Page 54 of Fairies Don't Fall

Sixteen

We spent hours being gooped and peeled. Ripping my wings off was by far the most traumatic treatment. The roots went deep since I’d left them in for so long. Too long. They came out with a lot of blood and trailing sparkling strands before the delighted fairies carried them away, leaving me sweating glitter and trying not to cry so Ruin would think I was tough. I was a tough fairy. What I wanted was for Max or his wolf, or even his beast, to wrap his arms around me and make me feel better. Why would I want something so impossible?

“Sparkles, can we take a break?” Ruin whispered when we were alone for a minute between different bouts of aggressive pampering.

I nodded and climbed out of my mud tub, motioning for her to follow me. I slipped outside the nearest window and then closed my eyes and sought out the right kind of mind. Wouldn’t it be fun to freak Ruin out?

When the timing was just right, I leaned forward off the ledge and free-fell without wings to Ruin’s scream. Of course, I landedon the back of the firefly. It was very small at first, but it quickly transformed until its beating wings could stop my fall, Lifting me up higher and higher until I was even with Ruin and the window ledge where she stood, staring at me and the giant firefly with huge eyes.

“Come on,” I said, nodding behind me.

“Can it hold both of us up?” she asked, the wind blowing her hair around while she leaned out the window.

“Only one way to find out.” I grinned and wiggled my brows at her. She was so fun to play with.

She gave me a horrified look and then grinned and jumped, landing on the gleaming hard body and grabbing my waist so we both almost went off the far side. I laughed as we rolled, and then we were upright, and the firefly darted forward, heading towards the falls.

We explored the jungle, eating fruit out of trees and sliding down the waterslides, into the water far below. Ruin was a werewolf, so she had good reflexes, and I was the same while my wings grew in. We wandered Fairyland for a few days, playing like I hadn’t played since the invasion. I called dragonflies and took Ruin to the fire-flower fields. They were beautiful, deadly, and the rich red sunset added an extra glow to everything. It was certainly something to see, those red flowers dripping lava that bubbled down into the fire lake. But then the moon rose, so full and bright that I could help my aching heart for the man mated to the moon.

“You look at it like he does,” Ruin said, stretched out behind me on Snap the Dragonfly’s back to enjoy the view. She looked a bit like a fairy coated in all the blue and green splotchy mud.

“His madness is catching,” I said, returning my gaze to the moon. What was he doing right this moment? Had he found another fairy to rehabilitate?

She sat up. “Seriously, Princess Sparkles, he’s never made out with someone publicly before. Fairies are supposed to be master manipulators, right? If he’s making out with you, then how hard would it be to convince him to be your consort?”

I sighed heavily. “It was just part of my rehabilitation.”

“No, it wasn’t. Max wouldn’t have kissed you if he didn’t want to. Eventually, he’s going to come and drag me back home, and then…”

I sat up and whirled around to stare at her. “What do you mean, he’s going to come and drag you home? He can’t come here! You mean he doesn’t know where you are? He’ll be worried sick! And here I am having fun. Come on, Ruin. You have to go back. Yesterday.”

She scowled at me. “Yeah, because how dare I do something on my own. I’m not a child! And you said that I could visit.”

“Of course I did, and you can, but not without telling Max first.”

I put a hand on Ruin to keep her on Snap, who took off, back through a portal I cast and towards the beautifully glowing House of the Rising Sun, with a line of lights leading up the hill on the winding road towards it.

“Who are all those people?” I whispered.

“The eligible bachelors?” she asked, still scowling, but looking curious. “You can’t take me back home before I’ve finished my glow-up. And I want to be here for the ball. Your wings are growing in.”

I glanced back and sure enough, glimmering streaks of magic were coming out of my back. Oh, good. They weren’t depressing like the last however many pairs had been. I flashed her a smile and aimed Snap away from the lines of people who were coming for the coronation and the ball, heading for the back way. Would my people be more excited about a coronation or a ball? Probably the latter.

“Ruin, I…” I sighed heavily at the thought of Max worrying, of him coming here. Of him not coming here. Every possibility was impossible. “I’ll send a message to Max at once to let him know that you’re okay. How long have you been here? Time doesn’t mean very much in Fairyland. Has it been a week? Longer?”

She grinned at me as Snap pulled level with the window and I nodded inside. “Dragon flies when you’re having fun.”

I blinked at her for a moment before smiling weakly while she laughed loudly, then leapt in the window with the ease of a born werewolf. I followed more slowly, and was immediately surrounded by my court of attendants who dragged me back to the preparation rooms, all of them talking at once.

“Lord Vervain is back, and he brought with him a whole elven retinue of delegates, the first elves to come to Fairyland in centuries. And there’s the Goblin Authority, and what did you do to your hair?!”

They fussed over me, digging into their magic to make me presentable again in as little time as possible. I submitted meekly to their lectures and beauty process.

“Lord Vervain wishes to see my lady,” said a fairy from the doorway, looking nervous.

I nodded at her. “Let him in.”

Another of the fairies gave me a scandalized look, not because I was naked, but because I would allow a Lord in to see me when I wasn’t at my best. Another fairy threw a robe over me that was mostly sheer, but it was something.

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