Bride of Fae (Tethers) (27 page)

She approached the cottage through the garden where a crow scolded her from a high branch in an amazing ancient yew tree. “I would answer you,” Beverly said congenially, “but I don’t understand the language of crows.”

“Silver and gold find you.”

Someone grabbed her hand.

“Silver and gold bind you.”

An old woman, yes, but certainly no older than in her sixties. Her grip was ferocious, and she slipped a ring onto Beverly’s finger.

“Serve not desire, but enhance delight.”

Great gods! This wasn’t happening…

“All will be well. All will be right.”

B
EVERLY'S EYES WERE OPEN
, but she saw only memories. The ring the old woman had put on her right hand was still there, and someone was in her head. She was in Hyde Park again with the fairies.

The person in her head was the old woman with the ring
. Elyse. Elyse watched—and felt—Fen and Violet kiss and touch Beverly’s naked body and was both repulsed and fascinated.

A wrenching feeling tugged at Beverly as Elyse moved to obliterate the memory.
No!
Beverly tried to yell. She mentally threw a boundary over the memory, as she’d thrown the cage over Cade. Elyse seemed satisfied and let go.

It wasn’t that Beverly treasured this memory or ever meant to revisit it, but she didn’t want to risk losing
the memory of what had followed—Dandelion rescuing her and their night together at the Dorchester.

Another memory came into focus. Cade had found a dandelion gone to seed and held it up for Beverly to blow. His cherub face started to fade.

No!
Beverly tried to scream again, but nothing came out. If Cade faded here, she knew she’d forget him.
Not this. Don’t take this.

Elyse relented. “Enough,”
the old woman said—or thought. She flung Beverly out of her conscious thoughts, away into a dark crevice of the brain.

The gold and silver ring was simple, elegant, and powerful. It wouldn’t let Beverly separate from Elyse, the wyrding woman of Glimmer Cottage. But neither would the ring allow Elyse to separate from Beverly.

It worked both ways, Beverly discovered. Elyse’s knowledge, her skill, her connection to the world tree Igdrasil—all these things became a part of Beverly too. Beverly’s own link to Igdrasil remained intact and grew. She was a wyrder, the very thing Dandelion hated most in the world.

It was a glorious existence, with no obligations. When Elyse slept, Beverly came out and practiced. Most wyrds failed, unable to get through the boundary Elyse had put on Glimmer Cottage.

But Beverly was able to use the glimmer glass. She’d sit on the roof, enjoy the fragrant jasmine, drink the peppermint tea Elyse hated, and watch Cade and Marion in the glass.

At night she watched the lights at Faeview. It made her sad. It made her want something she could never have.
That life was gone.

But she couldn’t stop watching.

One day Beverly heard Elyse think about dumping this body for a new one and saw that her skin was thin and wrinkled. How much time had slipped by? Then Lily turned up in the glimmer glass, living on the other side of the world, and Elyse launched an elaborate wyrd to bring the faeling to Glimmer Cottage.

Morning Glory’s little daughter, all grown up, wasn’t interested in being Elyse’s new host. Lily
was amazing. She freed Beverly from Elyse. Then she freed Elyse from her own personal hell.

And fell in love with Cade in the bargain.

M
AX SAT ON HIS FAVORITE
tree stump away from the fire. He listened to the musicians play, kicking the back of his heels against the stump in time to the rhythm. Idris wanted him in the throne room for something, but Idris always wanted him in the throne room for something.

Max hadn’t stopped to listen to music, just for the pleasure of it, since the night Princess Cissa surprised everyone with the fairy cup. It seemed long ago. He pictured her flying triumphantly over the heads of the fae gathered in this room for the troop. So excited.
So brave. So naïve.

She was still brave, but she’d lost her innocence. Everyone had lost their innocence. These days, it was gloomy all over.

The faewood was still the faewood, and the music was still sublime, but even that most precious of fairy delights was blighted now by the shift to the dark. A human man and woman danced at the center of the circle, both on the verge of passing out. Fen and Violet laughed and applauded as inebriated pixies goaded the dancers on.

Everything was going to hell. Cissa worried
constantly about Dandelion, wondering why he’d been gone so long, afraid he’d fallen in love with that human. If only it were that simple.

Max’s scheme hadn’t worked—not yet
, but he was sure Dandelion had understood the clues. Each time Idris looked in on the iron cell, the prince had dug a little deeper. But not deep enough.

Idris was furious with Max for giving Dandelion the idea to pack dirt around his face and in his hair. Traces of Dumnos iron in the ground, even fine particles, would afford some protection against the cold iron. Dandelion would still feel pain, but it might not drive him mad.

That was Max’s ruse. A bit of human-style magic—redirection of attention. Idris watched him help the prince in one way and missed the other thing, a new tether jewel buried beneath the prisoner, tied not to the faewood but to the fae realm near Mudcastle.

“Goblin!” Goldy flew in over the dancing humans and landed on the stump beside Max. He bent forward and retracted his wings. “I’m glad you’re here.” He’d come from Mudcastle; he wasn’t wearing his tether. “You won’t believe…”

Before Goldy could say more, a pixie popped in over everyone’s heads. “Elyse is dead!” she shouted. “The wyrding woman Elyse is dead!”

The music stopped. In the stunned silence
, the humans fell to the ground, one sickening thud and then another. Fairies and pixies erupted with chatter in response to the news. What would Aubrey do?

“That’s not the half of it,” Goldy said under his breath. “Lily is in Tintagos Village at this very moment. She’s all grown up, staying at the Tragic Fall Inn.”

Max often forgot that time passed differently in the human realm. It seemed only a few weeks ago he’d watched Morning Glory escape from Idris, carrying the child into the portal.

“She doesn’t know she’s faeling,” Goldy said. “And she’s going to marry the new earl.”

“New earl.” Max said.

“Don’t you people ever get out? Is the human realm so irrelevant?”

“No,” Max said drily. “And yes.”

“Lord Dumnos has died.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear it, Goldy,” Max said. “I know you cared for him.”

“I loved him, Max.”

“Seems to be a lot of that going around.” Max thought of Cissa and allowed himself an inward smile to go with his inward pain.

“That’s terrible.” Fen stood in front of them, and wearing his tether.

Max grunted. How long had he been there?

“About Elyse,” Fen said. “I always kind of hoped Aubrey would get to see her again.”

Blast it all.
If Idris was watching—and these days, Idris was
always
watching—then he now knew Lily was in Tintagos Village.

Another pixie popped in, her eyes huge. “Fight!” she said. “Fight in the throne room! Princess Cissa is freaking out!”

Fear and excitement shot through Max’s heart. Goldy jumped up with him but hesitated.

“Go!” Max said. “I’ll see you there.”

Goldy transported away and Max headed into the hall. He hated having to pass by the sealed front entrance to the Bower of Elyse. He should tell Cissa where Dandelion was, but she couldn’t do anything about it and it would only cause her pain. He still hoped the prince would break free before it came to that.

The throne room was an embarrassment. Drunk and drugged fairies were draped over sofas and chairs and passed out on the floor. Pixies flitted about,
smashed goblets on purpose, and stole leprechauns’ hats.

Idris sat on the throne, cold sober, his gaze fixed on Cissa standing before him. Her head was bent forward, her face covered by her long red hair.

She held the abomination in her hands.

When she looked up, the color had drained from her face and her eyes sparkled with tears.

Max moved through the courtiers, getting closer to the throne until he found Goldy. The fairy whispered, “She was giving him hell for the mess the place is in. Told him he had shamed the moonstick throne. He handed her that glass. Whatever she saw in it broke her.”