Stinking Beauty

by Elizabeth A Reeves

  I was perfectly willing to return to my own rooms within the family complex, but the twins insisted that I join them again at their house. Which, I noticed, was in a completely different location than it had been the night before.

  “The benefit of a floating island,” Astraea said dismissively as we entered the house.

  “Hello, beautiful house,” I said, patting the closest banister.

  The lights around me flickered as the house acknowledged my greeting.

  Dallan shook his head with a bemused expression.

  I moved past him without acknowledgment. At this point, I knew I was being petty. I wasn’t truly still mad about him forgetting that I didn’t have wings, but I didn’t want to always have to be the first one to make a move. It had been that way with Cooper, and I had promised never to be the backflipping kind ever again.

  Not that Dallan and I were in that sort of relationship. Relationship? What even made me think that word? Any flirtation on his side of things was deep in my imagination. My subconscious brain had flattering ideas about my appeal.

  I headed up to where I hoped my room still was waiting. I’d made it almost to the door when Dallan grabbed my wrist.

  “Look,” he said, quietly, but with an intensity that made me shiver. “I misspoke and I was unfeeling. I shouldn’t have spoken so dismissively about my wings… and not just because I was in front of you. I know that having wings is a privilege, not a right. Many wonderful creatures who deserve everything don’t have wings, and many creatures that do have wings don’t deserve them. I’ve never measured a person by whether they have wings or not or what they look like. I hope you know that. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I spoke out of turn. I hope you will forgive me.”

  “I think that was the longest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” I teased.

  The worry eased off of his face. “So, you forgive me?”

  I glanced at where he was still holding my wrist. “I might. If you let me go.”

  He jerked his hand back, pink rose from under his collar, washing up his neck and turning the tips of his ears red.

  I hated to admit it, but it was kind of endearing.

  “You are really confusing,” he whispered.

  “Funny,” I said awkwardly, “I was thinking the same thing about you. Is that all part of the mysterious being of mystery that you affect?”

  He wrinkled his nose. It was kind of adorable. “Do you know why we wear those cloaks?”

  Surprised by the change in subject, I shook my head with bemusement. “No, I don’t. Why do you wear those cloaks?”

  “I can’t stand it when people look at me,” he said. He reached out and touched my hand. His gloves were made out of some fine, soft material. I could feel the warmth of his hand through them. “I hate it when anyone looks at me. I’ve been that way since I was a child, but it has gotten worse over the years. Astraea plays along because…”

  “Because she’s kind and empathetic and good,” I finished for him.

  He swallowed and nodded his head. “Yes, that. If I could have picked my own twin out, I would always have picked her out. I cannot imagine my life without her. But…” He bent his head to gaze steadily into my eyes. “You see me.”

  I nodded. “I see you.”

  “And it doesn’t scare me,” he said simply. “It doesn’t make me feel sick or as if the air is being crushed out of me. You look at me and I feel like you… see me.”

  He made an awkward gesture with his hands.

  I reached out and took one of them. “I understand,” I said. “I know what you mean. What does that mean?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. We already know that you’re special. You’re funny and you talk to Magic like it’s a friend and you wear dragons like other people wear tiaras.” He bent his head further. “And I would very much like to kiss you if you would let me.”

  The breath left my lungs in a gasp. “Y-y-you would?”

  He nodded, touching my chin with the tip of one finger.

  I thought I would stop breathing. It was without question the most intense moment of my life.

  “Y-yes,” I whispered.

  He slid his fingers against my jaw. I rose slightly on my toes as he bent the rest of the way between us. His breath caressed my cheek for one instant before his lips brushed again mine.

  When I didn’t pull away, he deepened the kiss, sliding his arms around me to pull me up and against him. I slid my arms around his neck, my fingers sliding through the short hair of his nape.

  Everything else fell away. Words ceased to have meaning. Breath was forgotten. I was lifted out of myself, yet more anchored in my body than I had ever been. Warmth spread through me and swirled around me.

  “What!” Dallan pulled away from me and stared at me.

  I laughed in delight. I was floating in the air in front of him. “The Magic,” I explained. “It has it’s own mind sometimes.”

  Dallan smiled softly. He stepped closer to me again and brushed the back of his hand against my face. He looked at his hand, then pulled it back and yanked off both of his gloves. He tossed them down on the floor and captured my face in both his hands.

  “Grace,” he murmured as he lowered my face to mine again. He kissed me softly, once softly, then more deeply. The third time, he pulled back.

  “Goodnight, Grace,” he said.

  I slid back against my bedroom door. “Goodnight, Dallan,” I whispered.

  I sincerely doubted I was going to get any sleep after that.

  Surprisingly, I had one of the best night’s sleep in my life.

  I awoke the next morning when the window drapes pulled back on their own, letting the morning light stream in on me.

  “Good morning, house,” I said, stretching comfortably. The bed was too comfortable. If I didn’t know we needed to get to the council right away, I would have been tempted to linger as long as possible snuggled into the overstuffed mattress among the down pillows and soft blankets.

  I tried not to think too much about Dallan and our kiss while I took a shower and got ready for the day. The house had provided me with another beautiful outfit, from underwear to cape. It was a beautiful soft blue that complimented all the many feelings I was trying not to blow out of proportion.

  I wasn’t sure how to face Dallan over breakfast. Would he pretend, in front of his sister, that we had never had a moment? Would he be regretful and distant? Did he regret what had happened?

  I felt suddenly ill. What if he did regret it? What if he had acted on impulse only to wish he had never seen me in the first place?

  I tried to tell myself that I was being ridiculous, but it was hard to silence the thoughts once they poked up their heads. I knew that everyone had negative little voices in their heads, but I seemed to have a double share.

  I headed to breakfast with no appetite and a stomach full of angry monster moths trying to escape. I swallowed as I entered the dining room. Even the scent of fresh apple pastries couldn’t lift me up again. I couldn’t see Dallan anywhere, but Astraea was already sitting at the table, reading a scroll she had half-unrolled in front of her.

  “Hello,” Dallan said softly behind me.

  I whirled around, every emotion imaginable bombarding me until I couldn’t pick one to run with.

  “Good morning,” Dallan murmured. He dipped his head and kissed the corner of my mouth before smiling down me with unmistakable warmth in his eyes.

  That warmth flooded through me. I smiled back at him, sure that there were stars in my own eyes. “Good morning,” I breathed.

  “Oh, excellent,” Astraea said. “He must have said something, finally. I was about to do something about it myself.”

  I raised my eyebrows at her.

  “Well, I’m not going to kiss you,” she teased. “Though the thought isn’t completely without merit. I’m just happy my shy little brother has spoken up.”

  “I’m older than you,” Dallan said, rolling his eyes a
nd heading to his place at the table.

  “When you act like a little brother, I’ll call you a little brother,” Astraea said airily. She narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you going to have some breakfast?”

  I pressed my hands against my middle. The moths had seemed to fly away. My appetite was back with a vengeance. A sat in my seat from the previous morning and sorted out making a plate from the offerings in the middle of the table.

  Astraea and Dallan appeared to be perfectly at ease. Dallan smiled to me as he set to spreading jam on his toast in that finicky way of his.

  I realized with a shock, that I had only known them for a few days. It felt like it had been years.

  Well, that was the way it often was with our kind. We could live centuries among strangers, but when we found our kind, we felt a bond with them nearly immediately. I had heard of it, but I’d never experienced it myself.

  “I have word from the council,” Astraea said, gulping down some sort of vibrant green juice from her glass. “I sent in a petition first thing this morning to seek support in investigating that northern country.”

  “Nynorsk,” Dallan interjected.

  She nodded. “That’s the one. The council has come to a unanimous decision that we must… step away entirely from this situation. They say that it is a human incident and as such, must be left in human hands.”

  I frowned down at the apple strudel on my plate. “So, that’s it? It’s a human issue, so we don’t even try to find Talia?”

  Dallan frowned and put down his knife and toast. He brushed his hands off on a napkin. “This decision doesn’t make sense,” he said slowly. “Brunhild was killed and her death is not a human incident. She was either murdered by a Magical weapon in the hands of a superior warrior or, as is much more likely, another Godparent.”

  “This bears the stench of a coverup,” Astraea commented.

  I had to agree. Everything about this situation has stunk from the moment I first saw the rotting body in that tower.

  “The council is showing interest in Grace,” Astraea added. “Despite being told that she has been exonerated, they find her the most likely suspect.”

  “Which is it,” Dallan growled. “Is this a human issue, or is Grace the perpetrator?”

  “They’re realizing that Magic behaves differently around her,” Astraea said. “Who else knows about this… quirk of yours?” she asked me.

  I frowned. “I’m not sure. Any member of my family could have noticed at some point. It’s become stronger as I’ve grown older, but the way I’ve interacted with Magic has always been odd. I know it’s been commented on more than a couple times at family dinners.” I grimaced. Family dinners were never an enjoyable experience for me. It was never a pleasure when the main entertainment appeared to surround commenting on my life.

  “That’s no help,” Dallan said, picking his knife up again. “The Reynolds clan is enormous, and they’re known for gossip. Anyone could have come up with some sort of story against Grace.”

  “It was most likely a family member,” I agreed. “There’s too much clan pride to let it be spread about commonly. Someone in my family must have told the council they suspected my Magic handling was… off.”

  “Too bad we can’t trace the culprit,” Astraea said, biting into a red berry. “I bet they’re involved with the real murderer.”

  That was a horrifying thought. I wanted to believe it impossible that my family could be involved but at the same time… they were known for being reckless and ambitious. Under the right circumstances, I could believe almost anything of my relatives.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Gloriana hissed in a low voice, hurrying towards me. Despite her lowered voice, or maybe because of it, heads turned all across the Council buildings towards us.

  “I have paperwork,” I said in my normal voice, holding up the scroll from Brunhild’s Keep. “I just need to have it turned in, and then I can go.”

  “You can’t act as if it’s business as usual,” Gloriana whispered urgently. “Not when you are a murder suspect.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m not a suspect at all, Gloriana. You should know that. You were with me the whole time the twins interviewed me.”

  Her face crumpled in confusion, “But you’ve been being held by them…”

  I held up my hand to stop her. “I’ve been assisting them, and they’ve put me up at their house for a couple of nights. It’s only because I know the situation in Gilterra better than most because I was in charge of the Sleeping Spell.”

  She frowned. “Really?”

  I nodded.

  The clerk called my name and I stepped forward to turn in the paperwork I had filled out with the twins that morning and the scroll holding Brunhild’s will.

  “Oh, that’s already nice and processed,” the clerk exclaimed. She waved her want in the air and an image popped up in front of my face. It was a neat trick I would love to learn sometime. “If you see here in our database, Brunhild sent in her transfer papers three weeks ago. You’re all set to move in. Just let me get you a copy of the title to keep at home, and you’re done!”

  She cheerfully bounced away while I let out a sigh of relief that everything was running smoothly as far as the house was concerned.

  Gloriana poked my shoulder. “See?” she crowed in a whisper, “I knew that you would get the house! You must be ecstatic!”

  I nodded. “I’m terrified really, but I’m sure I’m excited, too. It’s just a huge commitment.”

  Gloriana wrinkled her nose and squeezed my hands. “You’re just the person for that place. I knew it the minute I saw it. It’s so deep and mysterious and beautiful… and I could see the way you looked at it. It was like… love at first sight!” My cousin sighed as she brought her hands together.

  “You sound like a romantic,” I teased.

  She shrugged. “You never know. My mother has been threatening to arrange a marriage for me. I might need to work on the love at first sight bit myself.”

  Gloriana wasn’t that much younger than me. It was funny how my family all talked about me as if I were past my prime, but everyone treated Gloriana as if she were at her peak. I shrugged. Realizing my family was unstable was unlikely to result in them stabilizing.

  Wouldn’t that be nice, though?

  The clerk returned with another scroll, this one much larger than the one I’d handed in, and coated with protective coats both Magical and physical. I wasn’t sure if I imagined the heft of it as I took it in my hand. It was much heavier than I expected.

  I thanked the clerk.

  “I can’t stop thinking about Talia,” Gloriana said abruptly, walking beside me. Her beautiful face was twisted up as if she wanted to cry. “She was such a pretty baby, and she hardly ever cried.”

  “And now we’re not allowed to look for her or her baby,” I said grimly. “The Council has decided it’s a human issue, so I’m not allowed to search anymore.”

  “Baby?” Gloriana’s voice rose. “What babies?”

  I took Talia outside and, looking around to see we wouldn’t be overheard, quickly outlined what I knew about the pseudo-Prince Denny and his seduction and abandonment of Talia, finishing with the discovery that she was with child.

  Gloriana looked horrified by the time I was finished. “That cad! That scoundrel! Human men are beasts,” she nearly shouted in her rage. “And now Talia is gone…” She twisted her skirt in her fists, no doubt destroying it in her ire. “I bet he has her!”

  “We don’t know who he is,” I reminded her gently. “The only evidence we have at all is an emblem that we found near where Brunhild was murdered.”

  Gloriana eagerly reached towards me. “Where is it? Quick, maybe I know something about it!”

  I gently extracted myself from her clutches. “We’ve identified it. It’s from the royal family in Nynorsk.”

  Gloriana clasped her hands together. “Oh! I know Nynorsk! I know all about them!
I was the Godmother of their queen, back when she was a princess. She was a gold-spinning princess. You know the tradition. Only it got all mixed up with her. She never had a baby, so the nameless one is still waiting for his treasure.” She shrugged dismissively. “Do you really think it could be them?”

  I blinked at her. “I don’t know. You obviously know more about them than I do. Do you think they’re the kind to be involved in something like this?”

  She tilted her head, thinking, and pursed her lips. “I’m not sure,” she admitted slowly. “The king, he was the prince when I knew him, was always a bit of a wild boy, which was why his father selected a bride for him. That kingdom has terrible luck when it comes to queens. I kept hoping that introducing a gold-spinner would stabilize the kingdom and a power change without resorting to an uprising or royal coup. That’s where they’re headed, in my opinion. What that kingdom needs, is a queen in charge. Do you ever wish we could just pick what kings and queens were chosen to rule?”

  “Sometimes,” I said, distracted. “So, the Council was hoping that introducing a set of spells would stabilize the country?”

  Gloriana nodded. “They gave the project to me as a sort of reward for handling some challenging cases. This one, though… it felt like Magic was fighting me every time I did anything. The new queen is sweet, though, so lovely, so sweet. She’s a little shy, but she would have made a lovely mother, I just know it.”

  “Well, whether they’re involved or not, we’re never going to know,” I pointed out. “The Council won’t let us.”

  Gloriana’s lips curved up. “You’ve been working with the twins, though, and everyone knows they are the real power in this world. If we, working with them, continue investigating, how can anyone on the Council complain?”

  I hugged her. “That’s a great thought!”

  “I think it would probably be best if we avoided getting caught, though,” Gloriana said carefully. “Getting forgiveness after the fact is fine, but getting caught before we learn anything would make the whole ordeal pointless.”