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I laughed. “All right, then. Let’s get going.” I shook my head as I refolded the dish towel. “I was thinking, there are these stone ruins not that far from here. Liam said it used to be some sort of temple? Maybe we could go there?” If Edric had been a hunter, and everyone thought his wife was the Faerie Queen, maybe there was some connection between Edric and Godda and that temple. I hadn’t been able to find anything in Uncle Oscar’s books last night, but maybe a visit would give me a new lead.
Aunt Vivian nodded. “I think I know the ones you mean. That sounds like a good place to start our tour.” She stood and walked over to stand next to me. “It’s going to be fine, you know.” She slipped her arm around my waist and gave me a hug.
“Thanks,” I said. She gave me another squeeze.
“Go on now,” she said. “Go upstairs and get your coat. Let’s leave before your uncle starts calling for me.”
I retreated up the back stairs to grab my coat and my new hat and gloves from my room. Before leaving, I reached for my phone and sent a quick note to my parents letting them know if they wanted to reach me to call me at Lydbury. Then I shut my phone off and stuffed it into my drawer. No more phone for a while. No more obsessing about the life I left behind or Liam. I needed to focus on my future.
By the time I’d reached the foyer, I was filled with excitement. I followed my aunt to her car and listened to her chatter as we rolled down the driveway under the arched trees. She’d handed me a stack of guidebooks before I’d climbed into the car, and I flipped through them as she talked. Every once in a while, I paused in my skimming to stare out the window and watch the fields fly past or answer one of her questions. By the time I spotted the temple ruins in the field, I’d already absorbed two different entries about the ancient temple and my aunt’s gossip about the local squabbles over the surrounding land. Liam had been right, everything around here came down to some nonsense about faeries or ghosts, or both, at some point.
“When is the winter solstice?” I asked Aunt Vivian.
“The winter solstice? Let’s see…I think that’s two days from now. Why do you ask?” She slowed the car and turned down the gravel drive that led to a nearly empty parking lot near the cluster of stones.
“Some of these stories say that’s the best time for spotting ghosts. Not that I believe that sort of thing.” A few tourists wandered in the grass, laughing and snapping photos.
“Here we are!” Aunt Vivian smiled and reached for her purse.
Yes.I know. I clutched my hat and mittens. I hoped Liam wouldn’t be too disappointed that Aunt Vivian had taken over as tour guide. But what Liam felt didn’t matter. Surely, he wasn’t thinking about what I thought or what I was feeling.
I stared out the window and wondered if Evelyn was awake yet. The train had slowed to pull into the station, and I watched the scenery, wishing I could have at least said goodbye even though there was no way I could have explained where I was going. Now all I could think about was what I would say to our queen when I returned.
Hi, Mum. Didn’t find anything about Lord Edric yet, but I did make some progress winning over Oscar’s niece.Yeah, that conversation wouldn’t go well. Of course, Mother wouldn’t scold me. She’d just remind me about my place in the Court and my sworn obligation to defend our future queen, my cousin, the dazzling and daring Fiona. Subtext:Why can’t you be more like your cousin Ari?Arabella had accepted her place by Fiona’s side as her future second-in-command as soon as she’d been old enough to wield a weapon. Mother probably would have been happier with a daughter. A daughter like Arabella. Or Fiona.
The brakes on the train screeched, and I gathered my things. My cousins would laugh at me if they knew I’d taken the train partway. But I hadn’t been using my magic recently, and I worried I’d end up off my mark if I attempted to transport myself any great distance. After the train pulled to a halt, I made my way to the door and walked down the steps to the platform. There weren’t that many travelers in the station, but there were still too many for me to disappear into thin air. I walked around the corner of the station until I’d slipped out of sight of other travelers. Then I let my magic course through me for the first time in months, and I thought of home.
When I opened my eyes again, I was standing outside Mother’s cottage, deep in the woods, far from the station. I breathed a sigh of relief and knocked on the door. A movement in the window caught my eye, and a moment later the door swung open.
“About time,” Arabella said, blocking the doorway. She glared at me, then turned and stomped away down the hall.
“How is she?” I asked, hurrying to catch up.
Arabella shook her head. “She’s been asking for you.”
“So you said.” Was that really all she was going to tell me? I guessed that she’d be mad, but this was my mother we were talking about. The woman who raised us, me and my two cousins. Was Arabella really going to freeze me out now? Over a mortal?
She stopped and spun to face me.
“What were you thinking?” she asked, her voice low and threatening.
Instinctively, I took a step back. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You know exactly what I mean.” She stepped toward me. “What are you thinking, messing with that human?”
“Ari—” I started to explain, but she cut me off.
“You’re Fae. She’s mortal. Have you forgotten your promise to your family? The promise you made to your mother? The Oath you will swear to our future queen?”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten.” She might as well have punched me in the gut; her words had the same effect.
“Then why, when I come to tell you your mother is sick and asking for you, did I find you snogging that human? There’s a time for that sort of thing, and that time is not now.” She was in my face, poking at my chest, willing me to grovel or fight back.
“I know. I’ll keep my promise. You know I will.” I wrapped my hand around her finger and pressed her hand down and away. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry.” She spun around and stalked down the hall away from me. I followed, several paces behind, toward the faint candlelight coming from Mother’s bedroom at the end of the hall.
“Aunt Flida, Liam’s here,” she called when she reached the open doorway.
