Frostbitten Fairy Tales

by Melanie Karsak

  She looked up at me. Her dark eyes were brimming with unshed tears. “It’s so lovely, isn’t it?” she said then turned her eyes to the comb once more. Her expression unguarded, I could see how truly pretty she was under all the makeup and pretense of a whore.

  “It is. Truly pretty.”

  She frowned then looked up at me. “Elyse, right?”

  I nodded.

  “I need some money.”

  I cocked my head and looked at her.

  A single tear rolled down her cheek. “I want to go home.”

  I reached into my small purse to give her some of the coins I carried but then thought better of it. I handed my purse to her. “Then go home,” I told her.

  “Thank you,” she said. She took my purse, slipped it inside her coat, reaffixed the comb in her hair, and then turned and headed away from the Frost Fair toward the city.

  “Elyse? Are you ready?” Amy called.

  I turned back to my friends, pausing for just a moment to watch Rosie walk away, her hair comb glimmering brightly under the scant rays of sunlight that fought their way through the dark clouds.

  Chapter 21: Of Green Jackets

  The tavern on the ice, dubbed the City of Moscow, was completely packed. It seemed like all the patrons had come for a pint and a bit of bread and cheese.

  There was barely space to sit when we finally found Robert, Hobbs, Marve, James, and Skippy.

  “What, no case of tripe?” Robert called as we approached.

  Skippy immediately ran off to procure more chairs, and the other gentlemen moved to make space for us.

  “Lizzie and Elyse both won prizes,” Agnes said.

  “And Elyse is the Frost Fair Queen,” Lizzie said very loudly, causing the other patrons to turn and look.

  Upon seeing the crown of Frost Fair roses I wore and ruminating on Lizzie’s words, the crowd put the two together and let out a cheer.

  I smiled and waved then sat down. What an odd, odd day. I was beginning to wonder what else could possibly happen. At this rate, I’d be having tea with the real queen by late afternoon.

  The gentlemen congratulated me, and soon I found myself holding a mug of mulled wine. I took a sip, letting the hot, spicy wine warm my body, then set the mug down.

  “Did you hear that crack in the ice?” Amy asked the gentlemen.

  “I’m going to have the wagon brought around and load up the first of our belongings tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll perform on a bare stage,” Marve said.

  “If there is a stage by morning,” Hobbs added.

  “It’s still cold,” Agnes said. “The ice will refreeze overnight.”

  “True, it is cold, but not as chilled as it has been,” Robert replied.

  “Such a pity,” Lizzie lamented. “The fair has been a treat. I hate to see it end.”

  “No doubt the marshalls will have us off the ice if it begins to weaken along the edges,” Marve said. “But just in case, we’ll be cautious. With the crowd we gather, all that weight, we must be wary.”

  The others nodded then fell further into the discussion.

  I leaned back in my seat and surveyed the space, looking for a young man in a green coat. My eyes had played tricks on me the day Lizzie and I had come for the Frost Fair handbill. As I looked around the room, I noticed several young men of John’s build in green coats. I was a very silly girl. How could I think so badly of him?

  “Marve,” I said, touching his arm. “I had meant to tell you that I will not be able to perform in Midwinter tomorrow night.”

  “No?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Is something wrong?”

  In that moment, I realized I had not come up with a suitable excuse. “I…my friends, the Hawkings, are having some problems and need help. I told them I would see if I would be missed.”

  “Of course you will be missed,” he said with a smile. “But Hannah can take your role for the night.”

  Lizzie was listening with interest. “Is everything all right?”

  I nodded, choking the telling expression that wanted to creep up on my face.

  Lizzie raised an eyebrow at me.

  I looked away from her, realizing she knew me far too well.

  “Miss McKenna?” someone asked from behind me.

  I turned to find one of the Frost Fair pamphlet makers standing behind me. I recognized him from the booth, as if his ink-stained smock was not telling enough.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m sorry to bother you, Miss. Someone told me you were here. Would I be able to steal a few minutes of your time? We would very much like to have your autograph on the Frostiana announcements. It is too much to ask, I know, but your signature would add value to the papers. Now that the event is over, and the ice is beginning to soften, it’s our last chance to sell,” the man said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

  I smiled softly at him. “Certainly. I’ll be back in ten minutes,” I told the others.

  “Farewell, your Majesty,” Lizzie called with a laugh.

  I followed the man outside.

  “Thank you, Miss,” he said, leading me to his tent. “I was afraid we’d lose our investment on those flyers, but the autograph of the Frost Fair Queen will sell.”

  “A queen can do no less than aid her subjects,” I said with a laugh.

  He grinned. “No wonder people say such nice things about you, Miss McKenna, you and Doctor Murray. Everyone knows how you both worked to save that man from the ice. How is he, anyway?”

  “Recovering very well.”

  The other two men inside the tent rose when I entered.

  “Told you she would come,” the man at my side said. “I’m Tom, by the way. And that’s Nick and Peter,” he said, pointing to the men.

  “Well, hand me a stack, gentlemen,” I said, pulling off my gloves.

  Taking a seat by their brazier, I settled in and began signing, Elyse McKenna, Frostiana, Frost Fair Queen, 1814 on the flyers. The men joked merrily as they worked on their prints. After I finished the first handful, Tom went out front and began barking down the lane:

  “Frost Fair handbills! Get your Frost Fair handbills signed by Frostiana, our Frost Fair Queen, the talented Elyse McKenna.”

  To my surprise, a crowd gathered to purchase the papers.

  I worked busily, signing paper after paper. On occasion, I would smile and wave to the crowd. It was funny how I had achieved instant celebrity status. I had been there at least half an hour when I looked up once more, fully expecting to see Lizzie and Marve, but then I spotted yet another young man in a green jacket. He was purchasing hot chocolate for a pretty, and very giggly, young woman in a red bonnet. The crowd milled between us, obscuring my view, but the cut of the young man looked so much like John that it fully took up my attention. When the crowd moved on, I leaned in my seat to look once more. The young man’s back was toward me. He pulled off the lady’s glove and kissed her hand before handing her a mug of hot chocolate. She blushed and giggled once more. When he returned her glove, he leaned in and put a kiss on her cheek. He then turned to put on his top hat. And in that moment, I got a good look at him.

  John? I stood. “John?” I called. My stomach felt like it had fallen to my feet.

  The man turned toward the sound of my voice. When he met my eyes, the expression on his face fell flat, and he quickly turned away. The crowd moved in between us.

  “There she is. Elyse,” I heard Lizzie call from the crowd. “We need to go, love.”

  I rose, trying to get a better look at the man…at John. This time, I was certain it was him.

  “Miss?” Peter asked.

  “Gentlemen, I am very sorry. I need to go,” I said. I bit my lip. My hands were shaking. Was it him? Had it really been him? Who was that girl?

  “Thank you for your time, Miss McKenna. We’re very grateful,” Peter told me. “Tom, Miss McKenna needs to leave,” he called to his friend.

  “One moment, people, one moment,” Tom called to the crowd.

&nb
sp; I was already moving toward the chocolate vendor when Tom intercepted me.

  “You all right, Miss McKenna?” Tom asked.

  “Yes. Fine. I…I left you a healthy stack on the table. I do hope my signature fetches you some coin,” I told him and with a nod, I moved through the crowd toward the chocolate vendor. My heart beating hard in my chest, I looked frantically around for John and that girl. There was no one. They were gone.

  Lizzie came up to me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Lizzie,” I said, taking her by the arm. “Did you see Joh—Lord Waldegrave?”

  She looked confused. “No, I don’t think so.”

  “There,” I said, pointing to the chocolate stand, “with a woman in a red bonnet.”

  She frowned hard. For the second time that day, her face flushed with anger. “No, I did not. I would certainly say so if I had…right after I smacked him in the face. Was it him? Are you certain?”

  “I think so. Yes, I’m certain. He was there with a lady in a red bonnet.”

  Lizzie and I both looked around the crowd. There was no one nearby wearing red.

  “Maybe…maybe she was a friend?” Lizzie offered.

  “No. He kissed her cheek in a tender way, like a lover.”

  “Then it wasn’t him. He’s devoted to you, Elyse. I’m sure of it.”

  I slipped off my glove and showed her my hand. “Tomorrow night. We’re planning to elope tomorrow night.”

  “Then it wasn’t him. The crowd is large. It was not him.”

  And if it was? If it was John, then he was not with Kai. That could mean Kai was still in danger.

  “When are you planning to see him again?” Lizzie asked.

  “I…I’m not sure.”

  “Then send word for him to come meet you.”

  “I cannot.”

  “Why not?”

  “His family…his father is very ill, and I don’t exactly know where he is staying.”

  “You don’t know where he is staying?” Lizzie asked, her eyes narrowing. She fingered the crystal pendant she was wearing. “Doesn’t that strike you as odd, especially if you are intended to be his wife?”

  “I know his estate is in Twickenham. He’s just in London for a short while because his father is ill.”

  “If his father is ill, why is he here in London and not at their estate? Waldegrave…aren’t the Waldegraves connected to Smallbridge Hall in Suffolk? My grandmother lived not far—”

  “Oh no, he said his estate is in Twickenham. It was inherited from Lord Walpole.”

  Lizzie’s forehead furrowed as she thought it over. She shook her head. “I confess, I don’t know. Such people are like the stars above us. Only Lord Byron bothers to roll around at our level,” she said with a laugh. Despite my upset mood, I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Roll around, eh?” I asked.

  Lizzie’s cheeks burned very red very quickly. “I, um, well. Marve said we need to get back. We need to pack up our supplies before the performance. Please don’t worry. If he loves you enough to wed you, then all is well. Just…just ask him and measure his honesty with an open mind.”

  “As you measured Byron’s?”

  Lizzie laughed. “That man has no honesty. At least, not with me. Perhaps not with anyone.”

  “Oh, someday he’ll meet his match. Men like that always do. But tell me, does he roll around well?”

  “The best,” she said wistfully.

  I sighed, my thoughts momentarily drifting to the handsome poet. “So I imagined.”

  Lizzie laughed, and at that, I set my worries aside. No. It could not have been John. It wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t possible. No one who truly loved me could ever betray me like that. John had done as he’d promised. He’d gotten Kai safely home. All would be well.

  Chapter 22: Mirror, Mirror

  Back at the Ice House, we worked busily packing up our belongings. Skippy brought the wagon from the theatre, and we soon began stripping anything of value. If the Thames reclaimed the river overnight, she would not take all of Struthers Theatre’s hard-won belongings with it. I stuffed the Persephone costume into my bag then quickly dressed as Titania as I prepared for the evening performance.

  The crowd that gathered outside that night was much smaller than it had been the night before. From the number of wagons going back and forth between the river and the city, it was clear that crack in the ice had made people nervous. From my spot backstage, peering through the theatre entrance, I saw that at least two of the tents that had been across from the theatre were now gone.

  “Thinning out,” Marve said as we peered through the slats.

  “They’re frightened.”

  “It’s cold tonight, though. Colder than last night, I think.”

  I nodded.

  I scanned the crowd. No Kai. No John. Not even the baron was there.

  Onstage, Hermia pleaded with Theseus for the right to marry the man she truly loved.

  I frowned. Where was John? For that matter, where was Kai? I was impatient for the play to be done. I wanted to go home and talk to Kai. He had a lot of explaining to do, and I desperately needed his advice. What if I had seen John today? I bit my lip and tried to rein in my frustrations. I would channel them to Titania.

  Hermia’s scene ended, and I took to the stage.

  “Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania,” Robert called.

  “What, jealous Oberon?” I retorted bitterly, loving him and hating him all at once. I looked back to Hannah and the others who were dressed as faeries. “Faeries, skip away. I have forsworn his love and company.”

  “Rash woman. Aren’t I your lord?”

  “Then I must be your lady.”

  Once more, Master Shakespeare took control. Letting my anger and frustration roll out of me through Titania’s lines, I diced Oberon with my words until he turned the tables on me, making me fall in love with a man who was an ass.

  Before I knew it, the play was done and once more I was backstage listening as Anderson delivered Puck’s final words. I mouthed my favorite lines along with him. “If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear.”

  Finally, curtain call came.

  While the others were in a jovial mood, I couldn’t wait to leave.

  “Elyse, want to come for dinner?” Lizzie asked me. I could see by the expression on her face that she knew something was wrong.

  “No, thank you. It’s been a long and very odd day. I’m going to stop by the Hawkings’ then head home. I think I need some sleep.”

  “All right,” she said with a careful smile. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

  I nodded then went back out into the night. The river was much quieter than it had been the evening before. The families and fine ladies and gentlemen were notably absent. Debauchery was in full swing, but the better class of people had gone. I eyed the masts of Captain Behra’s ship as I made my way off the ice. Her lanterns were still burning brightly. My stomach flopped. But I reminded myself that it didn’t matter. She could be annoyed with me as much as she wanted. As long as Kai was out of her grasp, I didn’t care if she was jealous and angry with her husband. That was her problem. I was an innocent. How was I to know he was married? How was I to know he was the Frost Fair Prince? Surely she could not begrudge me that.

  I felt at my inside pocket. The mirror was still there. Later tonight, I would test it, see what moonlit enchantment it held. Part of me fancied that it would really work, but there was no such thing as magic.

  I turned in the direction of the Hawkings’ workshop. As I went, I realized I had not done as I had originally planned and gone to the millinery between shows. I had no dress to wear tomorrow night. I sighed heavily. How could I forget such a thing? I would go first thing in the morning before I returned to the Ice House.

  As I neared the Hawkings’ workshop, I slowed. The house was dark. That was odd. It was not late. Surely they would still be
awake. Maybe Master Hawking and Isabelle were out. I could still stop and see the gentleman.

  I knocked on the door.

  A few moments later, the footman opened it. “Miss McKenna,” he said nicely. “I’m very sorry, but the master and Miss Isabelle are not in.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear it. Perhaps…perhaps I can see Doctor Murray’s patient if he is still awake.”

  At that, the servant smiled. “Ah, we have good news there and the very reason the Hawkings are out. The gentleman recovered his memory. Master Hawking and Miss Isabelle went with him to the Bow Street Runners and to meet with the gentleman’s family.”

  “Oh, that is good news. Well then, I’ll be sure to stop in the morning.”

  “Very good, Miss McKenna. I’ll be sure to let Master Hawking know you were by. Goodnight,” he said and moved to close the door.

  “I’m sorry, just one more question. Was Doctor Murray here today?”

  “Doctor Murray?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry, we haven’t seen him today.”

  “Not at all?”

  “No, Miss McKenna.”

  “Very well. Thank you very much.”

  He nodded then closed the door.

  My mind lost in the circus of confusion that surrounded me, I hurried home. At least it was good news that the gentleman was well. I would have to inquire again and see if I could learn his real name and the circumstances that found him in the river. The matter set aside for the moment, I turned and headed home. All my thoughts bent on Kai. I had no right to begrudge him a fling with a foreign beauty. After all, I didn’t own him in any way save the familial love between us. But still. He had no right to make me worry, and it wasn’t right for him to have a liaison with a married woman.

  When I reached the front door of my home, I looked up. I could not see our garret windows from the ground. I hastily let myself inside and raced up the steps. Panting and out of breath, I flung open the door of my flat hoping the light would be on and the fire lit, a guilt-ridden Kai sitting at my table nursing a headache. But the room was cold and dark.

  I swung the door shut behind me and rushed to the window, drawing back the curtains. A waft of cold air rolled off the glass window pane. The Frost Fair roses Kai had given me sat wilted in the vase. Kai’s window was dark. I opened the latch. Crawling out, I stepped carefully across the roof to Kai’s window and opened it.