Page 17 of Arise the Queen
And…
“Now Iknow where you go,” she said, admiring their graceful movements—somehow, equally at ease in the water as they were in the air.
Reaching down, she poked at a small web directly below—soft as silk.Careful not to damage it, she slid her finger across the threads as a wee spider hurried over to investigate. “Hello little one,” she said with a grin. “I would share my Hob cake, but I cannot be sure you like that. I did not.”
Strange that she expected the spider to talk back in this curious place. But it did not, and meanwhile, the cat-sidhesat,watching from his perch, with his long whiskers twitching. No matter, Gwendolyn was too tired for conversation anyway, and so she crossed her arms, leaning her chin into the nest she’d made of her arms to stare dreamily into the beautiful pond…
It was a long while before she rolled onto her back to study the speleothem-covered ceiling. Like stars, they were a multitude, and tonight, she felt more at peace than she had in so long. Eventually, she heard purring and peered up to discover the Púca fast asleep, and she smiled then, because, for all his bravado, she had outlasted him. Sleep had yet to claim her, though it was coming.
Even now, she could feel the languor settling over her limbs.
Closing her eyes, she hummed a tune, and stopped when she realized it was the song the Púca had been singing to her when she’d first arrived…
A babe was bequeathed by two Fae…
Was Gwendolyn that babe?
Two gifts, and a lie, they say.
Were these Gwendolyn’s gifts?
She had been blessed with the ability to judge the virtue of others simply by the way they treated her. She’d also received the gift of a golden mane, only provided it was cut by her own true love. And finally, a prophecy for the future of Pretania.
Which of these was the lie?
She knew it was not the gift of a golden mane, because she’d witnessed that miracle with her own two eyes. So, it must be one of the other two…
One younger, one elder,
One wiser, one skelder,
Then, sniggering, stole away.
Could this be the tale of her crib-side visitation?
Her gaze lifted to the Púca on the shelf, sleeping so peacefully, unaware of the turn of Gwendolyn’s thoughts. And yet, even were he not so fast asleep, she would have held her tongue because she already knew the answer without asking the question—truth settled like a knowing in her bones.
Only Demelza had ever recounted that tale to her, but Gwendolyn knew it like she knew her palm. Despite the Queen’s decree against speaking of it, Gwendolyn had hounded her maid relentlessly for every retelling, and Demelza, for all her loyalty to her mistress, always relented, speaking in whispers from the darkest corner of Gwendolyn’s room. So it was said, the Queen, accompanied by her maid, came to check on the new babe, and froze at the sight of two Fae hovering over Gwendolyn’s crib. In Demelza’s estimation, both Fae were creatures of astounding beauty, with skin like stardust, and eyes as brilliant as the sun—her words. And yet, both her mother and her maid had trembled in their presence, and thereafter, the Queen had feared the worst—that those Faeries stole her child and left her with a changeling. To this day, Gwendolyn feared this too—that her mother still believed it.
For so long, the never-ending visits from physicians… the constant investigations of her person… and not a few expulsions.
It was one of those expulsions that had so thoroughly vexed her father, and finally, he’d put a stop to them, decreeing once and for all that Gwendolyn was a normal human child.
Gwendolyn flipped onto her side, staring over the ledge at the ambient light below… mulling over her journey…
Now that she’d had more time to think about everything—now that she was calmer and not so furious with Esme and Málik—she understood something she did not before…
The key to Málik’sbetrayallay in Esme’s warning.
Lir cannot help you,Esme had insisted.
Bryn cannot help you. Málik nor I can help.
Only you can sway my father before he strikes you down. But if you do not, blood will spill, and it will not be his.
Esme had warned her most arduously that if she crossed the Veil with her army of five, the Fae king would view it as a declaration of war.
There is no more you will accomplish if you face him with five than you will if you face him alone,she had said. And Gwendolyn had been too angry with her to explore that thought, but now she understood. Esme meant to protecteveryone—not only Gwendolyn, but Lir, Bryn, and Málik as well.
