Page 85 of Crownless King

“I can't let them see me,” I kept repeating.

“Then don’t.”

I stared at her, confused.

She rummaged through the pockets of her cloak, muttering under her breath, “Let me see. I should have some spotted ragweed in here somewhere. It has many uses, I don’t leave the house without having some on me.”

“What are you doing?”

She produced a small bundle of long dried grass with round bumps along each blade.

“Give me something of yours that you have worn against your skin for a while,” Sauria demanded.

My hand went straight to Voron’s necklace around my neck. It had long lost every trace of his scent, saturating with mine instead. I hadn’t taken it off ever since King Tiane had made me do it that one time.

“What for?” I asked, not willing to part with it now or ever.

“I’ll glamor you to look like someone else.” She chewed on her bottom lip, considering my options. “Like ataureanwoman. You’ll pose as Bavius’s wife.”

“His wife?” I winced.

The idea made me rather uncomfortable. But it made sense for a woman living on a remote farm with a man to be his wife. It’d be the simplest explanation of my presence here.

Sauria nodded. “Aithen and I will spend the day in my hut, meanwhile. Right, little guy? You’ll help me collect some swirly-cup mushrooms under the birches, won’t you?”

My son giggled when she addressed him. Dropping the spoon, he flapped his wings, rising off the floor and up to my chest level.

“Careful, baby!” I plucked him from the air and pressed him to my chest.

This ability of his made me nervous. I feared he’d bump into things or forget to move his wings and fall. Flying was one of the things I couldn’t teach him. I couldn’t watch over him up there and dreaded that inevitable day when my fae baby boy would fly higher than I could reach.

He wiggled in my arms, restless and on the move. I smoothed his wings gently, until he hid them again, then settled him back on the floor to crawl.

“So, do you have something on you that I can glamor?” Sauria prompted.

I slid Voron’s necklace off over my head and handed it to her, feeling almost naked without its familiar weight over my chest.

“Are you sure it’ll work?” I asked.

She nodded, plucking one long blade of grass from her bundle. She then threaded the dry blade between the beads of the necklace, whispering something under her breath. With her thumbs coated in the powder from the crushed bumps of the spotted ragweed, she pressed over my eyebrows then rubbed along my nose and the jawline. She then crouched down and smeared circles around my ankles and finally pressed a hand to my backside, all the while mumbling something softly.

“Hey!” I arched my back, jerking my butt away from her hand. “What’s that for?”

“For the tail.” She smirked, putting the necklace back around my neck. “You’re going to have a tail now, human girl.”

The moment the necklace touched my skin again, I felt it. I felt the tail growing out from the end of my spine, just above my butt crack. The weight of horns pressed above my temples. My face felt much bigger than it ever was, the nose and lips wide and protruding. I flapped my ears and stomped a hoof.

“Oh my God…” I was ataureannow.

I slapped a hand over my mouth, expecting to feel the bovine jaw. But it encountered my regular human mouth, instead. The sensation under my palm didn’t match what I felt with my face. I brushed a hand over my ass, not finding the tail either. Yet when I looked down, I saw a long brown tail swaying behind me, its tip furnished with a thick tassel of fur.

“The touch can’t be tricked as easily as the eye,” Sauria explained. “Don’t let the visitors touch you, and you’ll do just fine.”

I made a slow turn, testing the sensation of having hooves instead of feet. “This is so weird.”

“I’ll let you wear the glamor now, so you get used to it by the time the guests arrive.”

“You want me to cook like this? I don’t think I can.”

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