Breathless, I turned around as soon as I reached the edge, giddy with excitement and curiosity of what Aine and her brother were going to do. Papa stood next to me, face set like stone.
Out of the shadows of the forest, two glowing figures flew, their matching red hair like fires in the sun. With a grace only a Fae could possess, Aine and her brother drifted in the sky, examining the ground as if seeing something we couldn’t. Their silky clothes fluttered around them, dancing at the slightest movement.
I could never tire of this sight. It was so beautiful. I wasn’t the only one who thought so, judging by the whispers of awe from family around me.
Aine and Lugh spoke something to each other, then flew higher in the air. They held out their palms to the ground. Golden dust fell from their hands, sparking in the sunlight. As the tiny stars hit the ground, the golden color spread across the dirt to the size of dinner plate. In perfect coordination, they began covering every inch of the frozen ground.
My mouth dropped open in wonder. To a casual eye, it looked like they were sprinkling Fae Nectar, but that wasn’t it. They spread pure Fae magic, their life’s essence, on my farm. Simply because I asked. Yet they said they didn’t want payment.
Tears welled in my eyes. I didn’t know if it was gratitude, amazement, or simply the breathtaking scene in front of me. Peace settled in my heart, the first calm I’d had all morning.
“By the seasons,” Papa whispered, eyes wide with awe. “These—these Fae are…”
“My friends,” I whispered. “They are my friends.”
Papa looked down at me, wearing an expression I’d never seen before. It was mixed with so many emotions, I couldn’t name a single one. Like he was seeing me differently than he ever had before, and didn’t know how to feel about it.
A burst of shocked voices erupted from my family.
I looked back.
Aine flew towards us, low over the dirt, a telltale sign of how tired she must be. Lugh hung back on the other side of the field, watching his sister with sharp eyes. My family hurried to back away as Aine landed on the ground next to me.
She flicked a gaze at the people around us, brows wrinkled in worry, before she focused on me. “I need a little help now. We’re getting tired.” She walked over to the edge of the field and crouched down, toes inches away from the glowing field. Then she smiled and held out her hand to me.
I dropped to my knees by her and took her hand.
Warmth spread from my palm to hers, as a sweet, light feeling spread from my hand to my head. At that moment, I felt like I could fly.
Aine’s smile widened as a sparkle gleamed in her eyes and she turned. Her right hand lifted up then she slammed her hand down on the field. The gold dust rippled out from where her hand hit, spreading like a drop of water on a still pond, until the ripple went across all the fields. The gold seeped into the soil, leaving it a richer brown than it had ever been before.
Sprouts pushed through the fertile dirt that Aine and her brother left behind. Even the seeds that had been planted only yesterday burst out with a love of life. A promise of the best crop we’d ever have.
“Oh, Aine,” I whispered. “It’s beautiful.”
Lugh shifted, drawing my attention. He jerked his chin down in a quick nod to me. He looked at his sister and motioned to the forest then flew back into the trees.
Aine watched him go then turned to me. She let go of my hand and pushed some hair off her forehead. “Whew, I need a drink now.”
Behind us, my family shifted and whispered to each other, gaping openly at the Sun Fae.
Grinning from ear to ear, I threw my arms around her neck, careful of her wings. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
She stilled for a second, surprised. It was the first time I tried to hug her. Then she hugged me in return. “You’re welcome.”
Papa stepped forward and cleared his throat, catching our attention.
Aine and I let go and stood up to face him.
“On behalf of everyone here, I want to say thank you,” Papa slightly lowered his head, “friend of Maira.” It had to be the most formal thing I’d ever heard come out of Papa’s mouth. It was clear he didn’t know what to say to Fae, but at least he was trying.
Aine also didn’t know what to do, suddenly realizing that she was the center of my family’s attention. “Um, you’re welcome.” She peeked at me, as if asking for help.
I smiled, remembering how awkward it was for Helios and me when we first tried to talk to each other. I took her hand and tugged her to the side. “Come on.”
My family parted and gave us wide berth. As soon as we were gone, they hurried to the edge of the fields and bent down. Talking loud and fast about what they just saw, they ran their hands carefully over the sprouts to make sure it wasn’t an illusion.
“Do you need some water?” I asked. Fae didn’t need water like humans, they survived wholly on Fae Nectar. But they did enjoy water and sugar for their taste.
Aine shook her head. “No, what I need is Nectar. My brother and I used quite a bit of magic to fix what that icicle did.”
I nodded, understanding. “I can never repay you for what you’ve done.” We rounded the corn and came to my garden.
Aine let out an exclamation of joy and clapped her hands together. “Oh, Maira, this looks great.” It was like she was dancing on her toes as she hurried over to the plants and dropped to her knees by them. “Look at how healthy they are.” Lovingly, she ran her hands over the leaves. “This is truly all I need as payment. To see how diligent you are to the gifts I gave.” She reached up and fingered the bundles of drying plants, hanging on the fence post just how she taught me.
I smiled under her praise. “I try my best.”
She smiled at me, eyes mysterious. “You know, Maira. You can do what my brother and I just did, too. To an extent, I mean. That’s why I borrowed some of your magic to help the seeds grow, just now.”
My eyes widened. Is that what happened when she took my hand? “What? I thought I couldn’t use it.”
She reached out and took one of my hands, placing it on the Faeweed next to her. The first one she ever gave me. “But it is there. I wanted to see what would happen, so I gave this plant to you. I wasn’t disappointed. You see, Fae plants only grow for Fae. I don’t know how you got it in you, and you won’t be able to use this magic like my brother and I just did, but every time you touch a plant with positive feelings, that magic inspires the plant to grow.”
My lips parted in amazement as my garden took on another meaning to me for the second time in a day. A connection to Fae.
“Can all Fae do this?” I asked. “Even the enslaved ones?”
How many humans knew about this?
At the mention of slaves, Aine’s face darkened. She shook her head. “No. The magic that Lugh and I used was our will, encouraging the ground to thaw and seeds to sprout. A slave Fae doesn’t have a will, so they can’t will the plants to grow.”
I nodded, glad of this. Since they weren’t working together harmoniously with the Fae, it only seemed fair that the Slavers couldn’t abuse this amazing ability too.
“But Maira,” Aine looked at me very seriously. “You can’t let humans know about your ability either. It seems you have a good family, but others could use you if they know about it. King Helios actually forbade anyone from talking about it. That’s one reason why I didn’t tell you at first. If you didn’t know, then no one else would know. But you obviously were using it against that Frost Fae when Lugh and I came this morning. Well, I mean, it was being used, not that you had much control over it. Even so, be careful around humans and Fae,” she warned.
I blinked. Really, I wasn’t that special. But it’s true that humans went crazy over things they didn’t understand. “Okay.”
Aine bit her lips and looked down at the ground. “You know,” Aine whispered quietly. She trailed her fingers through the dirt around the Faeweed. As I watched, a bud grew and bloomed into a huge
pink flower. “There’s a rumor going around Lasair right now…” She trailed off hesitantly.
I looked from the flower to her. “What?”
She sighed and faced me, eyebrows pulled together in determination. “The whispers say that King Helios is trying to persuade the Council to accept a human queen.” She looked out at the fields, and the little green leaves peeking through the soil. “Maybe that’s why the Frost Fae attacked you.”
My eyes widened, so shocked I barely heard her last sentence. After a couple seconds, I stammered. “W-What?” Helios asked the Council to accept a human queen? I was the only human that he interacted with. “Helios wants … to marry me?”
Slowly the shock gave way to excitement. Helios wanted to marry me. He cared—dare I even hope that it was love? —enough that he wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. It was like hearing all of my secret hopes come true. I wanted to jump up and down, scream, or something to let out the sweet pressure building inside, but then my family—watching us from afar—would ask. I wasn’t ready to talk to them about this yet. After all, Helios hadn’t even told me.
Aine blushed brightly and floundered. “Well, there have been kings in the past that have taken a political wife for their first wife and married for love for their second wife.” She ducked her head. “Kings can do that. Have multiple wives,” she added in a quiet voice. “But King Helios only wants one wife, like his father before him.”
The words ‘multiple wives’ popped my happy bubble as quickly as it formed. I’d never want to share Helios—or any husband I had. But Helios only wanted one wife. My fingers fidgeted with the charm on my bracelet, pressing the pointed edges into my fingertips, as if I was trying to absorb it. “I—I…”
“As a people, we know how important it is that the King has an heir,” Aine continued just as quietly. “His noble line is too powerful to let it die out with him. But we have also seen how happy he’s been since he met you—even if you are a human. He’s always been a great king, even though he took over so young, but in the last year, he’s become kinder than ever before. And stronger. We love our king and want the best for him. Which is why I thought …” She looked at me and trailed off.
Again, that dream of standing with Helios looking out over Lasair came to my mind. I could almost feel his warm, familiar hand in mine and feel the sun on my skin as the majesty of Lasair’s palace peaked through the trees. I could almost hear the happy laughter of children playing around us, little girls and boys with bright red hair and shimmering Fae wings. We would love and be loved by the Sun Fae, Helios as a powerful king of peace while I learned more husbandry to help everyone.
But even as that vision became clearer in my mind, I knew that something was wrong. It was impossible. Helios and I couldn’t have children together. How happy would the Sun Fae be with me, knowing that it was my fault that the Sun King’s noble line would end because of me?
I sighed and sat back on my heels. She might have been proposing something personal with Helios, but it was just as much a reminder that he had a responsibility. And so did I.
A life with Helios, together for the rest of our lives. It was like a rainbow in the sky. It shone so bright and beautiful, promising happiness. I could forget about all the obligations I felt towards my family and surround myself in his gentleness and the wonder of the Fae world. Only to find out that it wasn’t real. I would only look at it from afar, knowing that it was an illusion I could never touch.
I forced a smile and let go of my bracelet. “My parents want me to marry a human man in the next valley over. He’s a good man.”
“Oh.” She blushed even harder and looked down. “I’m sorry, Maira. I shouldn’t have said anything.” She peeked at me and tilted her head to the side. “Then why do you look so sad?”
Did I? I bit my lips because I couldn’t answer.
She sighed. “It’s okay to choose to be happy.” She nodded, looking at me with intense eyes. “No matter if it’s with the King or this human boy, choose to be happy.”
That was the first time anyone had said something like that me. I was raised knowing it was expected of me to do what was best for the farm. No had ever told me it was okay to choose otherwise.
Aine waved her hand towards the buildings. “If your family loves you as much as they seem to, they will be happy for you.” She gave a short laugh. “My family was, when my brother abandoned the family tradition of husbandry to become a guard. Father thought he was daft, but after a while, he admitted my brother was meant to be a guard. Who knows how high he’ll go, but there you are.”
I listened to her words in wonder. I didn’t doubt my family loved me. Not with all they’d done for me while I was struggling with the Red Caps’ curse. And now, as I continued interacting with Fae. But what would they really think about me, a daughter of this family that sacrificed so much for me, choosing my own selfish desires over the good of the farm? I wanted to grab my head in frustration. Why did I have to choose one or the other? I loved them both, my life with the Fae and my life with the humans.
Aine gave an encouraging smile and rested a slender hand on my arm. “I ought to go. Lugh is going to huff at me for making him wait so long.”
I smiled back and covered her hand with mine. “Thank you again, for everything you have done. For me and my farm. There’s no way I can repay you.”
She laughed and stood up, fluttering her wings. “So formal,” she teased. Suddenly, she paused and looked over at the corner of my garden. After a second, she relaxed and waved at me. “Goodbye, Maira. And make sure you’re keeping that tonic on hand. It won’t do any good if someone gets hurt and you don’t have it on you.”
I stood up and hugged her. For a moment, I held her, loving the warmth that she gave. I stepped back. “Goodbye, Aine,” I responded keeping my voice light even though my throat started to burn, knowing full well this might be the last time I ever got to talk to her.
She lifted into the air and flew back to the forest. I watched her go until her light disappeared between the trees. Again, a hole opened in my heart, bleeding with the desire to run after her or curl into a ball and cry with loss.
Instead, I walked toward the corner of the garden where Aine had looked.
When I was about three feet away, a gnome scurried out from under the plant. Just like yesterday, he stopped on the other side of the fence and looked at me with searching eyes.
I smiled at him, not the least bit surprised this time. “Hello, again. What can I help you with?”
Without a word, he turned and disappeared into the field. The only indication he was moving across it was the swaying of sprouts as he ran toward the forest.
Chapter 9
The farm buzzed about the events all morning. Everyone was too scared to step on the soil, in case it ruined the magic they saw. With the sprouts as healthy as they were and the ground moist from the melted ice, there was nothing to do on the farm, plant wise.
Instead, my cousins hounded me with questions about Fae. It took me by surprise, because as long as no one was hurt, my family normally tried to pretend they didn’t exist. Suddenly, I was being treated like a Fae expert. I answered what I could, and heartily argued with a cousin over the idea that a slave Fae could do what Aine and her brother did. He didn’t let up until Papa and another uncle reinforced that they would never own a slave Fae. With how much attention my farm got from the Fae community, they couldn’t risk spitting on the gift they’d just received.
“Maira,” Papa turned to me and jerked his head to the side. “I need to take our cows over to the Deaglan ranch. You should come with me.”
I swallowed hard. I should go. No, I had to. Especially since my marriage was still in talks with Seamus. I couldn’t decide if I was happy to go or not. Frankly, the whole thing just had me so confused, I barely knew right from wrong anymore. Was it right for me to see Seamus and wrong to see Helios? Or the other way around?
“Maira?” Papa prompted.
&nbs
p; “Yes,” I said automatically, startled out of my thoughts.
He turned and walked toward the front of the farm.
Unable to do anything else now, I hurried after him. He waited for me while I ran inside the house and up to my room. I grabbed the tonic off my night stand and slipped it into my apron pocket then hurried back down. A couple farmhands were just finishing tying our three cows to the back of a wagon as we walked up. A farmhand handed Papa the reins then hopped into the back of the wagon. Papa helped me climb to the seat next him, settled in himself, then clicked the horses into motion.
I glanced up at Papa. “Why are we taking our cows to Deaglan ranch?”
“They’re in heat,” he said simply.
I nodded, finally understanding. Our cows were fine animals, providing enough milk for all the families at our farm. But they needed to be bred regularly to keep producing milk. Without a doubt, Deaglan ranch had good bulls. A perk that would come from my marriage, since actually owning a bull was too much of a handful for my farm. The cost of breeding the cows was probably waved or lowered, now.
The ride was long and quiet with only occasional small talk to break the silence. When we finally turned down the dirt lane to Deaglan ranch, it was almost a relief. From across the fields of cows, a man on a horse rode towards us. By the time we got to the buildings, he had just made it there to meet us.
“Ho, Nigel,” Cormick greeted us and climbed down from his horse.
“Ho, Cormick,” Papa answered and hopped down. He clapped hands with Cormick. “Sorry we’re a bit late. There were… complications.” He helped me down then motioned to the cows as the farmhand began untying their leads from the wagon. “But here we are.”
“Are these the ladies?” He walked over and patted the first cow, Peppa, on the shoulder. “Good lines,” he complimented Papa. Cormick smiled at me. “Seamus is in the yellow barn on the other end of the buildings.” He pointed past the houses beside us.
“Ah, okay.” I turned and kept my steps even as I walked away. It would be too much to ask to stay with Papa. I should spend more time with Seamus, but I didn’t want to even begin to like him.
Fae Frost Page 6
