I unbuttoned Gruber’s vest and shirt to reveal a seriously bony chest. He dropped the emperor’s hand and took up mine. “Matilda, you’re a stupid, upstart peasant with no social skills or taste. I love you.”
“So it’s new,” said Max with visible relief.
“Looks like it,” I said.
“Has anyone ever eaten it before?” asked Healer Bauer.
I sat Gruber up and peeled off his shirt. “Our dragons love it.”
“What happened to them?”
“Nothing.”
“Anybody else?”
I bit my lip and flung the sodden shirt away. “Well, the cathedral gargoyles ate it. We couldn’t stop them,” I said all in a rush.
“So that’s why they glow now,” said Max. “Like your wings.”
“I guess so.”
“That’s some magic. Anything else?”
“Er…”
“Matilda?” asked Max. “You have to tell us.”
“It got accidentally mixed in the cathedral water supply. Everybody got drunk and happy. So it really wasn’t so bad. I made a tea and sobered them up. No harm done.”
“Drunk and happy. Gruber could use some of that.”
“Well, I think there might’ve been another side effect, but I can’t prove it,” I said.
Healer Bauer leaned in. “What?”
“They stayed happy like super happy. It really only wore off a couple of days ago. Now they’re just their normal selves.”
Gruber tried to kiss me. “I love you. I love everyone. I want to get married. Will you marry me? I’m lonely. I should have kids. Our kids would be the most lovely shade of blue.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said. “Where’s that water?”
“They got happy,” said Healer Bauer. “Maybe I should try it in the interest of science.”
“Are you unhappy?” asked Max.
“No, but I want to see what happens.”
“Please don’t. Not everyone got happy,” I said slowly.
“Really?” Healer Bauer stopped writing. “Do tell.”
I did tell, but not until we got Gruber washed and to his apartment. He was still babbling about love. Max summoned Nanny and Leanna to take care of him and they bustled in, wearing their stiff black uniforms and heavy filigreed brooches. They sat on either side of the bed and held Gruber’s hands. After a second, he stopped babbling and went into a deep, peaceful sleep. That was the gift of the imperial nannies. They soothed troubled minds. It was quite a gift, in my opinion.
Once Nanny tucked Gruber in, she turned to us, all squinty. “What in the fae is that horrendous smell?”
“My rejuvenation spell,” I said. “I changed it a little and it got out of hand.”
“And you threw Healer Gruber in it?” she asked, even more squinty.
Gledit came forward to my defense. “Her Highness told him to back up. He didn’t.”
Nanny sighed and looked at Gruber. “Poor man. Always with the wrong choices.”
“Is that why he’s so terribly lonely?” asked Leanna. She was a nanny in training and Nanny’s apprentice.
“Yes, but I didn’t think he wanted love so badly. It’s hard to know another’s heart unless you get close to it.”
“So Matilda’s, I mean, Her Highness’s spell is now kind of like a truth serum?” asked Leanna.
Everyone looked at me. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I never learn.
“It was never a truth serum before. I don’t think,” I said slowly.
Healer Bauer had his quill out and was poised to write. “Who wasn’t happy last time?”
“Happy?” asked Nanny.
I told her about the last time I did the spell. She just shook her head. I guess that seemed like something I’d do, which of course, it was. I hated to tell her the next part because it seemed so nutty and now that it was over, I’d started to think that I must be wrong.
“Rickard,” I said. “He didn’t get happy.”
Leanna laughed. “I’m not surprised. Rickard isn’t very nice. He wants to be the cardinal’s master secretary.”
“And he doesn’t care who he steps on to get there,” said Gledit.
Max paced and said something I couldn’t make out. Then he turned. “Matilda?”
“I couldn’t hear you,” I said.
The emperor reddened for the first time ever and everyone’s mouths dropped open. They seemed to forget he wasn’t only an heir to the empire. He was a real person and he could get embarrassed, too. “Forgive me. I forgot.”
“It’s okay. Happens all the time,” I said. “What did you say?”
“I asked what Rickard’s reaction was.”
“He got weird and sneaky. He found out about Bentha and I thought he would tell the cardinal to get me kicked out, but he didn’t. He just kept skulking around. I thought he might try to hurt me, not that he could. Everybody else was singing, learning, and baking, getting ready for Christmas and he acted like he was up to something.”
“He was,” said Max.
Everyone got quiet. Nobody liked to think about Christmas Eve and the battle in the cathedral. I’d been betrayed to the Archduke and his allies, the horen. They’d attacked, nearly killed Iris, and succeeded in killing dozens of other fairies. I was well-hidden in the cathedral and the question was who had betrayed me. The answer had come to light quickly enough. Actually, two possibilities came to light, Rickard and Delphine Marfisi. Delphine was a royal shoemaker who’d escaped with us from France. Her beloved husband, Roberto, had been left behind. Not knowing whether he was alive or dead preyed on Delphine’s mind. She became deeply depressed and she was seen in the palace on the day of the attack. She had no reason to be there and witnesses placed her near the archduke’s apartment and the delegation from France. The horen were a part of the delegation, but only the empress knew about their presence.
Rickard was also in the palace that day at about the same time and he was seen trying to break into the French delegation’s apartment. Both Rickard and Delphine had been arrested on suspicion of treason, a hanging offense. As far as I knew, nothing had been proven. The Archduke was dead, thanks to me, as was one of the horen. The one I left alive was imprisoned in a salt mine and he wasn’t talking.
Max broke the silence and looked at me. “I’ve been meaning to tell you…”
“Tell me what?” I asked.
“Delphine Marfisi confessed.”
The breath whooshed out of my body. In an instant, Nanny and Leanna were lowering me into a cushy chair.
“Did you have to say it like that?” asked Nanny with a glare at Max.
He blushed again and said, “I didn’t know how to say it.”
“Think harder next time.”
I’d never seen anyone speak to the emperor that way before, including his mother. I had to remind myself that Nanny was his real mother, in that she loved him and raised him. He and the empress had a more formal relationship, more like they were in business together, not a family.
“It’s okay,” I said as Nanny and Leanna did their thing and released my fear and hurt, leaving only sadness in its wake. “I think we already knew.”
“Do the children know?” asked Max.
“I told them she was arrested, but they don’t believe she would betray me after everything we went through together.”
Nanny smoothed my hair and ran a finger along my cheek. “And what do you believe?”
I sighed. “I believe pain makes you do things.” I would know, but I didn’t say that. Some things, people could understand. Others, they couldn’t. The horen’s leg, for instance. I’d cut it off to make an antidote for Iris. It was a cold-blooded thing to do, even if he could grow it back in time. Some horen could do that. The public had been told that he lost his leg due to falling glass, but Max and everyone who mattered knew I did it. They chose not to talk about it. The antidote had been put into amulets that my little family wore. The rest went into the royal medicine stores without a single co
mment about where it came from or who made it.
“Do you forgive her?” asked Leanna.
Forgive?
“What did Delphine say?” I asked.
“My brother”—Max spat the words—“convinced her that he would help Roberto. He wanted to know all about you and your family. She swears that she didn’t tell him that you’re a kindler.”
“She wouldn’t have to. Ambrosio saw us in Paris. How many wood fairies run around with a spriggan and no parents?”
“None,” said Nanny. In an unexpected explosion of anger, she said, “She’ll suffer for this betrayal.”
I felt suddenly tired. Delphine. I could see her starved body and her desperation. When she’d been arrested, I wasn’t surprised. I didn’t much care. There was too much happening. I thought I’d get angry, but I never did.
“How did Delphine change after she drank the potion?” asked Max.
“The same as everyone else. She was happy. She started eating and sewing. It was like a miracle,” I said. “Why?”
“It’s extenuating circumstances.”
“Huh?”
The emperor stood up and began pacing. He held his hands behind his back and I could see his mind going like mad. Then he stopped and looked down at Gruber, snoring softly on the bed. “She was under the influence.”
Nanny stood up with a jolt. “You’re not going to commute her death sentence? You can’t. She betrayed your future wife.”
Wife? Oh, yeah. That’s me. Weird.
“You gave Delphine death? When was the trial?” I asked.
Before he answered, Gerald burst through the door, his small face distraught. Victory stood on his shoulder with his arms behind his shell.
“There wasn’t any trial!” Gerald flung himself into my arms, sobbing. Nanny took him from my arms and Victory leapt onto my hand and began pacing. Nanny settled in another chair, whispering in Gerald’s ear. He gradually relaxed, but didn’t stop crying.
“Gerald,” said Max, “Delphine hasn’t been given death. That is only what the prosecutor is asking for.”
He looked up. “She didn’t know what she was doing.”
“She did. Talking about Matilda and the rest of you was forbidden. Was it not?”
“Yes, but she…she…”
Victory faced Max. “Delphine was under the influence of the archduke. That can’t be overestimated.”
Max nodded. “I agree. My brother…this new evidence changes things.”
Gerald straightened up in Nanny’s lap. “So you’ll let her come back to the cathedral?”
Max shook his head. “She confessed to betraying you. She must pay a price.”
“But not death,” said Victory. It was the most reasonable I’d ever seen him.
“No.”
Gerald smiled. “That’s better.”
Victory hopped up and down. “No prison term. It shall not be.”
So much for reasonable.
“Quiet!” said Max. “You have no say.”
“I have a say. I am Victory!”
“Matilda!”
I plucked Victory off my hand and put him behind my back. He was going crazy back there, but nobody cared. “So she’ll get a prison term. Fine. What about the rest of it?”
Max frowned at me. “The rest of what?”
“How did your brother even know about Delphine? Somebody must’ve told him about her.”
“Rickard,” said Gerald. “It has to be him. He hates you.”
“Yes,” said Max thoughtfully. “But he is not your concern. Matilda and Iris must leave immediately. Healer Bauer, you have the instructions on how to use the rejuvenation spell.”
Healer Bauer jerked up from his pad. “Yes, Your Majesty, but what should I do with the rest of it?”
“How much is there?”
I laughed. “Enough to treat every fairy in Vienna for weeks.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do with it.” Max looked at Healer Bauer and he stood up. “You will determine the properties of the Princess Royal’s new form of this spell and disseminate it to the people on my orders.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Healer Bauer was so excited he was shaking. “May I have your permission to experiment with it to find how it may best be used?”
“Naturally. Have Casper write a proclamation to be read immediately. It will be a good cover for Matilda and Gerald leaving the palace. Matilda must be on her way immediately.”
Healer Bauer rushed out.
I yelled after him. “I have to fix your hand.” But he didn’t come back.
“His assistant will take care of it,” said Max.
“When are we leaving?” asked Gerald.
“Not we,” I said. “Just me and Iris with a couple anubis for extra security.”
“And me,” said Leanna, piping up from beside Nanny and Gerald.
“And me,” said Gledit.
“I didn’t agree to that,” I said. “Why in the fae would you two be coming? Do you have secret fighting skills I don’t know about?”
“I’m going for Iris,” said Leanna, beaming with pride. “To ease her transition to cardinal. I’ll make it easier for her to be seen.”
“And I’m going for you,” said Gledit. “You have to have a master secretary.”
“What for? I don’t write proclamations or whatever,” I said. “We have to be light on our feet, not running around with a bunch of staff.”
“You need someone to keep you in line,” said Max.
I dropped Victory as my palms sizzled and little flames came to life in my palms without me thinking about it. Leanna quickly snagged the nutty phalanx and rubbed my shoulder soothingly.
I was not soothed in the slightest. “Keep me in line? What do you mean by that?”
“Royal protocol must be adhered to. Gledit knows what to do. You don’t. There are different rules for each Italian state.”
I squeezed my hands into fists, extinguishing my unfriendly little flames. “I thought the pope was in Vatican City. How is he in more than one place at once?”
“He isn’t, but you are the Princess Royal. Your procession must stop at the royal families, whose territories you’re passing through.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Not at all. You will be officially welcomed by the Doge of Venice and the de’ Medici of Florence on your way to Rome.”
“That’s just going to slow us down,” I said. “Forget it.”
“This is the way things are done. We can’t afford to insult the nobility of any country at this time. You will make an appearance, attend a welcoming ball, and be on your way. It will add six days at most.”
I groaned. “This is ridiculous.”
“Most of royal life is ridiculous. You’ll get used to it. I want you on your way within the hour.”
Gerald climbed off Nanny’s lap. “We can’t go that fast.”
“What have I been telling you?” I asked. “There’s no we. You’re going to school with Victory and Horc, where you’ll be safe. Miss Penrose is going to take care of you here.”
Miss Penrose had rooms at Sisi’s School for Exceptional Fae. Max had insisted she live there after we broke down and told him that she was distantly related to the French royal family. Spells had changed her hair and wing color, but the golden veins under her wings couldn’t be hidden and the rebels in France knew of her existence. Miss Penrose was a target since they’d executed several members of the royal family. She had to be protected, but she wasn’t happy about it.
Gerald screwed up his face. I recognized that look. He was about to argue with me with all kinds of boring logic and history. I held up my hand. “Don’t want to hear it. You’re going to be safe like Mom wanted. Once I’m out of the country, the horen and the rebels won’t bother you.”
Unexpectedly, Gerald’s face relaxed and I sensed something in his intentions had switched. “Okay, but you have to go see Delphine before you leave.”
“Delphine! I’m not going to
see her. Are you nuts?”
He crossed his thin, little arms. “She needs your forgiveness.”
“Well, I don’t forgive her,” I said. “Wait. How would you know what she needs?”
“I’ve been visiting her in prison.”
I was so astonished that I couldn’t speak for a second. “She sent the horen after us after what you’ve been through. She knew they killed your parents.”
Gerald puffed up. “She’s our family and she didn’t mean to.”
“But she did.”
“Her intentions were good.”
“No, they weren’t. Not for us, anyway. What did she think was going to happen?”
“She thought she could save Roberto. Nanny taught me to forgive and you should forgive, too.”
I went for the door. “I don’t have time for this.”
Max stopped me. “I believe you do. Settle things with Delphine. Your heart should be clean before you go to Rome. You’ll need everything you have to be focused on getting Pope Joyous’s help to free your parents and the vermillion. My mother’s life may depend on it.”
The vermillion were healers to the French royal family. They’d been massacred in Paris, but one had survived and was being held in the Loire Valley with my family. We didn’t know which vermillion had been spared. It could be Ibn, the greatest of the vermillion, but we didn’t know. The empress’s disease was completely unique, so it might not matter who it was.
“If the vermillion can cure her, everything will change in Austria. Pent up anger won’t help our cause.” He smiled. “Nanny taught me that.”
Max left to go write a letter to the prison officials and Nanny took my hand. “There is much of the warrior in you. But you must remember that the healer part is just as strong.”
“What’s that got to do with Delphine?”
“Healing is about giving of yourself.”
I tried to pull my hand away. “I have.”
“You have, but only your skill, not your understanding.”
“I don’t have any. She gave us up for what…information? The archduke didn’t have Roberto to give her.”
“Ask Delphine what she was thinking. If the answer suits you, maybe you can forgive.”
I grumbled.
“Please, Matilda,” said Gerald with a bit of shake to his thin shoulders.
To the Eternal (Away From Whipplethorn Book Five) Page 4