His Majesty Silverthorn gave a slow, dangerous smile. “Why would you ask that? You ask nothing for yourself?”
“Because I love them, Your Majesty,” Theo said simply.
The Fair king stepped slowly closer and examined Theo from arm’s length away. His violet eyes swept over Theo’s bloodied clothes and his face, then he turned to look at Oliver. He examined each of their company in turn, then turned back to Theo.
“You’re the Rose,” he said contemplatively.
“Honestly I preferred the name Wraith, because it implied that I wouldn’t get caught, but yes, the name refers to me.”
“How do you think you hold my kingdom?” The king’s voice had lost a little of its murderous edge, but there was still crackling danger in it.
Theo smiled. “If you will indulge me for a moment, Your Majesty, and look at the mountains, do they seem more or less solid than they did this morning?”
The king looked up at the distant mountains, then stood transfixed by the horrifying sight. The peaks were drifting away like mist in a morning breeze, and the few shreds that were still visible were a dove gray that disappeared into the gray sky. Lord Willowvale arrived just then. He bowed to the king and glared at Theo, but he said nothing.
“Look at the indigo forests to the north,” murmured Theo.
The king turned to see the forests turned a steely gray. The tops of the trees seemed as indistinct as a cloud.
“What have you done?” said the king.
Theo’s quiet, triumphant smile did not flicker when the king snarled, “Fix it, human!”
“I will,” Theo said softly. “When you promise on your life and your throne and all of the Fair Lands to never take or harm humans again, directly or indirectly.”
His Majesty Silverthorn shifted and looked at him again, his eyes glittering. “How have you done this? You are human!”
He examined Theo again. “You have so little magic this cannot be only your doing.”
“I have friends, though,” Theo said gently. “Friends who love me, and I love them. I have borrowed a great deal of magic and threaded it through most of the Fair Lands over the last six months.
“The magic I borrowed knows me. The love I bear for my friends, and that they bear for me, has influenced the land itself and made it recognize, as much as it can, that I love it too.
“Every rose I left you was a promise to love and forgive the Fair Folk for the pain you caused those poor children. My heart cried out against you, and I wanted to avenge them, but I choose to save your land instead because I love my friends here more than the thought of your bloody end.” Theo’s voice sharpened and his eyes hardened before he sighed softly.
“The hills are dying because every rose I left was infused with binding magic, just a little, so you wouldn’t see it and break it. I put it in the soil itself, and I bound the land to me, the hills and the palace and the forests, and the tiny points of binding reinforced each other and spread, so that every inch of the Fair Lands cries out to me.
“Lord Willowvale’s vines caused the mountains pain. The vines must obey, but the land rejected his violence and recoiled.”
His Majesty Silverthorn stared at Theo. “What will happen if you die?”
Theo raised an eyebrow. “I’d rather not have anyone find out. However, I did consider that possibility, and I have laced the promise of the land through several layers of potential heirs. They love the land too, and it will recognize them.”
His Majesty Silverthorn drew a long breath in through his nose, his hand clenching spasmodically on the hilt of his long, narrow sword.
“If I die, the land will recognize one heir after another, as I have designated them. If you kill them all, the land will revolt against you entirely. I do not know what form that will take, but I believe it will be quite unprecedented.”
The Fair king drew his sword and drove it through Theo’s stomach.
Behind him, Lily and Oliver cried out together, and Cedar grabbed their shoulders in warning.
“Reverse it!” cried the king. “Unbind it!”
Theo, still bound at his feet by the vines, choked out a bloody laugh. “You. Can’t. Make. Me.”
“I can and I will,” snarled the king, twisting the sword and driving Theo to his knees.
Theo looked up at him and gasped, “As long as I love the Fair Lands, the binding holds.”
His Majesty Silverthorn’s cold violet eyes flicked past Theo to Lily, Oliver, and Cedar. “What if I kill them one by one before your eyes?”
Theo’s answer was low and cold, thick with blood and fury. “Then I will rip apart the Fair Lands at the seams, and all you have ever loved will be as dust.”
“I don’t love,” said the king.
“I do.” Theo stared back at him.
The king yanked the sword out of Theo’s body, and the young man nearly fell on his face. The king put a foot against Theo’s chest and shoved him back upright to sit on his heels. Theo pressed his right hand weakly to the wound, but it did nothing to staunch the bleeding.
The blood that poured from the wound in his stomach gleamed with golden sparkles. The golden gleam sank into the dirt beneath them with the blood, and the very ground seemed brighter as it began to tremble beneath them.
“What is that?” The king prodded at the golden stain on the ground. “Why is the earth shaking?”
Theo gave a soft, wet laugh. “Every drop of blood I shed on behalf of your land binds it more tightly to me.” He gasped for breath and added, “It is readying itself to throw off your reign.”
The ground beneath them trembled.
“Make it stop!”
“Will you accept my conditions, then? Never take or harm a human again, no repercussions for my friends, everything?” Theo swayed on his knees. He could see almost nothing but the golden glow.
“What of the fading of the land before we began to rely upon the human children? What will you do about that?” growled the king.
“That was you, Your Majesty,” gasped Theo. “You need to love your land and your people.” He groaned, coughed, and then whispered, “My love will keep them solid long enough for you to learn to care for them the way you should. They were solid in your father’s day, you know.”
His Majesty Silverthorn looked back at the mountains contemplatively, his feet braced as the ground’s shuddering increased. Theo closed his eyes against the brilliance of the sparkles and the growing darkness that threatened to overpower even Cedar’s magic.
“They were,” the king said. “I do not know if I can love, but I will accept your conditions. You will love the land and keep it stable. I will try to love it, if I am capable of love.” His Majesty Silverthorn looked down at Theo. “You will answer my questions, after your friend pours more golden magic into you.”
The vines binding their legs retreated into the ground.
The ground ceased its trembling.
Lily darted to Theo’s side, tears streaming down her cheeks. Oliver stood over them both, wordless and horrified.
Cedar kept his eyes on his king as he stepped close enough to put his hand on Theo’s shoulder again.
The magic rushed in, bright and liquid, like a sparkling curtain over Theo’s vision, a swell of strength that propelled him to his feet far too early.
He stood, swaying and more than half blind, and swept a low bow toward His Majesty Silverthorn.
“Your Majesty,” he said in a voice as golden and bright as the magic writhing in him. “Believe it or not, I love you too, because I trusted you to see reason and serve your people more than your anger.”
The king gave a shocked, offended bark of laughter. “Why would you do that?”
“You, too, are of the Fair Lands. What a weak love that would be, if I could only esteem the things that bowed to me easily or the things that did not cause pain! I had to love you as you are, and yet hope for you to be better, for your sake and for the Fair Lands I already loved.” Theo sagged against Cedar
’s arm. “That’s enough for the moment, Cedar,” he gasped.
The magic twisted in his guts, and for a moment the rush and swirl was so strong he feared he would vomit golden sparkles all over the king’s indigo boots. He felt buoyant and drunk on magic, his tongue loose and his mind full of shimmering light.
His Majesty Silverthorn regarded him steadily. “Can you speak, or is your mind entirely scrambled by Fair magic?”
“I can speak,” enunciated Theo carefully. He blinked at the figures around the king. The audience had grown, though he had not been paying enough attention to them to realize how many Fair Folk watched until now. These were the witnesses Cedar had promised.
The king said, “Why did you let Lord Willowvale catch you, if you wanted to see me all the time?”
“I didn’t let him catch me. He did that fair and square.”
His Majesty Silverthorn looked at Theo in awe. “You put yourself where you knew he would catch you.”
“One never knows what a fairy will do, Your Majesty,” Theo said modestly. “One merely presumes to guess and hope that one is not too far wrong.” He gave the king a brilliant smile.
“Yet everything seems to have conformed to your plan.” The Fair king tilted his head and regarded Theo with something approaching horror. “You are mad as a March hare, and you were long before Lord Mosswing’s magic filled your veins. I would much prefer that you stay in the human world, so your particular brand of insanity stays out of the Fair Lands.”
“Your Majesty, I would venture to say, with all humility, I cannot stay away and do not want to.” He blinked. “My headache’s gone!” he said in surprise. “Thank you, Lord Mosswing.”
His Majesty Silverthorn’s brows lowered and he mouthed your headache, as if the words made so little sense he would not utter them aloud. Then he said, “If you leave the Fair Lands, will the mountains remain firm?” He raised the sword and examined Theo’s blood along the edge, then looked back at the young man before him. Lily stood clasping his left hand, and Oliver had stepped forward to put himself between the king and his sister.
“Look.” Theo gestured toward the mountains he could barely see through the golden haze.
The Fair king did not reply immediately. Theo waited, blinking sparkles from his eyes. The magic within him surged and rushed and receded, and he swayed with the force of it.
“They have color,” the king said at last. “Will they remain firm?”
“Yes.”
Lily’s hand clenched Theo’s more tightly, but she said nothing.
Theo said, “Look at the forests, Your Majesty.”
His Majesty Silverthorn turned to see the forests a pale purple-blue in the distance.
“Your Majesty, I will take my wife and her brother home now. Lord Mosswing, you may come with us if you would like.” Theo smiled warmly at the king, as if they were lifelong friends. “If Lord Mosswing elects to stay, he will be safe here, Your Majesty. You will keep your word.”
“I will.” The Fair monarch turned his violet gaze upon Theo again. “Why are you a friend of the Fair Lands, human?”
Theo, near drunk with pain and magic, said, “Your Majesty, with all due respect, I believe that is a story best told when I can think more clearly.” He bowed, staggered, and caught himself. “It has been a pleasure, Your Majesty.”
His Majesty Silverthorn swept his gaze up and down Theo’s tattered, bloody figure, and bared his teeth. “A pleasure,” he murmured. “Come tell me the story when you’re a little less addled.”
Theo bowed again, still holding Lily’s hand.
He opened a door and ushered everyone into the veil, then turned to beam at the astonished king before he let it close.
Chapter 40
Returning Home
In the darkness of the veil, Cedar rounded upon Theo with long-suppressed fury. “You should have told me your plan!”
“Would you have let me do it?” Theo asked mildly.
“No! That was madness! It shouldn’t have worked at all. My magic isn’t meant to heal wounds like that.” Cedar’s voice shook. “How do you feel? How are you even standing? Have you bled too much? How much do humans bleed before they die?”
Theo said philosophically, “It couldn’t be helped. The king needed to see the land react to my blood, and the binding was only tenuous after Lord Willowvale’s vines. It wasn’t entirely secure until he stabbed me himself. You were the first in line to receive the land’s allegiance, if he’d killed me, but I couldn’t very well tell him that while you were standing there.”
Lily’s almost-silent sob caught Theo’s attention, and he turned to her. “My love, I would pull you close, but I fear it would only grieve you. Certainly it would soil your dress. How may I comfort you?” He turned to her and bent to press a kiss to her tear-damp cheek, to her jaw, to the curve of her neck, then to her fingers one by one.
“I just want to know you’re all right, Theo,” she managed through her tears.
“Absolutely fine,” said Theo through the haze of glittering gold. “Never better. Nicely ventilated and full of magic. My head might float away. Are you all right, Lily? Did he frighten you? His Majesty Silverthorn is actually not entirely a bad sort. I did research, you know.” He swayed and nearly fell into Cedar, who slipped a little more magic into him. “Lord Willowvale, on the other hand, is really rather unpleasant, although I am loath to speak ill of someone who isn’t present to defend himself. I shall try not to hold a grudge.”
He took a deep, shuddering breath and turned.
“You’re going the wrong way, Theo,” said Cedar. “The human world is that way.”
“The children,” Theo enunciated carefully, “are this way.”
He led them only a very short distance through the veil before putting his hand against the wall. “Cedar, I look a sight. Would you be so kind as to glamour me so I don’t terrify the children?”
Cedar sighed. “You’re mad,” he muttered.
“I’m sure you’re right. Please keep the doorway open.” Theo twisted and pulled, and Fair light flooded into the veil. He thought absently that His Majesty’s magic did not seem to fight him, even within the palace, as it had before, and wondered whether that was because the land adored him or whether the king the king had intentionally relaxed his magic to let him have the children.
Theo strode out into a bright room filled with alien plants and the buzz of a thousand wings. The floor was tiled in gorgeous cobalt glass with a shifting pattern in it that made it seem to Theo that he was walking on water; the effect accentuated his growing dizziness. The children were only a short distance away, and he focused on them.
The little group was in a circle, with three children of about seven years old sitting surrounded by nine older children, who were looking at Theo with open fear. He recognized two of the older girls as those he had already rescued, but he could not remember their names.
“Come with me now, children.” His voice felt golden and bright, and he smiled radiantly at the group, unfazed by the oldest boy’s defensive posture. “You will be safe with me.”
“Who are you?” the boy said cautiously.
“I’m taking you back to the human world. Come now, before I lose all sense of direction. That will make things more difficult.” He watched them rise, unable to decipher their expressions through the golden haze over his vision.
“Come now, human children!” Cedar said more emphatically from the doorway.
Theo counted them as they entered the veil, then leaned against the wall as the Fair lord let the door close behind him. In the darkness, Lily clasped Theo’s hand even before Cedar stepped forward to slip a little more magic into his friend.
“Hold hands, everyone.” Theo waited until the murmur of agreement subsided, then led them toward the children’s home. “I’m taking you to a home where you will be cared for. Actually I’m taking you to the palace, because that’s where the others have been for a few weeks, but soon you’ll probably move ba
ck to the original home. If you have families to return to, you will be escorted safely to them straight away. Essie and John are kind-hearted and trustworthy. You’ll have plenty of food and soon a lovely garden where you can play and rest, and you’ll learn comportment and arithmetic and language and history and lots of other things, mostly enjoyable. You girls will learn flower arranging and how to make fruit pastries and I don’t know what else, because I am not a young lady. Piano, I should think, and maybe voice lessons. I should ask Essie if they need more money for that.”
One of the boys snickered, and Oliver murmured something that stopped the laughter before it spread.
“Thank you for rescuing us, sir,” said one of the girls politely.
“You are very welcome.” Theo’s voice was warm and golden. “We’re here already. Don’t be frightened. You’ll be safe and happy here.” He opened the door with a twist and a pull of magic, then staggered out just in front of the garden in front of the ‘cottage’ that had been given to the children and their caretakers as a temporary refuge. The building was actually a spacious manor often used for hosting visiting foreign dignitaries, so Theo had been quite pleased when he learned the children would be so well-housed, even for a limited time.
Cedar’s glamour on Theo had not faded, so the few onlookers saw a pale, green-clad fairy with golden hair fluffed up like thistledown stumble out of a strange gap in the world, leading twelve frightened children.
He opened the low white gate in front of the house, which served more to define the garden edges than as a barrier, and led the children through the garden to the door. He knocked on the door, then leaned against the door frame until Essie opened it, whereupon he nearly fell into the house.
“This is the last of the children, Essie,” he said thickly. “Good day to you, and thank you.”
Essie, with a shocked gasp, ushered the children in hurriedly and put a hand out to him, but he had turned away to stagger back through the garden toward the veil.
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