“Thanks, Jacob,” said King Tate.
“He’s not staying,” said Ariel. “And nor am I. Please, forgive me, but I told our guests earlier that it’s Pip they need to speak to. Not me.”
“Ariel, why do you think she’s still alive?” asked Micah, remaining as on task as always. “When Princess Phillipa seems to think otherwise.”
“Hard to explain,” said Ariel, smiling kindly as she took a step toward the door. “When I think of her, I see a light, when I’m sure I’d see darkness if she were no longer with us.”
Micah glanced openly at Pip, and Raphael was certain if she could stick out her tongue at the Princess, she would.
“We also think she’s alive,” said Azrael. “We’re certain of it.”
“Please, Ariel. Will you stay and talk with us?” asked Raphael, intrigued by what she’d just said.
“I’m not meant to.” She cast a glance around the table, her eyes lingering just a beat longer on the King, before leaving the room.
“Leave her be,” said King Tate. “If she believes she’s not meant to be here, then I trust that’s for the best.”
Raphael took this in, sorting out the threads between these people in his mind’s eye. The same connection that existed between the King and Jacob extended to Ariel, too. But how could that make any sense? And why didn’t the thread connect to the King’s own sister, Pip?
“So, I’m guessing you’d like our support with your search?” asked Pip, getting the conversation back on track. “Is it tonics that you’re after? Because I can help you with that.”
“Not exactly,” said Micah. “It’s—"
“It’s Guardians then, isn’t it?” said the King. “We can spare as many as you need.”
“That’s very kind,” said Micah. “But I’m afraid it isn’t your Guardians we’d like to take with us.”
King Tate and Pip tilted their heads simultaneously.
“What then?” asked the King.
“We’d like Pip to come with us,” said Raphael. “Or Ariel.”
Pip’s mouth fell open.
“Me?” she asked. “To Feldspar?”
“That’s right,” said Micah. “It’s time we brought Princess Lily home.”
Pip was shaking her head now and shrinking back in her chair.
“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible,” said the King. “Pip isn’t fond of travel.”
Raphael looked toward the window, trying to sort out the jumble of thoughts racing through his head. If Pip refused to go with them and Ariel refused to even speak to them, then why had they come here? This had been a total waste of time. And one thing he knew for certain, was that time was running out.
LILY
THE BEFORE
Lily groaned as she struggled to open her eyes, determined to chase away the dream she kept having of the lighthouse falling into the ocean. How long had she been asleep? Was she still asleep? No, she was in too much pain for that. Her head was thumping.
Seeing a glass of water beside her bed, she reached for it and gulped it down. A damp cloth slipped from her forehead to the floor and she noticed her blankets were clammy. She must have had a terrible fever.
She sat up and waited for the room to stop spinning. Vague memories rushed back to her of Mother telling her a story to put her to sleep. She couldn’t remember Mother ever telling her a story before. Normally, it was the other way around.
Feeling cold, she slipped her feet back into the bed. It was so warm in there. Her bed never felt like this. Did she still have her fever?
Her bare feet touched something warm and solid and she slid her hands down to feel what it was, surprised to find a large gemstone tucked in beside her.
She pulled it out above the sheets and gasped. It was Mother’s treasure! There was no doubt about it. This was the purple amethyst she’d found hidden under the ocean and it was warm, heat pulsing out of it in waves.
Before she had time to wonder how it’d gotten there, an image of her Prince hit her so strongly she had to lean back against her pillow and close her eyes.
Her Prince calling to her, clearer and closer than he’d ever been before. Lily searched for a sign of Micah or the woman with dark hair who’d also come to her in her dreams, but this vision was of the golden-haired man alone.
She drank in his angelic features. His mane of blond hair, his crystal blue eyes, his fair skin. When she looked at him, she saw love. Her love. This man was meant for her and she couldn’t explain why.
The intensity of her feelings bubbled and grew. Was this because she’d seen him a few times now, or because he was getting closer? Was it possible he was on his way to her? She wasn’t sure how much longer she could wait. If Mother kept sending her into the freezing ocean, she was certain to fall ill again and she wasn’t sure she could survive it next time. But now that she had the amethyst, was there even any need to go under the water again?
There was a flash of color in her doorway and she hid the amethyst under her blankets, the vision of her Prince fading. Was there even any need to hide it? Surely Mother was the one who’d given it to her. But how had a woman who didn’t know how to swim managed to retrieve it?
Mother swept into the room.
“Angel!” she gasped, rushing over to Lily’s bed. “You’re awake. Oh, thank goodness.”
Lily blinked up at her. “Mother.”
“I thought you were going to die.” Mother went to pull up Lily’s blankets, then stopped herself.
“Not dead yet,” said Lily.
“I don’t know what I would have done without you.” Mother’s face filled with pain. “I couldn’t possibly stay here all by myself again.”
“You could live in the palace with Father.” Lily bit down on her tongue. She didn’t have the strength for an argument, so why was she starting one?
“I can’t live there!” Mother’s voice raised into the familiar screech. Lily’s illness had almost been worth it just to have had a rest from that tone for a while. “You know I can’t live there!”
“Why not?” Lily cursed herself. There she was going again, not being able to help herself.
“This is my palace! My treasures are all here!” Mother tore at her hair with her bejeweled fingernails. “You’re here, you selfish child! Can’t you see that all of this is for you?”
This time Lily bit down her words, but that didn’t stop them racing through her mind. What if I don’t want to be here? What if I were no longer here? What if I… got away?
“Thank you, Mother,” she said, instead, grateful to be rewarded with a few moments of silence for her compliance.
“Do you think you’re well enough to look for my treasure today?” Mother’s face lit up.
Lily’s hand went to the amethyst to check she hadn’t imagined it. It was still there, under the blankets, pulsing with warmth. This didn’t make sense. Was this the one from under the water, or was it something different? They looked identical.
A memory scratched at the surface of Lily’s brain, as if trying to break through. Something about the treasure…
“Are you well enough?” asked Mother again.
“I’m not sure.” As subtly as she could, Lily tucked the amethyst into the waistband of her undergarments, covering it with her nightdress. If Mother didn’t know she had it, then she needed to keep it that way.
“It’s been five days!” Mother’s face contorted. “Five days of lost opportunity! I knew you did this on purpose. You don’t care if I ever find my treasure again.”
“I do care.” Lily rubbed at her throbbing temples. “I’ll look for it. I’ll look for it right now.”
Mother stood up and clapped her hands. “I’m so pleased you’re better, Angel.”
Lily peeled back the blankets and swung her feet out of the bed. Looking for the treasure would keep Mother quiet for a while. And it might satisfy her curiosity. Would there be a dark, cold space where the stone had once been? Or were there two stones when she’d tho
ught there had only been one.
A memory of a story Mother had told her when her fever had been high, slammed into her chest with such force she gasped.
“What’s wrong?” asked Mother from the doorway. “You’d better not be sick again.”
“Nothing.” Lily smiled to mask the rush of details that were sliding into place in her mind. The King had two identical amethysts and had given one to the girl in the story. A girl who was undoubtedly Mother. The stone had glowed with warmth when she’d held it.
“You’re smiling,” said Mother. “Why are you smiling?”
“Just happy to be feeling better.” Lily swept past Mother, went to the kitchen to take an apple from a bowl and bit into it as she clomped down the staircase.
The treasure was a twin stone. Which meant that either someone had placed the amethyst from the ocean in her bed while she’d been sick, or she’d somehow come into possession of the King’s stone. Perhaps the Fairy Godmother had visited her while she’d slept.
This thought only put an even wider smile on her face. Something big had happened and now it was her job to put the pieces together and figure out what it was.
Her head might be thumping and her body might be weak and aching, but there was nothing that was going to stop her diving into the water to find out which amethyst had been warming her bed.
She went outside, pleased to see the sun was shining today. Was that a sign? But with the warmth of the amethyst pressed to her body, she wasn’t likely to get cold today. It felt even warmer now that she was outside. Was that just the contrast to the cool air or was the stone itself getting warmer?
Raising her face to the sun, she let the rays caress her as she took in some fresh air, pleased to be feeling so much better.
Finishing the apple, she tossed the core onto the rocks for the gulls to pick over and clambered over the rocks to the water’s edge.
“Hurry, Angel!” called Mother, watching her from her balcony.
Lily lifted her nightdress over her head, angling her body so that Mother couldn’t see the amethyst held tight by her waistband.
She dived into the water, enjoying the rush of the cold water as it washed the sweat and fever from her body. Kicking down, she went to the rocks that held Mother’s treasure, untucking the amethyst from her waistband and holding it in her hand. She hadn’t been imagining it. The amethyst wasn’t just warm now. It was hot.
And there it was. Still there. The twin stone to the one she held in her hand. Reaching out, she grazed her fingertips over the surface. It, too, was burning hot, the water around her more like a warm bath than the freezing ocean.
She pressed the stones together to see what would happen, half expecting an explosion of light or the heat to intensify to the point she could no longer touch them.
A vision of her golden Prince burst into her mind. Her ribs ached with the force of it as it demanded her attention. She held onto the amethyst with one hand and reached out to her Prince with the other, hoping he could see her, too.
Aunt Micah was standing behind him, next to the woman with dark hair. But there was someone else this time, standing back a little, blurred by a shadow as if she hadn’t quite made up her mind if she was with them or not. Four angels now.
Quickly running out of air, Lily forced the amethyst into the gap in the rocks beside its twin, making sure there was no chance of it coming loose. She couldn’t risk Mother finding it and taking it from her. Keeping it safe from her was the single most important thing she could do.
The vision had vanished the moment the amethyst left her hand, but the feeling of the Prince remained as she pushed back up to the surface.
She wasn’t sure just yet what power the amethysts held or what having them both in her possession meant, but she was closer than ever to working it out.
“Did you find it?” called Mother, her voice being carried by the wind.
Lily shook her head as she looked up at her standing on the balcony, remembering the dream she’d had about the lighthouse falling.
A shudder ran through her. What if the dream hadn’t been a dream at all? What if she was being warned? If that lighthouse were to fall, she’d never survive it. Was she a fool to sit here waiting for her Prince to save her? Perhaps she’d be better off to find a way off this island and save herself before it was too late.
But how?
PIP
THE BEFORE
“Absolutely not,” said Tate.
“Wait.” Pip held up her hand and looked at Micah. “You want me to go with you to Feldspar?”
“That’s right,” said Micah. “We need to use the lessons each of our kingdoms has learned to get Lily back. Whenever one of us has tried to find her alone, we’ve failed.”
“And how do you think my sister can help you?” asked Tate. “Surely you’re better off taking some Guardians with you.”
“She can make tonics,” said Azrael.
“You can bring tonics with you,” said Pip, trying to figure out if the idea of going on such an adventure excited her or terrified her. Then she thought of Griffen and what had just passed between them, and she knew there was no way she’d ever leave him.
Azrael’s shoulders visibly slumped. “It’s important you come with us. It’s hard to explain why, but we all feel very strongly about this.”
“That’s not a very convincing argument.” Pip smiled, not wanting to burst their bubble, but it was true. They wanted her to uproot her life and put herself in danger all because they said they had a feeling about it.
“Would you excuse me a moment, please?” Raphael stood and bowed to Tate.
Tate nodded at him and Pip noticed Micah shoot Azrael a panicked glance as Raphael left the room. Clearly, he was up to something and whatever it was, it wasn’t part of their plan.
Pip looked toward the window to see what direction he’d gone. Nobody traveled the sort of distance he had to talk to her, only to excuse themselves from the room the moment the topic had been raised.
“Where’s he gone?” Pip directed her gaze at Micah. She was the one who seemed to be running this farce.
“I don’t know.” Micah may be impatient but she wasn’t dishonest, that much was clear.
“Perhaps we should wait for him to return to discuss this,” said Pip.
“I’m not sure there’s much to discuss,” said Tate. “We want to help you find the Princess. That’s sincere. But I can’t let my sister go with you. It’s far too dangerous.”
“Tate, please,” said Pip. “Let me make up my own mind. I thought you believed in me?”
“I do. But…” Tate looked at her, confusion spilling into his eyes. “But you never leave the Guardians’ Village. I didn’t think…”
“You didn’t think I’d like to decide for myself.” Pip crossed her arms. Perhaps she should talk about this in private with Tate once she figured out why she was getting annoyed. It wasn’t so much that she disagreed with the decision Tate was making for her, more that it was important to her that she be in control of her own future.
“I don’t understand,” said Tate. “You’ve always made your own decisions.”
Micah and Azrael were shifting in their chairs now and studying their glasses of tonic intently, clearly feeling uncomfortable at the personal direction this conversation was taking.
“So, you’re saying you want to go to Feldspar?” asked Tate.
“No! I’m not saying that at all.” Pip shook her head, realizing she’d made a mess of this conversation. “I’m just saying that I’d like to be the one to decide.”
“We need you,” said Micah, leaning across the table. “Please, come with us. If Feldspar is behind this, as we suspect, then they can’t get away with it. They can’t just come into our kingdoms and take our children. It’s not right.”
As Pip let out a sigh, she looked across at the window to see Ariel talking to someone. Leaning over in her chair she could just see a wisp of white-blond hair. Ariel looked distressed, grabbi
ng at Raphael’s sleeve as if begging him to do something for her.
“Would you excuse me for just one moment,” said Pip.
“Not you, too!” said Micah, under her breath.
“I’ll just be a moment.” Pip left the kitchen from the door that would take her out just behind where Raphael and Ariel were talking.
She walked quietly through the herb garden, although she needn’t have bothered. Ariel and Raphael were so deep into their conversation, they were unlikely to notice if a tornado appeared.
“She can’t know!” Ariel was saying. “Please.”
“She has a right to know,” said Raphael.
Pip stilled her steps and listened. Who was this she they were talking about?
“It makes no difference,” said Ariel. “She never wanted the throne anyway.”
A sick feeling twisted in Pip’s gut. Were they talking about her? As Tate’s younger sister, she’d been second in line to the throne at one stage. But now that Tate had a brood of heirs it was something she didn’t need to worry about. She could think of nothing worse than becoming the Queen.
“If you come with us to Feldspar, you have my word that your secret is safe,” said Raphael.
“That’s blackmail.” Ariel stepped back and Raphael’s face filled with anguish.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re right. It’s just that I’m desperate. We all are. We have to get Lily back and I think you’re the best person to help us.”
Pip’s eyebrows shot up. So, Raphael didn’t want her to come with them. He’d rather have Ariel. Had he noticed that Ariel had talents that Pip didn’t possess? Talents that Ariel would be unable to pass down to her no matter how much time she spent in her kitchen. Even though she didn’t want to go, she felt a little offended.
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