Page 54 of Promises and Pixie Dust

“What will Queen Cassia do?”

The last question ripped every last vestige of hope from me. If I was Hyacinth’s daughter, then Cassia must be from the kingdom that overthrew my family.

A tremor of fear raked up my spine.

The men who’d brought me here had been kind enough, but under the intense stares of everyone else, I began to wonder why Uncle felt this place wasn’t safe for me. What it meant to be recognized as their dead princess.

I felt myself shifting from one color to the next in quick succession.

There were a few gasps at that, and my escorts nearly blushed when they caught sight of my ever-changing emotional state.

“Happy now? Everyone has seen her, or will hear about her presence soon enough. We need to get her to the castle,” Oren warned Gentian, who only nodded.

Both men looked at me and then up toward the glowing lights above.

“It’s time,” Oren said, his voice softer.

Without another word, each man took one of my hands, and we slowly flew upward. More fairies emerged from the windows of the buildings or homes carved into the trees, or nests on the branches, all to catch sight of us. All of them wore the same expression of shock, and even fear, when their eyes landed on me.

With every tier we flew past, dread pooled in my stomach. Some of them darted past us, heading toward our destination before we could. Oren cursed under his breath, but didn’t increase his speed. Gentian fidgeted nervously, as more and more gathered above us.

When we finally came to a stop near the top of the great tree, we landed on a wide plateau of branches, braided and covered in moss and flowers with a walkway to the grandest structure I’d ever seen.

There was no mistaking that this was a castle.Thecastle.

Ornate balconies, windows, and doors were carved into the tree trunk. Mushrooms, moss, and flowers grew over the structure making up the siding. Small lanterns hung on either side of the entrance, with the same glowing moss from the forest lighting them.

In my wildest dreams, I would never have imagined anything like it. It seemed happy. Enchanting. Something plucked from the sweet dreams of a child.

Most surprising of all was that the woman who walked through the doors was no different. I had expected her to be a monster, knowing what she might have done to my family, but instead she matched the castle behind her.

Every fairy nearby bowed to the regal-looking woman with a golden circlet woven into her cinnamon hair. Almond-colored eyes matched the wings behind her that dipped nearly to the ground, and she wore a gown made of rose petals and ivy.

But it wasn’t her eyes or her gown or her wings that unnerved me. It was the cautiously clinical way she assessed me, as if… as if I was the dangerous one.

34

Edrich

Riding Maggie across the valley may have been the faster solution, but it certainly wasn’t the most comfortable. My arm ached from holding it in front of me to fend off the weeds and stems whipping into my face with each flitting step. If I sat forward too far, Maggie would get irritated and raise her quills just enough to scrape my arms.

And that’s not even the worst of it.

“You’re leaning again,” a grouchy voice said into my ear.

Thatwas the worst of it. The scaly troll sitting at my back and griping into my ear every three seconds.

“Well, you insisted on sitting back there,” I reminded him, for the thousandth time in the hours since we had taken off.

Whatever he was going to say was cut off as we both ducked to avoid a bumblebee zooming toward us. It didn’t seem to intend us any harm, but that didn’t stop my heartbeat from thundering in my chest as it flew by, buzzing so loudly that I nearly had to cover my ears.

When you were this size, something didn’t necessarily need to mean you harm to inflict it, and that thing’s stinger had been the size of my arm.

Well, practically.

I was torn somewhere between wondering where Pepper was and being glad she hadn’t swooped in to eat me.Here’s to hoping she recognizes me if she does find me…

The ride also left far too much time for me and my thoughts. Lina had insisted that Rumplestiltskin free me, and whether or not he wanted to, he couldn’t go back on his word.

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