head at her fondly, then addressed us again. “So I understand Princess Fairuza needs a king or a prince to break her curse?”
“But I have run out of kings and princes,” I said, numbness deepening.
Ella cocked her head at me. “Have you? The Spring Queen said something about wanting to see your curse undone, but she doesn’t get involved unless she can get something out of the situation. So it sounds like you have to do something to please her.” She nudged Yulian. “Doesn’t she have a nephew?”
“That’s what I was about to tell them when you arrived,” said Simeon. “Her nephew and heir leads the Wild Hunt.”
“He what?” Will shouted. “He’s the one who has my sister!”
“Well, it looks like you have more than one reason to continue into Spring’s domain,” said Yulian. “Maybe your quest was all about finding the Wild Hunt, where Mr. Scarlett will find his sister, and Princess Fairuza will find her prince.”
That actually made convoluted sense.
The Spring Queen hadn’t come to my birth celebration intending to curse us, but to give my father one last chance to re-negotiate their broken marriage deal in return for peace. Her new deal had been for me and Leander to marry fairies. It had been only when my mother had threatened her, and my father had done nothing about it, that she’d cast her curses.
But it seemed those curses had been forcing us into doing exactly what she’d wanted all along. Leander was marrying a girl with royal fairy blood. While in my case, it made a fairy kind of sense that, through all my failures and ordeals, she’d been steering me to a specific fairy royal. Her heir. The only one she’d predictably consider the noblest of men.
So why wasn’t I relieved about the possibility? Was I just tired of being let down? Because it was better to not have hope than to have it dashed? Or because I wanted the one specific half-fairy I could never have?
I looked down at my missing arm, and knew I had no choice. I had to pursue this final yet most logical lead, relief or even acceptance not required.
Chapter Thirty-One
“This is perfect, Fairuza! We will find your savior at last.” Robin sounded relieved enough for both of us, before urgency gripped him again as he turned to King Yulian. “We need the Wild Hunt’s exact location, Your Majesty. All the King of Summer told us was that the Wild Hunt are now in Spring, and that Marian was alive and well.”
Yulian scratched his chin thoughtfully. “An exact location is something I’d have to investigate.”
“We don’t have time for that!” Robin exclaimed.
The king gave him a commiserating nod. This was a man who’d had a timed curse hanging over his head before. “Then Keenan is your best bet. He should know where they are, or be able to find them in time.”
Ella shook her bright head. “Keenan is unavailable at the moment. I sort of sent him on an errand.”
Yulian frowned. “The princess from that Folkshore kingdom that resembles our court?”
Ella nodded, and both of their shoulders slumped in regret.
So Keenan’s princess was human. Just like Bonnie’s prince. Our world was becoming intertwined with Faerie more every day, it seemed. Something I would have been appalled at only months ago. Now, if I had a choice, I knew which fairy I’d meld my life with. But I had no choice.
King Yulian addressed Robin, as our leader it seemed. “The only relevant information I have is that the Wild Hunt make use of our Crystal Caves around now. Those act as a discreet shortcut between our court, Spring’s, and the Folkshore.”
“Caves?” Will yelped. “We’ve had enough of those, and whatever dwells in them, to last a lifetime.”
Yulian shrugged. “Nothing lurks in the Crystal Caves—that I know of. We can take you there if you’d like.”
Robin turned to me, gaze urgent. “What do you say?”
It was strange having him defer to me this way. Like he valued my opinion, despite being the least experienced in this group, and since this had been about saving Marian, long before it was about me.
But we were bound in this quest one way or another, and regardless of what happened to the rest of me, I wanted to spend whatever time I had left with him.
I shot him my best attempt at a smile. “I say, what else have we got to lose? Besides, I’m curious what a crystal cave looks like.”