Page 91 of Brutal Fae King
“So you would be Maribelle of Thawallow, then?” I ask her gently.
She nods, but it almost appears more like a tremble. Then, she startles and begins to curtsey, her hands visibly shaking as she pulls her filthy dress out for the gesture.
“Oh, no need to worry about formalities like that,” I say, keeping my voice soft. “We’re happy to have you here.”
She nods. A moment of awkward silence rings out.
“I know you’ve been suffering with Weeping Fever—how do you feel now?” I ask
Maribelle nods again. She swallows thrice before she finally croaks her first word to me:
“Better.”
“Good. I’m glad. Did Dr Gracie treat you well?”
Finally, her tense face softens a touch.
“Yes, he was so very kind,” she says. “He gave me blue herbs I’d never heard of before, but everything felt so much better after he did.”
“That’s good,” I say, smiling. “I knew he was the best in his field. If anyone would win the battle with the Weeping Fever, it’d be him.”
Maribelle nods, and then her face drops lightly. She looks frightened again.
“Why… did you do that?” she asks quietly.
I look around. Ebelor’s not here yet.
“I’m sure it’ll make sense soon enough,” I say. “How was the journey down?”
She averts her gaze from me.
“Scary.”
“Yes, I can imagine it was,” I answer. “We would have brought you to the castle earlier, but things were even scarier around here for a while.”
Maribelle looks back at me.
“But why—”
“MARIBELLE!”
Her head snaps around. Mine too. Ebelor is sprinting down from the end of the greeting hall. She has never missed an opportunity to complain about how difficult it is to move in her queenly dresses, but it most certainly doesn’t seem to be hindering her right now. Shewooshestoward us, a flurry of emerald green and gold—and it’s all I can do to step back in time because if I don’t, I’m sure I will be knocked down.
“EBELOR!”Maribelle cries out.
She runs back toward Ebelor, and the pairsmashinto a tight embrace. Ebelor is scream-crying into Maribelle’s hair, and Mari is pressing her face into Ebelor hard. She’s crying now.
“I-I th-thought I’d n-never see you a-again!”Maribelle sobs.
“I was so scared!”Ebelor weeps back. “I was so scared the Weeping Fever had taken you!”
Maribelle leans back, tears pouring out from her eyes.
“Where were you?!” she screams.
“I’m sorry, Mari! I’m sorry!”Ebelor cries back. “I couldn’t come back! I promise I would have if I could!”
Ebelor takes her sister’s face with both hands, pushing up her cheeks. She kisses her forehead, both her cheeks, then her forehead again, then her cheeks—back and forth.
