Steven bowed in thanks and sent up a silent prayer. Please heal her, he prayed, still crouched in the dirt. Noli means everything to me. I need her to be well.
And whole. One thing at a time.
A gentle breeze, soft as Noli’s kisses, whispered through the trees as if answering his plea. His fingers brushed the bark one last time, heart wrenching at the thought that even this might not be enough.
He kissed his hand then pressed it to the bark of the tree. “I love you, Noli.”
With a body-shuddering sigh, he stood and made his way back through the hedge maze and across the gardens to his rambling family estate.
James waited for him in the library, which had become the hub of the big house during James and Charlotte’s occupancy. The comfortable room had always been Steven’s favorite, filled with books, well-loved furnishings, a window seat with view of one of the gardens, and memories. The still-wrapped automaton occupied one of the comfortable chairs. Supper sat on the low table.
“Is she going to be all right?” James handed Steven a plate from his place on the settee.
“I hope so.” He didn’t feel like eating.
“I put Noli’s things in her room,” James added, heaping his own plate with food.
Noli’s room had been Elise’s room. His family had lived here once when not busy at the earth court palace. That was back when they’d been a family. When his parents had loved each other, and them, and his mother had been content to be queen of the earth court.
Steven sat next to James and helped himself to some tea. Charlotte had wanted to live here, not at the high palace. Not that he blamed her. James and Charlotte had been content to occupy this wing, the nursery wing where they’d lived as children. A small staff helped make this corner feel like home again.
It felt strange to be here without Charlotte. Without Noli. He kept expecting to hear Charlotte giggling or spy Noli reading a book in the tree outside the window.
“She’ll be fine.” James shot him a hopeful smile.
“I hope so.” Holding his cup of tea in his hands, he gazed out the window, not that he could see that particular tree from here. “I suppose we should take Hilde to the queen and be done with this?”
“I think so.” James looked at him, fork paused halfway to his mouth. “Then what?”
“We help Noli get better. We work on a way to make her whole again and for us to be together.” Absently, he grabbed a firm, fuzzy fruit from the bowl on the table. “Noli also seems to think her father may be in the Otherworld. If he is, he’s long gone, but I’ve been promising to make some inquiries.”
“I’m glad you said we.” James shoveled supper into his mouth.
“We make a good team.” Even if his brother infuriated him sometimes. He took a bite of succulent fruit, its flesh dissolving in his mouth like spun sugar. James made a noisy yawn, stretching his arms for emphasis. “I have a feeling we should wait until morning to deliver this.”
The long and tiresome day pressed on him. “True.” He gazed at the automaton perched in the chair. “I hope this is good enough.”
If it wasn’t, he didn’t know what they’d do. But with Noli ill, there wasn’t time to even consider the thought.
Steven plodded into the library, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, fully dressed. Morning light streamed in through the window. Nightmares about Noli had kept him awake. If she never recovered, his uncle would pay.
His eyes fell on the chair where Hilde the automaton sat. It lay empty. His heart skipped a beat, then two. James had moved her. Yes, that was it. No reason to panic.
He searched the library with his eyes. No Hilde. Still, no need to panic.
Running out of the library, he threw open the door to James’ childhood bedroom, which had been redecorated. The toys were gone, but his weapon collection remained. Touches of Charlotte lurked everywhere, from the flowered dressing screen in the corner to the cosmetics scattered across the dresser. “James, wake up.” Steven shoved his brother.
“Go away,” James muttered, rolling over so his back was to him.
“Did you move the automaton?” Steven prayed to the Bright Lady he answered yes. Hilde didn’t look to be in here, either.
“She’s in the library, now let me sleep.” He pulled the blankets over his head.
Horror swirled around Steven’s limbs, rooting him to the floor. “Wait. You didn’t move the automaton?”
“Why would I do that? Now, go away.” The blanket muffled James’ voice.
Steven threw back the covers. “The automaton is missing.”
James sat straight up. “What?”
“She’s not in the library. Are you certain you didn’t move her?” Steven’s heart thumped a tattoo of terror.
“Flying figs, no.” James leapt out of bed and left without even throwing on a robe or slippers. Heathen.
Steven followed him into the library.
James stared at the empty chair, mouth gaping. “I didn’t move it, honest.”
“We have to get it back.” There was no time to go look for something else, not that he even knew where to start. Defeat pressed on him. They’d been so close.
“Where do we start? It’s not as if we can ask the chair?” James plopped down in the chair and put his head in his hands.
Who had a grudge against him? Who’d broken into the big house before? Who had no morals or scruples? Who loved Noli and probably knew all about his quest?
Steven rubbed his chin. “Do you have any idea where we can find Kevighn Silver?”
“Kevighn?” James looked up, face contorted in confusion.
“Can you think of anyone else?” Steven certainly couldn’t. “Get dressed, we need to get that automaton back.”
Noli floated in a strange dreamlike state. She wasn’t exactly sure what was happening. Wherever she was, Miss Gregory and Queen Tiana weren’t there—neither were any pink croquet mallets or purple cannonballs. All around her was … nothing. Yet at the same time it was everything. Where was she?
You’re here, a voice replied, familiar, yet, at the same time, unidentifiable.
Where was that? Was she in a dream?
You’re just here. It’s everywhere and nowhere. But it’s safe, and soon you’ll be well.
Oh wait, she was ill, she remembered that much. There had been a voice … a voice she remembered … telling her he loved her, telling her she’d be well soon. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember who that was. But that didn’t matter. The fact he loved her did. Just recalling it made her feel warm and tingly all over.
Not that she could actually feel her body.
Will you tell me a story? I’m lonely, the voice added. A story? What else did she have to do? It wasn’t as if she could go anywhere or do anything in this vast nothingness.
“Of course.” Noli tried to think of a story. V had been the one who loved faery stories, not her. But there was one her father used to tell her. “Once upon a time there was a little girl … ”
“Steven, this is idiocy. We don’t know where Kevighn is and we don’t know he has it,” James insisted as they ended up in yet another unfamiliar place, in their vain attempt to locate Kevighn Silver. “You’re letting your hatred for him blind you. I think we need to look at this rationally, and logic says Kevighn didn’t take it.”
“He has to, who else could have it? And I don’t hate him. Wait. When have you ever relied on logic?” Desperation rode Steven like a horse. If they didn’t find the automaton …
James grabbed Steven and shook him. “V, snap out of it. I know you hate him, but we have no proof he took it. Also, he’s exiled.”
“Just from the courts, not the Otherworld. And get off.” Steven pushed his brother away. “I wish a finding spell worked on things.” Not that they were any good at them.
“Why don’t we look one up in father’s library,” James replied.
Steven stopped and looked at his brother. “What?
Let’s go back to the big
house, look up a finding spell for things, and find Hilde that way instead of running around blindly.” James shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “Well, I suppose that’s one way to do it.” Actually, it was a very good idea.
James put his arm around Steven’s shoulders. “We’re going to find the automaton. Noli will be fine. Now, let’s finish this.”
Once again, his little brother as the voice of reason felt odd. Gulping, Steven nodded. “Yes, let’s.”
They crossed the unfortunately familiar bridge from the wildwood to the grounds of the high palace. Steven’s belly sank all the way to his boots. The tall spires of the palace gleamed like polished brass. The giant clockwork drawbridge was down over the pink moat, indicating that the queen was currently in residence.
“How did the automaton end up here?” he whispered to James. Unless the finding spell was wrong. Odds were it wasn’t.
“Um, the Bright Lady works in mysterious ways?” James suggested.
Steven harrumphed.
Into the palace they went, saluting at the gold and purple glad guards and winding their way down the long and twisty halls. Steven wasn’t surprised when they ended up in their mother’s tearoom.
A purple fire burned in the hearth. LuLu napped on a purple cushion. Their mother, clad in an ocean of gold and bronze ruffles, sat at her ornate table, having tea. Hilde occupied the chair across from her, a teacup in her metal hand. Steven knew from experience that Hilde’s opulent chair was actually quite uncomfortable and the queen did that on purpose.
“I love tea parties,” the automaton told the queen.
“I thought Hilde only sang and told stories,” James whispered to him.
The queen looked over at them and sniffed. “Oh, you’re back.”
His heart sank. Great, she had sent them on this fool’s errand hoping they’d die.
Had he truly expected anything less? She’d stopped being their mother the moment she cast them out of the Otherworld.
“Yes, we are.” Steven squared his shoulders. “I see you’ve found Hilde. Does she please you?” His stomach knotted. This moment defined his quest.
The queen took a sip of tea, every passing second feeling like an hour. “She’ll do. I did have to make some adjustments using magic. Also, her name isn’t Hilde. It’s Aisling.” Queen Tiana’s look dared them to say differently.
“It’s your automaton, you may name her whatever you wish, Your Majesty,” Steven replied. “So, my quest is over?” His stomach had yet to unknot.
The queen waved him off. “Yes, yes. I do have to say, Aisling is rather amusing in a simple way. I do hope you won’t wander far. I like having you and your brother around.”
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty.” Steven bowed.
She liked having them around? Sure. Tiana probably meant it would be easier to plot their demise if she knew their whereabouts.
“Your majesty?” Steven added, chest tightening. “Since I accomplished my task to your satisfaction, may I take up with Noli again?”
The queen laughed. “My dearest Stiofán, truly you’re better off without her. As I told you, she’ll hold you back from your goals. Now be off before I find something for you to do.” She shooed them away with her hand.
“Of course, Your Majesty.” With a final bow, Steven and James left the tearoom.
James scratched his head. “How did the automaton get to the high palace?”
“Mother, most likely. She probably still has spies in the big house. For all we know, she came and took it herself.” Despite finishing the quest, his heart felt heavy as they plodded down the vast hallways. One task down, so many more to go. If this was what being an adult was like, perhaps he shouldn’t have been in such a hurry to grow up.
“Let’s check on Noli.” James clapped him on the back.
They made their way to the big house in silence. Finally, they traipsed through the familiar woods belonging to the House of Oak. Now that those of his house were in residence again, the grounds were in better repair than when they’d first returned to the Otherworld.
“The queen gave her to you, right? Way back when you first arrived in the Otherworld?” James asked.
Steven tried to recall that particular event. “Yes, she did.”
It was another layer of protection for Noli.
“Did she take that away when she told you to break Noli’s stone?” James asked.
Giant rowan tress, old as the land itself, shaded them as they walked. They helped guard their ancestral home.
Those fateful words played over in Steven’s head, as he dissected it word by word.
Before you begin your quest, you’re to end this with Magnolia … and that includes breaking the stone in her sigil.
No, not one thing about revoking Noli … not that he was entirely sure she could.
“I swear that Noli is yours until you decide otherwise, entitled to all rights and privileges therein,” Steven whispered, repeating the words she’d said to him. “That’s what she swore … ”
“So, Noli’s still yours in some way, she just doesn’t have the protections of the House of Oak anymore?” James asked as they entered the hedge maze center where the oak lay.
Steven went over everything in his head one last time. “I …I think you’re right—and where the queen can keep her from the protections of our house, she can’t keep her from being with me, unless she breaks her oath.”
James snapped his fingers, green eyes dancing. “If she breaks her oath you could challenge her to a dual.”
Even queens weren’t excluded from the bindings of an oath.
“You’re right. Not that I relish the thought of challenging her to a duel.” Which wouldn’t end well, but perhaps the thought that he could challenge her would prevent any oath-breaking. Steven still felt sorry that Noli had to endure the pain of the stone being broken. “What would I do without you?”
The oak came into sight as they entered the center of the maze. Little wood faeries sat on the roots and branches of the gnarled tree. Some still clutched little wooden swords.
James shot him a silly grin. “I don’t want to think about that. Do you think she’s well now, or do you think we’ll have to leave her for a little longer?”
“As long as she recovers, I don’t care.” Steven greeted the little wood faeries distributing crumbs of a cake he’d brought from the house. The greedy little beasts scrambled over the gnarled tree roots as they fought over the sweet. Crouching next to towering oak, he put his hand on the trunk and reached out to the tree. Time to bring his darling home.
Will you tell me another story? the voice asked Noli. Noli yawned, well, she would if she had a body. The nothingness still enveloped her. She’d been napping between telling stories to the faceless, bodiless voice. Noli liked sleeping here in the mist where the nightmares couldn’t get her.
“Could you tell me a story?” Noli replied, still half asleep. That might give her time to think of something she hadn’t told yet.
I could, if you promise to remember it.
“I’ll try.”
Once, long ago, the Otherworld was different. Only a few people remember, and most don’t remember it correctly. Once, we didn’t need to rely on the blood of mortal girls with the Spark. The high queen wielded a staff, and through it there was enough power for the land to live without blood sacrifice. Some grew jealous of the staff’s abilities and great power can easily be abused. One day, in anger, the Bright Lady broke apart the staff, scattering the pieces across the mortal realm. But even she couldn’t break the staff’s heart, a gem of great power. That, too, was hidden in the mortal realm. Without the staff, the land had to rely on her people to bring her nourishment. Gradually everyone, even the rulers forgot that once we didn’t need a sacrifice …
The impact of the story made Noli’s mind reel. “The artifact? Are you saying that there is an artifact of great power that if reassembled will negate the need for a sacrifice?”
Not needed a sacri
fice could be beneficial, however, she knew enough about the Otherworld to know that there would be much, much more to the staff that that.
Keep that piece of the staff safe. It’s in your valise, the voice added. You must keep it out of the wrong hands.
“But how does it work? I don’t understand. And why was it destroyed?” Something must have gone very wrong. Perhaps the wielders of the staff went insane or were easily corrupted due to its power.
Her entire being, well, what she could feel of it in the mist, began to tingle.
No, no, no, you can’t go yet, the voice told Noli.
“What?”
They’re trying to take you. You’re not well enough to go yet … and I’m not just saying that because I like your stories and you’re kind. Also, I haven’t finished my story.
“Wait, who’s taking me, taking me where?” She wasn’t even sure where she was, other than safe and cozy, not hot, cold, or thirsty. The urgency in her voice made Noli’s skin crawl.
The princes. They wish to take you.
“Wait, V? Is V here? But I want to go with him.” The thought of seeing him again made her heart soar. He’d come back for her. Did that mean that his quest was over? She remembered now. A little.
You do?
“I … I love him. I love him so much.” With every fiber of her being. Memories of him flickered through her mind like a zoetrope. “Please, let me see him.”
You do love him, and it’s so beautiful. The voice made a happy sigh. If you truly wish to go, I’ll make you well enough.
“You can do that? I don’t even know who you are?” Her body tingled in a way that almost hurt and lights flashed in front of her eyes. What was happening?
Noli didn’t feel afraid, just prickly.
Don’t forget me and remember my story. You must keep the staff out of the wrong hands. You’re a good person, Magnolia Montgomery Braddock.
“I am?” Sometimes she wondered about that, with everything she’d done of late.
The voice didn’t answer, other voices echoed through the fog. Familiar male voices.
“Noli, darling, can you hear me?” V pleaded.
“Maybe we should put her back in, I don’t think she’s done yet,” James replied.
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