Chapter 7
Talvie
“Ifeel like a monster, Lumi. That was humiliating.”
“It was difficult to watch,” the traitorous little moon agrees. She took my hiding in a storage room as opportunity to rise from her moonstone form, and now floats above my head. I’m crammed in the tight space between crates of food, curled into a ball to avoid disrupting the preservation charms.
“I’m such an idiot. First it was all the things I dropped, the flour explosion, the glass I shattered into a ready meal…
The chef was so mad, I think Beron might have competition for the honor of my beheading.
Then those Point Fae males made me feel stupid and dirty, and when someone actually helps me, what do I do?
I insult the kind stranger who rescued me, and make his baby cry.
Everything I touch here goes wrong. Taynia was right about me. I’m useless.”
I drop my head into my hands, curling my arms tighter around my knees.
“I knew it was a mistake to pretend to be Wilder. I told you! Daria must be looking for me to toss me out, and then where will I go? I almost yelled at those awful men and told them who they were actually speaking to. If you hadn’t warned me… ”
“But Lumi did, and Valkie is still safe.”
“It’s just…I’ve never heard anyone be so terrible.”
“Those in power rarely treat those beneath them well. This is not uncommon.”
“Well, it’s not okay. Why would these folk put up with that?”
“They can’t fight back, Valkie. Not when their lives are dependent on the favor of the queen. For a Wilder Fae, causing unrest with Point Fae would be a swift way to have everything they care about torn away from them.”
“That’s— That isn’t— Oh, this town is awful.”
It can’t be like this everywhere. This place must be so backwoods that it’s been forgotten.
That doesn’t excuse the bad behavior, but most of us simply ignore the Wilder Fae.
We don’t mistreat them this way. “I’ve only been here two nights, and I’ve been insulted and pawed at already.
I don’t understand how these people tolerate this. ”
“No?” Lumi asks, her tone implying that I’m still missing the obvious.
Footsteps approach the storage room door, and Lumi dims. I hold my breath, waiting for it to open.
For Daria to tell me I have to leave for all my mistakes and for not playing along with whatever her Point Fae customers wanted.
The steps slow, then resume as they retreat in the opposite direction. The breath eases from my lips.
Lumi brightens again, looping over me while she can move about. “Lumi supposes it is good that handsome young man stepped in before you reacted to the taunts.”
“Handsome?” I wrinkle my nose. “I guess if you think rugged, pale, and strange are handsome, that’s your right, Lumi. I’m too embarrassed to judge.”
After the mistreatment from those two scummy males, I jumped to conclusions about my rescuer too. “Drown me,” I groan. “Did you see how cute his kid is? I don’t know why that makes it worse.”
“Oh, so you can find Wilder Fae cute.”
I roll my eyes. “She’s a toddler. All toddlers are cute.”
“Lumi assures you they are not. Though that one certainly was, with the dark curls and big eyes.”
I groan again. “And I made her cry. The poor guy helped me, and this is how I repay him.” I need another moment to recover from the fresh guilt. “That other guy looked at me like I killed a puppy. Do you think that was his partner? He looked rather young despite his size.”
Maybe if I think of my rescuer as a sleazeball, then I can stop this icky itching sensation in my chest every time I think about the encounter. My hand rubs the offending spot on my sternum to no avail.
Is this what shame feels like? Because it’s awful.
“Maybe I should just turn myself in. Go home.”
“You have a death wish now, Valkie?”
“It might be better…”
“Come. My little snowdrop is made of sterner stuff than that. The Valkie I know wouldn’t let a couple of rude customers dissuade her.”
“The Valkie you know is Princess Talvie. People aren’t rude to me!
How do you know how I handle it? I don’t even know, except apparently the answer is not well.
” Reluctantly, I stand and brush the dust from my skirt.
“I need to go apologize to Daria and beg to keep this job if I don’t want to act on that death wish. Give me strength, Lumi.”
Her glow is warm as she returns to the necklace, the moonstone thrumming at my throat. With a gulp, I open the storage room door and brace myself.
“There you are.” Daria stops me before I can head through the kitchen door.
“Sorry. I know I shouldn’t have left. Did those men complain? Because I can apologize if you need—”
“Whoa,” Daria interrupts before I can grovel for my job. “I was just coming to check how you are.”
“Fine! I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be fine?”
Kind eyes fix me until my shoulders slump. “Take a break for your supper, Val. Give those Point Fae time to leave, and maybe we’ll keep you in the kitchen for a few more days, huh? Start you out washing dishes.”
“But I can—”
“Supper first. That’s an order, girl.”
It would be a lie to say I’m not grateful for the excuse to avoid the packed tavern while those men are still here, but my gut squirms with the feeling of impending doom.
She doesn’t trust me.
I failed.
I’m going to be kicked out, and then what will I do? I’ll have to find a new place, and what if it’s even worse than this…and what if I can’t hack it in this disguise, and then I’ll be discovered and Beron will find me and—
“Hey.” Daria waves a hand in front of my face. “Supper isn’t punishment. You’re not in trouble.”
“I’m not?”
She huffs a small laugh and guides me to a worn table in the kitchen corner to sit. “Storms, no. Those two are in every fortnight, and I have at least one upset staff member to calm down each time. Sorry, girl, you’re not the first.”
Oh. Well, then. That should make me feel better, and it does, sort of. Drowning Deep. Why is this so overwhelming? How do the others all make it look so easy? Ludo just struts around with his acid-green hair like nothing bothers him. He’s probably never dropped a tray of glasses on a customer.
“Why do you let them return if they’re so terrible every time?”
Daria snorts, tossing her silver hair. “You say you’re from the Sundalands? Do Point and Wilder Fae mean something different down there by the Ever Seas?”
“Um, no?”
“Then you know I can’t say anything to them. Not unless I want citations piled on me that would shut me down and make me lose my inn. I’ve worked a lifetime for this dream, and I’m not about to let a couple of entitled Pointies take it from me. Never let them take your dreams or your dignity, Val.”
I can’t even process what that means. Sucking in a breath, I offer Daria a smile. “Thank you. For the meal and kind words, but also for the room and job. You have no idea how much you’re saving me. I promise I won’t cause you trouble. Er…more trouble.”
Placing a motherly hand on my shoulder, she gives me a soft look that tightens a fist around my heart. “You’re welcome, Val, though I think the thanks for saving you goes to the dashing Lark, don’t you think?”
“The…what?”
“Lark. The man who came to your aid.”
Oh! So my rescuer’s name is Lark. And dashing, huh? What is with everyone liking this guy? But wait, if she knows enough to like him, then…uh oh. Oh no.
“You know him?”
“Of course, girl. He’s a guest. He and the kids are renting Redcurrant Cottage out back.”
A guest?
And did she say kids, plural?
“Oh, drown me,” I blurt. “Sorry, I meant… Storms. Sorry, Daria. I’m so sorry.
I did something bad. I may have sort of freaked out on him…
kind of…a tiny bit, after we went outside.
It was a misunderstanding! But I made his kid cry.
I didn’t mean to! Oh, sweet waters, I’m a terrible employee. You must want me to leave. I can go.”
“Don’t be silly,” Daria chuckles.
“But I insulted your guest. After I just promised not to cause you more trouble! Not to mention the earlier stuff with the flour everywhere, or the meal I ruined, or the four glasses I broke.”
“Four?”
“Um, no? Pretend I didn’t say that.” I drop my face into my hands.
“Relax, Val. It’s been a tough start, but you’re trying, and that matters.
I believe in second chances. Or, I guess, fourth chances in this case.
” Her wink lets me know she’s not mad, which leaves me reeling.
Any servant who broke four glasses at the palace would be summarily dismissed and shunned.
Maybe exiled. Seeing Daria’s easy smile instead is… I don’t know what it is.
“Speaking of second chances,” she continues, “if you want to apologize to Lark, come down early tomorrow and you can take breakfast to their cottage. No way a man stays mad in the face of my fresh korvapuusti.”
Thinking of the cinnamon, sugar, and cardamom infused rolls I enjoyed this morning, I’m sure she’s right. That’s the answer, then. I’ll apologize to Lark and his family with a basket of baked goods, and then I’ll avoid them altogether, and I’ll stop messing up. Simple.