I wet the cloth again and got back to work. ‘I thought I wanted to be okay on my own. I thought I could learn … and I suppose in a way I am okay.’ In a half-life, lonely kind of way. ‘But what I’ve actually learned is that I’m not made to be on my own—and I don’t want to be because … Leif, I just love you so much.’ I let the cloth I’d just picked up fall into the water and bent over my betrothed. Wrapping my arms all the way around his shoulders, I kissed his face and hair. When I’d pulled myself together, I reached for the cloth again.
Sitting on my balcony, sipping cocktails of melon and nectar with my twin, I waited for King Telophy. As the last of the light gave way to dark, dots in every colour of the rainbow began to flash to life above the lake—solari bugs whirling around each other, their trails of shimmery light reflected in the water. I could hear laughter from below and leaned over the balustrade to see Jack lying on the bank with Ameyah and Claudette. They waved their hands through the dancing insects, blissfully unaware of all that had happened today. I’d decided to put off telling anyone about Ruby till I’d spoken to the King.
Lysander made his way through a bowl of nuts and a second cocktail as he told me what he knew about the bugs. They were seasonal, coming out of their caves to mate. They were responsible for the sheer and shimmering silk so common in Faera. Interesting stuff, but I just couldn’t get the day’s events out of my head. There were so many questions I couldn’t begin to make sense of. How had King Telophy’s betrothed ended up on Earth? Why had they never connected as Leif and I had? What did my great-grandmother have to do with it? And what had my king meant when he’d said that everything had changed?
‘I’m going,’ Lysander said, rising to his feet. ‘It’s like I’m talking to a wall.’
‘I’m sorry.’ I caught his hand. ‘I’ve just got some stuff on my mind.’
He sat back down. ‘What stuff?’
‘I’ll tell you, but I have to speak with the King first … make sure he doesn’t mind. He should be here soon.’
‘You have my consent,’ a deep voice said from behind us.
We both turned to see King Telophy coming through the balcony door. I went to stand, but he lifted a hand to stop me before going to the edge of the balcony and pulling himself up on to the balustrade.
He nodded for me to go on so I turned to my brother and told him the shortest possible version.
‘What your twin has not mentioned,’ King Telophy said when I’d finished, ‘is that her Ruby was my Leinori—my betrothed. Which leaves questions—first of which is, what is her connection to you, Marla?’
There was no point keeping things from him now. ‘Ruby … Leinori, was the lady my Fae parents left me with as a baby.’
The King lowered his face, his hands clenching the railing. When he looked up again, tears had gathered in his eyes. ‘There are so many ways I could have learned of her sooner. If Leif had come to me instead of organising the assembly, if I’d welcomed you to my kingdom instead of putting obstacles in your path, if …’ He stopped and shook his head. ‘I could have brought her home.’ His voice was a haze of regret.
‘Even if things had been as you said,’ I told him, ‘I still wouldn’t have known who Ruby was, so why would I have mentioned her to you?’
‘My errors go back much further than that.’ His voice was only a murmur.
I wanted to ask him about those errors, but with Lysander simmering beside me it was definitely not the time. ‘If I’d known she was your betrothed, or even that she was a faery, I would have told you about her … for her sake alone.’
‘You did not suspect she was Fae?’ King Telophy asked.
‘Not until yesterday. But then when I checked her ears—’
‘She’d had them surgically altered,’ the King said, almost choking on the words.
I was plummeted back to childhood, to teasing, taunts and shame, to hairstyles that tried to cover my ears. ‘I used to dream of doing that.’
‘Me too,’ Lysander said, his voice loaded with resentment.
The King looked between me and my brother. ‘With all my soul I wish I could undo the past. I am sorry for the suffering I’ve caused.’
Lysander glanced my way, eyes glittering and eyebrows crashing. As soon as we were alone he’d be telling me sheep would be knitting jumpers from their own wool before he’d accept the King’s apology. He stood, his blue eyes arctic when he turned them to the King. ‘Any king worth the title would do a lot more than just be sorry.’
‘Lysander,’ I cried as my brother released his wings, turquoise flashing in the dark as he immediately set them in motion.
‘Wait,’ King Telophy commanded. His hand shot out, clasping my brother’s wrist and stopping his escape. I looked at the King, expecting anger, hurt, something. But he only watched my twin, giving nothing away. ‘Retract your wings and sit back down.’
Lysander did what he was told—noisily.
‘Do you like living in my kingdom, Lysander?’
‘My kingdom too.’ The words spoken in a growl.
The King inclined his head. ‘For now.’
Lysander stood up again. ‘Is that a threat?’
‘More a choice—sit.’ My brother complied. ‘You are immortal—a man now, and in charge of your own destiny. No one is making you stay here. Any one of my grandfathers would welcome you to his kingdom. I would make sure of it.’
Lysander’s scowl deepened. ‘My family is in this kingdom.’
‘Well on that score, you are ahead of me. Mine is scattered throughout the realm.’
My brother had no answer to that.
‘Too well I understand your anger, Lysander—and own I am the cause of it. And so, I give you leave to tell me your feelings on that. But, as your elder and your king, unless you desire to spend time in one of my prison chambers, I insist you do it with respect and in private … Yesterday I allowed your insolence to go unpunished. I won’t do so again.’
My brother’s response was instant. ‘Permission to speak in front of my sister, My King.’
King Telophy sighed. ‘Granted.’
‘This is bullshit. You think you can do and say whatever the hell you want and no one can touch you. And as well as feeling like punching you in the face, I feel that even if I live to be a thousand I will never forgive you for the damage you’ve done to me and my family.’
‘Understood,’ King Telophy said quietly, with a nod. ‘And while we’re being frank with each other, I confess that I will likely never forgive myself. However, I am King, so for the sake of my subjects, I must find a way to live with it. And if you wish to remain in our kingdom, then so must you.’
‘Can I go now?’
‘You may.’
My brother released his wings.
‘But come train with me and my High Guard tonight,’ King Telophy said before he could fly away.
My brother stopped, his eyebrows shooting up. ‘You mean it?’ I smiled at his reaction.
‘I do,’ King Telophy said. ‘And one more thing.’ He placed his hand on Lysander’s shoulder. ‘I’ll never knowingly do anything that might cause hurt to either you or your family again—you have my vow on that.’
I swallowed my own surprise as my brother’s eyes widened, his lips parting as though he were about to speak. But no words came. He only nodded once before turning to me. ‘Don’t forget my game tomorrow. Linden’s coming. He said Heath’s excited to see you.’
I was surprised to see him incline his head to King Telophy before leaving us.
‘Linden,’ King Telophy said as we watched Lysander fly off to join Jack and the changelings. ‘Did you know he was once of my High Guard?’
‘No, I mean I knew he was a guard.’ I was surprised my new friend hadn’t mentioned it. To be chosen by the King to safeguard those closest to him was the highest honour among the guard.
‘He resigned when his wife was with child, but has most humbly requested to be reinstated, specifically for the purpose of servin
g you.’
I was stunned. The High Guard were the best of the best, the personal minders of the King’s inner circle—Atara, the Queen’s parents, the members of the Most High. If I were still to marry Leif I might qualify. ‘What did you tell him?’
‘That I would speak with you.’
‘Why would he want this?’ I said, but immediately recalled what had happened at Lysander’s evadenet game.
‘He said that after the help you have given both him and his son, it would be his honour. He seemed quite adamant.’
‘I’d never take him away from Heath. Tomorrow I’ll tell him so.’
‘You’ll do him no service … We all need to feel useful. Perhaps suggest special events only till the child is grown.’
I nodded. ‘Thanks for what you just did for Lysander. Not only the vow, but the training too. He mightn’t want it to mean a lot but I know it does.’
‘I am his king, and so it must.’
‘It could be more than that.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘And I wouldn’t expect it to be. But I’ll allow him many good strikes to help soothe his anger, so expect to see me well bruised tomorrow. Perhaps it will make him feel better … Perhaps it will make me feel better.’
Before King Telophy’s mood could sink, I changed the subject. ‘I haven’t told you everything I know about Leinori. And I think I should.’
‘Go on.’
I took a deep breath. ‘Ruby, Leinori, knew my great-grandmother, Olette.’
‘Olette,’ King Telophy said slowly. ‘The mother of Melody, who is the mother of Finelle.’
I nodded, even though it hadn’t really been a question.
Closing his eyes, King Telophy tipped his face to the sky, almost as though lost in a prayer. A moment later he leapt down from the balustrade and released his wings. ‘Come, we will go to your great-grandmother.’ I knew then he hadn’t been praying at all, only recalling the home of his subject.
Olette lived in a little home with her friend, Aronwen, far north of the castle. I’d been once before and knew it wasn’t a quick trip. ‘I’ll slow you down.’
‘Not if I carry you.’ He scooped me up and took to the sky.
Chapter Thirteen
The world was a giddy blur from King Telophy’s arms—speed that made my stomach roll, flashes of light in the dark, and the brilliant white of his wings beyond his shoulders. I clutched at his neck, wrapping my arms so tight I didn’t know how he could breathe. But he didn’t complain and held me securely so eventually I loosened my grip. Before long we arrived on the side of a hill swaying with wild flowers all the way to the starlit river below. The King found a path among them to my great-grandmother’s front door. Aronwen answered and after overcoming her shock at seeing the King, told us that Olette was gathering gossamer with some neighbours.
We followed the directions to a nearby cave, edging around the stream flowing from the entrance and ducking as we went inside. King Telophy led the way, sticking close to the winding stream as we trekked through tunnels and caverns, the walls eerie with tiny spots of colour. The scent of damp rock grew stronger and all around us the drip, drip of water echoed. In the distance, the sounds of talking and laughter grew louder until we turned a corner and the tunnel opened into an enormous grotto dripping with stalactites and glowing with colour. Faeries hovered close to the ceiling as they gathered the great sheets of shimmering silk that hung down while others frolicked in the pool below or scraped colour from the walls and into jars.
‘What is this?’ I asked, frozen in place by the stunning sight.
King Telophy stopped with me. ‘What is left when the solari bugs hatch and leave their homes to mate.’ He caught my eyes. ‘All over the kingdom my subjects are clearing it away. They will make fabric and potions and art, and when the insects return, the cycle will begin again.’
The faeries continued to collect the drapes of colour—soft blues and yellows and pinks and all shades in between. ‘How come the colours aren’t all mixed together?’
‘The insects feed in groups from a single source,’ the King explained, ‘returning again and again and absorbing the colour of the flower together with the nutrients.’
I was so entranced I’d barely noticed the faeries starting to gather around us, drawn to their king like butterflies to nectar. King Telophy found Olette among them, sending the others away with a sprinkle of light.
‘Do you know why I am here?’ he asked her.
She glanced my way, her fingers twisting together. ‘I am not certain, Majesty.’
‘Someone close to my heart died today,’ King Telophy told her. ‘No … close to my soul—of my soul.’
Olette looked a little baffled. ‘I am sorry, My King.’
‘You might know her as Ruby, but to me she will ever be Leinori.’
A small sound came from Olette’s throat as her face grew pale. Tears welled in her eyes. She opened her mouth, but no sound came.
‘She was my betrothed.’
My great-grandmother broke. She fell to the floor of the cave as sobs rose up from somewhere deep. A heavy feeling built in my chest as I bent to comfort her. Who exactly was Ruby to her? The King lifted his hand and drenched her in light—white and soft and quickly lost inside her. Almost instantly, Olette fell silent, her eyes closing. When she came back, she was calmer.
‘How did you know her?’ I asked after I’d helped her to her feet. I held my breath, waiting for her answer.
‘Leinori is … was my daughter.’
I felt myself pale. My king’s betrothed was my great-aunt. I glanced at him to see he looked as shocked as me. ‘Melody had a twin,’ I whispered.
Olette nodded. ‘She vanished when she was not yet three. We assumed she was taken by Shadow Fae—it was during Mirren’s reign, you see.’ A tear slipped from her eyes. She brushed it away with her fingers. ‘Torin never recovered. He thought himself a failure for being unable to protect his daughter. Great risks he would take to end as many Shadow Fae as possible to avenge her. A few months later he died at their hands.’
‘Melody never said,’ I told her.
‘She has no memory of her sister, not much more of her father. To ease her sorrow, I devoted my life to helping her forget. I got my bright girl back, but for me there were too many memories, so one day we left our family home and flew far away. I was drawn to this place from the sky and alighted by Aronwen gathering flowers. She offered us shelter and was so kind to Melody and such a fast friend to me that we never left. Then one day, some thirty years after Leinori was lost, Aronwen came home from the markets saying two girls from my past home were looking for me—the daughters of a male called Charin. I went to see the girls the next day. They told me their father had not long passed, but he had been searching for me—a task now left to them. They handed me a letter from him,’ Olette stopped, looking from me to King Telophy. ‘But perhaps it’s best I show it to you.’
We sat at the table while Aronwen made tea. Olette vanished through a small arched door and returned with a wooden box. She took an envelope from inside, the broken seal dropping amber resin on the table as she handed it to King Telophy. He read aloud.
Olette,
It is with deep regret I write this letter to you. Although I once considered Torin a friend, I did not know you well. And yet, I have caused you unimaginable suffering. You may recall the death of my betrothed in a Shadow Fae attack not long after your children were born. At the time, Torin was leader of the guard in our region. As such I blamed him for my loss— believing he’d robbed me of the joy of family he was now experiencing. It pains me to tell you, I chose to take revenge. I told myself the loss of one of your two small daughters for a period of time would demonstrate my grief to Torin. And so, I made a gamble with the Dark Fae.
The magic I won helped me send one of your daughters to the human world. My intention was to retrieve the child when I’d decided Torin had suffered enough. But alas, an unknown consequence of the dark magic was tha
t I lost all memory of it until after the stolen child had reached immortality. When the knowledge of my actions returned, I was overcome with remorse. Torin had died at the hands of the Shadow Fae long since, and my new wife had birthed our own twin daughters. And you, Olette, had moved away.
I have searched for you every day since learning the truth, fading a little more with every failure. And now I am too weak to carry on. To imagine one of my children lost to the human world is torture. If my daughters find you, Olette, and I pray they do, you will find Leinori at the address below. No doubt there will be anger and bitterness towards me—all deserved. So I want you to know, my punishment has been severe, for I can no longer live with what I have done.
I am truly, deeply sorry,
Charin
‘I went to the address and found her,’ Olette said when King Telophy had finished reading. ‘She was desperately ill. I lost my little daughter soon after she’d learned to use her wings. I found her again when she had no memory of ever possessing them.’
‘I suppose they were pink,’ King Telophy said quietly as Aronwen joined us at the table and began pouring tea. ‘Her wings.’
‘Pink … yes—pale as the petals of the millisa flower—like Finelle’s,’ she glanced my way, ‘like Marla’s.’ She took an image from the box and handed it to him. I leaned closer and he tilted it in my direction. It was a small and delicate watercolour—two toddler girls holding hands, both blue-eyed and smiling, with long pale hair, one with wings the colour of lilacs, the other the softest of pinks.
My own eyes filled with tears as King Telophy lifted an elbow to the table, leaned into his hand and pushed at his eyes with his fingers and thumb. He sat like that for a long time, the painting clasped in his other hand. I blinked hard and turned to the open window. Outside, the dance of the solari bugs continued above the distant river, the night-birds called to each other and the sweet, gingery scent of wild flowers wafted in on the breeze. Eventually King Telophy looked up again and addressed Olette. ‘You were telling us of when you found Leinori.’
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