Chapter 3

I left my room and my weeping mother to get some air, and went to the one place I knew would make me feel better.

The library.

The books had always taken me to far-off places, away from my hovering mother, my weak heart, and all of the responsibility. Whether I read a romantic tale about a long-lost prince reclaiming his throne and seeking a wife, or I was reading about biology and the organs encased in the body, reading soothed me.

I turned the corner and yelped when I ran into Master Duncan.

“Sorry.” He reached out to steady me by grasping my shoulders. “How are you feeling?” He frowned.

There it was. The inevitable look of pity that came once someone knew of my condition.

“Fine,” I said. “Shouldn’t you be on your way to the Winter Court?” I tried not to sound hurt, but failed.

He shrugged. “I told Queen Lilliana that I would be right behind her. I wanted to stay back a bit and see how you were.”

That was very sweet. My heart softened toward the tutor whom I had barely gotten a chance to know.

“I’m … ready to do my duty and give this my all.” I tipped my chin high.

He grinned. “So you’re still going?”

I scoffed. “Why wouldn’t I? These are my people we’re talking about.”

He clicked his tongue. “Your mother made a very compelling case for this weak heart you’ve had since birth. She claims going through the portal will kill you before you even have a chance to fight.”

I growled. “Mother!”

No wonder Queen Liliana had left.

“She loves you very much. Parents will do anything to protect their children.”

“Well, I want to protect my people,” I told him.

“Good. I was hoping you would say that. I think I can delay one or two more days before the Queen wonders where I am and sends a search party.”

I stood straighter at that. “You’re going to help me?” Hope bloomed in my chest and he gave me a warm smile and nodded.

“Dawn was a fearsome warrior. She could wrestle a man twice her size, blind you with a blast of light, cut you in half with a sunbeam, and she knew over fifty poisons that would end your life.”

My eyes widened. “She sounds like the perfect champion.”

He shook his head, reaching up to rub his chin. “I’ve gone over and over the scenario in my head. If Dawn had landed in front of an Ethereum lord she’d have come back with the heart in a matter of minutes. I’m sure of it. She was one of the most powerful champions we ever had record of when it came to magical ability.”

Chills raced up my arms. “What do you think happened then?”

He sighed. “Dawn’s mind wandered often: it was her one weakness. I think she went through that portal and landed elsewhere in the realm, and succumbed to the many dangers of Ethereum.”

I blew air out through my teeth, shaking my head. “Poor Dawn.”

He grasped my shoulders and I peered up into his gaze. “We can learn from Dawn’s mistake. You have a sharp mind, you are focused. We should have started training you to go through the portal weeks ago, but Queen Liliana was focused on your combat training, so it got pushed off. But if we start now, you can master the meditations needed to pass through the portal and successfully land at the feet of an Ethereum lord.”

I felt determination rise up inside of me. “Let’s do it.”

* * *

“Now imagine the river you are sitting next to has red water.” Master Duncan’s soothing voice infiltrated my mind and the vision I’d been holding of sitting next to a bubbling, clear blue brook was changed. The water was now red.

I nodded to indicate that I’d done as he asked.

“Good, now in that water are hundreds of fish all fighting to swim upstream.”

Immediately the fish entered my mind’s eye and I saw them flip and flop, thrashing against one another and fighting for purchase to get up-creek.

I nodded again.

“You can open your eyes now, Aribella,” Master Duncan said.

I snapped my eyes open to see him beaming at me. I’d grown fond of our little sessions. They were calming and I was good at meditating, able to easily imagine what he described and nothing else. We’d been doing this for two straight days and I’d gotten good quickly.

“Incredible,” he said. “After years of training Dawn I forgot what it was like to have a focused student.” That last part was said with a smile, and so I knew he was being playful.

“Dawn couldn’t have been that bad,” I told him.

He laughed. “She would fall asleep! Or play with the hem of her skirt, or one time she whistled a tune! So you see, no one is perfect. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.”

I also barked out in laughter then, before the smile was wiped from my face.

“Do you miss her?”

He nodded. “She never knew her father, so we all sort of helped raise her. I loved her.” His voice broke and he cleared his throat and stood. “Well, I think you’re ready and I can’t possibly delay another moment or the Queen will send messengers back to enquire after my whereabouts.”

I stood as well and walked him to the door of the supply room where we had secretly been meeting. I didn’t want my mother catching wind of what I was planning. I’d really come to respect Master Duncan, I was sad to see our time come to an end but I knew it was inevitable.

Master Duncan held out a hand and I shook it. “Thank you for everything,” I said.

He squeezed hard, affection shining from his gaze. “I think everyone underestimates you, Aribella. That is a weapon you can use. I think you’ll do fine. And please know that I’ll be rooting for you.”

I smiled genuinely, it was a kind thing to say. I was honored to have his support, but nervousness still sat in the pit of my stomach like a hunk of lead.

Could I really do this?

“Well, make sure to get the Winter princess ready just in case,” I told him.

He chuckled darkly. “Just come home alive. Faerie cannot handle anther loss.”

He was right. There wasn’t even a funeral for Dawn. They had accepted her fate, but if I didn’t return either, it would be chaos. Two of four court princess dead … it was inconceivable.

It was in this wild moment that I thought about the line of succession and how I didn’t have any children yet and had no cousins or aunts. My mother had been too emotionally weak to have more than one child. I’d heard her tell my father that once. But if I died, then the entire Fall Court royal line went with me. My mother’s monthly bleeding had stopped last year. I was it.

Dizziness washed over me and I swayed.

Master Duncan frowned, reaching out to hold me upright. “You okay?”

I nodded. “Just a lot of pressure.” I laughed nervously.

He gave me a serious look. “Remember. Don’t give them a chance to speak. They weave lies that will have you confusing your left from right. Land before the lord and take his heart. Come home. That’s it.”

I straightened my back, taking a cleansing breath. “I will.”

* * *

The next evening, the night before the portal was to open, my father sent Falana to call me to dinner. I put on one of my nicer dresses and met him and my mother in the small family dining room that we ate in when it was just the three of us.

“Hello,” I greeted my parents as I entered the room.

My mother sat next to my father, gripping his hand so tightly that her knuckles were white. My father’s face was an unreadable mask.

Something was up.

“Please sit down,” he said calmly.

I swallowed hard. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I took a seat.

“Don’t stress her,” my mother said to my father, looking at me pitifully as if she expected me to faint any moment.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I knew it was just because she loved me so fiercely.

“Stress me about what?” I asked in the calmest voice I could muster.

“Your mother and I have spoken. We forbid you to enter that portal—”

“Father!” I stood so fast that my chair knocked over.

His eyes flew wide. I’d never yelled at him. I loved him. He was my favorite, though I knew it was awful to admit. He never treated me like a flower petal that would crush at the slightest touch.

“You will not enter that portal, Aribella. You will come with us to the Spring Court where Queen Gloria has graciously agreed to house us and our people, while Winter takes Summer refugees. Come winter solstice, Isolde will travel to Ethereum and bring back the heart, freeing us from the curse, and then we will return to the Fall Court and clean up what is left of it. It’s not ideal, but it’s for the best.”

My face felt hot, I was so angry it felt as if steam would come out my nose.

“You don’t think I can do it?” There was fury and hurt in my voice.

My father pulled his hand from my mother’s clutches and stood. Rounding the table to stand in front of me, he placed a hand on either of my shoulders and looked me right in the eye.

It was like looking in a mirror. His rich brown eyes stared back at me, reminding me so much of my own.

“Whether you can or not, it’s not worth the risk. You are our only heir, my precious daughter, and I would do anything to keep you alive. You will understand one day when you have children.”

“Because you will be alive to have children,” my mother reminded us both.

I knew then that I’d have to do the one thing I promised my father I would never do. Use my magic on him.

“We leave in the morning. So let’s enjoy our dinner and get some rest.” He sat down and I moved to my chair, picking it up from where I’d knocked it over and then fell into it as if it were a dark hole trying to swallow me up. A hole I willingly wanted to drown in right now.

“Yes, Father,” I told him.

Tomorrow I was going to have to use my powers on my own parents and run away. When I said that nothing would get in the way of me saving my people, I meant it. The history books would not write that Princess Aribella of the Fall Court was too weak or scared to go to Ethereum.