by R. A. Rock
“Well, what it means, according to my Natural Phenomena tutor is that the Fae will live forever if they drink Elixir regularly to replenish their Starlight.”
“Yes, I know that.”
Tess went on. “And as long as my body is in one piece, it will eventually heal from anything.”
“Right. But—”
“But if I was to be in pieces or I was stuck somewhere and unable to consume Elixir, then I would die. A Fae dies when their Starlight is all gone. And, of course, this can happen for any number of reasons.”
“Got it. Functionally immortal. But not immortal immortal.”
“That’s it. So, you see why you didn’t have to worry about me?” Tess spread her hands. “And anyways, I’ve been on the run. Didn’t you see the posters?”
“Did I see them?” Nat said, giving her a glare. “You know the Dark Queen knows we’re friends, right?”
“She does?”
“Yeah, guess who made the posters?”
Tess winced. Nat did have a flare for drawing. And the Dark Queen liked to torment whenever and wherever she could. She would have known that it would upset Nat to have to create posters asking for her best friend’s capture.
“Sorry, Nat.”
“Not your fault. Would have been nice to know you were okay, though.”
There was a silence.
“And that you were a spy.”
“Nat…”
“I know you couldn’t tell me. But it hurts that you deceived me anyways.”
“I was lying to everyone, if that makes you feel any better.”
“It doesn’t. But I understand that you felt you had to do it.”
“Nat, I’m sorry. Not for being a spy. But I should have somehow let you know. I was just worried about you being implicated even more than you already were.”
“I know you couldn’t have gotten me word without giving yourselves away. I was just worried about you, is all.”
There was another beat of quiet.
“I forgive you.”
“Thanks, Nat,” Tess said, sitting down on the narrow bed. She stared at the rough brown bedcovers and ran her hand over the fabric, surprised at its coarseness. Obviously, the lavishness of the Hundred Years Ball spell was not distributed equally.
“So?” Nat said, giving her a gossipy smile.
“So what?”
“So what happened with the handsome, prisoner man that you went on a quest with? Obviously something if you ended up on a wanted poster together.”
“Yes,” Tess said. “Something happened. I mean, lots of things happened.”
Tess didn’t even know where to start with the whole story of their adventures.
Nat squealed. “You’ve lain together?”
“No,” Tess said, her eyebrows drawing together. “Not yet.”
“But you want to, right?”
“Of course, Nat. Have you seen him?”
“I have, I have,” Nat said, bouncing on the bed. “So, kissing though?”
Tess sighed. “Yes.”
“Oh, Stars above, I have never heard you sigh like that before.”
“Like what?” Tess said, mildly embarrassed.
“Like a schoolgirl who’s sweet on a boy.”
“Nat, it’s not like that. He—” Tess struggled to explain. “He really cares about me.”
Nat’s face got serious. “Like loves you?”
“Maybe,” Tess said with a shrug.
“And how do you feel about him? The same?”
“Maybe,” she said again.
She grabbed Tess’s hand.
“And what’s with the ring on your ring finger?”
“It’s just so no one thinks it’s magical.”
“Right.” Nat’s voice was laced with disbelief.
“Really, Nat.”
The small woman shook her head. “Tessa Callahan in love. I never thought I’d see the day.” Nat clucked her tongue. “And I’m not just saying that. I literally never thought you would ever fall in love.”
“I don’t know if I’m in love.”
Nat lifted her eyebrows but said nothing, changing the subject instead. “So why did you need to talk to me? Not because you wanted to spill about your new man, I’m sure.”
“No, that’s not it,” Tess said. “I’m in trouble.”
“Yes,” Nat said with a laugh. “You are.”
“No seriously, Nat. We’re in big trouble. Both the Dark Queen and the King want to capture us so that after the Truce spell ends, they can… well, I’m not sure what either of them might do with us. But it won’t be good.”
Nat stared her down. “You know exactly what the Dark Queen will do with you, Tess,” Nat said, no trace of laughter on her face anymore. “What do you need from me?”
“Information,” Tess said. “Whatever you can tell me about what the Dark Queen is up to.”
Nat dropped her eyes.
“I’m not going to be of much use in that department, Tess. I’m an elf. The Dark Queen doesn’t trust me. I mean, she doesn’t trust anyone, but she definitely doesn’t talk about anything when I’m around.”
“Can’t you tell me anything?” Tess said, pleading. “Anything you’ve heard could be important in us staying alive this week. Anything.”
Nat shook her head. “No, Tess. I don’t have any special information. Of course, everybody knows about the queen’s search for her Crown of Visions every single Hundred Years Ball. You don’t need me to tell you about that.”
“Of course not,” Tess said, her voice bitter. “I’ve helped with the search for the past three Balls. Ruined my enjoyment completely to always be working. I’m looking forward to having some fun this time around.”
“Fun?” Nat said, gaping at her. “Tess Callahan is going to have fun? Who are you and what have you done with my friend?”
“I’m different, Nat,” Tess said, meeting her friend’s eyes. “This is the first time in my life I’ve been free.”
“Wow,” Nat said softly. “I’m so happy for you, Tess.”
“Thanks.” She smiled at her friend. “I guess I should go and make sure Finn’s okay. We got separated when we were using the rings.”
“Yes, you go check on your man.”
“He’s not my man,” Tess objected.
“Sure, he’s not,” Nat said, shaking her head. “I bet he’s following you around like a lovesick puppy.”
Tess thought of what he had said on the mountaintop. That he would follow her wherever she went.
“Not lovesick. Or a puppy.”
“Oh, but he does follow you around?” Nat said, giggling.
“It’s not like that, Nataliana. We—we’re friends. We care about each other. He’s fun. I like him. I don’t want to have power over him. I want to spend time with him. He… balances me somehow.”
“I can not believe it.”
“Oh stop,” Tess said, getting up. “You’re making too big a deal out of it.”
“Tess is in love,” Nat said, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. “I don’t think I could possibly make a big enough deal for this sort of news.”
Fair enough. It was a big deal. But she didn’t like Nat fawning over her about it like this. Nat seemed to sense her annoyance because she patted her condescendingly on the back.
“We’re not done with this, Tessa. I can’t wait to see him again. Are we going to the masquerade together?”
“Of course,” Tess said, forgetting her irritation with her friend. “It’ll be so much—”
She stopped, realizing that she had never been interested in the masquerade before. Nat had always had to drag her along. But the prospect of dancing with Finn and dressing up in the fine clothes and mask actually seemed like something she wanted to do this year.
“Fun?” Nat finished for her, a surprised expression on her face. “You really are different, Tess. In a good way. I’m glad.”
She wrapped her arms around Tess and squeezed.
“I have to go, Nat,” Tess said, gently disentangling herself. “But will you keep your eyes and ears open for anything that might help us? The smallest bit of information could be useful.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll come find you if I hear anything that I think might help.”
Tess gave a nod and turned her ring a quarter turn to the left. She had the same strange sensation of looking at herself and not being there.
“That is so odd,” Nat said as Tess disappeared. “Where’d you get the ghost ring?”
“Finn has a friend. His name’s Isadore.”
“Isadore the merchant?” Nat said.
“Yes. You know him?”
“I do,” Nat said. “I’ve bought a few enchantments from him in the past.”
Tess nodded and suddenly wondered where Finn had gotten to. She hoped he hadn’t been hurt or anything. They had to stick together, like he always said. They were better together. She needed to get back to their quarters and make sure he was all right.
“So, I’ll see you at the masquerade, Nat. I have to go check on Finn now.”
“Yes,” Nat called toward the door. “Go check on your man. I’m sure he’s lost without you.”
Tess strode toward the Keeper’s quarters, still invisible. She honestly hoped he wasn’t lost. Although how you could actually get lost, she had no idea. There were luminescence orbs everywhere that you could use to lead you anywhere. So there was no way of getting lost.
But he could have been captured or run into some kind of trouble. And that was what worried her. They were supposed to stay together and take care of each other. What if something had happened while she was gossiping with Nat? She would never forgive herself.
She ought to have gone straight back to the Keeper’s quarters as soon as she lost him. That had been the plan and she should have stuck to it. Tess didn’t know why but without warning, she had a bad feeling about why she had lost Finn.
She hurried back to the Keeper’s quarters, walking straight through the wall when she got to the secret passageway. Then she took the stairs two at a time and ran into the room, glancing around quickly for Finn.
Shadows and Chasm, he wasn’t here.
Tess twisted the ring and sat down at the table, feeling extremely anxious. Something bad was happening to Finn. She could feel it. She just knew that something was wrong.
Just then, the bathroom door opened and Finn emerged with only a towel wrapped around his hips.
Tess swallowed hard, her mouth going dry at the sight of his muscular chest and the smooth planes of his abdomen.
Stars alight but he was so gorgeous.
“Tess,” he said, looking relieved. “Thank goodness you’re back.”
They both froze at the sound of the clock striking midnight.
“Just in time,” he said, relieved. “I thought you wouldn’t get here before twelve. Did you talk to Nat?”
“Uh, yeah. Dead end. She didn’t know anything,” she said, barely able to follow the conversation and get her voice working again with him standing there half naked.
Tessa’s brain was hardly functioning as she stared at Finn, desire overrunning all channels of rational thought. She couldn't remember what she was doing. Chasm, she couldn't even remember her name.
That thought snapped her out of her haze.
That was not good.
That level of distraction.
It was the last thing she needed this week.
No, she couldn't let her feelings for Finn get in the way of what she had to do.
"We need to talk about our relationship," she blurted out.
"Okay," he said, his voice unsure.
"Look, Finn, I'm really attracted to you. And I want nothing more than for us to lie together. But... I think it would be irresponsible of us to do that right now."
"I agree."
"You do?"
"Of course, Tess. I feel the same. But we have more important things to accomplish. And I don't want to be distracted, either."
"So we're in agreement. Good," Tess said. Then why did she feel so disappointed? Maybe she had hoped that he would put up more of a fight?
“That’s too bad that Nat didn't have any info. But I’m really glad to see you. We have something else to talk about, as well. We have a new problem. Or I guess I should say, an old problem that’s getting worse.”
“And what problem is that?” she asked, hoping he would get dressed soon.
“It’s about my palm vow.”
Her mind was a blank. “And which palm vow is that?”
Finn lifted his eyebrows in surprise, as if she ought to know what he was talking about. His next words swept away all her thoughts about his gorgeous body.
“The one I made to kill the queen.”
Chapter 8
After her conversation with Nat didn’t turn up anything useful, Tess and Finn had gone to bed. Only to sleep, of course. Finn had seemed completely worn out from fighting against the vow. The next morning, Finn had been pretty closed mouthed about the whole thing, but they had decided to spend the second day of the Ball gathering intel and enjoying themselves. Oh, and not getting caught. There was that too.
And as part of the enjoying themselves part, Finn wanted to race in the flying contest.
“Are you sure you want to enter?” Tess said to Finn as he fluttered around her in his tiny winged form. Tess was sitting on the windowsill that seemed to look out on a beautiful, always sunny landscape. She wondered if the view was real or imagined. Not that it mattered. The sunshine felt warm and comforting.
Today was the day when most of the contests were held. There were competitions for just about anything. There was running, high jump, and sparring—though this was difficult with the Truce spell. Other fun contests included eating pickled eggs and riding the Urukuss for as long as possible. And then there were all the standard contests like throwing the javelin and shotput, archery, jumping the log pile, and most popular of all, the flying race.
That, Finn wanted to enter.
“Of course I do,” he said in a wheedling tone. “I win every year.”
“But what about the vow?”
“I just said it’s getting worse, not that I have to obey it. And I can’t kill the queen anyways because of the Truce spell.”
“You can’t kill her but you can be captured. And what about keeping a low profile? This is the most popular race of the whole week.”
“I’ll use a glamour. Nobody will notice, especially in my winged form.”
“Finn, don’t you think we should talk?”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, landing on the hand she held out. “I made a palm vow to kill whoever was responsible for Emmy’s death. The queen was responsible, so now I have to kill her. And being this close to her is making the vow magic more compelling. That’s all. I just have to be strong for this week. Then I’ll go as far away from her as I can.”
“But yesterday, you barely controlled yourself. If the queen hadn’t actually left the marketplace, you might have tried something. You said so yourself.”
“That’s true but I feel much better today. Stronger. You don’t have to worry, Tess.”
This only made Tessa feel more anxious. “And what about the fact that if you do kill her, our whole land could be destroyed?”
“That would be bad,” Finn conceded. “Except that I can’t kill her, remember? Obviously once we get out of Summerswind—when the Ball is over—I’ll be going far away from her.”
“And what about the fact that if you don’t keep your vow, it will eventually leach all the Starlight from your body and you’ll die?”
He stared down at Tess’s hand. At his size, the lines of her palm were deep enough for him to put his foot in them. He tucked his toes into one of the cracks and tapped it a couple times.
“I don’t know. I guess I was hoping that I would figure something out. There’s got to be a way out of it somehow. Somebody’s got to know a way to fix it. R
ight?”
Tessa felt bleak. “I don’t know, Finn. I’ve never heard of anyone ever breaking a palm vow.”
“Not breaking it,” he said, tapping his foot in the crack. “Getting around it somehow.”
“Can you stop that?” she said, wiggling her hand. “It tickles.”
He lost his footing and flew up in the air. “Hey, watch it,” he said, annoyed.
“Sorry,” she said. “But I don’t think we should go to this competition. Like you said, it’s too high profile. Everyone will be looking at you.”
“Clearly, you’ve never been to this race before if you think that,” Finn said with a chuckle. “There are hundreds that participate. No one is going to notice one glamoured Fae man.”
Tess was pretty sure that wasn’t true but he seemed determined, so she wasn’t going to stop him.
“Fine, but if things go badly, then you turn big and use the ring.”
“Promise,” Finn said.
“All right. I’m ready then.”
“Got the spectacles?”
She patted her pocket, then opened the stairs, and Finn flew beside her, sitting on her shoulder while she went through the rotating wall. Once she was out in the hallway, she turned her ring and disappeared. It was still shocking to not see herself. But it only took a few minutes of being invisible and insubstantial for her to get used to it.
She followed Finn as he flew toward the arena.
The arena was packed and Tess was constantly walking through people, which she decidedly did not like. She was having a hard time keeping up with Finn, so she hooted, and he waved back at her, heading down to the arena floor.
She stopped and looked around. A little smile graced her face. Everywhere there was color. The Faeries were wearing their best and brightest. Flashes of red amidst deep blues and greens. A spark of orange and yellow in between purples and browns. The Fae were smiling and laughing more than they ever did. The Hundred Years Ball was a holiday of the highest order. Almost no one had to work since all of the usual chores were taken care of by the spell. People did nothing but feast and enjoy themselves. There was nothing like it in a century.
