Betrothed

by Wanda Wiltshire

  I didn’t give Leif a chance to sit when he returned, just grabbed his hand and led him to my room.

  ‘Aren’t you worried you’ll be seen flying?’ I asked as I lay on my bed and made room for him.

  ‘No.’

  He lay down beside me and I snuggled into his side. ‘Do you put a spell on people or something?’

  ‘If I do not wish to be seen, Marla, then I am not seen—unless of course I encounter a person gifted with the sight, in which case he or she would have a difficult time convincing another.’

  ‘What’s the sight?’

  ‘The ability to see the truth when the immortal Fae would wish it otherwise. In fact sometimes we do not even have to wish it otherwise—or be immortal. Sometimes the truth is denied humans without our even trying.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Well, as you are not born of this world and mortal still, you must often be unwell.’ He looked at me for confirmation.

  I sighed. ‘I’m always unwell, Leif.’

  ‘So you have endured tests—on your body and blood?’

  ‘I don’t even know how I’ve got any blood left.’

  ‘Yet you do not know the results of these tests.’

  ‘I know I’m allergic to everything.’

  ‘But you do not know why, nor have you been given a blood type.’

  I considered this for a moment. ‘How did you know that, Leif?’

  ‘Because your blood is not human and unless you had come across a doctor with the sight, the protection you were born with would have confounded anyone confronted with the fact.’

  No wonder I’d always felt weird, I was weird.

  ‘So what type of blood do I have?’

  Leif smiled. ‘Fae blood, Marla—there is only one kind.’

  Leif gazed around the room while I digested all of this, his eyes settling on one of Ashleigh’s posters. ‘Who is Johnny Depp?’

  ‘An actor—Ashleigh’s favourite.’

  ‘Her celebrity crush?’

  ‘You remembered!’

  ‘I remember every moment we have spent together.’

  ‘That’s why you left the poster for me. I told you that you were my crush and I couldn’t take a picture of what was in my mind!’ All thoughts of blood types and weirdness flew out of my head.

  ‘Anything to make you happy, Marla.’

  ‘Anything? That could come in handy.’

  ‘Yes, I would do anything for you. Are you happy in this place? If I could, I would take you home this moment.’

  There was such yearning in his voice. It was hard to listen to.

  ‘I am home.’

  ‘This is not your home.’

  ‘But . . . everyone I love is here. And now that you’ve come, I feel . . . complete.’

  He watched me for a moment, quiet and still, then brushed a slow finger around my hairline, tucking a stray wisp behind my ear. When he spoke, his voice was so tender that I thought I might melt right into my sheets. ‘You would have had me sooner had I been able to connect with you . . . After I became immortal, I exhausted myself calling for you. For the longest time, I was certain you no longer lived. But still, I could not allow myself to give up. And then, I began to sense you near . . . ’

  ‘I could hear you, Leif. I mean, I didn’t know I was Marla, but every night I was trapped in this dark place and I could hear you, calling and calling to her. And your name was stuck in my head too, like an echo . . . I’m glad you cared enough to keep trying.’

  ‘You are my other half, Marla, how could I not?’

  I looked up into his warm dark eyes and smiled.

  A knock at the front door interrupted the moment. I dragged my eyes from his and scrambled over the top of him to get off the bed. ‘That’s Jack and Hilary, would you wait here a minute? I need to prepare them to meet you.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  It was hard to know the best way to tell my friends about Leif. Unlike Ashleigh, they’d at least shared the journey of my strange dreams with me. But still it was difficult, especially after my moment with Jack the night before. I mean, how was he feeling about that?

  In the end I just sat them down, got them each a drink and told them everything that had occurred after the dance. Jack hesitated for a single heartbeat—then he threw his head back and laughed. When he realised my silence he stopped and said, ‘This is a joke, right?’

  Hilary watched me as she waited for my response. She didn’t seem to know what to do with her hands—first they were clutched in her lap, then covering her mouth, and finally clasped to her chest.

  I said, ‘I’m not joking, Jack.’

  The expression on my face must have confirmed it because the next thing I knew the remnants of his smile were gone and he was standing and hauling me into his arms.

  ‘Sweetheart, do you think it’s time you went to see your doctor? I’ll come with you if you want.’

  I pulled away from him and looked into his worried eyes. ‘You don’t believe me, Jack? But you were the one who said you wouldn’t rule anything out.’

  ‘I know but . . . ’ Jack went quiet for a little while, then he said, ‘You say this dude, Leif, is waiting in your bedroom?’

  ‘He is.’

  Jack turned. I clutched his arm. ‘Wait, I’ll go.’

  I went into my room and came out with Leif. Jack fell back into his seat. I watched the colour fill his face as it simultaneously drained from Hilary’s.

  I said, ‘Hilary, Jack, this is . . . ’ I struggled to know how to introduce him: boyfriend was too casual, betrothed too strange and future husband definitely too presumptuous. ‘This is Leif . . . Leif, my friends, Hilary and Jack.’

  Leif inclined his head to each of my friends, told them it was his pleasure to know them and then nobody spoke for a good long minute.

  Eventually Jack looked at me and said, ‘Is he the same . . . you know . . . as in your dreams?’

  ‘Actually, they weren’t dreams, but yes, exactly the same.’

  ‘And he says he’s . . . from another world?’ Jack seemed to be having trouble looking at Leif. Hilary on the other hand, couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  ‘Leif does have a voice, Jack.’

  With reluctance, Jack turned to Leif and said, ‘Well—are you?’

  ‘I am.’

  Jack picked up his glass of water and took a long drink. Then he watched Leif for a while longer before he said, ‘How did you get here then?’

  ‘I came with the sun.’

  I drew in a rapid breath and Jack choked. He spluttered and coughed and took a moment to pull himself together before saying, ‘That’s impossible! This is some kind of joke.’

  Leif held Jack’s eyes as he said, ‘Not impossible for the Fae, Jack. We are of the sun.’

  Jack gave Leif a disbelieving look. ‘Of the sun . . . What does that even mean?’

  ‘It means the sun is a part of what we are, and when the need arises we can become one with it in order to travel between our two worlds.’

  Hilary, seeming to have lost any ability to speak, just sat watching Leif. She was pale as a sheet and I was actually starting to get concerned for her.

  I said, ‘You okay, Hil?’

  She nodded slowly, eyes still fixed on Leif.

  I said, ‘Pinch him, he’s real.’

  ‘I’m not going to pinch him,’ she whispered.

  ‘You are most welcome to if it will help,’ Leif said, granting her one of his gorgeous smiles.

  She smiled faintly but stayed silent.

  ‘So . . . you were at the dance last night?’ Jack asked. ‘Marla wasn’t imagining it?’

  ‘I was and she was not.’

  I said, ‘You were looking straight at him, Jack.’

  Jack’s eyebrows were pulled close as he studied Leif. ‘Impossible, I’d remember.’

  ‘Too many people had seen too much. I had no choice but to confuse the room.’

  Jack shook his head. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking a
bout.’

  That made two of us. I caught Leif’s eyes and said, ‘Confuse the room, Leif?’

  Leif looked at each of us in turn. ‘I do not wish to overwhelm you.’

  Quietly, Jack said, ‘I think it’s a bit late to be worried about that.’

  ‘When the Fae reach immortality they are able to confuse humans. I, as prince, am able to confuse many at once. What that means is that I am able to make people forget one thing by making them believe something else.’

  The fire and the fight!

  I said, ‘But why would you do that and then leave? I thought I was crazy when no one could remember seeing you.’

  ‘The people in the room could not return to normal while I remained. It would have quickly turned to chaos.’

  ‘But this morning neither Ashleigh nor Jack could remember what they’d imagined last night.’

  ‘The false memory confuses the real one, and later disappears, leaving no recollection of either the real or imagined event,’ Leif explained. Then he smiled and said, ‘Had you interviewed each person present last night you would have heard some strange stories.’

  ‘This can’t be real,’ Jack murmured. He turned to me. ‘You’re going to tell me he’s your cousin from England in a minute aren’t you?’

  I shook my head. Leif released his wings. After cries of surprise, my two best friends fell into silence again observing Leif’s dazzling wings through squinting eyes.

  ‘So what happens now?’ Jack said after his initial shock had worn off and Leif had tucked his wings away. ‘Do you just plan on taking Marla away to this Faera place?’ There was a hint of something cold in his voice.

  ‘Jack.’

  He turned to me, frowning. ‘What?’

  ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen.’

  Jack looked back to Leif. ‘Well, do you?’

  ‘Marla is my betrothed—naturally my desire is to take her home.’

  The two gave each other long assessing looks—not too far from cavemen really.

  Jack spoke first. ‘So you just expect her to leave her family and friends behind?’

  ‘Marla will be princess, and as such will be free to come and go between our two worlds as she pleases. And, when all is well, I do not anticipate a problem with her loved ones spending time with her in Faera.’

  ‘Humans can go?’ Jack said, shocked out of the hard stare he was giving Leif.

  ‘I confess I have only heard of infant humans being taken to Faera, but I don’t see that transporting adults will present too much of a challenge.’

  ‘Why only babies?’ I asked.

  ‘Have you heard of the term changeling?’

  ‘When one baby’s swapped for another,’ Hilary said, finding her voice finally. ‘But why would someone do such a thing?’

  ‘The reasons vary, but revenge is the most common.’

  ‘Why?’ Hilary persisted.

  ‘Children are valued here, are they not? And human life is fleeting and the possibilities for offspring many. Consider the value of a single pregnancy in a lifetime that can span thousands of years and you can understand that to someone with a grudge there is no more potent retribution.’

  ‘I hope it’s not common,’ I said.

  ‘Not common but certainly a problem. Still, my father is good at extracting the truth from his subjects and during his reign, there has only been one changeling he has not been able to retrieve—fifteen years past—a girl taken from her forest home.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘The two responsible held the changeling’s mother accountable for the death of their son. Arelle and Elad left their boy, Ellier, in her care with instructions to remain inside. The family lived high in the treetops and Ellier could not yet use his wings. Unfortunately, Maia chose to disregard the command and Ellier fell to his death.’

  ‘How awful,’ Hilary whispered.

  ‘For all involved,’ Leif said, ‘and at first, Ellier’s parents gave no thought to blame. But as time went on they became bitter and when years later Maia birthed a daughter, Arelle and Elad took their revenge by making a changeling of the child. Three years passed before a problem was admitted. Of course there had to have been signs before this time but for reasons unknown to me, Maia and her husband, Armand, did not acknowledge them.’

  ‘What kind of signs?’ Jack asked.

  ‘You have only to look at your friend to know. Infant Fae are born with rounded ears like a human baby, but as the child grows, the ears become pointed. Ameyah’s ears remained unchanged. Also, her skin did not behave as it should. She became brown from exposure to the sun. This is unheard of in a Fae child. Fae skin absorbs the sun, it does not become changed from it.’

  ‘But you have brown skin yourself,’ Jack said.

  ‘That has nothing to do with the sun. Just as we have different coloured eyes and hair and wings, so too do we have different coloured skins. We are like humans in that way.’

  ‘Except for the wings,’ Jack said.

  Leif inclined his head.

  ‘So what happened to the human girl?’ Hilary asked.

  ‘Naturally after three years, Maia and Armand were besotted with her. She’s quite lovely—obviously human in appearance—but her ways are those of the Fae. She lives in the forest still, but soon the king will insist she be returned to Earth.’

  ‘What a sad day,’ Hilary murmured.

  ‘It will be,’ Leif agreed. ‘But what life can there be for her in Faera? She would have no trouble finding a partner if that were her wish. But it would be difficult. Unlike every other couple in Telophy, Ameyah would age and eventually die, but her man would not.’

  ‘Where will she go when she comes to Earth?’ Hilary asked.

  ‘Wherever my father decides to send her.’

  ‘Get him to send her here, we’ll look after her,’ Hilary offered quickly.

  Leif smiled at her compassion. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

  We spoke of the changelings for a while longer—the conversation seeming to go some way to easing my friends’ initial shock—and then Hilary told us that she had a date with Kyle.

  ‘Where is Kyle anyway?’

  ‘He’s at home. I didn’t know if you would want him to come. Can I mention any of this to him, by the way?’

  I looked to Leif for advice.

  He said, ‘This is your reality, Marla. You must decide who you will confide in. Just be sure you have faith in those you choose.’

  I turned to Hilary. ‘I don’t know, it’s kinda big . . . ’

  ‘I won’t say anything. But I have been wondering while I’ve been sitting here listening to Jack and Leif—would you rather I call you Marla too?’

  ‘If you’re okay with it.’

  ‘You prefer it then?’

  ‘Well . . . my birth parents chose that name for me—even knowing they couldn’t keep me, so it must have been important to them. Anyway, it’s me, don’t you think?’

  ‘I’ll call you Marla if you like, but it doesn’t really matter what name you use—finding out what you are hasn’t changed who you are. You’ll always be you.’

  I said, ‘How did you get to be so wise, Hil?’

  ‘Part angel,’ Leif said with a smile.

  Jack cast a soft look in Hilary’s direction. ‘You know, that wouldn’t surprise me at all.’

  ‘Do you think I’ll ever get to be who I was born to be?’ I asked Leif after Jack and Hilary had left.

  ‘I have a plan, Marla, but I will speak of it tomorrow. It’s getting late and I must return to Faera before sunset.’

  ‘Can’t you stay?’

  ‘I’ve already spent one night away. If my father calls to me I won’t hear him in this place, and if I do not answer his call, when next he sees me, he will demand to know why.’

  ‘What do you mean, if he calls to you?’

  ‘I am connected to him telepathically—to every king.’

  ‘You speak to one and they all hear?’

 
; ‘Thankfully no, they only hear if I choose for them to hear.’

  ‘Wow, built-in mobile—handy.’

  Leif opened his arms for me. I went into them and he folded me against him. Silently we held each other. I didn’t know where this was going, how it would end—if I would ever get to be with him in Faera. I couldn’t know if I would ever find my birth parents or be free from the wrath of his father. But standing here with my prince, his body pressed to mine, just for this moment, none of it mattered.

  ‘I have to go,’ he said after a while. ‘I need to reach Mount Kosciuszko before the sun goes down.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘It is the peak of your continent and where I need to be in order to catch the rays to Faera.’ He smiled then and said, ‘Wear your new dress tomorrow so I can teach you to fly.’

  ‘Who needs a dress?’ I whispered and stood on my toes to take another kiss.

  With a groan, he said, ‘I’ll be envisioning that all night now.’

  ‘Good, I want to know you’re thinking of me.’

  ‘You’re all I think of,’ he said, but he was peeling my arms away and leading me to the balcony.

  ‘This really sucks. Your father is so mean,’ I complained.

  ‘Everything will be well, Marla. I promise you.’ He kissed me one last time and then opened his wings and smiled as he said, ‘Until tomorrow.’

  ‘Tomorrow,’ I repeated.

  And he flew away.

  I watched him until he was no more than a spot of dazzling light, winking out like a star at dawn. Then, with a heavy sigh, I came inside, fell onto the lounge and began torturing myself with reasons why this new relationship would fail: it was just a dream and I would wake at any moment; it was all a mistake, Leif had got the wrong girl; I was too human now, unfit for Faera; his father finds out . . .

  I shuddered and forced the subject from my mind, allowed my thoughts to drift to Jack. It made me uncomfortable to consider how close he and I had come to changing our friendship to romance the night before. I wondered how he was feeling about that. Was he bothered about me and Leif? Was I being conceited to even consider that he might be? I didn’t know—Jack was so cagey with his feelings. I thought about phoning him, but what would I say? It’s not like anything had actually happened between us.