35. The Stolen Bride
For the five long nights of the Full Moon Revel, I had been the perfect bride to be. I had imbibed enough cordial to sink a ship and danced so much my feet would be sore for weeks. Now, it was time for Forrest to uphold his end of our bargain.
Tonight was Magnolia’s sixteenth birthday, and I would be there to see her on her special day. Unfortunately, seeing was all I would be doing. I had been sloppy with the wording of our latest bargain. Forrest had promised to take me to see my sister, but he hadn’t promised she would see me. Damn fae.
”It’s too risky,” he said. ”You know what they would do if they saw either of us. It would jeopardize our union and the future of our kingdoms.”
But I didn’t want to see everyone. I just wanted to see Magnolia.
Nonetheless, bargains were binding, and I had made a less than ideal one. So, we traveled to my kingdom in glamoured cloaks of invisibility. I would walk back into my old life as an observer only. Forest had attempted to soften the blow with a gift, a small golden shell.
”What’s this?” I asked with a frown. It reminded me of the one I wore around my neck. The last echo of Briar.
”Give this to Magnolia. I left a matching shell on your pillow. If you speak into it, she will be able to hear you. Now, you will be able to talk any time you wish.”
My heart skipped a beat. His gift wasn’t expensive, but it was heartfelt and kind. Forrest was showing me that he was listening, that he understood me, or at least a part of me. He knew how much I missed my younger sister, and he wanted to help us stay close. To me, this little shell was priceless.
Forrest and I neared a row of opulent, colorful homes called the Seven Ladies of the Sea. Together, they formed a pastel rainbow.
”Pull your hood up, and step lightly,” he instructed.
Grudgingly, I lifted the hood over my blonde hair.
Forrest chuckled to himself. ”Then again, tread as loud as you wish, we walk among mortals. They’re as dull sensed as they are witted. You could trod on dresses and step on toes, and they’d be none the wiser.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
”Present company excluded, of course,” he added quickly.
Then, he slipped his hand through mine.
As I entered the stately home, I beamed. I’d never called on Lord Bannister’s estate, but I would have done so if I had continued my social season unimpeded. I looked at the ladies in their beautiful gowns and the men in their dapper suits. No one was bare chested. No ladies were exposing their bodies. There were no heady dances or twinkling stars or dangerous drinks. There was no magnetic pull to the dance.
It was ordinary. It was boring.
No, I corrected myself. It was right.
When I stepped into that faerie circle, I had been exhilarated, yes, but I had also been a little frightened. These were my countrymen. This was where I belonged.
I moved carefully among the crowds. Despite Forrest’s snarky comment, I did not want to tread on anyone’s gown or shoes.
I heard a familiar voice ahead. It was my sister’s friend, Catie, and her mother. I hurried toward them. Perhaps, my sister was with her. The thought was too good to be true.
”Now, don’t you go running off tonight. I want you indoors at all times,” Catie’s mother instructed.
Catie groaned. ”But mother, it’s so terribly hot. I might wish to step out for a bit of air on the veranda between dances.”
Her mother shook her head. ”Don’t you dare let me catch you with a foot outside of this ballroom. Do you want to end up like Georgia?”
My breath caught at the mention of my name.
”Cast her lot in with some fae.” She said the word fae with palpable disgust.
A sudden surge of protectiveness rose within me. Forrest, Harry, Rosie, and Hawthorne were people. There was nothing disgusting about them.
”Mother,” hissed Catie. ”That’s only a rumor. You shouldn’t repeat it.”
Her mother scoffed. ”The guards by the gate saw them go. They say she put up no fight. As far as I’m concerned, she went willingly. Just like that sister of hers. The whole family is wild and caught up in disgrace.”
”Mother,” she howled. ”I adore Magnolia, and her father is the king. You can’t talk that way.”
”King or not, I want you to stay away from that girl. The family has no moral standard.”
Catie started to protest, but her mother plastered a false smile on her lips. ”Now, then, my dear. Go and circulate.”
Catie stormed off, and, before I knew it, she was inches away from walking straight into me. I could imagine how it would play out. She would fall to the floor. Yet, no one would see an impediment. It would look odd. It would raise suspicion.
I opened my mouth in an ”o” of shock, preparing myself for the collision.
But seconds before its occurrence, hands encircled my waist, and I was pulled neatly back a step. My pulse quickened, and warm lips caressed my ear. ”Careful, love.”
I stood in shock. How could this be? I assumed my father would hide all mentions of my disappearance. I assumed there would be a story of my taking ill with hay fever. I never, ever expected such vicious rumors.
Did everyone else think this?
I ripped away from Forrest’s protective embrace, forgetting the shell in my pocket and tonight’s mission. Instead, I sought information. I passed men and women, dancing in step, and carefully weaved through them. Then I spotted them, Maribel and Circe, the two biggest gossips in the colony. They were talking about dress fashions.
Maybe everything was okay. If my name was in ruins, they’d certainly be talking about it. My breath came a little slower. Catie’s mom was just being suspicious due to her proximity to my family. My elder sister’s scandal was already common knowledge. Perhaps, she was just embellishing after not seeing me out and about.
Just then, I felt the energy in the room shift. The gossiping Circe and Maribel stopped talking and turned to stare. I followed their gaze and landed on my sweet Maggie.
She was dressed in a peach gown that matched the natural coloring in her cheeks. Her head was held high, but her eyes were distant.
Heads turned to watch her entrance. She was a princess, and tonight was her birthday. Still, something felt off.
Maribel whispered, ”I can’t believe her father is permitting her out of the house.”
”He must be truly desperate to make a marriage match.”
Maribel considered Circe. ”You know, perhaps, it is clever. He could marry her off before the scandal with his middle daughter is widely known.”
”He’d better marry her off tonight then. Two whores in the same family, he must be devastated,” muttered Circe.
Maribel nodded her agreement. ”That’s what happens with the mother dead and buried. Rest her soul.”
I gasped, and I was moments from tossing my cloak aside to defend myself against such slander.
Forrest grasped my hand and led me away. ”Come,” he said in a voice so soft only I could hear it.
I shook my head in protest, but I didn”t pull my hand away.
He tugged me past dancers and onlookers and up the curved rail and stairs. My breath was coming hard and fast. I didn’t know whether I would cry or scream. Both seemed equally likely.
I knew Circe and Maribel. By the end of the night, more than half of the ballroom would know of my disappearance with a fae. By the next ball, there would be embellishment. By the third ball, my chances of even visiting my kingdom would be crushed.
I thought by leaving I was protecting Maggie. I thought she would be spared from a terrible marriage to a fae. Instead, I had ruined all of her prospects. I had brought ruin on the entire family. Father would have no alliance. Would our little kingdom survive without it? I couldn’t be certain.
A hand rested on my back, stroking small, steady circles.
I stared down at the carpet, heaving in breath after breath. ”Nothing will ever be the same.”
”No,” he agreed quietly.
I barely realized I had spoken the words aloud.
I wasn’t crying because people were gossiping about me. I wasn’t crying because I wouldn’t be able to marry a human nobleman. I was crying because my hopes and dreams were built on lies–ones I had lovingly told myself.
It was time to release them.
I knew in that moment that I would never be able to return to my old life. Even if the curse broke, even if Forrest didn’t want me, I wouldn’t be welcome.
I thought of how we had entered the party tonight unseen by everyone around us. I would forever be a ghost or a shadow in my own kingdom. I was no longer a part of this world.
I had been holding on to this dream that I could return, if I wanted.
Tonight, that dream had fractured.
I had been living under the delusion that somehow time would rewind. I had believed that one day Briar, Magnolia, and I would be together again–that we would dine at our father’s table, escape balls, laugh and carry on across the familiar sandy soil, and scream up at the night sky.
But we couldn’t go back.
I couldn’t go back.
Suddenly, everything had changed, and I wasn’t ready.
I sunk onto the floor, my gown pooling around me. The room was empty, and the door was closed, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it weren’t. Tears were already racing down my cheeks.
Forrest was quiet. He sat down on the ground beside me and pulled me against his chest. I was too heartbroken to feel embarrassed. I cried and cried until his shirt was soaked through. He traced circles on my back and let me.
”You humans even lie to yourselves,” he said sadly. His words could have been construed as taunting, but I knew better. The truth was, he was right.
Forrest didn’t steal my happiness from me. It had already flown away long ago, and I was simply too stubborn to accept it. Mother was dead. She was never coming home. Even if Briar miraculously returned, things would never be the same. Briar was ruined. She would never be accepted at society events. Father might not have the heart to turn her away from our home, but she would be hidden.
I wasn’t fifteen anymore. Magnolia wasn’t a little girl anymore.
Time had passed. Our childhoods were over. Mine had been gone for a long time, but somehow, I hadn’t been willing to see it.
”What are you thinking?” he asked.
”Of a perfect memory,” I answered, swiping a hand across my swollen red eyes.
He cocked his head to the side in surprise. ”Perfect, yet it makes you cry?”
”It was a moment that is now gone, and it will never be again.”
He stretched his long fingers and laced them through mine. ”Tell me about it.”
It was the memory that often played through my mind before I went to bed each night. The one that left me with a soft smile on my face as I drifted to sleep. Maybe if I told him, I could begin to let it go.
I sniffed. With no other alternatives, I wiped my nose on the sleeve of my cloak. I knew Forrest wouldn’t mind. He wasn’t exactly the sort of man to carry a pocket handkerchief.
Then I said, ”It was a beautiful summer day. My sisters and I were together, all three of us. We were running across the gardens, and our hands were linked. We were laughing. The sun was high, and the ocean wind was warm on our cheeks. We were happy. I don”t remember when it happened. Maybe it didn”t happen at all.”
”Maybe it is yet to come.”
I shook my head. ”No. Briar has been gone for five years. We’re all older now. We’re not girls anymore.”
”Adults can laugh, too.”
”Not any that I’ve known.”
He looked into my eyes for a long time, and I gazed back into his viridian pools.
”If it’s in my power, I’ll make you deliriously happy one day,” he said.
My eyes widened. He’d just made a promise, given freely. He was bound to it.
”Free me,” I demanded.
He smiled sadly. ”That wouldn’t make you deliriously happy, and you know it. Even if you’re not willing to admit it… yet.”
I said nothing but held his hand tightly in mine.
He was right. I would stay for my kingdom and my family. I would stay for Forrest, too, because a part of me longed for that deliriously happy moment with him. Maybe even a lifetime of them.
Eventually, I was strong enough to find Magnolia, drop the shell in her pocket, and whisper a faint, ”Happy birthday. I love you.”