by Bree Verity
“What exactly am I supposed to do then? They’ve already seen me. Theo,” she pointed to him, “has seen me in action.”
“You use a glamour, Fenella. That’s what they are for.”
“A glamour?” asked Caroline. “What is that?”
Fenella answered her. “It’s a spell that cloaks the truth. But Lachlan knows that they are not a skill of mine.” She scowled at her mentor.
“Then you’ll have to come up with something else, Fenella, but you can’t just leave this as it is. A crowd of humans simply cannot know who you are. You are in enough trouble as it is.”
“Trouble?” Caroline asked, turning to Fenella.
Fenella flapped a dismissive hand at her. “Nothing that I can’t sort out,” she said breezily, and Caroline was certain she heard a snort from Lachlan that Fenella chose not to acknowledge.
“But first things first.” Fenella snapped her gaze on Caroline. “Will you give me back the charm?”
“In the wrong hands it could do much damage,” Lachlan added. “It was foolish of Fenella to give it to you in the first place.”
Fenella threw him a filthy look and Caroline suppressed a chuckle. Then, she turned pensive.
Did she need the sapphire? What did she need it for, except to turn Theo to her will? And she was unlikely to do that, since it had such a bad effect on him, and past efforts of doing it had resulted in less than wonderful outcomes.
Still, it was comforting to know she had the ability, in case she needed it.
Caroline was just about to tell them she would keep it when she saw the expressions on both Fenella and Lachlan’s faces - pinched and concerned, overeager to hear her answer. She realised that her having the pendant must have created a sizeable problem for them.
“Very well,” she said slowly. “I shall return it to you.”
Both beautiful faces displayed relief, and with a wave of her hand, Fenella declared, “Done.”
“I do not even have to go and get it for you?” Caroline’s eyes widened.
Fenella grinned. “Oh no. It’s already gone from the bottom of your jewelery box.”
Caroline shook her head in wonder.
“Now to the little matter of the glamour,” said Lachlan pointedly.
“You know my glamours never work properly,” Fenella sulked.
“So, what are you going to do?”
Before Fenella could say anything, Caroline interjected. “May I make a suggestion?”
Two pairs of blue eyes turned on her, one sparkling as the sea, and the other so deep and dark they could almost be black. Caroline felt very plain all of a sudden.
“Right now,” she said a little nervously, “to the Bentons you are just a strange young woman - strange in a good way,” she hurried to add as Fenella narrowed her eyes. “You don’t need to glamour them, we will just say that you came to see me for a moment about some matter or another, and you can be on your way.”
“And Theo?”
Caroline admitted, “He is more of a problem. After all, you have to admit, it is not every day you see a woman simply appear right in front of your eyes.”
“But the glamour only needs to obscure his memory, not replace it,” Fenella said, warming to Caroline’s idea. “And even if it wears off, he won’t believe the truth.”
“And if he does?” Lachlan asked severely, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I will make sure that he does not,” Caroline said quickly. “All I will need to do is continue to refer to the false memory, and he will doubt the true one. After all, even if it seems very clear in his mind that it happened, he will not believe he saw a woman appear out of thin air if I do not corroborate his experience. We will say that he was so distraught over the situation his mind has mixed up the events.”
Caroline and Fenella turned to Lachlan expectantly. He frowned, thinking through the plan, then his face cleared. “Yes, I think it will work,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s do it.”
* * *
A week later, Theo frowned as he and Caroline prepared themselves for a carriage outing. They had spent much of their time alone in the days following the attack, except for advising the magistrate of both Freddie’s and Uncle Harold’s parts in Theo’s attempted murder. To their satisfaction, Uncle Harold had been locked away in prison, awaiting trial. The magistrate said he expected Uncle Harold would be incarcerated for quite a while.
Caroline had done what she could to help Theo begin healing his heart, damaged by the treachery of his friend, and today, Theo had suggested that it was high time they remembered what the outside world looked like. Caroline thought it would be wonderful therapy and had readily agreed. Pulling on his glove, Theo said, “I cannot quite recall what happened in the alleyway, Caroline. I keep thinking that friend of yours, Fenella, was there.”
“You are just getting the memories crossed, my love,” replied Caroline easily. “How could Fenella have been there, when she was engaged in an errand for me?”
Theo grimaced. “I keep thinking it was she who knocked the gun out of Freddie’s hand, but I know it is impossible.” His expression fell. “Poor Freddie. I just cannot understand why he did not come to me with his troubles. I thought we were friends.”
They had spoken of this repeatedly in the past week; it seemed a sticking point for Theo. Caroline replied, “You were friends, Theo. You are friends. You bear no blame here. There was nothing you could have done to counter Freddie’s decaying state of mind when he had never confessed his financial state to you.”
The authorities had found Freddie the following morning, still crouched beside the old barrels in the alleyway. He had been twitching and weeping and shouted about an avenging angel that he begged for protection against from the bewildered authorities. They had placed him in a select sanitorium for the mentally unstable. Theo had not yet been able to bring himself to visit his friend but had agreed to cover all the costs for Freddie’s care.
He smiled crookedly. “You are my wise sage, Caroline. I know I bear no blame; I just wish with all my heart that the outcome had been different.”
“Me too,” replied Caroline seriously. “But Freddie is in the best place for him, and I cannot help but be glad that he did not succeed, and that you are still here with me.” Impulsively she threw her arms around Theo and kissed him, then kissed him again, pouring all her feelings into the kiss, and reveling in every point of their bodies where they touched.
He laughed, and his arms tightened around Caroline. He was suddenly serious, looking down at her upturned face. “I truly do love you; you know. I couldn’t imagine life without you.”
Caroline was about to reciprocate the sentiment when her husband’s lips met hers, smooth and strong and passionate, in a kiss that left her breathless.
“Shall we forget the carriage ride and go upstairs instead?” Theo whispered wickedly in her ear.
Caroline flushed, and nodded eagerly. Giggling, she took his hand and pulled him toward the stairs. Then he frowned.
“I just wish I knew why I keep thinking that friend of yours was in the alleyway.”
Caroline groaned and pulled hard on his hand, and the two of them disappeared up the stairs and into their chambers.
And they lived happily ever after.
Chapter Twenty-Seven.
The panel was made up of three fae - Lachlan, who wore a disapproving frown, Eldryth, the chief fae of the corps, and Lydia, the fae who had measured Fenella up for suitability as a fairy godmother in the first place.
The room was dark, but the brilliance emanating from the three light fae brightened the entire room. They were in full light fae aspect, glowing from some internal source that, in its own way, was just as terrifying as Fenella’s full dark. Fenella herself stood before the panel, shuffling from one foot to the other.
“Fenella O’Flaherty, you have been called before this panel to explain those actions that have been performed against the fairy godmother rules,” stated Eldryth
. “Two counts of using your magic on someone other than your godchild - first, using it on the human known as Theodore Longshore, and secondly on the human known as Frederick Burns. What have you to say?”
The corner of Fenella’s mouth lifted. “I say that I did not use my magic upon either of those humans.”
“Indeed?” Eldryth’s eyebrow raised. “Then how do you explain both of them being affected by magic?”
“Well, in the case of Theodore Longshore, I gave his wife, my godchild, a pendant, with the strict instruction to use it only in case of emergency. She failed to heed my warning and used it several times on her poor husband. So, I, myself, didn’t use magic on him.”
Fenella noticed the corner of Eldryth’s lips quirk before she regained her severe expression.
“And in the second case?”
“There was no magic used at all. All I did was to show Freddie my true nature. I did not touch him and did not perform any spells upon him.”
“And yet he was sent mad?” Lachlan’s disapproval was heavy in his voice, he glowed a strong blue-white.
“Unfortunately so.” Fenella was unrepentant. “But is not our first rule that the happily ever after is of highest imperative?”
“Of course.”
“All I was doing with both of my actions was ensuring the happily ever after of my god child. And if you look, you will see that she is certainly enjoying the fruits of my endeavors.”
Robyn spoke up. “So, Fenella O’Flaherty, your defense is that first you did not directly use magic on either of the humans and secondly, that you needed to do what you did to meet the first rule?”
“Yes.”
“Wait here.”
A wall sprung up in front of Fenella, transparent but mottled. She could only see the outlines of the three fae beyond, but not their expressions, or any indication of what they were talking about. The wall seemed to cut off any sound as well - Fenella could not hear the trio speaking at all.
It was infuriating, but Fenella kept all signs of her irritation hidden. No smoke around her ankles. No fire in her eyes. Displaying her anger would not be beneficial in front of the panel.
She waited no more than fifteen minutes, although the time felt as if it was made of molasses - meandering slowly along until its passing almost drove Fenella mad. But at the end of those fifteen minutes, the wall dissolved, and only Lachlan stood beyond it, the blue-white light still emanating from him.
“Well?” she said dully. “Am I kicked out?”
“You should be,” replied Lachlan harshly. “For goodness sake, Fenella, the rules aren’t there to be broken. Or even bent. They are there to ensure things go right. Every single time. And when you flaunt them, you risk bringing the entire corps into disrepute.”
“Heaven forbid,” Fenella replied dryly.
“It’s not a joke. We’ve done this in this way for over two thousand years. The least you could do is show some respect.”
“Fine.”
“And we decided to let you stay.”
With a cheer, Fenella jumped on Lachlan and hugged him, and after a moment, he hugged her back. Suddenly, she could feel every movement of him - his breath shortening, his heart racing, even his muscles as they contracted beneath her touch. She let her feet touch the floor, her arms still wrapped tightly around Lachlan’s torso. She vaguely noticed that his light changed from blue to a much softer yellow.
“Fenella,” he breathed, and her body tingled with delight. She angled her head up, ready to welcome his lips, when a familiar, drawling voice said, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
In surprise, Fenella pushed Lachlan away. There in the passageway stood a tall, dark fae, similar in looks to Fenella, but masculine and with blue eyes instead of black. Fenella scowled.
Then she strode up to him and slapped him hard across the face.
The End.
To find out who this apparently unpleasant fellow is, and why Fenella greeted him with a slap, you will need to read the next novel in the Seven Wishes series,
Lady Diana’s Disguise.
Click here to pre-order on Amazon
One Last Thing…
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Thanks so much! You rock.
Bree
