Moon's Flower: Book 6 (Kingdom Series) (11 page)

June turned her head to the side, but not before Galeta witnessed the flash of pain scrawl across her face. “A moon flower seed.”

“She did what!” Taking a step closer, Galeta didn’t think, she grabbed June by her tunic, and shoved her face so close that their breaths mingled. “When did she take that?”

June mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like two months ago.

“Did you say two months? Please tell me that you did not say two months, because if, in fact, you did say two months, then I shall very likely kill you myself for keeping that from me for so long.”

To threaten to kill another fairy was a crime that could very likely land her before The Ten, the high faerie council, but June would never tell because Galeta was simply too powerful. Besides she had no need to strip June’s wings or plunge a knife through her heart, fear would keep this fairy very loyal now.

“Please don’t hurt me, Galeta, I’ve wanted to tell you I did, but I wasn’t sure whether to approach you when you returned or while you were away at the council, and she has stopped since I swear it. I’ve kept a close eye on her.”

“Ah, but you’re not telling me everything are you? Because if you say that she only stole once, and yet you’ve continued to keep an eye on her there must be a reason, no?”

The one thing Galeta had always been good at was her ability to suss out a lie. there were good liars, and there were bad liars. It was always harder to spot a good liar, but June was not a good liar. Her eyes were shifty, her skin moist, and her throat bobbed like an apple’d been stuck in it. There was more to this story, of that she had no doubt.

And she knew her hunch was right immediately, because June was squeezing her eyes shut.

“Come on, June, I am your mistress, you know you can tell me anything.” A smile grew large on her heart shaped face. “Trust me, child, I only want what’s best for Calanthe.”

“You will not hurt her?” The words were a whisper of sound.

Smile still firm on her face, Galeta released the hold she’d had on June’s tunic and patted the snail shell warmly. “You must trust me, dear.”

“They did things, strange things, in the Cave of Songs.”

Nostrils flaring, heart thumping wildly in her chest, Galeta could only imagine the strange things they’d done in the cave. For years The Blue had searched for a way to punish Calanthe, now she had it. And there wasn’t a fairy alive that could stop her.

“You’ve done good, June, you’ve done very good.”

The wee fairy made as if to leave, but Galeta shook her head. “Oh no, my dear, where do you think you’re going?”

Looking as if she’d been caught mid-theft, June jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I’ve told you everything, ma’am, I was going to head back now.”

“Ah, but you see I am not done with you yet. This is a serious crime that has been committed, not only did Calanthe steal from me, but if what you say is true then she has committed the cardinal sin. I do believe there is one who will want to hear this… crime.”

“Who, ma’am?”

Galeta’s smile was nothing but teeth, “why the sun of course.” June’s eyes were wide and guileless, and Galeta wanted to laugh because it seemed that Calanthe had shared nothing of what she’d actually been doing with her friend. “Tsk, tsk,” she shook her head, “did you not know, June?”

“Know what?”

“The man who Calanthe was with was none other than the Man in the Moon.”

In a rare show of bravery June shook her head. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Siria of course,” she laughed again, Galeta couldn’t remember having this much fun in quite some time, “Siria is the sun and her hold on the moon is absolute.”

Snatching her cloak off the hook on her wall, Galeta slipped it about her shoulders. A rim of frost spread outwards from her feet on the wooden plank floor. The cloak was infused with the essence of winter, the power of The Blue lay in controlling the frost, the snow, blizzards, ice… And that power only came from the sun. Calanthe had messed with something she should never have messed with, to anger the sun was to disrupt the very fabric of their existence. Should Siria discover this treachery on her own, she would blight their glen, sending no rain, no water, in short all that they knew and loved would die. Yes, this was a treachery none could deny punishment for.

“You’re coming with me, June.”

Holding her hands up, June looked at Galeta with fear in her wide eyes. “Where, mistress?” And even as she asked it, she took a tentative step back.

“To Siria.”

And with that, and a flick of her wrist, the two sailed toward the sun to plead their case.

~*~

Being anywhere close to Siria, especially during the zenith of day, was not only blinding, but very nearly painful. The fairies had had to cloak themselves in shadow so thick that the light could barely break through. Even so, Galeta was wincing when she looked up.

All she could see of the sun was a faint golden silhouette.

“Sit,” Siria commanded with the authority of one unused to being ignored.

June was visibly trembling where they hovered above the castle parapets. The snail fairy was biting onto her lower lip so hard that soon she’d draw blood if she wasn’t careful.

Yanking June to her side, Galeta hissed in her ear. “You will do as I say, answer only when spoken to, and stop this childish trembling.” She sniffed.

June barely managed a nod. Still hanging onto her hand, Galeta led them toward a white tea table loaded with finger sandwiches and pitchers of tea.

Siria was already sitting, staring at them patiently.

Calling forth her magic, Galeta transformed the two of them from miniature to human size and pointed at the seat opposite hers for June to take.

“Sit down,” she ordered to the shell-shocked snail.

Siria’s smile was broad, effortless. She’d dimmed most of her glow so that now they could make out her features.

She was as lovely as every sonnet had ever mentioned her being. Long tendrils of golden hair tumbled over one shoulder. A gown of reddish-gold flame licked at the contours of her body.

Galeta couldn’t deny the slimy slinking of jealousy that twisted her insides up, or the curiosity that the Man in the Moon would choose to lay with such an ugly fairy over one so obviously above her in perfection.

“Sun,” she greeted coolly, “it is always so wonderful to visit.”

That was a lie, Galeta detested being closer to the sun than she need be. A fairy’s power was strong, Galeta’s stronger than them all, but their power paled in comparison to the strength of the radiant star.

“Odd,” her dulcet voice prickled the head mistress’ flesh, “but you’ve never visited before. To what do I owe this honor?” she asked, flicking her fingers at the table as if to say, ‘serve yourself’.

Taking a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich from off the tray, Galeta first nibbled on it before saying, “not that I haven’t wanted to, sun dear, but my duties as mistress often keeps me from pleasure.”

A knowing look crossed the sun’s face, but she said nothing to that, only glanced at the snail before looking back at Galeta. Making sure her cloak of shadow shielded every inch of her, because she was certain that what she was about to relate might make the sun suddenly forget the presence of two frail fairies, she smiled.

“I come with a matter of the gravest sort.”

Narrowing clear amber eyes, Siria nodded. “Go on.”

June started shaking even harder. A distraction that set Galeta’s teeth on edge. Kicking her shin hard enough to make the snail sit up and shout “Ouch”, Galeta lifted a brow and nodded.

“We’ve news of the Moon.”

Siria went absolutely still and Galeta had the terrible sensation that the calm was merely a façade that hid the fury behind it. Few knew, or were old enough to remember, the love affair Siria and Jericho had once shared. Not only did Galeta know, but she also knew that Siria’s strange attachment to the man bordered on obsession.

“What of him?” Her voice was cold and cutting, lacking the warmth of earlier. “I heard he traveled to your glen last month, and that he… vanished,” she laughed with a sound that lacked mirth, “at some point. I hope he did not cause you trouble.”

Turning to June, Galeta quirked her brow. Let the snail deal with the sun’s wrath.

Realizing she’d been cued, June jerked in her seat. She’d not deigned to touch any of the food or drink, her hands fiddled on her lap.

“He…”

She swallowed hard, and if Galeta was capable of feeling sympathy she might have given a damn, but she did not. The snail had hidden Calanthe’s escapades, making her at the very least an accomplice in the filthy matter.

“Oh, spit it out!” Galeta sneered, at her breaking point with the nervous fairy.

“He and Calanthe had a tryst,” June whispered miserably, hanging her head so low her jaw scraped her chest.

And just as Galeta suspected, the veneer of Siria’s patience melted in the heat of her anger. Fire erupted from her pores, turning her into a living pillar of flame.

“Tryst?” she shrieked, rocking the very foundation beneath their feet.

Few things bothered The Blue, but she must admit that this was one of them. Poor June hadn’t cloaked herself in near enough shadow in time, her pale skin turned an immediate shade of blistering red.

Whimpering, she tugged at the shadow so tight that she was little more than a barely visible blur within the darkness.

Swallowing a bite of the sandwich which now tasted of sand, Galeta waited until the fire of Siria’s flame had exhausted itself.

After what felt like hours, the sun took a deep breath. “I knew he’d done something, but he’s always so secretive. My crows saw him disappear, I knew it, that worthless, vile…” She bit her tongue and Galeta knew she wasn’t actually talking to them.

Finally Siria turned a gimlet eye on her. “I want the fairy’s head.”

Grabbing a scone, and spreading honeyed butter onto it, gave Galeta time to think of her reply. As much as she might wish to give Calanthe over to Siria, it wasn’t within her power to grant. To do such a thing would force The Ten to strip her of her title. No, but there were other ways to exact revenge.

“I cannot kill her, nor can you.”

Siria hissed. “Do not tell me what I can and cannot do. Either give me the fairy, or I shall curse your land.” The sun’s laughter was biting. “But you knew that, didn’t you? I’ve heard all about you, Blue, the way you covet power. How you stomp your enemies beneath your slippered foot.” She snorted. “What has this fairy done to you to expose her in such a way?”

Calanthe was reckless and wild, but more than that, Calanthe had power. And she didn’t mean in the physical sense only, fairies fell under the roses spell, that June had broken faith with her was a rarity. Part of the reason why Galeta had never been able to punish Calanthe as she so richly deserved was that none would ever speak out against her. Because what Galeta saw as reckless, they saw as endearing. What others saw as naïve, Galeta understood to be ruthless cunning masked as something more benevolent.

Since her birth, Calanthe had lulled hundreds under her spell. Why even the Moon itself had fallen prey to her charms. It was time for the child to learn a lesson and that was that in this life there were consequences to ones actions.

June moaned.

“The reasons are my own. Whether she deserves it, you know that she does. A fairy is never to know a man, it is treason. The mere fact that she knew
your
man,” she let that word dangle for a bit, just to drive her point home, “is unpardonable.”

Siria’s nostrils flared as her fingers dug into the table. Clearly Galeta had hit a nerve, she swallowed the smile that threatened to expose her giddiness.

“That she does,” Siria nodded. “And that one,” she glanced at June from the corner of her eye, “can she be trusted?”

The ball of shadow tucked further into itself.

“She doesn’t have a choice,” Galeta finally let loose the smile, “do you, June? Speak of this, and I swear I shall strip your wings.”

And that was a threat the wee fairy knew Galeta would keep, it was a punishment she’d happily meted out many times before.

“I’ll keep my mouth shut, ma’am.”

“And The Ten?” Siria quirked a blond brow. “Won’t they need to vote on her punishment?”

It didn’t surprise Galeta that Siria knew so much of her world, or the power structure behind it. The sun knew all.

“They’ll learn all… in due time.” She smirked. “Better to ask forgiveness later than permission first.”

“You said you would not harm her,” June finally found her spine, speaking up forcefully for the first time since arriving here.

“No,” Galeta shook her head, “if you recall I never agreed to that, you heard what you wanted to hear, June, and should I hear that you’ve warned her, well…” she stared at her dagger-like claws, “you should not enjoy the outcome.”

Siria’s smile spread like sun-warmed honey. “Jericho’s confinement ends in two weeks. I suspect he shall try to return to her. This then is what we shall do…”

And after they’d made their plans and Galeta and June flew back to their glen, The Blue laughed because the plan was so positively devilish that it put many of Galeta’s initial ideas to shame. Scorning the sun had been a very, very bad idea.

The flower fairy would never know what hit her.

And after tomorrow, no fairy would ever dare to compromise Galeta’s rules again.

Chapter 7

“Bloody hell,” Genevieve squeaked and then jerked when she realized what had flown out of her mouth around the children. “I mean,” she clamped a hand over her lips and Danika merely shook her head with amusement.

The children’s mouths were agog, but not at Genevieve, rather at the scene depicted before them. And once the scene disappeared they began peering around their shoulders with watchful, fearful eyes, as if speaking of The Blue in such an ugly manner might manifest the mistress shrew herself.

Danika laughed. “Do not worry children, The Blue cannot harm you here. I’m simply relaying a story, a true tale that she cannot deny as there are many witnesses still alive to attest to its veracity.”