I swallowed and felt a warm, strong hand in mine. A familiar hand, but it wasn’t my sister’s. Arthur understood my fear. Her enchantment with the vines had been broken, but our sight still hadn’t returned.
“Oh, Penny! Arthur!” An arm encircled my head, dragging it forward and crashing my skull against Arthur’s.
“Ow!” I reached up to try to free myself, but Rapunzel clung to us both more tightly.
“You rescued me, and then you faced down Gothel for me, and now you’re the ones who can’t see. It should be me!”
“I don’t know how you figure that,” said Arthur. “By rights, it should be Gothel who can’t see.”
Rapunzel sniffed tremulously, clearly attempting to smile through tears.
I squeezed Arthur’s hand, grateful for his reassuring presence. A drop of moisture plopped onto my forehead and ran down my cheek. Was that…? Another drop followed. And, yes, the princess was crying.
The next drop curved down and into my eye. I blinked violently, the liquid stinging.
“Rapunzel, are you crying on me?” asked Arthur.
The blackness, which had been absolute until now, started to lighten. I blinked several more times as fresh drops rained onto my face. Blurry shapes appeared in front of me, everything slowly becoming clearer.
I pushed away from Rapunzel with more force, eager to see something other than her arm and the dark weave of her dress. Arthur popped free at the same moment, and our eyes met. Broad smiles spread over both our faces.
“You can see!” Anneliese squealed.
I spun around and looked at her for a long moment before pulling her close. “I’ve been chasing you all over the kingdom, you know. And I promised myself that once I rescued you, I would wring your neck myself.”
Liesa laughed and hugged me tighter. “I can’t see why.”
I pushed back and glared at her, although it was hard to keep the expression on my face when I was so happy. “There was a little matter of a tiger that chased me up a tree, for one. I had to call on Mortimer.”
“Oh dear.” She laughed. “That one really was my fault, then. What did Mortimer do? Something awful, I’m sure.”
“He put me in a tower.” We both turned to look at Rapunzel’s tower, once more standing empty.
“Is that why the famed princess wasn’t there? I was wondering where she was.” Anneliese looked over at Rapunzel and comprehension filled her face. She turned back to me. “I think you have a story to tell me.”
Chapter 17
I imagine Liesa and I could have talked for a day without stopping and still had more to say, but before either of us could begin, the meadow became crowded.
Fairies winked into existence all around us. I stared at them in shock until a familiar face appeared.
“Mortimer!” Anneliese and I called his name at the same time and then grinned at each other.
He ignored us, looking around with disgust. “This place tastes terrible. I told you we’d be able to find her once she did some serious magic. Ugh.”
One of the other fairies, a tall and beautiful woman with enormous shining wings, gave him a disapproving look. “We appreciate your information on Gothel, Mortimer, but can’t you work on your manner? You’re an embarrassment to fairykind.” Her musical tones made even this disgusted statement sound regal.
I cleared my throat loudly, and they all turned to look at me. I wobbled slightly under their combined gaze before giving a small curtsey.
“Greetings, I am Penelope.”
“Yes, yes, they know who you are,” said Mortimer. “I told them everything you told me, and we’ve come to deal with Gothel.”
“You’re a little late,” said Arthur dryly.
“Greetings, Prince,” said the tall, regal one, who seemed to be in charge. “We apologize for not arriving sooner. Gothel is old and had learned to hide herself well. We could not come until she had done a great working of magic, and then we still had to gather and track her down.”
Her eyes moved to the motionless figure on the ground. “I am pleased to see that you have triumphed. I trust she is still living?”
“Of course.” I noticed Arthur hadn’t bowed to them, and his eyes were hard.
Two fairies came forward to lift Gothel off the ground. A moment later all three had disappeared from sight. I took a deep, freeing breath. It was over.
“Excuse me,” said Rapunzel, pushing forward to face the fairy who had spoken to us.
“Ahhh,” said the fairy softly. “Gothel’s victim.” She examined Rapunzel with obvious interest, while I wondered how she recognized her.
“We—” the fairy gestured around her, “—owe you an apology. Her behavior goes against the fairy code in every way, and we should have discovered her rebellion many years ago.”
Rapunzel swallowed. “Do you know who I am?”
The fairy sighed. “Yes, child. I do.”
We all waited, but she said no more. Rapunzel stuck up her chin.
“I think I deserve to know my own story after everything I’ve been through.”
The fairy glanced at several of the others who all nodded. She looked back at the princess. “Yes, yes, you do. But it is a story that brings us much grief. You will understand if many do not wish to hear it told again.”
As she spoke, many of the other fairies disappeared. Each time I blinked another was gone. Soon the only ones who remained, beside the speaker and Mortimer, were the youngest-looking among them.
“Many centuries ago…” began the fairy.
I sighed quietly. Only a fairy would think an explanation of Rapunzel’s story needed to start centuries ago. I did want to hear it, though, so I tried to focus back on the fairy. But it was hard to concentrate when Arthur and Anneliese kept sending each other long sideways looks, as if sizing one another up.
“…two fairy sisters,” she was saying. “One named Gothel and the other named Giselle. They were as opposite as night and day, and yet they loved each other dearly. Giselle was one of the best of our kind. As wise and lovely inside as she was beautiful outside. And she took a keen interest in humans, bestowing so many gifts that her wings grew bright and strong enough to carry her anywhere she could dream.”
Her face turned dark. “But she loved the humans too much. Fairykind does not approve of fairies pairing themselves with humans. And when such rare couplings do happen, it is required that the human come to live in the Realm of Fairy with us. And it is absolutely forbidden that a fairy disguise him- or herself as a human in order to deceive someone into such a relationship.”
She sighed. “But Giselle had observed a human king and fallen in love with him. She disguised herself as a human and presented herself to him as a human woman. He fell in love with her—how could he not?—and they were married in secret. Giselle knew her husband could not leave his kingdom and come to the Fairy Realm with her, and so she sought to hide her secret from both him and the fairies.”
I had a bad feeling where this was going, so I stepped forward and put my arm comfortingly around Rapunzel’s shoulders. The fairy watched us sadly.
“When the fairies discovered what Giselle had done, we brought her back to our realm to answer for her crimes. But she was already with child.” The fairy stopped as if gathering herself for the rest of her tale. “There is a reason such matches are discouraged. Birthing a child who shares the blood of both races is difficult and often ends in tragedy. Such was the case in this instance.”
Now her face transformed, taking on such anger that she almost seemed to burn from within. “Gothel nursed her sister through the birth and until the very end, cursing the name of her human husband. When her sister died, her baby daughter with her, Gothel appeared maddened by her grief and withdrew from all contact with other fairies. We believed her still roaming our realm, driven to solitude by her grief and anger.”
She shook her head. “And then Mortimer came to us with a story. It did not take tasting the air on the Isle of Lhyte myself to
know the truth of it. And it did not take sight of your face, so like your mother’s, to know who the infant must be. I am so sorry Rapunzel. Gothel must have stolen you, somehow deceiving us that you were dead. She knew that with her sister’s death, we would have returned you to your father, and she no doubt wished to see him suffer the loss of you as well as your mother.”
I bit my lip, trying to process the unbelievable story. “But you said this all happened centuries ago. Rapunzel clearly isn’t centuries old.” Sudden doubt assailed me. We had just heard that she was half-fairy. I glanced at her sideways. “Are you? You haven’t been in that tower for hundreds of years, have you?”
“What? No!” Rapunzel shuddered under my arm. “I’m sixteen.”
The fairy nodded to the princess. “To escape our notice, Gothel had hidden herself away here, in the human realm, where she must have placed you under a spell of stillness. Frozen, you would have remained unchanged, sleeping, as it were, forever. A last piece of her sister who would never die. Except, cut off from our realm, and granting no wishes, Gothel’s magic would have started to dry up. I am only making guesses now, but I am confident I am right. Gothel must have realized she did not have the strength to continue the spell and been forced to wake you. The gifts she gave you, Rapunzel, would have granted her some small strength again. But not enough to return you to a frozen state. In fact, she was so weak that she could not even use her wings for normal fairy transportation. I imagine her magical reach must have been limited to this small region of your lands.” She looked around her at the meadow, and I remembered Gothel’s words about the river. Thank goodness we had reached it before the townspeople from Talbot alerted her to Rapunzel’s escape.
The fairy looked thoughtful. “I cannot imagine the amount of strength she must have expended to make it even as far as the fringes of the Fairy Realm.” She looked at Anneliese. “I can only guess she must have granted you many wishes in order to regain any strength at all afterward.”
Anneliese looked sheepish. “I stopped wishing for things as soon as I noticed those minuscule wings of hers were getting bigger and realized I was fueling her power.”
Rapunzel slumped against me. “So, Gothel is my aunt. My only family. And both of my parents are long dead.” She was looking down at the ground, but I didn’t need to see her face to know tears were leaking down her cheeks.
“I am sorry, Rapunzel,” said the fairy again. “I would that I had better news.”
Arthur stepped forward to face the fairy. “Which kingdom did Rapunzel’s father rule?”
Rapunzel looked up, and the fairy was looking at her when she answered, not Arthur.
“Why, this kingdom, of course. Astoria. But he was too grieved by the loss of his wife to ever marry again. And he had no brothers or sisters. When he died, the throne passed to one of his cousins. Your current royal family is descended from them.”
“So, there you go, Rapunzel,” I said. “I’m taking you back to Torina with me. The king and queen are your family, however distant, and I’m sure they’ll take you in. And, if they won’t, you can live with me.”
Anneliese came to stand beside me. “Of course you can, Rapunzel. We’d love to have you.”
We both stared at the fairy as if daring her to contradict us or invite Rapunzel back to the Fairy Realm with her. She said nothing. I risked a glance sideways at Arthur, wondering if he wanted to speak up and ask Rapunzel to travel to Farthendale with him. But the look he was giving her was similar to the one Martin often gave me; while the look he gave me, a second later, made me blush. I looked down at the ground.
“It seems there is nothing more we can do here, then,” said the fairy, in her musical tone.
“Actually…” I stepped quickly forward. “Rapunzel has certainly suffered the most, but she is not the only one here who has been wronged by a fairy.”
The fairy raised elegant brows at me, and I looked pointedly at Mortimer. She sighed.
“Your point is taken. What do you wish to ask of me, Penelope?”
“A small boon, only. Please free my family from Mortimer’s assistance.”
She regarded me for a long moment, and then Mortimer for even longer. “Very well,” she said at last, and there were two identical sighs of relief, one from in front and one from behind her. It was probably the first time Mortimer and I had ever agreed on anything.
“But,” she said, holding up a hand, “such things are usually done around momentous occasions. You are the youngest of John’s children, are you not?”
I nodded.
“Then, at your wedding, Mortimer will be freed of any obligation to you or to your family. You need never see him again after that.”
I frowned. “But what if I’m not married for years? Or never at all?”
She laughed, a tinkling sound like a creek running over scattered rocks. “I do not think there is much danger of that.” Her eyes lingered on Arthur, and I blushed again.
“As for you,” she turned to Mortimer. “You will return with me to the Fairy Council.”
He groaned, but I could see the relief still present on his face. Soon we would all be free of each other. I blinked, and all the other fairies disappeared, leaving only Mortimer in front of us.
“Ugh.” He looked around. “Why do I always miss the message?”
“Mortimer, wait!” I called before he, too, could disappear.
He turned a long-suffering look on me. “Please don’t tell me you need help with that wedding business.”
“No. Uh uh. Absolutely not,” I said quickly. “I just have a question for you.” I paused, wondering how to frame it.
“Well, come on, then.”
“Mortimer, I’m the seventh child.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
I ground my teeth. “Why didn’t you give me a gift? Even regular seventh children get gifts. Did you just forget? Or was I too ordinary to bother with?”
He rolled his eyes. “Humans! One second you’re complaining if I do anything to make you special, and the next you’re complaining if I don’t.” He eyed me from beneath one lowered brow. “Of course I gave you a gift. Do you think the Fairy Council would have let me get away with not gifting the seventh child of a family under my care?”
“What?” I stared at him in shock. “What do you mean? What gift?”
“What gift!” He looked between all of our blank faces. “Surely humans haven’t forgotten the significance of purple eyes.”
I shook my head. “I’ve never met anyone with purple eyes.”
“Never met…” He shook his head. “I’m not saying they’re common, foolish girl. Just that everyone knows…” He sighed. “Purple eyes denote the gift of a ready tongue.” His brows drew together. “People tend to listen to you, don’t they? Believe what you say? Ever had much trouble talking someone around to your perspective?”
I looked across at Anneliese who looked as shocked as I felt. All those times I had gotten us both out of trouble. All those times I had smoothed the situation over with someone enraged at her antics. That had been my gift? I had always thought of it as more of a necessity.
“Not much longer now, and I’ll be rid of the lot of you,” muttered Mortimer. And then he had also winked out.
We looked around at each other, all of us exhausted, some of us—mainly Arthur and me—dirty, ragged and bleeding.
“Well, that was unexpected.” Simon sounded pleased with himself. “No one back home will believe the things I’ve seen.”
I glared at him and turned to Rapunzel, but she had wiped her tears away and was looking determinedly cheerful. “Well, at least I know now. And it’s not as if I lost anything I’ve ever actually had.”
I glanced at Liesa who shrugged. Rapunzel would need to mourn eventually, but she obviously didn’t want it to be today. And, after everything we’d been through, I couldn’t blame her.
Liesa commented that she had a fresh batch of food we could all share, except it was up in the t
ower which sparked a long debate about whether it was a risk for someone to return to the tower, and whether anyone even had the strength to pull themselves up the rope that still dangled from the ring.
Eventually Simon managed to wear us all down and was soon scampering up. To my surprise, Rapunzel decided to accompany him, claiming that she wanted a chance to see her old home again now that her world had expanded so significantly.
“And there are a couple of things I’d like to retrieve that I didn’t pack last time,” she said, heading for the rope.
The day before I would have warned her that she might not have the physical strength to make it up. But she had come a long way since she had left the tower, and we had just learned that she was half fairy. I suspected she could do a lot more than any of us realized. Sure enough, she reached the top without trouble and had soon disappeared inside. Anneliese had taken up a spot at the bottom and was carrying on a shouted conversation with Simon about where to find everything and which things she wanted him to toss down to her.
After watching them for a moment, I turned away. I had nothing to add to that situation. Instead I looked at Arthur, who was watching Anneliese and Simon banter, a smile on his lips.
I had expected Arthur to fall for Rapunzel, but he had shown no sign of doing so. And then I had feared that I would lose him to Liesa—a brighter version of myself. But I had been starting to change my perspective on the journey back to the tower. I had reassessed my role in my own family compared to my role in our little band. And my success against Gothel, followed by Mortimer’s revelation, had only confirmed my new perspective.
I had always thought of myself as a disappointment—unnoticed, uninteresting, content in my twin’s shadow. But now, I was realizing that all my life it had been me who didn’t believe in myself. Me who had been disappointed.
While I loved my twin, I knew she could be a heedless troublemaker. If our roles had been reversed, could she have achieved all I did? Would Rapunzel and Arthur have placed their trust in her? And, if they had, could she have tracked me down and saved me? I honestly wasn’t sure.
An Inconvenient Princess Page 14
