“Let’s go,” she said and clicked her tongue. Archimedes snorted and broke into a quick trot. They passed the fields where large farms and many workers usually worked non-stop, but now they were barren and empty for winter.
As the horse and rider approached the last house, they slowed down and the boy returned, this time with an older witness. Corinna smiled at them, almost smirked, and nodded her head.
“Morning, William,” Corinna greeted. The son of a knight stared in shock and then looked back toward the forest.
“Corinna Faune. Tod says he saw you come out of the forest,” Will said. Corinna shrugged.
“Yeah. I suppose I did,” Corinna agreed. “Now I’d love to stay and tell you all about it, but I have somewhere to be.”
Archie walked past them like a prize show pony, and Corinna smiled at the idea. It seemed her horse liked to show off as much as Corinna did. However, once the two were behind her, Corinna dropped her huge smile. It was nice to feel slightly superior to William Dempsie for a time, but now Corinna was back home. She had to worry about getting to her mother and saving her life. There was a reason she left and there was a reason she was back, and it was not to show off. That was Old Misses Dempsie’s job.
Will and Tod followed her halfway through town and then departed, no doubt to go spread the rumor of Corinna’s emergence from the forest after five or so months. A few people glanced up at her, always curious who would be riding new into their small town, but none seemed as shocked as Will or Tod. Then again, none had heard she came out of the forest yet. Corinna waved to one or two, but otherwise ignored the lot of them.
Just outside of town on the west was the field of yew trees that blocked Corinna from her home. They were all a dying red now, falling leaves and petals waiting for the next summer to arrive so they could blossom once again. Then it was just the dirt path twisting around the corner of the fence and heading toward the small redwood house.
Corinna felt her throat grow tight and her chest constrict. She urged Archimedes on quicker and they cantered down the walk with growing anxiousness. Corinna was half out of the saddle by the time Archie finally came to a stop by the water pump. Corinna wanted to rush inside, but she nudged a shallow pail around the pump toward Archimedes and squeezed out four good pumps of water for him. Horse happy, Corinna turned and let herself into the house.
In her rush, Corinna pushed through the door with passionate force, and one of the door hinges cracked. It would need to be mended. Corinna moved passed the empty kitchen and den. She strode quickly down the hall and to her mother’s room, where she knew she’d be lying in bed under her window. The closer she got, the more tense her heart became, the quicker it beat. This was one of the reasons she never checked on her mother before. This intense desire to be by her was suffocating.
When she stepped into the room, she froze. It was quiet, silence even in her mother’s breathing, but the birds and animals of the nearby farms and forest could be heard through the window. Her mother did not turn to greet her, though she seemed to be awake. No doubt she believed it was simply Alvar. Corinna took a deep breath and walked carefully to the bed. As Alexander had done for her, Corinna wet a rag for her mother and placed it on her forehead. Then she gently set her palm against her mother’s cheek and looked down into her pale face.
Helen’s eyes opened slowly, their dim blue an almost gray color in her illness. She recognized her daughter even slower. Then she smiled sweetly and closed her eyes again.
“I must be dead at last,” she murmured.
“No,” Corinna said, her voice a hush. She smiled, but there were tears in her eyes. “We’re not dead, Mother. I’m back. I’ve come home.”
Her mother opened her eyes once more and took in the appearance of her little girl. She smiled again and tried to laugh but did not have the strength.
“You have returned,” she breathed out. “And I’m so weak, I can’t even give you a hug.”
Corinna felt the water escape down the hills that were her cheeks. She removed her hand from her mother’s face and embraced her as best she could. Her head rested on her mother’s breast, and she rested there for several minutes. She felt her mother’s fingers tiredly stroking her hair, but it had no pull or strength to it.
“It’s alright, Mother,” Corinna said. “I’m not leaving. I’m going to make you healthy again. You can hug me then.” And she could feel the deep breath of relief echo through her mother’s chest.
Corinna missed the manor and its people. Corinna still missed her friend and her uncle, whom she had yet to see on her trot through town. Corinna missed them all, but right now she had her mother in her arms, and that was all that mattered. They were together again. Echoing Veronica in her mind, she smiled. Everything would be alright.
Chapter 23 – Domestic Affairs
The sun was dim. It was streaming in through the open window, but as Corinna looked out, she knew she would need to close it soon. The clouds foreshadowed the coming of a snowstorm. Corinna stared out that window and over at the field. Just as Morgana had promised, the field was snow free and looked soft and ready for plowing despite it being in the middle of winter.
“Corinna?”
Said farm girl tore her eyes away from the outside and looked down at her mother. She sat on the edge of the bed, a bowl in her hands, and quirked a soft smile.
“Yes, Mother?” she asked. Helen’s eyes opened quickly, appearing startled, and then softened with a growing grin.
“I keep thinking I’ll wake up, and it’ll all be a dream,” she said.
“No. I’m really here. And I’ve brought you lunch. It’s carrot soup,” Corinna said.
She looked down into the broth and shrugged ever so slightly. It was carrots alright, but she wouldn’t mention the apple juice. Belle’s apples may have helped her only because she had magic, but that was a good thing right? If Corinna had magic in her blood, then perhaps her mother did as well. Hopefully the apples could help her as well.
“Is your uncle home?” her mother asked, ignoring food. Corinna shook her head.
“Not yet,” she said. “I’ll let you know when he gets back.”
As Corinna had thought, Alvar was not home. Corinna had been here for a day and had not seen her uncle. It made her slightly upset that a physician would leave someone ailing and not check up on them for so long, but she consoled herself by assuring herself that Alvar must have had to travel to see another patient in the next town or so.
“Please eat, Mother,” Corinna urged, scooting closer to her chest. Helen sighed but nodded and pushed herself to a sitting position, leaning against the wall behind her. She seemed stronger already.
Corinna spooned some of the broth and brought it to her mother’s lips. Helen chuckled and took it. Yesterday at dinner she had insisted she could feed herself, but Corinna wasn’t going to take the chance. Besides, she’d told her mother she liked feeling useful after not being able to do anything for her during the past five months. The second spoonful had a carrot chunk in it, but her mother ate it without trouble. Perhaps she truly could handle eating on her own.
“This tastes really good,” she said with a sigh.
“I made it special,” Corinna explained. “I added some fruit juice to see if it will give you your strength back.”
“Well it’s delicious. I think I could eat it every day,” her mother complimented. She sat up more, bringing herself a bit closer to the bowl so Corinna wouldn’t have to lean over as much.
Corinna frowned slightly but kept feeding her. Her reaction seemed surprisingly close to Belle and Gavin’s description of a normal person’s reaction to magical food. Still, the servants had never seemed addicted, and they ate an entire apple, not just the juice. Was it because they were used to it? Corinna didn’t want to take a chance.
She wouldn’t add the juice next time.
After lunch, Corinna told her mother to rest while she went outside to check on the garden. Still, she stayed until she w
as sure her mother was sleeping. The yard was cast in a cloud’s shadow, and the passing wind blew colder than normal. Corinna pulled her coat tight around herself and went to check on her flowers. She walked slow, her mind distracted by other thoughts. Alexander’s cloak had been at least twice as warm as Corinna’s current coat. She’d been able to work outside and build snowmen without a passing thought to the cold. Now she couldn’t get her mind off it.
Corinna’s garden, which was commonly snow covered in winter, was just like the field. No snow touched it. There was a perfect rectangle of clear ground surrounding it, and the flowers were all only just beginning to fade.
She bent down before them and held each blossomed head up with her gloved fingers, checking their validity and vitality. She’d seen Morgana’s facade before, but these flowers seemed genuinely healthy. A spot of movement caught Corinna’s eye and she leaned over to get a better view of it.
There, springing up gently behind the flowers, was a small rivulet of water. It stretched out the entire length of the garden and then sank into the soil. Corinna carefully reached out and touched the tiny river and instantly felt the flow spread through her body.
“Morgana’s magical water,” she murmured, pulling her fingers back. “I’m home and yet it continues to flow.”
Growing louder than ever, Corinna realized she heard the sound of someone running. The stomping of feet through snow and connecting with the frozen earth was unmistakable and sudden. Corinna turned her head and stood up consecutively. The feet slowed and then slid in the snow, coming to a stop several yards from Corinna.
For a long time, Corinna and the runner stared at each other, both waiting for something to happen. Corinna was waiting for something to be said, for some noise to percolate the winter silence. Nothing happened, though, save for the heavy breaths of the runner. Corinna watched the way the air turned to steam and fog as the other breathed, and it was so familiar that she felt her entire chest hurt.
“Alastar,” she said, begging with that one name for the other to do something besides just stand there and stare.
Alastar flinched and pressed his lips close together. Then, without a word, he quickly stepped over the distance between them and enveloped Corinna in an embrace so full and tight that Corinna might as well have mistaken him for a bear. A bear. Alexander.
“For once the rumors were true,” Alastar huffed out into the fabric of Corinna’s coat. Alastar himself was only just covered enough to avoid hypothermia, but he didn’t seem to notice, and his body was so warm he might as well have run straight out of summer.
“I missed you too,” Corinna said, squeezing her arms around Alastar’s broad back. She buried her face into Alastar’s shoulder until all light was blocked out by the dark threads of Alastar’s shirt.
“Five months. Ya were gone for five months,” Alastar grunted. “An’ I couldn’ find my way through the forest to get ya.”
“I’m sorry. I came back as soon as I could.” Corinna shook her head, wiping dry tears on Alastar’s shoulder, and then she pushed herself out of her friend’s tight hold. “Come inside. You’re going to freeze to death.”
“It would be a happy death, my friend,” Alastar said, but let himself be dragged inside. Corinna took hold of his wrist and pulled him along.
When the front door shut behind them, Alastar shivered and shook out his arms, casting the chill off. Corinna stomped the snow and dirt off her shoes and then slid them off her feet. She watched Alastar dust off his hair to free it from snow particles while she slid her own coat off. Corinna turned and hung it on a hook by the front door. When she turned back, Alastar was stone faced and watching her.
“Are you alright?” Corinna asked. She motioned into the den and the two of them began to walk.
“How did ya escape?” Alastar asked.
“I didn’t. He let me go,” Corinna said. She took a seat on the couch and looked at the simmering fireplace. It needed more wood. Alastar seemed to think the same because he grabbed a log and hefted it onto the cinders before taking his seat beside Corinna.
“He?”
“Alexander, the prince of Paesaggia,” Corinna explained. “Remember? Morgana made the deal, but Alexander had the power to call it off. He let me come home because…. Because we found out my mother was sick.”
Corinna frowned. No. That wasn’t right. Alexander had let Corinna leave because Corinna was sick. But there must have been part of Alexander that felt sorry about his decision the night before. Alexander had grown so much in five months. They both had, but Alexander was the better of them. While she lay there in bed, she had taken time to think of Alexander’s actions.
“He was scared to let me leave,” Corinna continued. “I was helping him break his curse, and I was the only one who seemed to know how and wanted to help. He was scared that he would have no hope without me. But he knew being home was the best thing for me and for… my family. So he let me go, and now I’m home.”
Yes, Alexander must have been terrified of the idea. He was so scared of being left alone again and yet he let Corinna leave him. Corinna stared hard into the pitiful flames of the fireplace and pressed her lips firmly together. Alexander was much braver than Corinna.
“Well I’m pleased for that, but wha’ exactly do you mean ya found out yer mother was sick? How did ya know about that?” Alastar asked, breaking through Corinna’s revere.
“A witch gave me a magic mirror,” Corinna answered. “It let me see anyone I wanted to, whenever I wanted to.”
“Oh?” Alastar asked, but he stopped there. Corinna looked over at the gruff nobleman. She had expected more than that. Alastar’s expression was curious and then it seemed to taint with a bit of pride. His lips quirked up a bit. “Ya ever check up on me, then?”
Corinna felt her cheeks burn bright, and she looked back at the fire. “Only a few times,” she lied. “I saw you drink until you couldn’t walk straight. I saw you flirting with the traveling girls.”
“Ah, they didn’t mean anythin. I was just havin’ a bit o’ fun.”
“And I saw you not going to see your father. Why?” Corinna asked, turning her accusation on Alastar. The older male seemed physically paused, caught mid-theft or some similar crime. His face fell into a deep frown.
“I sent a post out to him about a week after ya’d gone. I told him to expect me by the winter solstice. He sent back tha’ I should wait till the new year.” Alastar’s lips were pressed into a scowl. “He said he didn’ want me back a moment sooner. Seems like he’s fin’ly given up on me.”
“No,” Corinna cut in. She sat up straight and smiled sadly. “Your father loves you. Lagra doesn’t know it yet, but Paesaggia’s king is trying to start a war with Cavalleres. Alexander wants to stop it, but no one recognizes him as the prince while he’s under his curse. A knight told us he’d be gone handling civil unrest, but he’s due back sometime at the end of this month. Your father is keeping you safe by keeping you away while your king tries to solve the conflict.”
Alastar gripped the back of the couch and grew tense. “War?” he asked. “But if my country goes to war…”
“Then the sons of noblemen will be called to be soldiers and fight,” Corinna finished for him. “When I heard the news, I worried you were already preparing to go home and fight… but if your father is keeping you away, then he’s worried about you even more than I was.”
“But if they can’ get me, they’ll take my father,” Alastar grunted. “Stupid old fool.”
“Everyone’s foolish,” Corinna sighed out. She leaned forward toward the fireplace. The flames seemed to be struggling to ignite around the new log. “We’re all fools. We just try to do the best we can. Belle and Gavin are foolishly convinced they can’t be together. Veronica is sure she isn’t important in Alexander’s household. Morgana is foolishly following a self-destructive path. And….Alexander was convinced he was a monster, but inside he has a warm heart for the troubles of others. And I was a fool too. I waste
d a lot of time while I was there.”
“Sounds like you may have actually liked it there in yer forest of nightmares,” Alastar said.
“It had its moments,” Corinna said and grinned. She smiled over at Alastar and pushed her hair back from her face. It had grown so much in the last five months. “You want to see something I learned while there? But you have to promise not to freak out.”
“Of course I promise. What? You learn how to dislocate yer jaw or somethin’?” Alastar laughed at himself, but it didn’t really relax Corinna.
She turned her head to the fire and put her hand out. Her eyes filled with white, and she let out a sigh of a word. “Æledfýr.” The struggling flames suddenly lifted up and wrapped around the newly added log. They filled the room with a creeping warmth and danced brightly within the grate.
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