I held out the gem that Ulysses had brought from Prospero’s Mansion. Mab’s face lit up.
“My … well, you’d call him a cousin!” A big grin split Mab’s craggy face as he accepted the jewel in which some airy spirit flitted hither and yon. “Ah, Ma’am, you remembered! You kept your word.”
Mab started to peer into the gem and then seemed to think better of it. He stuffed it into his pocket to work on later and went back to sawing.
“Oh, Mab!” Tears rushed to my eyes. “Father’s servants are all leaving. Five hundred years, they’ve been with us, yet they’re leaving. Ariel will be gone when Logistilla gets to Oregon. I have no idea how she’ll run that house without him. Or Prospero, Inc! Though Mustardseed is staying on as head of Priority Contracts, bless him! That sacrifice alone may save mankind. Wh-what will you do?”
Mab left off sawing and cocked his head, tilting up the brim of his hat. “Well, Ma’am, the truth is I’ve gotten to rather like this mortal body. Figure I’ll stick with it a while longer. Besides, Lord Astreus’s a fine elf, but he doesn’t know squat about this mortal world. A half-angel like yourself, Ma’am … Well, someone’s got to stand by to keep you out of trouble. Might as well be me.” He fidgeted with the pile of new rings he had cut from what had, for so long, been my precious flute. “That is, if you’ll have me. Don’t want to be intruding on your honeymoon or nothing.”
“Mab!” I cried joyously. Leaning forward, I gave him a kiss on his scratchy cheek. Straightening up, I added, “Looks like we’ll have some exciting times ahead, with all these elves to contact and Gifts of the Sibyl to explore.”
“Exciting is not the word I’d choose,” Mab muttered, as he went back to sawing, “but, that’s just me, Ma’am.”
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Mark Whipple, Dave Eckstein, and Catherine Rockwood, without whose encouragement, this novel would have been abandoned in its infancy.
To Von Long, Bill Burns, Erin Furby, Kirsten Edwards, Dave Coffman, Donna Royston, Don Schank, James Hyder, Anna MacDonald, and Diana Hardy for their support and advice, and to Danielle Ackley-McPhail and the Yesterday’s Dreamers for all their useful ideas concerning the craft of writing itself.
To my brother, Law Lamplighter, for recounting his vision of the City of Dis, which I reproduced to the best of my ability.
To Peter Atkins, for permission to reprint his poem, “Expectant Father to His Unborn Son.”
To Father Laurence and Brother Gerard for the idea about the nature of Hell, which they shared under a circumstance so strange that it would not be believed if I tried to explain it.
To my gracious editor, Jim Frenkel, and my dashing and knightly agent, Richard Curtis.
To Milton, whose title this one hopefully honors.
And, most important, to my mother, Jane Lamplighter, without whose selfless devotion to her grandchildren this book literally could not have been written.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
L. Jagi Lamplighter is the author of the novels Prospero Lost, Prospero in Hell, and Prospero Regained, and sundry short stories. She lives with her husband and children in northern Virginia. For more information, visit her Web site at www.ljagilamplighter.com.
TOR BOOKS BY L. JAGI LAMPLIGHTER
Prospero Lost
Prospero in Hell
Prospero Regained
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
PROSPERO REGAINED
Copyright © 2011 by L. Jagi Lamplighter
All rights reserved.
Edited by James Frenkel
The author wishes to thank Peter Atkins for permission to reprint his poem “Expectant Father to His Unborn Son.” Copyright © 1998 by Peter Atkins. First published in Weird Tales, Fall 1998.
A Tor® eBook
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lamplighter, L. Jagi.
Prospero regained / L. Jagi Lamplighter.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(Prospero’s daughter ; bk. 3)
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-1931-9
1. Prospero (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Magicians—Fiction. 3. Hell—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3612.A547435P79 2011
813'.6—dc23
2011024294
First Edition: September 2011
eISBN 978-1-4299-8310-5
First Tor eBook Edition: September 2011
Prospero Regained Page 58