Chapter 26 Elowen #2
Luci drugged her eyes from Ira, who was sleeping soundly, his brown hair falling into his face. Two pieces that fit together perfectly. No need to force them together. Wasn’t that always how it felt with him? Easy. Like he understood her and she him, even if she was too stubborn to admit it.
“I’ve been here waiting for two thousand seven hundred days, waiting for the one Imelda deemed worthy. When you stepped into her Glass room, I felt it. The knowing she promised.” Elowen said, tears gathering in her eyes.
Everything she said was more and more impossible, but Luci recognized her voice the moment she heard it. It only took her till then to realize where she’d heard it.
“That was your voice in the Glass room,” she said.
Elowen sucked in a shaky breath. “Yes, and I would have had much more time to explain if it weren’t for your prince breaking down doors.
You see, Imelda was the last to fall into Vencia’s trap.
By then, she knew she was the last fairy godmother.
She went with the goal of procuring a future for magic.
She made the Glass Room and linked my essence to it.
She gave her life with the promise of the Cinderella.
Neither of us knew when or how, but only that one day a human would be worthy.
” She gave her a long smile. “And it was you.”
Luci swallowed hard.
“Why me?” she asked.
A single tear dripped down Elowen’s left cheek.
“Because you have something to lose. Some things, rather. So now it’s come to this. Which will you choose?” she asked.
As she gestured to the two pieces, a pit grew in Luci’s stomach. It was an uneasy anxiety that threatened to tear her limb from limb.
“Choose?” she choked out.
Elowen nodded solemnly.
“You can save Brielle, but you will lose your prince. The pieces, they won’t-” she waved her hand, and the green and navy pieces broke apart, their edges changing.
When she pushed them back together, they no longer connected.
“I’ve heard people can be happy even without their perfect match.
It might be harder, but you can still be happy. ”
“But somewhere out there will be a piece that matches his,” Luci said, glancing over at Ira.
“Perhaps. Once you make this choice, you will be changed. Not the same woman you were. I am sorry to put you through it, but there’s no other way.
Imelda used to say the hardest part of being a fairy godmother was watching someone you love suffer, knowing that it was the only way through. I see now she was right.” Elowen said.
She’d come so far. The midnight flower was just outside.
She’d- she’d kissed Ira, and he’d kissed her back.
Even though it was a ridiculous notion, for one minute she’d seen it.
A life with him. A life where his laugh was loud and warm.
Where she felt safe just because he loved her.
A man who saw all her imperfections and loved her in spite of them.
The tears fell freely now because the empathy in Elowen’s eyes was the only confirmation she needed. This was real.
“Why?” Luci asked.
Elowen reached over and took Luci’s hands in hers.
“Because human greed took everything,” she said.
Luci wanted to rage. To throw the pieces and the table. Her whole life, all she ever had was Brielle. It had been more than enough. Then there was Ira. Ira, who made her laugh and her heart skip a beat. She wanted both, but Luci was no stranger to loss.
“Can I speak to him first?” Luci asked.
Elowen shook her head.
She’d always known the world was cruel, but Brielle’s storybooks and happy endings never felt like this. They never talked about what it meant to sever a piece of your soul. That was what Luci was about to do. Cut off a piece of herself for another.
With one last lingering look at Ira, she met Elowen’s gaze.
“I choose Brielle,” she said.
The words cut deep into her core, but she knew there was never any other choice for her. She would lose Ira, but he would find someone whose pieces fit perfectly with his, and he would be happy. There was no world worth living in without Brielle. She was the reason for her breath.
Elowen smiled. “No bargaining? As simple as that?”
Luci shook her head.
“If you are asking me to choose, I will always choose her,” she said.
Elowen’s tears fell faster, and she gave a small laugh as she waved her hands over the pieces.
“The funny thing about souls and pieces is that they are forever changing. Because of the choice you just made, you have changed. But there is no accounting for how others will change as well.”
A snap of her fingers, and Ira woke up with a start, scanning the room before landing on Luci. With a few blinks, he was out of his chair and kneeling before her with his hands on either side of her face, searching.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” he asked.
The love and concern in his voice broke what was left of her miserable heart. This could have been hers for a lifetime. The safety he offered her, what the orphan in her craved above all else, was lost because she made a choice.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered through her tears.
He stood and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight against the world. He didn’t know what she’d done, though. That she sacrificed them for Brielle.
“I chose Brielle, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said into his neck.
He pulled back and brushed her hair from her face, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Luci held his hands to her face, willing herself to memorize the feel of them.
“I had to choose between you and her,” Luci confessed.
Surprise widened his eyes for only a moment before his face smoothed and a crooked smile poked at one dimple. He pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Of course you did. You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t,” he said.
Forgiveness just like that. No bargaining. No questioning. Simple forgiveness.
“As I said, there is no accounting for the changing of souls,” Elowen said.
Luci blinked away her tears and watched as Elowen waved a hand over all three pieces as they came apart and re-arranged till the white and green pieces tucked neatly into the navy.
Realization ripped through Luci, where a thin tendril of hope caught onto her.
“It was a test,” she said.
Elowen shrugged.
“Imelda said magic would return when humans learned selflessness and a Vencia forgives,” Elowen said.
“That’s it?” Luci asked, mouth open.
Ira leaned into her and brushed his lips against her ear. “I think we are just supposed to say thank you before she changes her mind.”
Despite everything, a shiver ran down her spine, and she had to blink several times before she could collect herself.
“It can’t be undone, Prince, the bargain is struck.
Magic will return to Meridea, but it will be both of your responsibilities to protect it.
Should even one in your line be found wanting, magic will disappear once more and be lost to humanity.
It is up to you two on how you prepare your lineage. ” Elowen said.
“What about you? What happens to you?” Ira asked.
Elowen rolled her eyes and waved a hand at him as if shooing him along.
“I suppose that depends on how worthy you are of the responsibility you’ve been given. Well, off with you both. Just because you made a bargain doesn’t mean your part in it is done. Brielle is waiting for you,” she said.
Just like that, the cottage shimmered all around them before it erupted in an explosion of blue magic. It fell on the mountain top, glinting off the sun before disappearing, leaving Ira and Lucinda and one Midnight Flower.
“You saw all of that, too, right?” Ira said.
Luci grinned at him. “Saw what?”
His smile was the butterflies in her stomach taking flight. Her matching piece. One ridiculously charming and generous prince to match her stubborn and rigid orphan.
She released his hand and went to kneel before the Midnight flower, its feathers fluttering against the wind. Gently, she dug at its home of sand, and like a mother with her newborn, Luci lifted it, careful not to damage a single root.
She stared at it, brushing the tip of her finger over the miracle that it was. Brielle was going to be alright. Brielle would live, and magic was real.