Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
FAVORS AT THE FAYRE
Everything was the same.
It was as if the fayre had been picked up whole and transported across the queendom.
I drank in the fresh air as I absorbed the tender music, appreciating each and every hue of colored light.
I hadn’t spent long with the company, popping in and out to read tarot whenever it suited me to covertly study a mark, but every time I returned, it felt like coming home.
The whiff of magic called to me, singing through my bloodstream and igniting a power I should never have unearthed.
It was ironic that the prince allowed this magic into his city. If he’d borrowed those stupid divining rods from the priestess, they would be zinging all over the place. I pushed the thought far from my mind and allowed the atmosphere to warm me to my marrow.
Clement walked a few paces behind Lilyanna and the prince. He kept me by his side, his hand on the small of my back. He’d relaxed significantly since the spat in the castle, and I leaned into him, eagerly absorbing every discarded comment.
“When I was a child,” he said, “the fayre would come every few years. It would always be exactly here,” he waved his hand in the air, “and there was never any warning. We lived outside the city walls, about a half day’s walk, but me and my sister would sprint the whole distance.
” He chuckled, his eyes lighting up. “We would be exhausted when we got there, but the smells, the sounds, the excitement would fuel us. We’d do every game, visit every single stall, camp outside until our mother dragged us home again or the fayre packed up. ”
“What was your favorite?”
“Oh, we didn’t have a favorite. Magic, fire, contortion, axe throwing...Although, the one thing we’d always get was cotton candy. A huge rainbow cloud of the stuff. It never ran out either. That’s what it felt like anyway. I only ever reached the white stick when I was on the verge of puking.”
I ran my hand down his arm and tentatively laced my fingers with his. Why was I shaking?
I cleared my throat. “When was the last time you came?”
He grinned at me, squeezing my hand. “Probably before I took over my sister’s position as head guard.
She was promoted down South to be part of the queens’ protective service.
” He shrugged. “I never would have been gifted this position otherwise. We come from a rural hamlet in the mountains. No gossip, no drama, just a solid work ethic.” He sighed.
“I had pretty fucking difficult boots to fill. She was...is highly decorated.”
We stopped as Lilyanna tugged the prince over to a stall, coming to stand just behind them.
She seated herself on the low bench, the creaking sign above the stall advertising ‘the future’.
I smiled. This seer was far more practiced than me.
Her deck was worn, the black and silver pattern marred with white lines.
She probably didn’t need to resort to cracking scents with her knees or cheap magic tricks.
She turned over the Lovers card immediately.
The prince slid in beside Lilyanna and hooked his hand around her trim waist. Good.
If she were doing a true reading, listening to the spirit world and not psychoanalyzing the body language of those in front of her, maybe she’d produce a real warning.
Then Lilyanna would be ready to listen to me later when I proposed my plan to get her out of here.
The banns disaster weighed heavily on her shoulders and even she couldn’t ignore all the signs stacking in the opposite direction.
“Let’s get some candy,” I said to Clement. “They’ll be fine here and it’s just over there.” I hooked my thumb behind us knowing how many strides it would take, the exact arrangement of sweets on the stall and the precise position of Candyman’s hands looped into his suspender belt.
“They’ll rot your teeth.”
I rolled my eyes. “Who cares? My soul is already rotten, what’s a little more?” I tugged him gently, and he offered no resistance, a tender smile widening under the ever-lengthening beard. “Besides, it reminds you of your childhood and me of more interesting times.”
We paused in front of the delicious array of sweets, the scent of warm sugar drenching us.
“With a man?” he asked.
I grinned and turned away, my hand hovering over the crinkled white bags.
“I seem to remember that it was toffees you simply couldn’t resist.” Candyman plucked a bag from the pile, tossing the top cube into his mouth. He winked at me. “On the house, Tam.”
I pretended to fan myself, dabbing at my cheeks and chest.
“Have you slept with everyone in the queendom?” Clement hissed in my ear.
“Oh, don’t pretend like you haven’t.” I blew a kiss at Candyman and turned, stuffing toffee into my mouth. I offered him the bag as we walked back, and he gingerly took one, eyes narrowed. “I know firsthand that you have a filthy, filthy mouth, my friend.”
He choked on the toffee, spots of color darkening his cheeks.
I pressed my hand to his mouth. “Don’t apologize.
” I ran a finger over the contour of his lower lip, mopping up a line of burned sugar.
“I can’t stop thinking about it.” I sucked my finger, the trace of toffee and him dancing on my tastebuds.
I held his gaze and watched it heat as he closed the gap between us, his face lowering.
Bryn cleared her throat, elbowing Clement for good measure. Reluctantly, he straightened and took up his usual position, hand resting on the sparkling hilt of his saber.
Lilyanna rose from the bench in front of the tarot reader, and I swooped, linking her arm and whisking her off down the aisle.
“What did she say?” I asked.
“That my path was complicated and dangerous. That there were other ways to achieve my goals.” I grinned at her, and she bumped me with her hip. “Stop it, Tam. I know your opinion.”
“No, no. Tarot, I believe. Well,” I popped another toffee in my mouth and rattled it around my teeth as I spoke. “I believe in most of these so-called omens actually. You’ve enlightened me as to the ways of the North.”
She laughed. “I don’t believe you.”
“It's true.” I emptied the rest of the bag into my mouth, humming with pleasure as the caramel and treacle melted on my tongue. “The bad ones, I believe straight away.”
“You only believe in it if it suits your purpose.”
“True, my friend. Very true.” I steered her to an open patch behind the main line of stalls. “There’s a wonderful fire show down here. Marianne is an old friend of mine and if you want, we can be part of her performance.”
To her credit, she didn’t balk at the idea until we stood in the center of a worn patch of grass with unlit tiki torches carved with ogres, dragons, and witches leering at us from every angle. “I feel like we’re in a cult circle,” she whispered. “Is this safe?”
I shrugged. “I’ve never actually been part of this act before. Although I used to feel the scorch of the flames from way down there.”
She swallowed and gathered her long jade skirt, cinching it tight around her legs.
“But when the fire starts, it’ll be safe to talk.”
Marianne addressed the crowd gathering in front of us, dropping into an exaggerated bow for the prince. Clement stood behind him with arms crossed and a scowl etched onto his face as he stared at me. How did he always know what I was planning? My lips curved at the sight of him.
“What you’re about to see is of course dangerous, exciting, and completely fucking reckless.” Marianne grinned, shooting two fireballs from her outstretched palms. They roared over the crowd and circled like boomerangs, trailing sparks and crackling like lightning.
“I wonder who paints the flame-retardant herbs onto her hair when I’m not around,” I said. Marianne liked to style red and yellow spikes atop her head, shaving the sides for a more dramatic appearance.
“I’m more worried about her puffy sleeves,” Lilyanna replied.
Marianne waved her hands, silencing the crowd.
She produced a small onyx box from her pocket.
Carefully, as if it would detonate any second, she rested it in the center of her cupped hands and blew.
A sharp gust of wind blazed through the clearing, ruffling the crowd’s hair and billowing Marianne’s flared trousers like sails.
A small sphere of fire ignited in her outstretched palms, and she tossed it into the air, a mighty golden dragon unfurling with a bang. It opened its wings, beating the air, causing the wooden signs of the local stalls to swing and creak wildly.
The dragon screamed, flames gushing from its mouth. Each of the torches around me and Lilyanna whooshed to life, the flames rising higher and higher, reaching toward each other until we were in a molten birdcage.
The dragon screamed again, circling us, brandishing its forked tail.
Marianne cracked her neck and popped her knuckles, the sound magnified so a shudder ran through me. “Shall we rescue some damsels in distress?” she called. The crowd roared in approval.
It was beautifully serene inside the flaming cage. Marianne had set it to crackle gently like a log fire in winter, perfuming the air with a mild wood smoke. The heat roared outward, causing the crowd to shy away, but inside our little cocoon it was perfectly comfortable.
“We should use your engagement as an excuse to leave,” I said.
“I don’t think I—”
Marianne dodged past the dragon, narrowly avoiding a tongue of flame. She snuffed out one of the bars, dragging her hand down the flame to the torch at the bottom as easily as if it were a candle.
“You were almost strangled. By sheets, for Goddess’s sake. And I found myself inside the walls. Inside!”
“You could still—”
“I’m only leaving with you, Lilyanna. Unfortunately, I kind of like you now, and I know you’re better off alive than dead. No amount of gold-infused diamond is worth finding out about your grisly murder later. You know your family would agree.”