Chapter Fifteen #2
Raven walked up to the man and waved her hand. Immediately, every fairy let go of his arms and legs and flew back. Reeve stayed on the ground and didn’t move. Raven bent down to get a closer look at his face.
“He does look like him...” she said.
“It is him,” Rhea urged.
Raven ignored her. “Why are you here?” she barked at the knight.
“I escorted R--, err, Princess Rhea home. For her safety.” He glanced over at Rhea. Whatever story she was spinning about him being his brother, he wasn’t about to prove it untrue. He might be fairly certain Rhea wouldn’t curse him, but these fairies were an entirely different matter.
Suddenly, a fairy flew out of one of the tree hollows. Queen Viola landed in human form in front of them.
“Rhea!” Viola exclaimed. “Why have you brought this stranger into our home?”
“This isn’t a stranger. It’s the same man who rescued me. I apologize, my queen. I didn’t mean to bring him that far into the valley. I got distracted.”
“I expect you’ve come begging for my forgiveness?”
“No, Mother. I mean… yes, but… that isn’t the only reason I’ve come. I—”
“You have disappointed me again, Rhea. After what happened before, I would think that you of all fairies would know better than to go wandering off with some human.”
“He isn’t just some human, Mother. You offered him my hand in marriage, remember?”
Reeve’s eyes went wide at the mention of marriage. That part of the story was entirely new to him. The fairy queen had offered to let Rowan marry the fairy? What else had Rhea left out of the story? He was beginning to sweat even more.
“And he refused your hand, if I recall,” Viola said, smirking. “Perhaps, we should punish him for that foolish decision alone. He obviously doesn’t value his life very much if he came back here after rejecting my daughter.”
Rhea panicked. She tried to think of something to say, but Reeve was faster.
“I changed my mind!” Reeve shouted, then he swallowed hard when the queen looked at him.
“You have decided to accept my daughter’s hand in marriage?” Viola asked.
Reeve glanced at Rhea, who looked about to cry at any moment.
What else could he do? If he refused, he would probably be cursed for life or killed.
Neither outcome was better than the other.
A man who was cursed by a fairy would live in agony.
Until he either lost his sanity or took his own life.
Perhaps, agreeing to the fairy’s terms would get him back to his sister.
“Yes,” he nodded. “I accept.”
Rhea sighed a breath of relief as Reeve rose to his feet. Her peace was short-lived, however.
“Fantastic,” Viola said. “We will have the ceremony right away.”
“Right away? As in next week?” Rhea asked. She was hopeful she could find a way to help Reeve escape before then.
“No, Rhea. We will have the ceremony now.” Viola replied, folding her hands together. “Raven, please return to my hollow and retrieve the vine.”
Rhea watched dumbfounded as Raven changed into sprite form and flew into the tree. She looked over at Reeve, whose face was pale. Rhea had to fight back the urge to shout, to tell her mother that she was lying, but it probably wouldn’t save him.
Raven returned and changed back into human form. She handed a long, dark green vine to the queen who took it and gestured Reeve and Rhea to come forward.
Viola tied one end of the vine around her daughter’s left arm at the elbow. Then she swirled the vine down Rhea’s arm until it reached her hand. Viola then turned to Reeve and took his left hand, pulling it over and placing it on top of Rhea’s.
Working quickly, Viola continued wrapping the vine over their hands and up Reeve’s lower arm. She stopped at the elbow and tied it. Then she stepped back and waved her hand over theirs. The vine began to magically tighten until it was snug.
Reeve could feel Rhea’s hand was shaking. She was staring at the ground. The situation was awkward and nothing like he might have envisioned his wedding would be, if he ever had one. And marrying a fairy, under the guise of his brother, was the most insane thing he could ever imagine doing.
Yet here he was. Doing just that.
When Viola began to speak in a language Reeve couldn’t understand, Rhea finally lifted her gaze to meet his.
Her sparkling blue eyes were so lovely that he couldn’t look away even if he wanted to.
Even with her shiny, golden hair pulled back from her face, it didn’t hinder her beauty.
Nothing could. Not even the thick metal ring around her neck.
He wished he could rip it off her because it didn’t belong there.
But if it had to stay, he could imagine spreading gentle kisses up and down her neck, to make her forget she was wearing the damned thing. Why is my mind going there right now?
Reeve looked away when Rhea blushed. He had no idea just how long he’d been staring at her, but it was long enough to make her face turn pink. Viola stopped speaking for a moment then she turned to Reeve.
“Young man, I know you do not understand the language of the fae, but this is the part when you say, ‘I will’.”
“I will,” he said, immediately. If he gave the queen a reason to think he wanted to back out, he could kiss goodbye any chance of seeing his sister again. And strangely, in the back of his mind, another voice told him to agree to the marriage, for reasons he wasn’t prepared to examine.
“And you, Rhea?” Viola said, turning to her daughter.
For a brief moment, Rhea thought about confessing.
To force this man to marry her was worse than being rejected by him.
Why she couldn’t find a nice man who actually wanted to marry her, she would never understand.
But his best chance of leaving alive was if she agreed to this marriage.
Maybe she could find a way to make amends with him later on…
“I will.”
Viola said a few more phrases in the language of the fae, then she stepped closer and placed her hand on top of theirs.
Reeve could feel a small tingle on his left ring finger.
Viola waved her hand over theirs again. The vine loosened around their arms and fell to the ground below. Raven bent down and retrieved it.
Rhea lifted her hand and looked at it. There, on her finger, was a dark green ring. The proof that their marriage was real and binding. She thought she just might faint.
Reeve noticed his too. It wasn’t a metal ring.
It was just a band of color inked onto his finger.
He took his other hand and rubbed it, but it didn’t remove the color.
Somehow, the ring had been permanently placed.
Magically. As frightening as it was to realize he had just taken a sacred vow with someone he barely knew and was fairly certain didn’t want to actually marry him, there wasn’t time to absorb the news before Viola spoke.
“Congratulations, my daughter,” Viola said. “And now, I must banish you from the valley.”
“What?” Rhea exclaimed, unable to hide her shock. “Why?”
“As your punishment for leaving and disobeying my orders. And even though I have allowed this man to live, you still brought him into our home. You will leave at once and never return. I trust that your new husband will be able to care for you. I shall not worry about your safety going forward.”
“I came here to ask for your help,” Rhea said, annoyed. “A wizard has been spreading wildfire in Taten and Labara. Even right outside of Elmber. He will be attacking Junacave soon and we need your help. The land will need to be healed and—”
“We were willing to aid the Elder Mage before, but we will not do so now. If the wizards want to fight amongst themselves, we will not interfere. Nor will we fix the damage caused by it.”
“But an entire kingdom could be destroyed,” Rhea argued. “It would take centuries for the land to heal on its own—”
“I have given you my answer, Rhea. We will not aid the men ever again.”
Rhea knew there was no way to convince her mother. Viola’s hatred for men was rooted deep in her heart. Arguing further would only serve to anger the queen. Rhea took Reeve by the hand and started to lead him away. Then she stopped and turned back.
“Just so you know, Mother,” she said. “The Elder Mage isn’t a man this time. It’s a woman.”
Without saying another word, she turned and steered Reeve out of Anestas, leaving her family and her home behind. They found their horses at the end of the valley and mounted their saddles. The ride back to Junacave was quiet and solemn for the both of them.
~*~
Rianne crept up to the door. She knew her parents were inside, having just watched her father enter the room.
King Nolan had been avoiding her for days.
She wanted to know why but deep inside she already knew.
Her father planned to accept King Carneath’s marriage proposal, and he was afraid to tell her.
She put her ear up to the door and slowed her breathing so she could listen. Her mother, Isabelle, was the first to speak.
“Are we sure that this is the best choice, Nolan? She’s still so young.”
“Seventeen years old isn’t very young, Belle. You were seventeen when we were wed.”
“And our first few years were difficult to say the least, because of it.”
“She will grow to accept him as her husband. There are much worse prospects in the realm. He’s a king. She will live in luxury. She should be grateful that her home will be so close to Labara. She could visit her brothers as often as she likes.”
“You mean as often as Carneath will allow.”
“I must do what is best for the kingdom,” Nolan said.
“Perhaps, we could negotiate with him. Give him something else in exchange for the land?”
“Before now, that may have been possible. But after the fire, we lost too much land to risk losing this deal with Carneath. We need to reestablish the quarter of orchard that burned as soon as possible. It will already take ten years, minimum, before any new seedlings will bear fruit.”
Rianne continued to listen as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“I’ve made my decision,” Nolan said, firmly.