Stinking Beauty

by Elizabeth A Reeves

  I wondered if her opinions of that girl would change if she knew that Talia was pregnant with another man’s child.

  “There is one issue here,” Astraea said, leaning forward intently. “Princess Talia is missing, and the only other person known to be in the position to take her seems to be Alexander.”

  The queen laughed, joined by the king, who chortled so long and loud he had to bury his face in a handkerchief.

  “Not likely,” he gasped. “That boy has always done things the right way.”

  The princess hadn’t exactly followed the same rules, but I kept my thoughts to myself.

  “You can ask anyone,” the king said, waving his hand dismissively. “Alexander wanted to marry Talia, all officially and properly done with a big wedding and a honeymoon to the Isle of Yew. He’s been planning their lives together since they were kids. Until a few months before the spell fell, I thought Talia felt the same way, but…” he shook his head.

  “Talia was in trouble,” Queen Evi said sadly. “Alexander was worried about her. He said that Talia was going to need him, and that’s why he asked me to make the amulet. He said that he was afraid that someone would take advantage of the spell and hurt Talia.”

  I nearly choked on my roll. “Who? Did he say who?”

  The queen shook her head sadly. “No, he wouldn’t say what or who was worrying him so, just that he was afraid for Talia and needed to be prepared to rescue her if something awful happened.”

  “You must admit that this all looks suspicious now,” Dallan interjected.

  The queen sighed. “I know. And it’s unfortunate because I’m sure my boy is out there right now trying to find Talia before she gets hurt.”

  “The boy has the softest heart,” the king said. “He found a winged lion in the woods three years back who had been killed by a hunter and left her cubs out there to starve. He brought them home and nursed them day and night with his own hands. He said he had to do it just right so they would be able to return to the sky again. That’s just the sort of man he’s grown up to be.”

  “I am so afraid for him,” Queen Evi said, looking down at the table to hide her worried expression. “He doesn’t always look before he leaps. He’s just the kind to rush off to the rescue without stopping to plan along the way. I know he would do anything for Talia. He loves her so. That’s what scares me. If what’s best for Talia hurts him… he won’t hesitate.”

  Her eyes looked up and met mine. I could feel the maternal anguish there.

  I sipped at my water and glanced at the twins.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t just exchange a look with them and know what they were thinking.

  “We will, of course, do our best to find Alexander,” Dallan said. “Hopefully, he hasn’t gotten himself into too much trouble.”

  I wasn’t sure if the missing prince’s parents caught the unspoken suggestion that the prince may be neck-deep in our missing princess and her troubles.

  “If you learn anything about Alexander, please let us know,” the queen pleaded as we took our leave.

  “We will as soon as we can,” I promised.

  The twins shared one of their long looks as the carriage lifted off and headed towards Gilterra.

  “Do you think he had anything to do with it?” I asked.

  “Parents rarely truly see their own children for who they are,” Dallan said seriously. “But my instincts say that this boy isn’t a killer. I’m afraid he’s very involved now, though. It just remains to see how.”

  “We have two unexplained deaths,” Astraea said, “and two missing people that we know of. I feel like we are scarcely grasping the tail of the tiger in front of us.”

  “Do you think that Talia’s disappearance has anything to do with her pregnancy?” I asked.

  “I cannot imagine that it doesn’t,” Dallan said. “I believe it has everything to do with her pregnancy and this Prince Denny who seduced her.”

  “We just need to find Prince Denny,” I said. “Then everything will start fitting together again.”

  “If there even is a Prince Denny,” Dallan said coldly. “I do not doubt that there was a man, but I doubt that he shared his true name if he was a practiced seducer of innocents as he appears.”

  “That was my conclusion as well,” Astraea agreed. “I suspect that he entered those particular woods specifically to draw the princess’s eye.”

  “But why?” I protested.

  Astraea patted my hand with her own, which was wearing gloves again. “You are too sweet, too naïve by nature to comprehend just how evil humans can be. The answer to often is that human atrocities are committed simply because they could be. Whatever they can imagine, for good or evil, they will do. Whatever can be done, will be done.”

  I wasn’t as naïve as the twins believed me to be. I had lived among humans and Magical creatures on my own for two centuries. I wasn’t sheltered and it wasn’t that I hadn’t experienced terrible things before now, it was that I wanted to believe, deep down, that there was good in the world.

  Otherwise, why would it be worth working so hard to save it?

  I felt Magic press against me as if it could read my thoughts. It tingled against my skin.

  Both of the twins turned abruptly and stared at me.

  Under their gaze, the Magic slid away from me.

  “What was that?” Dallan demanded.

  I swallowed hard, not wanting to answer. Had they. Had they been able to somehow sense how Magic reacted to me? What would they say or do if they knew how it acted sometimes?

  Fortunately, the carriage landed at that moment in front of the Gilterran castle, so I was able to ignore the question completely.

  I had a hunch that the twins weren’t going to let it slide so easily, but I was fine with putting off as long as I could.

  We were informed by a footman that the king and queen were occupied at the moment, but we didn’t mind.

  “We would like to meet with the princesses if that’s possible,” I suggested, giving the man my best smile.

  He returned the smile. “They’re in the garden closest to the labyrinth and the folly. Follow me.”

  I smiled to myself as we made the short walk. The style for labyrinths and follies had been at its peak a century ago. The royal family now was only maintaining what their ancestors had planned and built. The labyrinth fashion made some sort of sense to me, they were attractive and entertaining, but I had never understood the use for faux ruins.

  No wonder they were called follies.

  The princesses were out in full display in the sunshine, wearing pale, pastel dresses with lacy parasols overhead to prevent their skin from burning. I immediately spotted Gwendolyn with her strawberry curls and golden-tan complexion. She was sitting off to one side, away from the easels and paints and flower-gathering her sisters were doing. A striped cat leaped into her lap and she stroked it absently, her expression wistful and sad.

  More than Talia’s innocence had been lost, I thought sadly. Gwendolyn had been forced to face realities of our world that few of her class and station would have been forced into. Princesses weren’t prepared for the cruelties of life, just the lace, and sunlight, and striped cats purring.

  I wondered if it would make her a better woman, or if she would let it drown her under its weight.

  She glanced up and caught sight of me and my companions. She hesitated, then smiled cautiously. I smiled back in encouragement and held my hands out to her.

  “How are you holding up?” I asked, kiss-kissing her cheeks in greeting. She squeezed my hands gently before letting them go. Her smile this time was more genuine.

  “My parents aren’t cross, so that’s better than I had hoped,” she said. “Have you found my sister yet?”

  “Not yet,” I said swiftly, “but it’s early yet. We’re looking for information about Prince Alexander. Did you know him?”

  Gwendolyn’s pretty face lit up with a truly genuine smile. “Oh, yes, we all know him. We’ve
known him all our lives, you know. He has lived here the past five years, training with my father and learning to work with our knights. He’s smart and funny and handsome.”

  I wondered for a moment if Gwendolyn had feelings for the prince but quickly brushed the thought away. She spoke of him as if he were a brother, not the way a girl spoke of a man she had eyes on as something more.

  “So, you don’t think that Prince Alexander had anything to do with Prince Denny?”

  The light in Gwendolyn’s eyes turned hard. “That rat. No, Alexander had nothing to do with that scoundrel. When he learned what had happened, he was determined to kill the beast, but Talia begged him to let it go for her sake.”

  I leaned towards the princess. “You mean, Alexander knew of Talia’s condition?”

  Gwendolyn nodded. “Of course, he did. Talia trusts… trusted him more than anyone. He promised her that he would watch over her while she was asleep so that nothing would happen…” The poor girl burst into tears. “But something did happen, didn’t it? There’s a dead girl in my sister’s bed and both Talia and Alexander are missing.” She grabbed my hands in hers. “I’m so frightened for them.”

  She wasn’t the only one.

  Chapter Thirteen

  We returned to the castle proper to discover that the king and queen were still unavailable. We left our regards for them and continued to where the twins’ carriage was waiting. The horses had been let to graze, so we waited as they were called back together by the grooms and harnessed up again.

  I didn’t mind the wait at all. The breeze was cool on my face, but the sun overhead was warm. The kingdom had awakened into full spring, as was part of the tradition, so at least that part was holding up.

  Or so I thought. I opened my eyes to a sudden icy sting on my cheek. I clapped my hand to the spot and glanced around to see what had caused the pain.

  Another sharp, icy blast hit me again, this time on my exposed arm.

  Strong hands yanked me into the shelter of the carriage just in time for the sky to unleash a full-fledged sleet storm. I heard the horses whinny and the yelling of grooms, leading them away to shelter, I assumed.

  Through the carriage window, I could see heavy, dark clouds gathering in the sky directly above the castle. Lightning flashed, thunder roared over us, and the sleet fell harder than ever.

  I gaped at the sight.

  “Well, I would love to say this was unexpected,” Astraea said, pushing back her hood and shaking the sleet from her cloak, “but it’s just as you predicted, brother dear.”

  “I would have preferred to be wrong on this occasion,” Dallan said, his voice low and his eyes staring at the view outside. The sleet was falling so hard by now that we could barely see an inch outside the door.

  “You predicted this?” I asked. “How?”

  “Simply put,” Astraea said, resting her chin on her hand, “when the traditions fail, Magic retaliates.”

  “This is a Magical storm?” I glanced towards the window again, even though I knew I wouldn’t see anything. It looked like any other storm to me, except how quickly it had appeared.

  “Can’t you feel it?” Astraea asked in an almost sleepy voice. She waved a hand in the air. “Close your eyes and you can feel it crushing in on you from all sides.”

  I obediently closed my eyes. I could feel a little of what Astraea meant, but I thought “crushing” was putting it a little strongly. It certainly wasn’t comfortable. The Magic felt strange and restless.

  “Behave yourself,” I said out loud, out of habit.

  After a moment, I felt the energy of Magic coiled around me soften into something more like the friendly Magic I was used to. I mentally stroked it, as if it were a great big cat purring in front of the fire.

  I opened my eyes to find both of the twins staring at me with open mouths.

  “Curious,” Astraea said, curling up one side of her mouth in a catlike grin.

  “Extremely,” Dallan agreed. He leaned back in his seat and watched me through narrowed eyes.

  “It’s just a silly thing I’ve always done,” I said quickly. “I’ve always pretended that Magic was… well, a friend, or a pet or something…” Magic settled around me like a warm blanket. It felt like it was listening to my words.

  “Interesting,” Dallan said. There was no clue in his voice what he meant by that comment.

  “I was a strange child,” I said quickly. “I was… well, I was always lonely. I just started to talk to Magic because one of my teachers said that it surrounded us all the time, so I figured that it would listen to me, even when no one else would.”

  I realized belatedly that I was babbling. I shut my mouth quickly and dug my fingers into my palm. I was a middle-aged fairy. What made me think that the most powerful creatures in my world would care at all about a long-over lonely childhood? I knew I had a habit of talking just to fill the silence. My family had certainly teased me enough about that.

  I curled my hands into fists and counted to ten slowly in my head.

  “What are you doing?” Astraea asked curiously.

  “Dying of embarrassment,” I choked out before I could consider my words more carefully.

  “Whatever for?” she asked, tilting her head curiously. “I haven’t heard anything from you that would account for you feeling embarrassed.”

  “Haven’t you?” I fought the urge to cry. I was way too old to cry over everything. It was my curse. Every time I felt anything strongly, positive or negative, I always had to fight back tears.

  Yet another embarrassing part of being me.

  “You appear to be the most wrongfully insecure being I have ever met,” Dallan said from his corner. He had his long arms crossed over his chest and was inspecting me as if I were some strange specimen he was trying to study.

  I snorted. The moment I registered the sound, my hands flew up to my face in mortification. What was wrong with me? Had all those years of training and lessons on comportment been as wasted on my as my parents had always suggested.

  Astraea giggled. Then she snorted. Then she giggled again.

  She had one of those infectious laughs that I could never resist. It tickled through me until I was laughing—and snorting—along with her.

  After a moment, I heard Dallan’s masculine laugh join ours.

  “The storm has eased for the moment,” Dallan said abruptly. “Let’s be off before it starts up again.”

  I wiped the tears of laughter out of my eyes. “Where are we going?”

  “To the site of a murder,” he said solemnly.

  I had fallen deeply into my thoughts by the time we arrived into a patch of woods that had no truly distinguishing traits except for being the site of the death of a renowned Godmother.

  Though I knew her spirit wasn’t roaming, I still felt as if I were trespassing as we filed out of the carriage in a clearing that was only just large enough to land safely in.

  The Magic, I realized, had marked this place. That happened sometimes when horrible things happened. Magic would at times change the way those places looked and felt. I bet that a century from now, if I returned, I would find the trees twisted and dripping with dark moss, with the sounds of moans and screaming foxes echoing through the endless mist.

  Magic loved beauty, but it also loved melodrama.

  Other than the ominous feel of Magic’s displeasure, there was nothing that stood out about this part of the woods. I wasn’t even sure what kingdom we were standing it. It could have been almost anywhere.

  Yet, here Brunhild had been killed.

  “Do we know how she died?” I asked, staring around at the ground at my feet as if it might start shouting answers to all of my questions.

  A cold breeze ripped past me. I shivered and pulled my cloak tighter around me. It had been warm enough only a few moments ago, but, if the twins were right, this was a sign of Magic becoming unbalanced.

  “We are not sure,” Astraea answered from where she was walking through the t
rees and scanning the ground. “Even at her age, it wouldn’t have been easy to take Brunhild by surprise. It would have taken a formidable weapon in the hands of a skilled warrior to kill her.”

  “Or someone adept with Magic,” I pointed out. “A higher level Fairy Godmother would have been able to do it.”

  The twins stared at me with twin expression of horror.

  “You really don’t think much of your peers, do you?” Dallan asked with a scoff.

  “You call me sweet and naïve, but I lived away from that world for two centuries for a reason. It may look like silks and glass slippers and Magical pumpkins from the outside, but it’s a competitive cutthroat business.” I sighed and nudged a rock with my toe. “I don’t want to believe that it was one of my peers, someone I know and work with, that killed Brunhild. It’s a terrible thought, but I’m not going to ignore something because it’s unpleasant. We have to approach this from every angle if we’re going to find a solution.”

  “Of course, you’re correct,” Astraea said breezily. “I, personally, have no problem picturing Godparents murdering each other. I would probably resort to murder if I had to spend much more time with them than I already do. I’m just shocked that you feel that way.”

  “I left my childhood centuries ago,” I reminded her. “I have the gray hairs to prove it.”

  Astraea peered at me. “Where? I don’t see any.”

  I refused to argue with her. I was familiar with my reflection, wrinkle lines, silver threads among the blue, and all. I wasn’t like my mother, addicted to a diet of flattery. Despite the no lying rule, fairies were adept at flattery. It was a gift.

  Flit flew around my head and took off towards the tree-tops. I could see the silver of his scales flash in the streams of light that pushed through the canopy of trees to shine all around us. It gave him the impression of a ghost dragon, instead of one made of flesh and blood.