“Yes, come,” said Princess Rhyia. “Are you any good with a bow?”
“Middling,” I returned, unable to turn down the invitation of a princess, even though I knew I couldn’t sulk the way I would have liked. And oh, I wanted to sulk and feel sorry for myself and cry. I hated the way he looked at you. I wanted to eat all the clotted cream and jam in Madoc’s kitchen.
The Folk don’t love like you do.
I thought of my mother, wandering through the rooms of Madoc’s stronghold, slowly coming to realize that she couldn’t bear being there. How she made a plan to escape him.
I thought about how good it must have felt when you hit Prince Cardan with your practice blade.
“So tell me about this Heather,” Rhyia said to my sister as we rode. “Is she really worth living in their world of filth and iron?”
Vivi laughed. “You know I like it there.”
Rhyia’s lip curled slightly. “Well enough. But the girl?”
“The first thing I noticed about her was that she had a smear of blue ink on her nose,” Vivi said. “The second thing I noticed were her eyes, the color of darkest amber. When she spoke, I was afraid she was talking to someone else.”
Rhyia snorted. “What did she say?”
Vivi smiled with the memory. “‘I want to draw you.’”
“Ah,” said Rhyia. “An artist.”
“You should bring her here,” I said, although I was only making trouble. “Artists are beloved of Faerie.”
“Ah, what a fine suggestion!” said Rhyia with a big laugh. “How happy I am you’ve come riding with us.”
Vivi looked less pleased. “I think I will keep Heather to myself for now.”
“Love is greedy,” Rhyia said, drawing her bow. She’d spotted a bird high in the trees and chosen it to be her quarry.
Her words bothered me, although I suppose my love for Locke was greedy, too. But love was also transforming. I knew that from fairy tales. It could turn you back from a cat or a frog or a beast. Probably it could turn you into those things, too.
You can make all of Faerie love you, Locke had said.
Vivi fell back to ride with me as the princess set off on the hunt. Our horses drew side by side.
“Why are you angry with Jude?” Vivi asked.