Meira raised her hands. “That’s for your crazy cousin to tell you during your next reunion.”
“He better.” Bonnie turned to me, cornflower-blue eyes brimming with excitement. “What did you think about my book? What medium would best fit a story set in Faerie?”
“One that hasn’t been invented yet,” said a new voice.
All three fairies froze.
But it was Bonnie who spun hard on her heel. “You!”
I turned, too, and found a fairy with curly red hair piled high on her head. She was wearing a glittering, light-green gown, pink, cat-eyed spectacles, and a dreamy smile. From the others’ reactions, and a gut instinct, there was no mistaking who she was.
“Come back to curse me again?” I gritted.
“Quite the opposite.” The Spring Queen’s smile turned blithe. “I’ve come to congratulate you.”
“Shouldn’t Leander and me surviving to adulthood dismay you, Your Majesty?”
“As I already told Bonnibel and your brother, cursing you brought me no joy. Your parents forced my hand,” she said, unbothered by my bitterness. “If I wanted mere vengeance I would have turned you into beetles and stomped on you. Instead, I cursed you to teach Florent and Zomoroda lessons in honoring promises and respecting other monarchs, not to mention to prevent a war. And I gave you the means to free yourselves.”
Bonnie crossed her arms. “Knowing that isn’t going to change how we feel about what you did, or what we went through to get here, Etheline.”
I was taken aback at Bonnie calling her by her name before remembering she’d known her most of her life. The Spring Queen had masqueraded as a tavern owner in Bonnie’s little town in Ericura to keep an eye on her. Ada had even once worked for her.
Bonnie uncrossed her arms with a sigh. “But, I will admit that without you, neither of us would have met our future husbands.”
That was true. Her curses had ended with us happy, in a way we would have never been otherwise.
“Maybe you should consider me your fairy godmother.” Etheline turned to Jessamine, reaching for her son, her seafoam-green eyes emanating an eerie glow. “Here, let me bless your child with a gift.”
“I don’t think so!” Clutching baby Robin to her chest, Jessamine ran down to where the men were blissfully unaware of our visitor.
Etheline tutted. “I wouldn’t have done anything as bad as what your actual godmothers did for you, Princess. Which was worse than nothing.”
“They did all they could to fix what you did,” I defended Meira and Agnë heatedly. “Which was more the work of a malevolent matchmaker than a fairy godmother.”
“Magnificent matchmaker,” Agnë corrected, all but bowing and scraping. “You indirectly chose such wonderful spouses for these siblings, Your Majesty.”
“Still terrified of confrontation, aren’t you, Agnessa?” Etheline huffed, then pursed her lips at Meira. “As for you, Meropë, meddlesome hothead that you are, you altered my curse. You think you can just mess with my magic?”
Meira’s only response was a fearful squeak.
I put myself between them, jabbing my finger at Etheline angrily. “It was her right as my godmother to look out for me, and altering it was the only way she could do so. It’s largely on account of that, and all of Angë’s and Meira’s other efforts on my behalf, that I’m alive today. Whatever offense you take at that is your problem, not theirs.”
Bonnie tugged at my sleeve. “Fay, best not to do what your mother did.”
“She’s not,” Etheline said, surprising us both. “Her mother was a foolish, prejudiced brat, who never admitted her family’s or her own wrongdoing, and she still is. And her father let that catastrophe he’s been saddled with get away with anything just to avoid the headache of confronting her. He was also an oath-breaker. Both upset me for their own purposes. Fairuza, on the other hand, is displaying something I didn’t think her capable of.”
I squared my shoulders as I met her gaze head on. “What’s that?”
“Putting someone else’s feelings and safety before your own, even if it’s a fairy who lied to you for years. That’s the last thing to draw my ire.” Etheline set a hand on my shoulder as she circled me, inspecting me. “That’s all I needed to see for myself, that you have become someone worth the love of the noblest of men, as he is worth a passionate, loyal, responsible princess. I am pleased.”
Tension melted from my bones, softening my posture and my feelings towards this woman. Who would have thought it possible?