before asking, "Does he know I'm only half-fae?"

Kheelan nodded. "Kalen explained to him what you were."

"And he's okay with that?"

"He should be.' Kheelan said simply. "He's never shown hatred to half-fae before, I doubt he's going to start now."

A light shone ahead and I covered my eyes, the butterflies in my stomach going into hyper drive. We left the maze and I'd been wrong about Faery being dull.

It was beautiful.

We stood at the beginning of a large field. The grass was bright green, vibrant wild flowers blooming in different colours creating a effervescent rainbow of colour. The wind blew gently creating a rolling ocean of colour.

In the distance I could see a large forest, the darker green contrasting with the bright green of the grass. Looking back, the wall of thistles rose up, the grey wall seeming out of place amongst the vibrancy of colours. Looking in both directions the wall seemed to go on forever.

Kheelan saw me looking at the wall.

"It does stop eventually but it acts as a barrier. No one has ever reached the other side. I'm not even sure all the gateways are known." He said as if reading my mind.

"A barrier to what though?"

"No one knows."

"Mysterious much?"

He grinned, "You'll find that a lot here."

A horse neighed and Kheelan looked ahead. "It seems our ride has arrived."

Two horses galloped toward us and stopped quickly. They were beautiful golden creatures, their manes bright white, standing out from their creamy golden coats. The bridles and saddles were made of light brown leather, the metal joints carved intricately with small designs. One horse was riderless and on the other sat a tall man who must have been the Captain.

He jumped lightly from his horse and clapped Kheelan on the shoulder. "It's good to see you, Your Highness."

Holy hell.

The man was huge!

Broad shouldered, his body appeared lean but the muscle was evident beneath his shirt. He wore a uniform, brown pants and a black shirt which clung to his chest. A large sword hung from his left hip. Bright blue eyes stood out in his face, his thick black hair was windswept sitting way too perfectly.

Surely the man used some sort of product for it to look that good!

Kheelan gave him a quick hug and motioned to me. "Allow me to introduce my fiancé, Laila Groves."

Hearing myself referred to as a fiancé felt strange, the word sitting acidly in my mouth. The Captain turned to me and the warmth in his gaze vanished.

He stared at me, eyes cold and assessing. I tried not squirm under his gaze. I opened my mouth to greet him but wasn't given the chance.

Giving a short bow he turned back to his horse before I could speak, saying to Kheelan, "We should get going or we won't make it to our rest stop by nightfall."

Oblivious to what had just happened, Kheelan nodded. "Of course."

He swung up on his horse and reached down to grab my hand. Placing my hand in his, I failed to hide how much they were shaking.

Gasping, I bit back a squeal as he lifted me easily and placed me behind him. I heard him murmur, "Just hold onto me and you'll be fine."

I nodded and gently held onto his waist, my shaking in my hands easing.

Looking up, I met the Captain's eyes.

He quickly turned away but I had seen it; the repulsion in his eyes had been evident.

I suddenly didn't feel so safe anymore.

X_