by Emma Savant
Heir Olivia pursed her lips.
“Your approach was effective, I’ll give you that.”
“I apologize, Your Highness.”
The Heir shrugged. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” she said. “Just—don’t do it again.”
“Of course,” Serena said in a small voice. She looked down, but the ghost of a smile appeared at the corners of her lips.
She was smiling? There were things to smile about?
I couldn’t process any of this. I tried to listen instead. I could make sense of it later.
The stagehand who’d led us back here hovered at the edges of our group, unsure whether to leave or stay. He finally blurted out, “Can I get anyone some water?”
I nodded. The Heir crossed her legs.
“Sure,” she said. “Thanks.”
Relieved, he ran to a soda fountain behind a bar on one end of the room and started filling paper cups. The Heir watched him for a moment, her lips pressed together as though suppressing a smile.
“This isn’t new,” the Heir said, turning back to us. “What he was doing. Mr. Rumpel has been using his influence for a long time. He’s been smart about it, though, which is why we’re always one step behind him. He’s been working for decades to build a fortress around himself of concealment and diversion spells, using the gifts of Glims he either manipulates or pays off, and he switches careers and names every few years. First it was stock trading in the Humdrum markets, then dragon racing, then Titania knows what else. We’ve got a file on him three inches thick, but any tracing spells we attempted would just get lost in the web of enchantments he’s put around himself. Your approach,” she said, looking pointedly at Serena, “was just direct enough to get through to us.”
“What’s his real name?” I said.
He had whispered to me that I didn’t even know it. The memory made my skin crawl.
“Todd Aurelio,” she said. “He hasn’t gone by that in decades, but that’s how he started out.”
Todd. It was a more ordinary name than I had imagined. I let it roll around in my head.
The stagehand scurried back to hand out drinks. Heir Olivia thanked him, and he flushed. I knew what it was like to have fans excited to meet me, but she was on a whole other level and I wondered how often people couldn’t even speak around her. I took a long drink and let the cool water wash down the back of my throat.
“What will happen to him?” Clarence asked. “Will Dior be safe?”
“We’ll make sure of it,” the Heir said. “Now that we have Todd—August—we’ll have a much easier time tracking down the extent of his influence, and we’ll be able to sever those spells. I suspect a few of his victims are going to need some rehabilitation and therapy. God knows I would.”
A dark cloud passed over her face, and she glanced toward the door as though she’d rather like to go deal with him herself.
“In the meantime, I’ll be happy to assign you a guard,” the Heir said. “Just for a few days, until we have everything sorted.”
“What about him, though?” Briana said. “What will happen to him?”
“He’ll be tried at the next Faerie Court,” Heir Olivia said. “Queen Amani and I will meet with the Council and pass judgment. I don’t know what exactly will happen to him, but I can promise he won’t be free to go start all this again. You’re all welcome to attend the trial, of course. I’ll have someone meet with you to collect your statements over the next week, but we’d also appreciate your testimony at the Court if you’re willing.”
Clarence squeezed my hand. I didn’t know if I wanted to go and I didn’t know if I wanted to testify at the Court, but that didn’t matter. Whatever I decided would be my choice.
“My dad,” I said. “He’s under August’s control still.”
“We’ll handle that immediately,” Heir Olivia said. “If things go smoothly, we’ll have August’s entire web untangled and documented by this time next week. I have a feeling Queen Amani is going to put everyone on overtime for this.”
She stood. Immediately, reflexively, we all stood, too.
“Does anyone else have any more questions or issues I can address while I’m here?”
My brain immediately went blank at the idea of the Heir asking me if she could answer my questions. Judging by the faces around me, so had everyone else’s.
Everyone except Clarence.
“Will Dior be safe to go home tonight?” he said. “She’s been staying at an apartment provided by that lowlife, and her dad hasn’t recovered yet.”
“She’ll be fine,” the Heir said. “I’ll have a guard assigned to you within the hour, Dior, if that’s all right with you.”
“Yes, thank you,” I said.
It was all right. It was more than all right.
Clarence thanked the Heir, but didn’t seem totally satisfied. A moment later, while Heir Olivia was handing her paper cup back to the overwhelmed stagehand, he leaned over and muttered, “You can stay with me.”
Heir Olivia paused, as though debating with herself, then said, “Dior, would you mind staying behind a moment?”
That was everyone else’s cue to leave. Clarence put a reassuring hand on my arm, and then they all filed out, the stagehand hovering behind them. Briana looked back over her shoulder and mouthed, What? I shrugged.
“I’m so happy to meet you,” the Heir said. She held out her hand, and I froze for a moment. Was I supposed to kiss it? I couldn’t remember the rules.
The moment our hands touched, she shook mine firmly, and I pretended like that had been my plan all along.
“I’m such a big fan,” she said. “I’ve loved your music for years and your Orbs performance was amazing.”
This couldn’t be real life.
I felt myself go red.
“Oh,” I said, intelligently.
She shifted, and for a brief moment, she looked almost embarrassed.
“Would you,” she said, and then patted at her pockets. “Sorry, would you mind signing an autograph for me? One of my advisors will kill me if I meet you and don’t bring her something.”
“Oh my god,” I said. “Yes. Yeah. Of course. Um, yeah, I have a few headshots in my dressing room.”
“Ew,” she said. “Let’s not go back in there until the creep is where he belongs. Let me try something.” She squeezed her eyes shut and tapped the handle of her wand, which was still jammed into the messy bun on the back of her head. The air in front of us shimmered and a stack of photographs shimmered into existence and fluttered down. I reached out and caught all but two of them, and Heir Olivia bent to collect the rest. A marker clattered to the floor after the photos.
“That only works sometimes,” Heir Olivia said.
Abruptly, I remembered that she was younger than me.
The world was weird, and this day was crazy.
Crazy and good.
I signed a small stack of photographs for her, addressing one in particular to Imogen at the Heir’s request. I’d heard of Councilor Imogen. She was the Heir’s closest confidant and chief adviser, and an incredibly powerful faerie in her own right. I’d never thought I would be signing a picture of myself for her.
“Thanks so much,” Heir Olivia said. She tucked the pictures in close to herself and gave me a warm smile. “And thanks for helping us catch August. You’ve done a huge service for the Glimmering community today.” She bit her lip. “Listen. I don’t know if you’re burned out on performing after all this, but my coronation is coming up, and I was wondering…”
Chapter 33
I bounced on the balls of my feet and shook out my arms. The dark embrace of the backstage area wrapped around us, while the glow of the lights onstage tempted me to run out before my cue and throw everything at my audience. Charmed fog filled the space behind the silver velvet curtain, thick and waist-high.
“You ready?” Sadie said dryly.
“I was born ready,” I said.
In truth, my entire body tin
gled with nerves. I’d given concerts before—big concerts, and concerts under unbelievably stressful conditions. But this one might be the most important of them all.
The Heir’s coronation had been beautiful. The ceremony had been broadcast to magic mirrors throughout the world, and of all the thousands of Glims who’d tuned in, I’d been one of the few to actually be in the room while it all happened.
Now I was going to entertain the crowds that had showed up at the Waterfall Palace to celebrate the formal crowning of Olivia as Heir, a year and a day after she’d been officially appointed to the position by Queen Amani.
“You’re going to do great,” Sadie said. “You’ve handled worse than this.”
“Yeah, but my audience isn’t drugged this time,” I said.
She rolled her eyes.
It was nice to joke about it, to feel like I was far enough removed from the events of the past months that I could make offhand comments without fearing they might come true. August was in prison, and would be closely monitored by the Palace for decades after he got out. And I was on top of the world.
The lights went on and drums rumbled like low thunder, the sound traveling from the stage and out into the room. A cheer went up as the curtain rose, spilling fog out in rolling waves onto the crowds. I flashed Sadie a quick smile before running out onto the stage and into the embrace of the music and my fans.
I sang. They listened. And for the first time in a long time, the music and the connection we shared was mine. No magic enhanced it, not even my own glamours. No oily golden spells forced anyone to like what they weren’t naturally drawn to. Instead, I put my soul out there for anyone who wanted it, and anyone who felt like dancing danced from the heart.
The ballroom of the Waterfall Palace had been transformed into a beautiful display of water and air. Ethereal curls of fog floated out from the stage and through the crowd like the mist rising from the bottom of a waterfall, and the room was filled with sparkling fountains filled with coins and wishes. Heir Olivia sat with Queen Amani and Councilor Imogen on a cloud that floated high above the dancing crowds. I could just see them past the lights if I went right to the edge of the stage and squinted.
I could see Clarence, too, standing right up front. Between songs, I bent over and ran along the edge of the stage, high-fiving every stretched-out hand. His clasped mine for a moment, and I blew him a quick kiss before jumping back into the next number.
I sang, and I danced, and I played with my crowd until beads of sweat rolled down my back and I felt like I could collapse.
Too quickly, it was over. The curtain fell. The crowds cheered, and then the lights went up and the all-night party continued. I peeked through the gap in the curtain and saw acrobats twisting down silver silk that cascaded from clouds near the ceiling. They leapt through the air in ways that would have taken my breath away if I’d had any left.
Clarence caught my eye from his place near the stage. He pointed his wand at me and I felt a little tickle hit the tip of my nose. I see you, he mouthed, and waved me to come on out.
“Dior, you’re a marvel,” Briana said dramatically as I entered the tiny dressing area backstage to change. “You’re really a magnificent creature, Dior.”
I peeled off my sweaty silver-spangled leotard and chucked it at her. She caught it, then touched the earpiece that nestled discreetly in her ear. “Yeah?” she said. “Got it, boss. I’ll be out in five.”
She worked for Serena now. It was a match made in heaven; Briana had all the novelty and variety she could want, and Serena had someone who could go out during the day and who nobody would ever suspect of anything. Briana was the last person in the world whose presence screamed detective, and that, Serena said, was why she was so damn useful. I had no idea what they were doing working at the Coronation Celebration, but that was fine. It felt awesome to not be involved in one of Serena’s cases.
My phone buzzed from inside my purse.
Dad: Great job, kiddo. You rocked the house.
I sent back a smiling emoji and tucked the phone away. I didn’t know what else to say. Dad’s behavior hadn’t been his fault, but I still felt a little unsettled whenever we spoke. I felt the same way about Starling. He didn’t work with me anymore. I couldn’t blame him for what had happened, but I couldn’t see him every week yet, either.
Briana noticed my face and handed me a clean dress with a smile.
“You did good,” she said, normally this time. “I’m really proud of you, lady.”
“Thank you,” I said. “For everything.”
She gave me a quick squeeze and left, off to do who knew what. I slipped out behind her, cast a quick glamour over my features that made me look just different enough to not be immediately recognizable, and went to join Clarence.
He jumped when I put an arm around him, then gave me a skeptical look. In between his sharp eyebrows lifted into a quirk and his soft lips just barely pursed, skepticism was a good look on him.
“This is Dior, right?”
“Last I checked,” I said. “Unless you’re into role-play or something.”
“Not this evening,” he said. He leaned down and kissed me. The kaleidoscope took off in circles around my stomach.
“You want to get out of here?” he said.
I glanced around the room. “Not really,” I said. “This party’s just getting started.”
“You want to get out of here, make out for a bit, and then come back?”
“Now you’re talking.”
I took his hand and he led me across the ballroom. The shimmers of silver and fast-spinning bodies of the acrobats filled the air above us, and a dazzling array of Glims in their finest attire surrounded us on every side like a glittering sea. Clarence pulled me through gaps in the crowd and led me out the door. The music and chatter behind us faded as we entered the palace’s serene entrance hall with its silvery wallpaper and waterfall cascading quietly from the ceiling.
Clarence seemed to know his way around the palace, at least well enough to lead me through a pair of doors on the opposite side of the foyer and up a spiral staircase with marble steps and a railing made of silver twisted in the shape of branches.
“Where are we going?” I said, one step behind him. He gave me an impish grin over his shoulder.
“Up.”
I rolled my eyes and followed him, swirl after swirl, as the bottom of the staircase fell away beneath us.
We stepped out at the top of the stairs onto a silver platform with a railing of the same silver branches as the staircase. These ones had leaves—tiny, delicate filigree leaves that trembled in the breeze. Cool mist rose up around us and the sound of water shuddered and pounded underneath our feet. Behind us, the dark shadows of the forest gave the world a soft, sheltered feeling.
Carefully, I stepped toward the edge of the platform. My stomach wobbled at the sight of the waterfall plunging down hundreds of feet below us, churning as it arced off the cliff face on its way down to the pools. Clarence put a steady hand on my waist, and I took a deep breath.
“This is incredible,” I said.
Far in the distance, through the cliffs and trees, bright lights from cargo ships glittered on the Columbia River. A few Glims walked down the path leading to the entrance to the Waterfall Palace, so far away that I couldn’t distinguish their faces in the dim light of the cloud of fireflies that lit their way.
For months, I had felt like I’d been spun around until I was dizzy, like a fly caught in the spider’s web. The world continued to spin around me, but now, I felt like I was at the center of everything. I was steady and calm, and whether I spun or danced or held completely still, it would be up to me.
Clarence pulled me close and kissed the top of my head. The waterfall thundered beneath us, and the silver stars whirled slowly overhead.
A Note from Emma
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Thanks for being part of the Glimmering world!
Also by Emma Savant
The Glimmers Series:
Glimmers of Glass (#1: Cinderella)
Glimmers of Scales (#2: The Little Mermaid)
Glimmers of Thorns (#3: Beauty and the Beast)
Glimmers of Garlands (#3.5: The Elves and the Shoemaker)
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About the Author
Emma Savant lives with her husband and cat in a small town in Oregon, where she spends most of her time watching Star Trek and eating nachos. She loves fairy tales and once took an archery class in the hopes of becoming more Narnian.
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