by Blue Saffire
“Another year will not change who I’m to marry.”
“The nobles have picked wisely. If I could have just gotten that rose…” His eyes become distant. He shakes his head. “The nobles seek the truth from the oracles. They have chosen from the best.”
“But they have not chosen the best. Why her? I still believe….” I clamp my mouth shut.
This isn’t the time for me to get into this with my father. I’ve had my suspicions, but I will let that go for now. For now, I need to get him home to safety.
I will deal with my engagement and impending wedding when I return home. I kiss my father’s forehead and pat his shoulder. Standing back, I watch as the horses begin to move forward.
“Argon, Argon,” he turns in the seat to look back at me as he calls my name. “We will come for you. When I’m well, we will come for you. I’m so sorry, my son.”
Chapter 2
A Man
Blaise
“It’s a man, Blaise,” Hiasha squeals. “He could be the one.”
I unfurl my tail from around my waist and start to pace. Yes, it’s a man. A gorgeous man at that. Tall with blonde locks in the front that spill into his face and dark brown locks that hang down his back.
His corded muscles caused my belly to ache. His scent almost buckled my knees and caused my tail to tighten protectively around my waist as if my womb were in danger.
His face is a work of art. Too gorgeous for words, with his thick but neat brows and blue-gray eyes that rest beneath them. His lips—even parted in anger—called for my attention, with their fullness and pink color.
Yes, a man indeed.
“Finally, I’ll be able to get some life-sized pussy,” Dinesh grumbles. Hiasha and I glare at him. “What? My tiny balls are blue. I need this curse to end. My hands aren’t even big enough to rub one out.”
“You could always get some fairy ass,” Soila purrs.
Dinesh glares at her. Then raises a thoughtful brow. “Is that an offer, woman? I may consider it if this curse isn’t broken and I’m doomed to be a tiny fae for the rest of my life.”
Hiasha groans. “Don’t talk like this. He is the one. I can feel it. He will break the curse.”
“He’s the one?” Dinesh snorts. “He better be. He’s the only one that has come along in a hundred and fifty years that hasn't shit his pants and ran. Oh, God. Has it been that long?” His face crumples and he reaches for his crotch.
“Enough.” My voice comes out in a roar that echoes around the room.
A room I once relished standing in. That I can remember in all of its mundaneness. The size of two master bedrooms, my walk-in closet used to be a place I would spend hours in. Trying on the latest fashions that were sent to me, having custom garments made.
Walking along the walls of shoes, handbags, gowns and pretty things. I nearly held parties right here in this closet. These walls have been friends.
I would stand before these mirrors and bask in my own beauty. I was spoiled rotten from the day I was born. Nothing was too great for me to have. My father pampered me with material things out of guilt.
“Your mother would have wanted you to have this,” he would say. “Nothing is too good for you, my princess.”
I grew up thinking the world belonged to me. Now, two of the floor length mirrors in this closet sit smashed and the other. The other, I avoid as often as I can.
I look at the people in my life that have been forced to fly around with tiny wings and little bodies because of me. Full grown adults, now little pixies—all with the exception of Hiasha, she’s but a child in comparison, or at least she was when we were cursed.
One hundred and fifty years have passed in this realm. I’ve been this monster for one hundred and fifty years. I walk over to the mirror and push my hood back. I turn away from my reflection.
“Not even I can stand the sight of me. How is he to fall in love with this?” I say brokenly.
The flutter of wings buzzes next to my ear. A tiny, plump body flies beneath my chin to turn my head back to the mirror. “You are gorgeous, love. We just need to show him.”
I look at Ms. Posh in our reflection. She gives me a warm smile. Her motherly love causes a pang in my heart. She’s the only mother figure I’ve truly known. Yet my father used to yell at her for cuddling me.
“Do your job and manage the estate, Ms. Posh. My daughter’s happiness is none of your concern,” he would say when she tried to get him to let me play with others and behave more like a normal child.
Anger fills me and the flames around my face ignite. Ms. Posh flies out of the way just in time. The fact that her little wing is smoking from getting singed makes my fury grow more.
“I’m a beast. How can he see anything past all of this?” I snarl and slap my tail against the floor to punctuate how hideous I am.
“No, Blaise. You are not a beast. You have a temper. A temper which has gotten you in a bit of a pickle,” Ms. Posh says.
“A pickle? A pickle? Being turned into this.” I wave my hands over my face and body. “Being banished here, having my power bound to this castle and that garden, and having everyone who was close to me turned into fairies is not just some little pickle.
“We all could remain this way forever. The petals are falling, turning to ashes with every decade, year, day, hour that passes. We’re running out of time. We’ll all be damned to remain like this….” My words trail off, smoke comes out of my nostrils.
“Mom is right, you know. You can’t give up,” Hiasha says as she waves the smoke from her mother’s wing.
I sigh. “Come, let me heal you.”
Ms. Posh smiles and flies closer. I hold a hand over her little wing and begin to repair it. She stares up at me lovingly.
“Listen to me, Blaise. He has magic. He’s not a human. He has to be the one. The curse sent you here to this realm to make this harder. He has found you here,” she says.
I snort and smoke puffs from my lips. “His thieving father found me.”
“He wanted a rose for the big guy’s betrothed. Should we be worried about that?” Dinesh speaks up. “Ow.”
Soila elbows him. “He didn’t sound too enamored with whoever she is to me.”
“Okay, fine, but why did the father want the rose? Do you think he knows its power? If so…”
“We’re not going to concern ourselves with that,” Ms. Posh says to Bach, who up until now, has been sitting in the corner of a shoe cubby in contemplative silence.
“Do you think they are from our world? The chariot returned brighter. Could they have gone home to return his father?” Hiasha says in almost a whisper.
“We don’t know, love. None of us can remember home. Just as they wouldn’t remember us if they are from home.”
I scoff. “I can remember frivolous things, but with each day who I am and where I’m from fades. I’m even starting to forget father.”
Dinesh flies closer. His eyes soften as he looks at me. “It’s happening to us all. If I didn’t sing daily, I would’ve forgotten that I know how or that I was once your music instructor.”
“What if I forget how to play?” I say as I stumble over to the chaise in the center of the fitting area of the closet.
“Oh, Blaise, that would never happen. You play for the ears of the gods. They would never allow your music to be silenced.”
“Yet, they’ve allowed this,” I bite out, flopping down onto the lounger.
Dinesh puffs out his chest. “I do remember this much. Our gods like to test the strong. It is their way.”
“Their way for what?”
“To reveal to you who you are.”
“Yes, he’s right. This will make you stronger, Blaise. That wicked one will not prevail. You will see. Now, come let’s go meet our guest.”
Chapter 3
Be Our Guest
Argon
“Hey, big guy.” A gruff male voice echoes through my cell. I look around not seeing anyone.
Suddenly
, a small light appears at the lock and the door swings open. The light fades slightly, revealing two male pixies. Both with brown skin, one younger with a lighter tone and silky jet-black hair combed away from his face.
The other is noticeably older with dark brown skin and salt and pepper hair, cut close to his scalp. Again, I’m reminded of the coloring of the oracles and nobles back home.
The two fly inside and stop before me. I tilt my head at the men. There’s something oddly familiar about their presence. I shake the feeling away as the older, plumper one flies closer to my face.
“You will do. At least you’re not weaker than she is,” he says.
“You sure about that? I’m getting something else from him. Not sure if it’s an equal match, if ya know what I mean,” the other guy says.
“Dinesh,” the older one snaps.
“I’m only calling it like I see it. He could be holding back, but he’s no Blaise,” Dinesh grumbles and folds his arms across his chest. “As long as I can get my hands on a fat ass and warm pussy before I forget what it feels like, I honestly don’t care at this point.”
“Excuse me?” I say, interrupting them.
“Don’t mind this hot head. Artists, they have no brains, just talent,” the chubby one says.
“Bite me,” Dinesh mutters before flying over to perch on my shoulder.
“Forgive him. This is Dinesh and I am Bach. We serve Prin… The Lady Blaise.”
“Lady Blaise?” I furrow my brows.
“Yeah, the badass chick in the robe. The one that was about to flatten your ass a few hours ago. Bach, maybe you can turn back time and show him,” Dinesh says smugly.
“If. You. Don’t. Hush,” Bach hisses through tight lips. “I’ll turn back time to the day you were born and erase your mother from existence.”
“I’ll torch your ass first. You’re not moving as fast as you did in your glory days. I’ll turn you into a roast.”
“Enough,” I bark in irritation. “Is there a reason you have come here?”
“Well, excuse me,” Dinesh says and lifts from my shoulder. “You almost sound like her. I might be wrong about you.”
“I do apologize. This can’t be easy for you. I assure you, your father will be well….” Bach trails off when I glare at him. “Well, yes, we came to escort you to your chambers.”
“What, do you have a smaller cell?” My words drip with sarcasm.
I can barely stand up straight in here. I don’t know how my father did it. I get angry every time I think of him in these confines.
“Oh, this guy thinks he’s funny. I say we leave him here,” Dinesh says.
“He will be better off in the upper castle,” Bach grits out. “You will be more comfortable there. Prin… The Lady Blaise truly is fair. Her roses just mean a lot to her.”
“Enough to imprison a man. No, she has imprisoned two men,” I seethe, heat rising up my face. “A rose can be regrown. A man’s life cannot.”
Bach’s eyes grow sad. He shakes his head. “I’m afraid you are wrong. Some gardens are more fragile than meets the eye. What your father tried to take has greater value than you know.”
“Leave.”
“But you will be so much more comfortable upstairs.”
I stare unyieldingly at the older flying annoyance. His eyes plead back with me. I have no sympathy for these beings.
“Leave.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Dinesh says turning his back.
“If he doesn’t want the comfort I offer, leave him. We owe him nothing.”
I snap my head in the direction of the cell door that still sits ajar. The robed figure stands before it. Up close, now that I’m calmer, I can see the outline of a feminine figure beneath the cloth.
Curvaceous breasts and ample hips. Once again, I take note that she’s not tall in stature. I stand to assert my dominance.
However, she doesn’t shrink back. She moves forward, entering the cell. Her steps clicking as she moves. Once standing before me, she places a hand on my chest.
A burning sensation fills my inner cavity. Warmth surrounds my heart and only becomes increasingly consuming. However, I don’t buckle to my knees, as I’m sure she wants.
“Told you he wasn’t a match,” Dinesh mutters under his breath.
I cut my eyes to where he and Bach float. Two more have joined them. A plump woman with honey brown skin flies at Bach’s side, she stares on with her hands clasped in what seems like worry. A younger, smaller girl-fairy peeks from behind her back with wide eyes.
Sweat starts to gather on my face. I clench my teeth. My powers try to push back, but something has bound its way around them. Although I don’t believe it’s her.
Deciding to use brute force, I grab her wrist and tighten my hold to pry her palm away from me. The moment I touch her something shifts inside me. An awakening that shouldn’t be. I blink the feeling away and ground my teeth.
“Who are you?” I strain to say.
She pulls her hand away from my chest, granting me a reprieve. “To you I am just a captor. Is this not what happens to prisoners? If this is the only way you wish to see me, I will deliver.”
“Answer my question?” I bite out, still holding her wrist.
“I have.”
With my free hand, I yank her hood back. Gasps leave our lips simultaneously. I release her and take a step back.
This isn’t what I was expecting. Her face… it’s bisected by… by a slash that runs from her right temple across her nose to her left cheek, it’s like an open wound with molten lava flowing beneath the skin. Another slash flows from beneath her bottom lip, down her chin, the same fiery like lava moving between the seemingly open flesh.
Wild reddish-brown curls cascade around her head and shoulders with horns protruding from them. Her lips purse and smoke pours from her nose. Her eyes that were an amber hue of brown just seconds ago turn black.
“You have not,” I breathe. “Who are you?”
“You will call me, Blaise.” With that she turns and storms out. Her long tail swinging behind her. “Feed him nothing. He wants to behave as a prisoner, let him be so.”
“You will starve him,” Bach calls after her.
“If he dies, he dies.” Her voice echoes back to me.
I drop back to my seat. Rubbing my eyes, I try to reconcile my thoughts with what I’ve just seen. I’ve seen many otherworldly things but that was something else.
How did I miss the tail? It wasn’t exposed the first time I saw her. What… what in the gods is she?
Father, what have you gotten us into?
Blaise
“Blaise,” Ms. Posh calls after me. “Blaise. Princess,” she snaps causing me to halt.
“What?”
She flies around my head to come face to face with me. Right away, I can tell she’s winded from rushing after me. I sag my shoulders. I shouldn’t have made her chase me.
“You have to be more patient. The last time he saw his father he was unwell. He is now your prisoner in his father’s stead. Be gentle, child. Give him time to adjust.”
“I don’t care for him.”
“You will have to learn to if he is the one. You have to at least try.”
“He doesn’t want to be here.” I pout like a little child.
“He will learn to love it here,” Ms. Posh says with a smile.
She flies closer and strokes my unmarred cheek. The fire burning within begins to settle. Although, it’s not just burning from anger. When I touched him, something strange happened on the inside of me.
“Did you see the way he looked at me?” I say sadly.
“He was a little startled. But, dear, he’s still here.”
I blow out a breath and let my tail swing behind me as I contemplate her words. I chew on my lip. As long as he’s here I have a chance at least.
“Fine. Tell the others not to lock his cell. He can roam free. Just keep him away from my quarters. When he’s ready for his room, Bac
h can lead him there.”
With that I take off again. I need my cello. I have to play off some of this frustration.
My fingers tingle with flames. I ball my fists and mutter to myself. “He will challenge me. I know it.”
Chapter 4
Roaming Prince
Argon
The tiny flying fairies left the door to my cell open. I’ve been eyeing it warily as if it’s a trap. I’m not sure what will find me beyond these walls.
I look at my hands and access my power. It seems to be dimming. I wasn’t expecting this. It is understandable how father became so weak here.
Is that… creature the cause of it, or is it this place? The power pulsing in the walls leaves me cautious. My stomach rumbles and I make the decision to leave this cell in search of food.
“We’ll see if she truly plans to serve me,” I murmur as I stand.
I move out of the cell and stand tall as I make it into the corridor. I look left and right. Wind hollows through the deserted space. I turn in the direction I saw all the rest of them go.
Bach said I could go anywhere in the castle except for the West wing. My curiosity burns to know what’s there. Could it be an answer to how I shorten my time here?
I turn to look at the wall as the surface ripples. I stop and a mirror appears before me. My reflection gives way to the image of a hooded figure playing a cello. I tilt my head to the side as I study the image.
There isn’t sound but the movements reflect passion. The player seems to be lost in the music. Suddenly, beautiful music fills the corridor I stand in. It’s soul stirring. I’ve heard this melody before.
However, this player brings a new sorrow to the sound. It’s breathtaking and heartbreaking all at once. It tells a story with each note.
It’s her. A tail peeks from the cloak she wears, swinging in time to the music. She’s an accomplished player. As if a gift granted her by the gods.
