by Linda Jordan
“I need to find your sister,” he disentangled himself and ran from the room, back to the main hallway.
“No, please don’t go. I want to be with you,” she yelled, running after him.
Ronan heard her footsteps behind him, but turned a corner before she could see where he went. Escape was the coward’s way out, but he could do nothing for her. The curse would wear off before the evening ended.
He entered the Commoner’s Room first. The crowd had grown since he left on his search. He wove through the dance floor avoiding the boisterous couples searching the room. No sign of Mira anywhere.
Ronan spotted Amanda walking into the far door where he’d first entered the room. She saw him also and yelled. The hungry look on her face told him everything. She ran across the dance floor towards him, crashing into people and even knocking a woman down.
Ronan didn’t wait to see more. He slipped out the first available door and into the Noble’s Room.
This room was much less crowded. Mira wasn’t there either.
His heart sank. He’d need to return to the Queen’s Quarters and look again. As he turned to leave Lord Montaine greeted him.
“Ah, Ronan, you’ve grown since I saw you last.”
“Hello, Sir. It has been seven turns since my father took us to visit you. How goes your fishing this season?” Ronan remembered and liked the man, but the timing was inconvenient.
“Oh, same as usual. The sea gives us much and takes almost as much in return. We lost two large ships and far too many men in the last storm of the winter.”
“I am sorry to..., ”
“Beloved, why did you run away?” Amanda asked breathlessly, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I’m not letting go of you now!”
Ronan looked at Montaine and said, “Faerie curse.”
Montaine roared with laughter. “Were I you, I would take advantage of that.”
He said, “Afraid I cannot. I love her twin sister,” he said, laughing at the irony.
“No law against having two lovers.”
“I do not think her sister would approve.”
“I am not going to share you,” said Amanda. “You are mine, all mine.
“Excuse us,” said Ronan, walking out onto a balcony, dragging Amanda with him.
Ronan heard Lord Montaine’s bellowing laugh behind him.
Once on the balcony, Amanda disentangled herself and moved to face Ronan.
“What do you want, Amanda?”
“You.”
“I will not make love to you. This curse will wear off.”
“It’s not a curse.”
“Earlier today you wanted my brother, Ewan.”
“I don’t remember him,” she said, looking confused.
“Come on. We need to find Mira. She is looking for your soul and for Dylan.”
“Dylan?”
“Dylan, your son.”
“I think I saw him.”
“Where?”
“Upstairs, close to where I saw you. He had a gross, yellowy, slimy thing that screamed at me.”
“Was it your soul, Amanda?” Ronan asked, even though he knew thinking under a faerie curse was nearly impossible.
She looked thoughtful. Finally she said, “Yes, I think it was, but it scared me.”
“Come, we must go find him.”
“I’ll follow you anywhere.”
They made their way back to the Queen’s quarters. He worried about Mira’s continued absence. What could have happened to her?
Chapter 29 - Mira
Mira’s eyes slammed open. Where was she? What was she supposed to be doing?
Standing slowly, she leaned against the wall, waiting for the whirling in her head to wear off. She kept trying to focus her eyes on one small spot to stop the dizziness. Someone came around the corner.
She forgot about focusing on anything but the most beautiful man she had ever seen. His golden curly hair looked like the sun and beneath the purple silk he wore, muscles rippled beautifully.
He came towards her, “Mira, are you well?”
“I don’t think so.” She floundered, lost in his smiling, blue eyes. Her mouth moved clumsily and she felt awkward. “I think I fell asleep here and woke up feeling very strange. Who are you?” Mira asked in the most flirtatious voice she could summon up.
“I am Ewan,” he said, graciously. “I met you on the road and Amanda rode into the city with me.”
“Amanda?” She massaged her scalp in an attempt to clear her foggy mind. Her hands found the horn. The horn she couldn’t figure out. Was that why she felt so strange? Looking at Ewan, she forgot everything and drowned in his eyes. She started to tip over and he reached out to steady her.
“Yes, I am looking for your sister now. She was supposed to meet me at the feast and I cannot find her. One of the pooka said they saw someone who looked like her up here, chasing my brother. But it must have been you.”
“Your brother?”
“Ronan. He is missing.”
“Oh, I met him once, I think.” She ran her hands up his arms and caressed the lean muscles.
“Do you need to sit down somewhere?”
“Yes, on your lap.”
“No, that will not work,” he said, blushing. “I do not seem to be making much progress finding either Amanda or Ronan. There is a waiting room, back around the hall. Let us sit there. We can talk. Perhaps they will find us.”
She walked unsteadily, leaning heavily on Ewan’s arm. Faking small, weak steps, she grabbed his waist, falling once or twice so he would catch her. They shuffled down the hallway.
He smelled divine. His presence was as intoxicating as a fine wine. Chardonnay, perhaps. Rich, full bodied, with a fruity start and a slightly oaky finish that lingered on the tongue. She clung to his muscular shoulders, her lips reaching for his by the time they reached the waiting room.
He gently pushed her down on a chair, then sat himself a good distance away. Mira gazed into his eyes. “Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful you are?”
“What has beauty got to do with anything?” he asked. “You are very beautiful as well, but really, what use is it? It does not guarantee you the lover you want. It will not make you happy, or powerful. It does not mean anything. It is just nice.”
“True. It’s just nice, but irrelevant. Still, it’s nice to have a lover who’s beautiful, who you find desirable and attractive, right?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And you said I was beautiful, right?” She leaned over and put a hand on his thigh.
“Yes, I did,” he said, looking suspicious.
“And I think you’re absolutely over the top gorgeous.” She slid over onto his lap.
He looked towards the doorway, then attempted to push her off, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about. I’m attracted to you and you’re attracted to me. It’s obvious. We should be lovers.” She caressed his nearest ear with her index finger.
“It is obvious to me that I want Amanda and you are under a faerie spell. You will feel differently by tomorrow. I better go find her,” said Ewan, pushing her off his lap and getting up.
“No, please stay. I know I’m not very good at this.”
“It is not your manner. I simply want Amanda.” He walked towards the door. “I need to go now. If you see Amanda or Ronan please tell them I am looking for them. Have you found Dylan yet?”
“Dylan?”
He stopped, sighed and said, “I think you need some help. You seem lost.”
“Love will do that to you,” she said, walking over and putting her arm around Ewan’s waist.
“Hello Ewan, can I help you?” asked a black robed man who seemed to appear out of nowhere.
He looked sinister beneath his slimy smile. The man’s energy seemed all wrong somehow, like a kid who’s had way too much candy, except more subdued.
“Glad Midsummer, High Sorcerer,” said Ewan. “I found
this woman wandering disoriented in the hallway and brought her here to sit down. Something is wrong with her.”
The man touched her. She recoiled from his energy. “Aah,” he said, “she has the breath of faerie about her. I thought I smelled their stink earlier. There is another who looks much like this one who also has been touched. She was chasing your brother.” The Sorcerer stared at her horn. She felt afraid, but didn’t know why.
“How strange,” said Ewan.
“She called him beloved.”
“Oh dear,” said Ewan. “The faerie have been busy.”
“I will take care of this one while you go about your celebrating,” said the Sorcerer.
Mira clung to Ewan. She didn’t want to stay with this man.
“Since the faerie curse cannot be undone, I will take her with me. I am sure you have better things to do. I might as well be of some use. I will return her to the party and see if someone is searching for her,” Ewan said.
“As you wish, my Lord,” said the Sorcerer. He covered his anger quickly, but Mira sensed it.
She felt a strong urge to mask her power, so she concentrated on filling her entire being with lust for Ewan.
Ewan took her arm and led her from the room. She felt so grateful. That man was horrible. She’d seen him once before and never wanted to see him again.
Unfortunately, the Sorcerer was following them from the room. She saw two pooka standing guard across the hallway. The Sorcerer called them over and she overheard him say, “Please go to her chambers and ask the Queen to meet me in her bath. Tell her, it is very urgent.”
Ewan laughed as they walked further down the hallway.
“What’s so funny?” asked Mira.
“He is probably trying to get the Queen here, hoping the faerie curse still lingers and she will catch it. Everyone knows she is going to name her consort tonight. He would love to have that kind of power.”
“So you think it’s just a curse that’s made me fall in love with you? You think it won’t last.” She glared at him, putting her hands on her hips.
“That is what I know. Now, let us go find Amanda and Ronan. And Dylan.”
“Why would I want to find any of them?” she asked, pouting.
“Because I want to, and you profess to be in love with me. Surely you want to please me,” he said putting his hands on her shoulders and gazing into her eyes.
“You certainly know how to manipulate people.”
“Turns and turns of practice watching people use me.” He laughed and it sounded like the lovely trilling of a chickadee to her.
As they spied into rooms along the corridors, Mira asked, “How long does this supposed curse last, so I can prove to you my love is real?”
“Probably till the deep of night. Ah, here we are,” said Ewan. “These are my father’s rooms. Let us go inside and see if we can get you cleaned up and find a costume for you. You will blend in better.”
She eagerly followed him into the elegant rooms, a seating room was surrounded by several bedrooms. Each bedroom had a separate bathroom. Ewan pushed her into one and poured hot water from a warmer into the stone tub. He added cold water, showed her the soap and towels and said, “You know what to do. I will search for a costume for you.” He closed the door more firmly than was necessary. Mira fumed, but eventually stepped into the water.
She soaked in the tub, enjoying the luxuriant bubbles from the soap and finally washed her terribly filthy hair. She dried herself and wrapped a green towel around her, deciding that looked sexier than simple nakedness. She found a brush and set about trying to untangle her hair, staring into a mirror at the horn growing on her forehead. It would have been quite pretty, if a horn growing from one’s forehead wasn’t so bizarre.
There was a knock at the door and Ewan said, “I found the perfect costume for you.”
She opened the door and he thrust in a wad of fabric topped with an elegant mask.
“Come in and help me,” she said, “I need your help.”
“I think not,” he said, laughing, and closed the door again.
She took off the towel and put on the silky red, brown and white fabric. It was a shirt and pants with white patches like a pinto horse. The mask was a glittery, horse’s head, but it wouldn’t fit over her horn.
Mira came out of the bath room carrying the mask. She saw Ewan sitting on a couch. He waved her over and she became hopeful. Instead of romance, however, he pulled out a knife. Taking the mask, he cut a hole. When he finished she put it on.
It fit over her horn, so much so that the horn looked like it was part of the mask. A perfect disguise. She took it off, then leaned over to put her arms around him and tried to sit on his lap, again.
He waggled the knife at her teasingly. “The faerie enjoy hitting us with their enchantments when we celebrate Midsummer’s Eve,” he said. “Every turn some of us are caught by them. They have their jest and it all wears off.”
“This isn’t a curse. I love you.”
“Yes, it is a curse. I am sorry. I would never have wished this on anyone. It happened to me many turns ago. Our sister had just left us, I was very sad about it. At Midsummer, I was unlucky enough to become bewitched by the faerie. I fell in love with a very handsome and popular woman. I think I was sixteen at the time, gawky and awkward. She spent the whole evening laughing at me, as did all her friends and admirers,” said Ewan
“It must have hurt you a great deal.”
“It was a long time before I could look at another person with love.”
“I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you,” she said, caressing his face.
“That is the way the faerie play.” He stood, backed away from her and left the room.
She followed him through the hallways of the palace. They came to the public area where musicians played string and pipe instruments. Mira noticed one that looked like a cross between a ilean pipes and a bass and made a haunting, plaintive sound which captivated her. They wove their way through the crowd of people dancing, drinking and laughing. She clung to Ewan’s hand and he allowed her to.
They stopped near his father, Roderick, who was talking to a couple of men in costume. At least they looked like costumes. The men wore masks, but she wasn’t sure how people dressed for parties here. Things didn’t become any clearer. Some people were dressed in satin suits like Ewan and long ball gowns; others wore rough cottony clothes like she had worn earlier. Still others wore fantastically colored and shaped clothing with padding and extra peculiar appendages. She couldn’t stop staring at the colorful gathering, and basking in Ewan’s warm glow. She felt dizzy whenever he looked at her.
A few beings who didn’t look real were out on the dance floor as well. Pooka looked strange enough. She saw creatures wearing hooded capes in bright colors, who had pale oval faces with red, burning eyes. She didn’t have any name to call them. It seemed impolite to ask. Another type of entity with faces like possums, bulbous bodies and long tales ornamented with many gold bands, danced wildly and other than fur, wore no clothing. There were a couple other types of creatures as well, she turned to ask Ewan about them.
He was deep in conversation with his father. “The Sorcerer said he saw Amanda chasing Ronan. I can only assume the faerie cursed her as well,” said Ewan.
Roderick replied, “Is it not interesting that so far, the faeries’ only prey have been outlanders and twins?”
“That we know of,” Ewan said.
“That we know of,” Roderick repeated.
“Does that mean something?” Ewan asked his father, clearly annoyed.
“I am not sure,” Roderick said. “We will have to wait and see how the evening plays out, will we not?” Roderick smiled and walked away into the crowd.
“Sometimes my father makes me so angry,” said Ewan, glaring at his father’s retreating back.
“What was that about?” she asked, beginning to caress his upper arms.
“He has got some juicy piece of information and he is not
telling me.”
At that moment they were bumped together by a man in a hurry. He looked gorgeous with long dark hair and warm, brown eyes. He would taste like a deep, complex pinot noir. Then Mira looked at Ewan again and became lost.
“Mira,” the stranger asked, “is that you?”
She looked at him again, “Who’re you? And Amanda! You’re here too!”
“It’s me, Ronan.”
“What are you doing?” asked Amanda.
Who was Ronan? The name sounded familiar. “I’m following this lovely man around, and I will continue all night and tomorrow and the next day until he believes I love him.”
Ronan opened his mouth, then closed it again.
“Faerie curse,” said Ewan. “And you?” he asked his brother.
“Faerie curse,” said Ronan.
“Why do you even care about her?” asked Amanda, with disgust. “I’ve always been more beautiful than her.”
“Amanda love, do you understand what is going on?” asked Ewan.
“Don’t Amanda love me, you toad. Ronan, come away with me,” said Amanda trying to drag him towards the door.
Ronan looked at Ewan and at Mira. “What should I do? The curse is especially strong with Amanda, since her soul is missing.”
“Be gentle with her until the curse wears off,” said Ewan.
“Mira, where is Dylan?” asked Ronan.
“Dylan, who is Dylan?” she asked.
“He’s Amanda’s son. You went to look for him.”
“I have no idea. When I woke up there was only you,” she said to Ewan.
“Where were you?” Ronan asked
“Where was I?” she asked Ewan, moving closer to him, thrilled by the warmth of his body.
“In the hallway outside the private audience rooms,” said Ewan.
Amanda clung behind Ronan, her arms wrapped possessively around his waist, her head resting on his back.
Ronan looked Mira directly in the eye,”I will meet you just after deep night in the Tower. I will find Dylan, and Amanda will find her soul, and there will be time for many explanations.” He turned to Ewan, “Make sure she is there. I will bring your Amanda.”
Ronan walked away, dragging Amanda after him, Amanda flashed them a brilliant smile. Ewan began chuckling.
