by L. K. Rigel
But seeing Fraelyn again was shocking. Cissa had forgotten how short-lived humans were, even abbesses of Avalos.
“I’m… very happy to see you, Abbess.” She jumped up onto the hanging couch opposite Fraelyn’s.
“Then why are you crying, dear one?”
“Because I never thought I would—see you again—and now that I do, you look so old and frail. I wish…”
“Now, now. There is nothing to wish for. Not for me. I have everything I could want, and the world is just as it should be.”
“But you’re going to die.”
“Yes,” the abbess said. “Which is also as it should be.”
Cissa looked away, out at the grounds, and saw Lexi walking toward the lake. “So she is here. That’s good.”
“I remember the first time I saw you,” the abbess said. “You were such a spitfire then, full of righteous indignation and determined to right the wrong you felt had been done to your brother. We let you stand beside Igdrasil and yell and scream for hours and hours.”
“It felt like days.”
“Perhaps it was.” Fraelyn sipped her tea and chuckled. “But you would not give it up. You would not let it go. I said to let you scream to the highest heaven for seven years if you wanted to come, but Velyn wouldn’t have it. It was Velyn you have to thank for pleading your cause. He said if we didn’t want fae on the island we should never have allowed the fairy cup to stay when Kaelyn first brought it to us for safekeeping.”
“Ha! So technically, you allowed me on the island the moment you agreed to shelter the cup,” Cissa said.
“You’ll make a wise queen yet, my dear.”
“I don’t know, Abbess. I do want to be a wise queen, but it’s so hard.”
“You’re too much alone,” Fraelyn said. “You must take a husband.”
“I suppose so. Eventually.” She thought of her prince and his wonderful kisses. “My mother had a consort.”
“I don’t think that will do for you, my dear. You need more than Sifae did. Not a consort, but a true husband and partner. There is someone, isn’t there?”
Cissa looked up sharply. “How… how did you know?” For some reason, her breath caught, and her emotions burst as if they’d found a secret way out.
“I know nothing,” the abbess said. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
“It’s… it’s m…my prince charming…” The tears started falling again. Maybe it was being on the island, but her feelings were intensified, over the top. All the longing and frustration she’d pent up since her eyes turned green came flooding out. “I know I…I sh…shouldn’t. I think it runs in my f…f…family.”
“What does, dear one?”
Dear one. No one had called her by such sweet names since her mother died. She hadn’t realized how much she missed it.
“L…lo…love!” There. she’d said it. “I love him! I’ve loved him for a thousand years, and more, and there’s n…n…nothing I can do a…ab…about it! And I don’t know where he is.”
A handkerchief appeared in front of her face. She snatched it out of the air and blew her nose.
“There, there,” Fraelyn said. “Go ahead, blow.”
“I’m sorry, Abbess,” Cissa said. “I don’t know what’s got into me. I’m s…so un…happy.”
“Of course you are, darling. One of the greatest sorrows of life is loving on the inside and not being able to show it on the outside.”
“It hurts,” Cissa admitted. “But what can I do? I’ve tried to bring him back to me, but none of my spells have worked. He m…mu…must not lo…love me.”
“Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he does,” Fraelyn said. “Soon you will know.”
“What do you mean? Do you know who he is? Where he is?”
“I know that you will see him again, this year, at Faeview, on Mischief Night.”
“Huh?” Cissa blew her nose one last time and tried to absorb what she’d just heard.
“Lord and Lady Dumnos must give a ball in Lexi’s honor, to introduce her to the people. Tell her parents they must say that Lexi was away with the Tuatha Dé Danaan, trapped in their realm until she turned seventeen, and that her time tether brought her back to seven seconds after she’d disappeared from Tintagos.”
“That’s a good story,” Cissa said. “Morning Glory knows a woman with a shop in Tintagos Village who loves the lore. She’ll spread the word among the humans, and enough will believe her—or pretend to.”
She blew out her breath. She couldn’t believe how much better she felt, just getting it all out.
And what news! She was going to see her prince charming again, and so soon.
“At the ball you will dance with your true love,” Fraelyn said, as if she’d read Cissa’s mind. “I have seen it. Moreover, the Dumnos fae will be healed through the marriage of its queen, and on the day you’re wed, the dark will be banished forever.”
“Golly.”
III. Max
“Max, hello!” Lady Lexi waved from the bridge and broke out in a run. She seemed to have grown another few years older since he’d last seen her. But wasn’t that only a day or two ago?
He had come to look at Mistcutter and do his usual penance. Once, he’d nurtured hopes of breaking the curse and restoring the goblins’ physical beauty. But that was long ago. At last, he’d come to accept the way things were. Wasn’t that the lesson of the curse, after all? The will of the high gods must always supersede his own.
“I have news,” Lexi said with youth’s dramatic flair. “Prepare yourself. It’s exciting.”
The girl sat down beside him on the bench. Out of her hidey pouch, she pulled the scoping glass he’d once decorated for Igraine. As she turned it absently in her hands, a sense of déjà vu came over him.
“I’m ready. What’s your exciting news?”
“The high gods have relented,” she said. “Brother Sun and Sister Moon have agreed to revoke the goblin curse.”
He realized then it had been a mistake to think of this creature as a child, or even as a young woman. She was more than child, woman, human, or fae. She was an old soul, spiritual granddaughter of one of the fallen. Had the high gods sent her to save them all?
“There’s a catch, of course,” she said with a wink, and her violet eyes flashed in the Avalos sun. “There’s always a catch.”
“Tell me.”
“My parents will give me a ball on Mischief Night to introduce me to the people of Dumnos. The abbess and I have it all worked out how we’ll explain my… age.”
“That’s gratifying to hear.”
“At midnight, all Dumnos goblinkind will be released from the curse.”
“That sounds too simple.”
“I haven’t told you the catch yet.”
“Of course.”
“You must dance with Cissa in your true form, but you’re not allowed to tell her your name. If she declares her love for you—and she does love you, Max. I know she does. If she declares it before she sees the morning star, the curse will be revoked forever.”
It was suddenly hard to breathe. He wanted to believe Cissa loved him. He wanted it so much that he wouldn’t allow himself to think it possible. The pain would be too great if it was all just a mistake.
“And if she doesn’t… declare her love?”
“Then it won’t stick.” Lexi grimaced and made her eyes big. “Every goblin will revert to ugly again as soon as they see the morning star.”
Max nodded, but he felt sick to his stomach.
“Bring your friends to the ball,” Lexi said. “Drang, in particular.”
“Is that part of Brother Sun and Sister Moon’s conditions?”
“No, just my invitation,” she said. “I would especially like to see him at my ball. I think Morander and Boadicea should be there also.”
Great gods, could it be true? A huge lump rose in Max’s throat. He looked up at Mistcutter, gleaming in the sun, and the dragon design he’d once been so proud of etched nea
r the guard. After all these years… To have the curse lifted, and Cissa’s love too—could he bear so much happiness?
“And Max, here’s the thing,” Lexi said. “Cissa has to declare her love freely, without expectation of any gain, so no one can tell her about it.”
“Of course,” Max said drily.
“The gods won’t accept a declaration made out of pity. No offense.”
“None taken.” Max grunted.
The last thing he wanted was Cissa’s pity love.
« Chapter 15 »
Goblin Ball
The Blue Vale
I. Max
“Sun and moon, Boadicea. Just do what I say!”
Max had never been so frustrated in his life. Sturm and Drang, and even Morander, had no problem with the prospect of attending a ball at Faeview. They were fully on board, dressed to the nines in new suits and shoes.
Shoes, not boots. Max had made his own—loafers, Horace called them—to ensure a perfect fit. The leprechaun had assured him the style was infinitely better suited to the refined nature of an indoor human ball, but he hated the feel of them. He missed the security of buckled and grommeted, knee-high, low-heeled leather.
His sister, on the other hand, was not on board, fully or otherwise. “Boadicea, you’re acting like the most stubborn, obstinate, bullheaded gob I’ve ever dealt with.”
“Don’t bully me!” she said.
“I don’t think you realize how important this is.” He tried diplomacy. “Lady Lexi is heir to the Moonstick Throne, and she’s the future countess of Dumnos. She wants you there for her special night.”
“She doesn’t even know me,” Boadicea said.
“The JimmyRoos are playing,” Drang said.
“The band from the Glimmer Cottage Pub?” Morander said. “Awesome.”
“You go to Glimmer Cottage Pub?” Max said. “In the human realm?”
“Why not?” Sturm said.
“It’s on the border, at the edge of the faewood,” Drang said. “The back door is practically in fae.”
“Yeah,” Sturm said. “Jimmy doesn’t know it, but his rhythm section and two backup singers are faelings.”
“No wonder they kick,” Morander said.
“You know something?” Drang said, “this could be the start of a new phase in human-fae relations. Maybe we could get the ’Roos to come play in the Vale one week.”
“There now, Boadicea,” Max said. “Doesn’t that sound like a grand evening? The JimmyRoos.” Ack. He should never, ever try to sound cool.
“And there’s that fabulous gown Horace made for you,” Morander said. “Those gorgeous satin dancing slippers. Don’t you want to wear your new fine clothes?”
“You can’t bribe me; I’m no fairy.” Boadicea grunted a grunt worthy of Max’s most curmudgeonly utterance. “And besides, the finest gown in the history of gowns won’t change the fact that I’m ugly as sin. I’m not going, and you can’t make me.”
With that she stomped out of the room and down the hall. Her bedroom door slammed.
“My friend, I believe it’s time.” Drang slapped a hand on Morander’s shoulder. “Time to break out the secret weapon.”
“For the greater good?” Morander said.
“The greater good,” Sturm said.
“What are you talking about?” Max said. “What secret weapon?”
“Have you got some wine hereabouts?” Morander withdrew a small crystal bottle from his jacket pocket.
“Love potion, are you kidding?” Max said. “I hate that stuff.”
“The greater good,” Drang said. “Either that, or Boadicea stays home.”
“No, she has to go,” Max said. He brought goblets from the hutch and poured out red wine for them all. He had to comply with everything Lexi had requested for tonight. He couldn’t know which detail, if missed, might ruin the chance to break the curse.
Morander tipped a few drops of the potion into a goblet and swirled the liquids together. “Here goes nothing.” He took the cup to Boadicea’s room, only to return a few minutes later, red-faced.
“She’ll be out in a minute.
“Morander! I’m coming!” Boadicea came back to the lounge, dressed in her finery. Smiling in a very weird way, she linked her arm with Morander’s.
“Shall we go then?” Morander said.
“Anything you say, sweetheart.” Her eyes were as big as the moon and overflowing with love.
It was creepy.
“The greater good,” the four male gobs said simultaneously.
They rode together in Mavis’s wagon, and when they reached the grounds behind Faeview, Max stopped and unhitched his pony to let her graze under the stars.
“We walk from here,” he told his friends, missing his boots.
It was almost midnight. If what Lexi had told him proved correct, in the next few moments they should all be released from their ugly forms.
“There’s something I need to tell you before we go in.”
The Faewood
II. Cissa
Cissa was just putting on her emerald necklace when Morning Glory popped in to her bower.
“Hello, hello!” Glory said. “Everybody’s ready. Goldy and Violet and Fen are waiting for us in the throne room, and the leprechauns and brownies are going together. The pixies are so mad!”
“Too bad. It’s their own fault.” Cissa examined herself in the full-length mirror. The emeralds enhanced the glitter of her green eyes and looked fantastic with her red hair and curve-hugging dress of sparkling claret-colored sequins that matched her wings. “I told them if they kept stealing the leprechauns’ hats they couldn’t go to the ball, and what did they do?”
“They kept stealing the leprechauns’ hats,” Glory said.
“I am a hard queen, but a just one.”
Morning Glory burst out laughing. “Let’s go!” She popped out.
Cissa nearly followed but stopped. She turned back to her puzzle box and opened the top drawer. This was the most important night of her life. She was going to see her prince! The abbess had said that he loved her… didn’t she?
But Max would be there too. Maybe it was silly, but a nagging feeling told her he wasn’t going to like watching her dance with the man she loved. Max had no claim on her, of course, and they were just friends.
Good friends.
She slipped the diamond bracelet into her hidey pouch—with no clear idea why; maybe as a good-luck charm—and popped out to join the others.
Faeview
II. Lily
Lilith Evergreen Bausiney. Countess of Dumnos. Lady Dumnos. Lily. Igraine.
Who am I? Lilith thought, watching Cade dance with their daughter. Her heart was full to bursting with love. Love for Cade, for Lexi. Even for her mother, silly Morning Glory, who was dancing with Goldy, both making a halfhearted attempt to keep their feet on the ground.
The love in Lilith’s heart was bittersweet. Lexi hadn’t been alive on the planet a year, and yet she had the appearance and intellect of a woman nearly full grown. It felt like Lilith and Cade had been cheated—and they had. But they’d also been given an amazing gift. Lexi was unique.
And more than anyone, Lilith knew that life was just weird. A person did well to accept what wonders came her way.
Speaking of wonders, look at Dandelion and Beverly dancing to the band’s cover of Joan Armatrading’s Love and Affection. Fae and human, they symbolized the unity Lilith and Cade hoped to foster among the citizens of Dumnos, in both realms.
It seemed to be working. A cacophony of humans, fae, and faelings filled the ballroom, drinking, dancing, laughing. Having fun. Enjoying each other’s company.
And who would have believed Duncan Edan and Cammy French—together, so obviously in love. Good for Cammy. But poor Bella. If Bella would just catch a little of Cammy’s fever for the mystic, surely she’d be much happier.
The song ended the set, and the musicians left the stage for a break while guests broke off into grou
ps. Lilith saw Dandelion and Beverly slip outside through the French doors to the veranda. She was glad Beverly had come, for Lexi’s sake, but it wouldn’t surprise her if the two left early, even if Beverly was wearing glimmermist under her gown.
Lexi had two quite opposite grandmothers, that was for sure. There was the elegant, powerful, human, perhaps a bit dangerous, wyrding woman Beverly. Then there was the silly, joyous, impetuous, immortal fae Morning Glory.
“Isn’t Jimmy’s band fabulous?” Lexi said as she and her dad joined Lilith. The girl leaned in and lowered her voice. “I have it on good authority, four of them are faeling.”
“Sun and moon.” Cade’s head whipped around, and he gave the band a once-over. But then he laughed. “What am I thinking? We’re faeling too, after all. When am I going to get it that faeling doesn’t mean two-headed circus attraction?”
“It’s working, isn’t it, Daddy?” Lexi said. “The humans and fae of Dumnos here tonight are getting along just fine.”
“After all, it is Mischief Night,” Lilith said. “If we hadn’t had the fae in our ballroom, we would have had them on our roof.”
“They keep asking about Bausiney’s Abundance,” Cade said. “A lot of the fae expected to see the cup tonight.”
“Yikes, I didn’t think of that,” Lilith said. On the day Lexi was born, they’d loaned the Dumnos fairy cup to the Victoria & Albert in London for an ongoing exhibit. “Next year, we’ll have to bring it home, if only for the night.”
Duncan and Cammy stopped on their way to the punch bowl. “Lady Dumnos,” Duncan said, “I wanted to thank you for inviting me. It’s a pleasure to be at Faeview for… for pleasure.”
“I’m glad you could be here,” Lilith said. “You’re so diligent in protecting the family interests. It’s good to see you enjoy yourself for an evening.”
“You’re talking about the Clad,” Lexi said. “I think I have an idea for that, but this isn’t the time.”
The minute she said time the deep gong on the grandfather clock began to chime the hour.
“Ooh!” Lexi bounced on her toes, and Lilith thought she might spin up into the air like her less-elegant grandmother. “It’s midnight!”
