Part 9 (1/2)
”Behind you?” She had never shared a mount with anyone. Why, there was barely room on the beast for Ulrich's long limbs and overstuffed saddlebag and the crossbow. ”Impossible.”
”You are a bit of a spoiled one, eh?”
”What?”
He turned, one arm propped at his waist, the other hand tapping impatiently upon Fancy's back. ”I said, you are spoiled.”
”You think I've gone bad? Do I...do I smell?” She attempted to scent her immediate air but only smelled the coolness of the night and a faint tang, which she attributed to Fancy.
”Spoiled, as in rotten. Everyone jumps to your whim. The princess demands her pleasures. Whatever you should ask is given.”
”What be wrong with that?” She stabbed her staff into the ground.
They both looked to the ground to spy the clump of dry hornbeam fluttering out from beneath the cloak. Flakes of the enchanted, disarrayed and damaged.
”What is it I have heard about Faery finery and coin?” Ulrich pressed a wondering finger to his chin. Glee sparkled in his eyes, Gossamyr sensed, for it was dark save for the carriage lanterns bobbing down the road. Private as it should have been, he enjoyed her humiliation immensely. ”It disperses to dust once introduced to the mortal realm.” He toed the flakes of her decimated pourpoint. They disintegrated to a glitter of dust.
Gossamyr nodded. ”Very well. Be there another village close?”
”Pray there is. Now mount behind me. I promise I shall not attempt to befriend you along the way.”
”Splendid.”
”Though I wager it shall be difficult to ignore a naked rider clinging to my waist.”
”I am not naked.”
”Steal not my hope, my lady.”
The sky thinned and receded. A flutter of his wings proved ponderous. Never before had he felt as though the world might...slip away. That his footsteps would not take hold on a path simply not there. 'Twas as if he were falling through the roots.
Images from the fetch proved Gossamyr had successfully arrived in the Otherside. She had even found a companion for the road. s.h.i.+nn was not overconcerned a mortal traveled at her side; the man would prove a boon. As well, Gossamyr had easily managed the attacking bogie. He would have expected nothing less. The vision of the caged fee had disturbed him perhaps more deeply than it had affected his daughter. She was strong. Capable. Not a single reason for any mortal to cage her.
And yet with every breath, s.h.i.+nn felt the s.h.i.+ver that had become his bane more deeply. Mortal touched. The result? His mortal pa.s.sion. A sweet punishment. And so much he had reaped from that risk. Greatest of all, his child.
Gossamyr was gone from him. Gone. Child of mine.
Should he have told her more? Revealed- He just...he wanted her to return to him. But Gossamyr's truth would prevent that. She must never learn her truth. For if she continued to Believe she would Belong.
Clutching the curved crystal doorpull that opened into Gossamyr 's bedchamber, s.h.i.+nn stood for a breath, blinking, struggling to find hold. The spice roses Mince cut daily for her room seeped into him, cloying and powerful. Gossamyr's scent.
He had set his only daughter off on a dangerous mission. It had been the right choice.
There had been no real choice. s.h.i.+nn had known for some time Gossamyr would be called to the Otherside. The mortal pa.s.sion was ever persistent. He could not interfere. Would Gossamyr sacrifice to remain on the Otherside? Would she wish to do so?
”It is the bargain we made,Veridienne. For your home, you must sacrifice”
”I sacrificed my home for you, s.h.i.+nn! To love you.”
”I acknowledge that, but to have it back, you must-”
”Very well. I will do it. I will...leave her.”
”Oh!” At s.h.i.+nn's sigh Mince popped her head up from the floor by the bed. ”Lord Winters.h.i.+nn.” She tugged at her tight blue gown, pulling it snugly over two gentle rolls on her stomach. Her small wings fluttered madly as she backed away. Eyes not meeting his, the rumpled fee backed right into the armoire and bent a wing.
”Is there something amiss, Mince?” s.h.i.+nn strode by the bed. His fingertips grazed the cold, precise marble and danced through the hanging bed curtains. Nothing out of ordinary. He walked to the window where the long arachnagoss sheers fluttered on the breeze. He turned abruptly, catching Mince in the act of shutting the armoire-on a finger. ”Are you looking for something?”
”Looking? Me?” The syllables shook more rapidly than her tell-tale wings. ”Why ask you that, my lord? Oh, no, just...tidying up a bit. What of you? You're not looking for Gossamyr?”
”Nay.”
”Marvelous. Oh! Er, fine. Just fine.”
Now he understood. Mince sought Gossamyr.
”I'm out to the yard.”
”What for?”
”Oh? To check...for something. Erm, the peac.o.c.ks must be shooed from the roses.”
”She is gone, Mince.”
”She?” The matron paused by the door, turning to him with delicate fingers curled into one another. ”Who, Lord Winters.h.i.+nn?”
”Gossamyr has gone to the Otherside.”
”No, I-I just saw her. I'm sure she's here somewhere, swinging from the roots-I'll start there, my lord. She never disappears for overlong.”
”I sent her.”
Mince gaped, seeming to momentarily choke on her own breath. ”W-why? How?” she breathed. ”Did you...tell her everything?”
”She seeks the Red Lady. I sent her through a Pa.s.sage. You know her truth will keep her from returning to me.”
”Oh! But she needs to know! You've sent her to face the very woman- Oh, dear.”
SIX.
Forgoing the village of Aparjon for what Ulrich claimed to be another not three leagues to the east, the duo plodded through unmarked gra.s.ses and followed a low rabbit-ravaged hedgerow for some distance until a narrower, lesser traveled road attracted them. There were no trees as far as she could see. The world was very silent. Eerily so.
Ulrich called ahead to Gossamyr. ”We should seek shelter for the night, 'tis nearing matins.”
”You don't think we'll make the village?”
”Likely not.”