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“Fishtail?” She pales. “Good Gods, Selina. That is some curse.”
“I know. I shouldn’t have blurted out all this but I trust you. I can trust you, right? You won’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t tell a soul. We grew up together, but this is…” Her eyes shimmer. “I lost Mina. Can’t lose you, too. I’ll curse all Fae if this one gets you killed or thrown into the dungeons.”
“He won’t. This is my decision. He may well die if I don’t help him. Please, Lily… A healer. And a place to hide.”
“All right. I know someone. Gods, I can’t believe I’m doing this. Why am I doing this?”
I bat my lashes at her. “Because I’m your favorite cousin?”
“I must be insane.”
“Then that only proves we’re related.” I give her a tremulous smile. “Right?”
“Come with me before I change my mind.”
Hope flares in my chest, burning painfully, turning every heartbeat into a sledgehammer strike. “Lead the way.”
The woman is old, her face like a wrinkled plum, her eyes dark and shrewd. “Princess Lily. And Princess Selina, betrothed to Prince Iason. What can I do for you?”
“Good mother Leila,” Lily says, “we need your help. You promised me once that I can trust you for anything I needed.”
“You helped my son find justice with the King,” the old woman says. “I’ll make good on my promise to you.”
I glance at Lily. I didn’t know she’d ever taken any interest in justice. All she has ever talked about was stability and caution, weddings and family. The only reason she’d taken us with her into the haunted woods was because of a rumor that you could see your future husband’s face in the water of the Silver Mirror Lake.
“What sort of help do you need?” the old woman asks.
“A wounded man,” I tell her. “The wound has festered. It’s really deep and I think he has a fever. It’s pretty bad.”
And my throat closes as I remember how it had looked, and the despair in Adar’s eyes.
“We will also need a place for him to hide,” Lily says. “I hope you know someone out of town who can put him up until he heals.”
“You’re talking about a man,” the old woman says. “A human man I assume.”
Lily glances at me. “Not… quite.”
The woman is silent. Her hands are as wrinkled as her face, her knuckles gnarled. That’s how my hands will look once I start working as a maid someplace. But who cares about my hands? This is hislifewe’re talking about. His life I need to save.
“Please,” I whisper. “I’ll give you my earrings, my jewelry, all I have.”
The old woman gives me a long look. “Where is he?”
“In the haunted woods. By the lake.”
She takes a deep breath. Looks at Lily. “You saved my boy. I owe you.” Getting up, she pulls on a cloak, grabs a basket, and nods at the door. “After you, Your Royal Highnesses.”
“Did you ever see it?” I ask Lily as we hurry through the town, heading for the bridge. In the rush, I didn’t even manage to pack anything, and time is wasting, so I’d rather go without. I’d rather have this woman look at Adar’s wound as soon as possible.
I need to make sure that he’s all right or my thoughts will keep trailing away like clouds on a windy day.
“See what?”
“Your future husband’s face in the water of the Silver Mirror Lake, that time we went.”
She’s silent for a while as we walk and I think she won’t answer me, but eventually she says, “I saw a face. But it can’t be my husband’s. I saw a Fae.”
