been that catalyst. The one true common element between Leander’s fate and my own.
He’d helped them in a way that had saved them both, in more than one way. Just as he’d helped countless people when he’d fought against the Avongartans’ efforts to invade us, and the corruption Arbore had spawned from within. He’d thrown himself into Faerie to save Will’s sister, refusing to count her lost, as anyone carried off by fairies always was. He’d promised to see me to my release, risking everything to fulfill his promise.
And he’d seen me. The only one who could truly see me.
Like those names in the ballad, words had many meanings according to context. Using my status as a frame of reference, everyone had misinterpreted my curse, as Robin himself had suggested. No one once doubted noblest referenced rank. And everyone had been wrong.
I had been barking up the wrong tree, all my life.
And since I met him, as Reynard, I had so desperately wanted it to be him. Now I knew for sure. And not just from what I felt in my heart.
Robin Hood, the selfless thief, the scourge of the unjust.
He was the noblest of men.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Years of navigating life at court hadn’t prepared me for such a moment. If anything, they robbed me of the capability of being ecstatic for even a moment. I hadn’t been taught to sink into the bad news, or savor the good ones, but to immediately think: “What do I do with this information?”
And that was the problem. What was I supposed to do, now that I realized he was The One?
How could I broach the subject to him? How would I even phrase it?
Robin suddenly stopped, going pale. “You’re not going to disappear again, are you?”
I shook my head, feeling lightheaded. “I think I know how to stop that from ever happening again.”
“Yes, once we find the Spring Queen’s nephew…”
“That’s not what I mean.” I bridged the step between us, hesitant yet excited, jubilant. “I think I know why nothing ever worked. The answer to my problem was something no one ever thought of.”
His eyes widened, and his mouth opened…
“ROB!” Will’s voice echoed from somewhere ahead, shattering the delicate, precious moment.
Not taking his eyes off me, Robin yelled, “Stay put, we’re coming!” Then he urged, “You were saying?”
But I’d already lost my nerve.
When I didn’t say anything, looking confused and concerned, Robin headed in the direction of the others’ voices. “I wonder if they were too caught up in their belligerent courting to notice our absence till now.”
The last thing I wanted to think about was my fairy godmother and his best friend, but it was something I could talk about. “Considering the frequency of human-man-fairy-woman couplings I’ve heard of, I wouldn’t put it past Meira to club him over the head, and drag him back to the Summer Court.”
Robin cracked a surprised laugh, before sobering up at once. “Maybe we’ll end up having two weddings in Faerie, hers and Will’s, and yours and the Spring Prince’s.”
“I won’t marry him!”
My vehemence surprised the both of us.
Robin looked bewildered. “What choice do you have?”
“I do have a choice, especially if what I’m thinking is true.”
“What are you thinking?”
“That the requirement of my curse isn’t literal, but figurative.”
Marzeya’s words had said as much. You’re purposefully seeking out fool’s gold. And I had been, all my life. I’d known where the true gold lay for a while now. He had the real, innate value—not noblest by birth, but by character, by choice.
Robin’s eyes only rounded, as if the idea scared him. “We don’t have time to find more men who could figuratively suit that curse. You’re already missing an arm. Besides, anyone else but him makes no sense.”
“Why not?”
“You already established this was the Spring Queen’s roundabout way of strong-arming your parents into accepting her deal. And don’t worry, that nephew of hers will take you with my arrows pointed at the back of his head, no games or tests this time.”
It was a wonder how I hadn’t known it was him long before now. Everything he did, everything he was, made him my only true option.
I opened my mouth again to say that, but closed it again as another realization hit me.
If we’d always misinterpreted the definition of noblest, we probably also did that of love.
I’d always been led to believe that a commitment and a declaration equated to love, at least in terms of breaking the curse. But what if the curse didn’t care