by Lucy Tempest
Will still didn’t stop struggling against Jon’s restraining grasp, until Agnë suddenly staggered out, drenched in black blood.
As she threw herself at Little Jon, he growled at Will not to go after Robin, then picked her up. She latched onto him, sobs shaking her all over.
He rushed her to me, setting her atop Amabel, murmuring soothingly as he stroked her ghoul-blood-matted hair.
Ghostly tears sprang from my eyes, which hadn’t happened before, no matter how I’d begged for their release. Now, their cold burn ran down my face, an agonizing relief.
She was back by my side, in one piece, and all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her, and be certain that she was still whole. I couldn’t tell with all that black blood
“Did they bite you?” She shook her head, so I asked the more pressing question. “Did you see Robin?”
As if she didn’t hear me, she flopped bonelessly over Amabel’s neck, with Jon alternating between petting her back and Amabel’s head. “They fought over me, ripped at each other. One managed to grab me for itself and—and…” She dissolved into shaking sobs.
“Just tell us what happened!” Meira bit off agitatedly.
Agnë swayed upright, hiccupping through her sobs. “It opened its mouth wide—it’s breath alone almost made me pass out…I knew I’d die, then…Robin was there! He–he fought them off me!”
“What happened to him?” I asked, dreading the answer.
She shook her head, and I went colder than I already was. The urge to follow him was overwhelming, even when I now knew these things could hurt me. But I’d be unable to do a thing to help. I’d only stand there and watch those ghouls tear him apart.
All I could do was watch as Will bellowed Robin’s name into the cave, growing increasingly hysterical.
Suddenly, Will’s shouts stopped.
Dreading the reason, I stared at the cave’s mouth as the sounds of shuffling echoed from within, getting nearer, nearer, then…
Robin swayed out.
My insubstantial heart almost burst with relief as I heard him slur, “Muss you shout this loud? Was busy…”
Will caught him with a frantic hug, before recoiling. “You’re bleeding!”
“M’fine, less jus’ keep goin’. Need to find…find…” Robin staggered back and out of Will’s hold, collapsing on the ground in a dead faint.
I didn’t even feel myself moving, but I beat Jon to Robin’s side as Will shook him and yelled his name.
“Where is he hurt?” I frantically looked him over, ice spreading through me at the sight of the expanding red stain on his olive-green shirt.
“In more than one place. But I think most of the blood is coming from a head wound.” Jon gripped the edges of his hood. “We must check it.”
“No, don’t!” Will’s objection fell on deaf ears as Jon bared the face of Robin Hood to the world.
Blood caked his tousled, sandy hair from a serrated gash that ran from the crown of his head down to his left cheekbone. His skin was ashen with blood loss, making the freckles smattering his cheeks and nose stand out. Long lashes brushed his cheeks, and his full lower lip was split and bleeding.
The specifics of his face stopped there, because the only feature I had eyes for anymore was his ears.
Lacking earlobes, and tapering up into angular points, his ears were those of a fairy.
Chapter Fifteen
In the commotion, no one noticed that Alan had left.
He now returned with men in pearly-white-and-sun-yellow uniforms, reminiscent of the Cahramani royal guards. I watched numbly as some carried the unconscious Robin off to their healers.
Before he trailed them to go have his own injuries treated, Jon had to hold Will back from following them. The guards insisted the healers allowed no one to accompany or see their patients until their treatment was complete. Will wouldn’t back down until Jon convinced him that the sooner we concluded our business with the Summer King, the better for all of us. It was what Robin would want.
They left us with the palace official Alan brought with him, a fairy woman who could have been Meira’s much taller, pointy-eared sister.
Ears. After all that had happened since Robin had burst into my tower, I could think of nothing but his ears.
Robin Hood, the mysterious outlaw, the bandit bane of Arbore, was a fairy.
It was inexplicable. Why would a fairy live in our realm, be a soldier in Arbore’s army, and champion the poor and downtrodden? Yet it also made sense, explaining his exploits, and how he’d evaded capture all these years.
It also meant I had placed my fate in the hands of the same kind of creature that had condemned me in the first place.
But then again, I was here in the land of all the fairies. I was surrounded by those mischievous and cruel tricksters by choice, and bound on asking one of their monarchs for help. Desperation had a way of changing one’s perspective, indeed.
I’d spent my whole life hating witches and fairies, only to find out that my closest companions were the former, and my only hope of salvation was the latter.
Irony in its purest form.
Lost in my thoughts, I floated after our procession as our steeds were taken to the stables, and then as the official escorted us to the palace that looked like it was carved from a gigantic pearl.
I’d seen all levels of styles of opulence since birth, but this place made me realize how art and imagination, unbound by their very nature, were constrained by the finiteness of human abilities. This place was imagination unleashed by the limitlessness of magic. Every inch spoke of eternity and pulsed with enchantment.
Those curving walls with their infinite inscriptions that breathed with magic were made of pearl. The interior was encased in arcane mosaics of precious stones, and spread in acres of pearlescent marble veined with molten gold and unending, spun-silk carpets with floral designs that bloomed under our feet.
As we waded deeper into the palace, and away from the crystalline windows and domes pouring sunlight and rainbows, our path was lit by cascading clusters of luminescent opal and ruby-grape chandeliers, with their jade leaves and gold vines whispering and undulating in an unfelt breeze.
“The king will meet with you when your companions recover.”
I broke out of my daze to Will’s loud protests at the fairy official’s declaration. The only reason he hadn’t accompanied Robin and Jon was thinking it would speed up our business with the king.
But Will wasn’t a match for the persuasion of fairies, and the woman managed to lead him away to his quarters. Alan opened another one for my handmaidens and me.
As I passed him, I was again struck with that sense of familiarity. It was maddening I still couldn’t tell who he reminded me of.
But when I opened my mouth, it wasn’t to ask anything about him. “Is Robin going to be all right?”
Intrigue glimmered in his stormy eyes, and he leaned against the wall beside the door, smirking at me. “You’re worried about him?”
His incredulous question startled me. For I was.
And it shouldn’t make sense. Not from my perspective, or Alan’s.
As the princess of Arbore, I shouldn’t worry about the man who, no matter his declared motivations, stole from my relatives and made a mockery of my kingdom’s laws. It might not even make sense to worry about one man, when we had lost thousands fighting against Avongart.
Yet Alan wasn’t asking me as the princess, but as Briar Rose. The men must have told him about the minor noble who’d tagged along on their rescue mission. From his standpoint, Robin had done his part for me. I would get my meeting with the Summer King anyway, and we’d part ways, unlikely to ever cross paths again. I had no reason to be worried about Robin.
So why, indeed, was I? I didn’t know him, hadn’t even gotten a clear look at his face, and he was a criminal and a fairy…
And I was terrified for him.
The moment I could, I would float out of here, and go check on him, the healers’ orders
notwithstanding. That terrible wound where a ghoul had almost chomped his head off… My phantom stomach turned.
I gulped down the nausea, and cocked my head up at Alan. “Why wouldn’t I be? I couldn’t have gotten here without him, and he saved Agnë.”
He looked inside where my handmaidens were rushing to what looked like a bath chamber, no doubt to get cleaned up.
He stabbed a thumb at them. “What are those two to you again? You seemed distraught when the ghouls almost ate the blonde one.”
“They’re my…companions. We spent every day at court together. Losing one of them is unthinkable.”
“Interesting. I didn’t know your sort cared so much for their lessers. Or is it because losing them would be an inconvenience?”
Affront rippled through me, blowing off the remains of my fright-induced fog. “My sort? How dare you make any presumptions about me!”
“Don’t act so offended. It’s not odd to wonder how people feel about those who work for them.”
How did he know they worked for me?
I crossed the threshold, putting some distance between myself and the bard. “Who are you? Do I know you? Do you know me?”
“Because I know they work for you? It’s obvious from the way they behave towards you. The one who almost got eaten seemed shocked by your concern.”
Was she? Because she never expected me to feel anything for her? After eight years of spending my every waking hour with them?
Then I could have lost her in a single moment.
Rage suddenly spiked to a fever pitch. “She almost got eaten because of you! You told us going through the mountain was a safer option! You almost got us all killed.”
He started to laugh, like my anger was the funniest thing he’d seen in a long while. Oh, how I wished I could slap him, or break that stupid lute over his head!
“What’s so funny?” I gritted.
“People really do hear what they want to hear.” He shook his head, still chuckling. “I never said it was safer. I said it was a shortcut that takes you around the gates you couldn’t have entered through at all.”
“You could have warned us of the danger.”
“I did, said you wouldn’t like how we got here. I just didn’t know it was that danger, specifically.”
“How could you not? Have you not been through there before?”
He waved offhandedly. “Sure, by myself, when I moved fast enough the creepy crawlies I heard didn’t have time to come after me. It’s why I kept saying keep moving. I suspected traveling in larger numbers with skittish horses would slow us down, and multiply the danger of getting caught in an ambush. Which was what ended up happening.”
“You think you can exonerate yourself from anything, don’t you? But you can’t. You could have made sure we were prepared! Better still, you could have searched for an alternative route!”
He shrugged. “Any other path would have taken days, and I don’t have time for that.”
“Why? What’s got you so busy, Alan? If that is even your name."
“Neither is Briar Rose yours, Fairuza.”
“How do you…?” My exclamation snapped off in a breathless squeak.
“Know who you are?” he completed for me with a wiggle of his auburn eyebrows. “Because after a chance reunion with long-lost relatives, I’ve taken interest in my extended family’s lives, and in your case, afterlives. Or is it in-between-lives?”
Outrage rose within me, at this fairy’s claim that he could be related to me. “There’s no way any of my ancestors married your kind!”
“True.” He pointed back and forth between us, grinning wickedly at me. “But we’re about to become in-laws, seeing as your brother is marrying my cousin.”
Relief that I didn’t have any secret fairy ancestry evaporated under the blast of realization.
If this Alan-a-Dale was truly from Bonnie’s maternal family, this could make him the “crazy cousin” she’d been looking for. The one Leander and Clancy had said was the perfect candidate.
Could he be that Keenan?
Before I could ask, he turned away, tossing over his shoulder, “Oh, and I was questioning your intentions concerning Robin and your girls, because I recently witnessed a disgusting dynamic that I helped dissolve. I am now always wary of obviously imbalanced relationships.”
Defensiveness subsiding, I trailed after him. “What happened?”
He stopped, eyebrows raised at my concern. “A girl was enslaved by her stepfamily. They tortured her for years in ways you couldn’t imagine.”
“Is she fine now?”
“She’s safe.” A genuine smile overtook his unnerving smirk, changing his whole face, making it even more familiar, and…
Bonnie’s father! Mr. Fairborn! That was who he reminded me of.
He was Bonnie’s paternal cousin? But her father was human.
So how was this man half-fairy? How was he royal? He had to be, if Leander and Clancy considered him among the noblest of men.
Before I could fire any questions, he again spoke first. “But it will be a while before she’s ‘fine.’ At least her stepfamily got what they deserved.” He gave me a deep, mock bow. “And now that I got you where you need to be, I must get back to my own princess. Another evil stepmother to take care of, and all.”
So, there was already a girl, a princess no less, preoccupying him.
Of course there was.
All my hopes concerning him evaporating, I watched Alan, or Keenan, as I suspected him to be, stroll down the hall. Once he disappeared, I dragged my insubstantial body into the room.
Another pang of nostalgia hit me as I took stock of my surroundings. The room was of a similar size and configuration as the quarters we were first allocated in Sunstone Palace, during the first phase of the Bride Search.
It was vast, with soaring ceilings and queen-sized beds distributed at varying distances from each other, with one wall wrapped in stained-glass terrace doors. Even the color scheme of vivid earth tones approximated those of the other quarters.
But I was in no mood to appreciate the splendor of the decor. Or to reminisce about the time I’d been trounced by a thief, in the test I’d prepared for my whole life.
Agnë and Meira had returned from cleaning up, and were now at the breakfast nook, hunched over a gilded table, gorging themselves on an assortment of bakeries and fruits.
I almost shouted for them to stop. Eating fairy food came at unpredictable prices.
But they’d already eaten it. And they must have been starving.
Sighing, I floated towards them, Alan’s words, or Keenan’s, as I now thought of him, niggling me.
I did care for them. I might not have actively thought about it before, but I did. I never had friends at court—my mother made sure I didn’t get close to any Arborean noblewomen. Unlike my sister Esme, who was provided confidantes in the offspring of her Cahramani ladies-in-waiting, I had no one to be myself around, except for Meira and Agnë.
They weren’t replaceable to me. I would have missed them sorely if they’d ever left, and would be heartbroken if I ever lost them, like I’d almost lost Agnë today.
As for them turning out to be witches—it certainly raised many questions. But whatever their answers were, I was discovering it wouldn’t change the way I feel about them.
I stopped beside Agnë, wondering if she’d supplemented soap and water with magic to get rid of all that ghoul blood. “How are you feeling?”
Agnë waved off my concern, trying to grin up at me with a mouth full of crumbly, purple biscuit.
“We should be asking you that!” Meira tossed a slice of a ruby fruit I didn’t recognize down in her plate, flinging a hand at my form. “We still can’t figure out how this happened.”
“It’s not your job to.”
Meira slammed her fist on the table, rattling everything, reminding me of Leander’s temper when he’d been turning into a beast. “Yes, it is! It’s our job to watch out for you! We sh
ould have known the Spring Queen wouldn’t just let you sleep.”
“Everything is the Spring Queen’s fault,” I insisted. “And if there is anyone else to blame, it’s the fairy godmother who added the ‘sleep’ amendment of the curse without thinking it through!”
Agnë choked, spraying soggy bits of biscuit that had turned green, while she turned an alarming crimson. I instinctively reached to thump her on the back, but to my unending frustration, my hand went straight through her.
I exhaled. “Are you all right?”
Meira shoved a glass of water in her face, hers even more pinched than usual. “She just eats like a pig. And this place is making us anxious. We should leave as soon as possible, to see about removing that curse.”
“But we’re here to do that. I thought you figured out that I will attempt to get a declaration from the Summer King?”
“Oh. Right. We did.” Meira laughed nervously. “Our fates are all in the hands of the fairy monarchs now.”
“They control everything, you know?” Agnë rushed to add.
They were both behaving more strangely than usual. But they had almost gotten eaten by ghouls, when they had no business following me into Faerie to begin with. And they’d exposed themselves as witches in the thick of battle.
I sighed. “So, are we going to mention the camel in the room?”
They both fidgeted and looked anywhere but at me.
“Can you just tell me what two witches were thinking, getting jobs taking care of the princess of a royal house with strict anti-magic rules? Who eventually went to war with other kingdoms over magic and its wielders?”
Agnë choked again, even with an empty mouth.
Meira only blurted out, “We’re not witches!” At my knowing look, she gulped. “We just know a few magic tricks, and…”
I raised a hand, stopping her agitated explanations. “There was a time when I would have been horrified, would have not wanted to lay eyes on you again. But now, you’re only my closest companions, and the ones who cared enough to come for me, to be with me when I’m no longer myself. You’re yourselves to me, and I don’t care what else you are.”
