by Rigel, LK
Beverly finished dressing and opened her secretary for the last time.
She’d decided to accept Dandelion’s offer. She had felt fantastic in fae, and the moment she returned to the human realm everything had started to fall apart again. She didn’t want to die. And maybe the Oracle ring’s power didn’t work in fae. Or maybe she would die—but at least she’d feel good until day came.
The truth was, she loved Dandelion. He didn’t see her age. He didn’t care that she was a wyrder. He saw her, Beverly. The only thing he knew about her was that he loved her.
Even if she was going to live forever, she would want to be with him.
She searched the journal one more time for something about the Oracle ring, some clue that in fae she could escape death. Instead, she found a sentence in Lydia’s hand which she must have read a hundred times and never fully understood:
If ever you are fortunate enough to come upon a cloak made of goblin mist, do what you must to possess it. Your power will know no bounds.
What was Lydia Pengrith’s life really like that she knew so much? Beverly closed the journal.
Cade and Lily had invited all the Dumnos fae to Faeview’s rooftop for the dandelion wine ceremony. When the fairies returned to the faewood, Beverly would go with them. She left Morning Glory’s love potion in the secretary and took the key to pass on to Lily, but she put Lydia Pengrith’s journal in her bag.
The fairies were already on the roof, dancing and singing. Cissa and Morning Glory danced in the air, spinning in circles and throwing fairy dust over the people below. The dust exploded like little firecrackers.
Cissa had cut her hair short, and it stuck out all over in bright red spikes. She was wearing a fabulous emerald necklace. She looked deliriously happy.
Beverly joined Max at a table outside the fairy circle. With a sad smile, he watched Cissa and Morning Glory dance in the air. Well, mostly Cissa. What a gnarly goblin, decidedly not a pretty man, yet his nobility was its own kind of beauty. The chair he sat in, made by human hands, seemed gross and unworthy of him.
“I hear we’ll have a new queen soon,” Max said. “The gobs will enjoy making another moonstick throne.”
“I’m going to live at Mudcastle at first,” Beverly said. “Until the fae get used to the idea of a human queen.”
“You won’t be human forever,” Max said. “You’ll turn fae if you don’t die—and I’m sure you won’t die.” He turned red with embarrassment. “I only mean the wyrding thing is more objectionable than the human thing—oh.” The red deepened to purple.
“I hope you’ll stay at Mudcastle.” Beverly changed the subject.
“Thank you, but no. When Dandelion’s safely king once and for all, I’ll go back to the vale.” He patted a pocket in his waistcoat. “I forgot to return Vulsier’s summoning candle when I brought Boadicea to him.”
Beverly shuddered at the mention of Max’s sister. When she and Sturm and Drang had made it out of the panopticon and back to Max, he was just about to light the candle and summon a horde of goblins to battle Idris. Things could have gotten messy. She was only sorry she hadn’t been able to separate Boadicea from Idris’s glimmer glass.
“Max,” Beverly said. “I am so sorry about your sister.”
“Boadicea is tortured no longer,” Max said, “nor enslaved to Idris’s command. You have nothing to be sorry about.”
Idris’s glimmer glass was old and strong, and its binding spell had worked its way too deep inside Max’s sister Boadicea. After hours trying to break or unwind the spell, Beverly had become convinced that shattering the glass would kill her.
“She’s safe with Vulsier,” Max said. “Still in her prison, but no longer abused.”
“I’ll find a way to free her, Max.” Beverly rested her hand on the goblin’s arm. “I vow it.”
The drumming rhythm intensified. Dandelion and Goldy descended from the air, the stars dazzling in the night and the moon a bright round, flat disk. They landed in the center of the fairy circle.
Dandelion flashed Beverly a smile, and her heart leapt into her throat. What had she been thinking? She could never leave him.
Bam! Bam! Two thwacks on drums, and the music stopped.
Goldy produced the dandelion winesack and strode around the circle, holding it high. Dandelion held the fairy cup aloft for all to see. Moonlight struck the glass and its jewels, and it glowed like magic.
“My fellow fae.” Dandelion lowered the cup. “I can’t take the vow. I can’t drink the dandelion wine.”
“The blinking treesap.” Beside Beverly, Max stomped his foot and grumbled, “What now?”
Dandelion called Cissa down to stand with him in the circle.
“I am not the rightful monarch of the Dumnos fae,” he said to all. “I thought I was, but I was wrong. I’ve never done anything, sacrificed anything for the fae unless it would benefit me personally.”
He gave Cissa the cup.
“Princess Cissa, on the other hand, has thought of nothing but your well-being. For hundreds of years, she’s risked her happiness, her comfort, and her life for yours. She would have married Idris to keep you safe.”
He took the winesack from Goldy and filled the cup in Cissa’s hands.
“Let me do one noble thing in my life. I abdicate in favor of Princess Cissa. Long live Queen Cissa.”
The fairies cheered and whistled, and the musicians played a fanfare that seemed to go on forever. Like the rightful monarch she was, Cissa rose to the occasion. She chanted the ritual words.
“By the fae cup I swear,
And by dandelion wine,
To claim the fae crown
Ever meant to be mine.”
The fairies went wild as Goldy produced the moonstick crown and held it over Cissa’s head. She looked positively regal.
“Speech!” the fairies cried. “Speech!”
Dandelion joined Beverly and Max on the sidelines.
“Well done,” Max said. “Well done, indeed.”
“As Queen of the Dumnos fae,” Cissa said, “I promise a return to the light. We will remain true to the origins of the Dumnos fae. To that end, I will never marry. I wed my people.”
Goldy placed the crown on Queen Cissa’s head and stepped away, leaving her alone in the center of the fairy circle, dazzling and bedazzling.
She said, “I am the bride of fae.”
The musicians launched into another tune, full of pride in their Queen, playing so loud the song was surely heard all the way to Tintagos Village.
“How do you feel, my love?” Dandelion took Beverly’s hand. He kissed her fingers and the colors of her nail polish changed. It was a silly little piece of fae magic, but she loved it.
“Wonderful,” she said. “I’ll feel even better when we get home.”
He swept her off her feet and extended his wings. “I thought we might go surfing in the northern lights.
“Tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow.” She laid her palm out flat. A circle of light appeared above it, and in the circle an image. The image of their bed at Mudcastle. As they watched, the bedcovers were turned down and the pillows fluffed by an invisible hand.
“What a fool I was,” Dandelion said, “to believe wyrding magic was inferior to fae magic.”
“Let’s go home,” Beverly said. “And see what the magics are like together.”
Bride of Fae
From the author:
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About...
About the Author
LK RIGEL LIVES IN CALIFORNIA with her television-watching cat, Coleridge. (His favorite show is Castle, but he was enthralled by Game of Thrones.) Rigel wrote songs for the 90’s band The Elements, scored the independent science fantasy karate movie Lucid Dreams, and was a reporter for the Sacramento Rock ‘N Roll News. Her work has appeared in Literary Mama and Tattoo Highway.
Rigel writes the science
fiction romance Apocalypto series which includes Space Junque, Spiderwork, and Firebird. Her short story “Slurp” about an author with muse problems is included in Deadly Treats, Anne Frasier’s Halloween anthology published by Nodin Press.
Give Me – A Tale of Wyrd and Fae is the first book in the Tethers series. War of the Wyrd and The Goblin Ball are coming soon.
Sign up for email notice of new releases. And visit www.lkrigel.com for more information.
Other Books by L.K. Rigel
SFF Adventure, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic
Apocalypto Series
Space Junque
Spiderwork
Firebird
Apocalypto (Omnibus Edition, Vol. 1 - 3)
Contemporary Romance
Kiss Me Hello
Fantasy Romance, Fairy Tales (for Grownups)
Tethers series
Give Me
Bride of Fae
War of the Wryd (TBA)
The Goblin Ball (TBA)