Charmed Vengeance Part 31

Oh wait, she was ill, she remembered that much. There had been a voice ... a voice she remembered ... telling her he loved her, telling her she'd be well soon. For the life of her, she couldn't remember who that was. But that didn't matter. The fact he loved her did. Just recalling it made her feel warm and tingly all over.

Not that she could actually feel her body.

Will you tell me a story? I'm lonely, the voice added. A story? What else did she have to do? It wasn't as if she could go anywhere or do anything in this vast nothingness.

"Of course." Noli tried to think of a story. V had been the one who loved faery stories, not her. But there was one her father used to tell her. "Once upon a time there was a little girl ... "

"Steven, this is idiocy. We don't know where Kevighn is and we don't know he has it," James insisted as they ended up in yet another unfamiliar place, in their vain attempt to locate Kevighn Silver. "You're letting your hatred for him blind you. I think we need to look at this rationally, and logic says Kevighn didn't take it."

"He has to, who else could have it? And I don't hate him. Wait. When have you ever relied on logic?" Desperation rode Steven like a horse. If they didn't find the automaton ...

James grabbed Steven and shook him. "V, snap out of it. I know you hate him, but we have no proof he took it. Also, he's exiled."

"Just from the courts, not the Otherworld. And get off." Steven pushed his brother away. "I wish a finding spell worked on things." Not that they were any good at them.

"Why don't we look one up in father's library," James replied.

Steven stopped and looked at his brother. "What?

Let's go back to the big house, look up a finding spell for things, and find Hilde that way instead of running around blindly." James shoved his hands deep in his pockets. "Well, I suppose that's one way to do it." Actually, it was a very good idea.

James put his arm around Steven's shoulders. "We're going to find the automaton. Noli will be fine. Now, let's finish this."

Once again, his little brother as the voice of reason felt odd. Gulping, Steven nodded. "Yes, let's."

They crossed the unfortunately familiar bridge from the wildwood to the grounds of the high palace. Steven's belly sank all the way to his boots. The tall spires of the palace gleamed like polished bra.s.s. The giant clockwork drawbridge was down over the pink moat, indicating that the queen was currently in residence.

"How did the automaton end up here?" he whispered to James. Unless the finding spell was wrong. Odds were it wasn't.

"Um, the Bright Lady works in mysterious ways?" James suggested.

Steven harrumphed.

Into the palace they went, saluting at the gold and purple glad guards and winding their way down the long and twisty halls. Steven wasn't surprised when they ended up in their mother's tearoom.

A purple fire burned in the hearth. LuLu napped on a purple cushion. Their mother, clad in an ocean of gold and bronze ruffles, sat at her ornate table, having tea. Hilde occupied the chair across from her, a teacup in her metal hand. Steven knew from experience that Hilde's opulent chair was actually quite uncomfortable and the queen did that on purpose.

"I love tea parties," the automaton told the queen.

"I thought Hilde only sang and told stories," James whispered to him.

The queen looked over at them and sniffed. "Oh, you're back."

His heart sank. Great, she had sent them on this fool's errand hoping they'd die.

Had he truly expected anything less? She'd stopped being their mother the moment she cast them out of the Otherworld.

"Yes, we are." Steven squared his shoulders. "I see you've found Hilde. Does she please you?" His stomach knotted. This moment defined his quest.

The queen took a sip of tea, every pa.s.sing second feeling like an hour. "She'll do. I did have to make some adjustments using magic. Also, her name isn't Hilde. It's Aisling." Queen Tiana's look dared them to say differently.

"It's your automaton, you may name her whatever you wish, Your Majesty," Steven replied. "So, my quest is over?" His stomach had yet to unknot.

The queen waved him off. "Yes, yes. I do have to say, Aisling is rather amusing in a simple way. I do hope you won't wander far. I like having you and your brother around."

"Yes, of course, Your Majesty." Steven bowed.

She liked having them around? Sure. Tiana probably meant it would be easier to plot their demise if she knew their whereabouts.

"Your majesty?" Steven added, chest tightening. "Since I accomplished my task to your satisfaction, may I take up with Noli again?"

The queen laughed. "My dearest Stiofan, truly you're better off without her. As I told you, she'll hold you back from your goals. Now be off before I find something for you to do." She shooed them away with her hand.

"Of course, Your Majesty." With a final bow, Steven and James left the tearoom.

James scratched his head. "How did the automaton get to the high palace?"

"Mother, most likely. She probably still has spies in the big house. For all we know, she came and took it herself." Despite finishing the quest, his heart felt heavy as they plodded down the vast hallways. One task down, so many more to go. If this was what being an adult was like, perhaps he shouldn't have been in such a hurry to grow up.

"Let's check on Noli." James clapped him on the back.

They made their way to the big house in silence. Finally, they traipsed through the familiar woods belonging to the House of Oak. Now that those of his house were in residence again, the grounds were in better repair than when they'd first returned to the Otherworld.

"The queen gave her to you, right? Way back when you first arrived in the Otherworld?" James asked.

Steven tried to recall that particular event. "Yes, she did."

It was another layer of protection for Noli.

"Did she take that away when she told you to break Noli's stone?" James asked.

Giant rowan tress, old as the land itself, shaded them as they walked. They helped guard their ancestral home.

Those fateful words played over in Steven's head, as he dissected it word by word.

Before you begin your quest, you're to end this with Magnolia ... and that includes breaking the stone in her sigil.

No, not one thing about revoking Noli ... not that he was entirely sure she could.

"I swear that Noli is yours until you decide otherwise, ent.i.tled to all rights and privileges therein," Steven whispered, repeating the words she'd said to him. "That's what she swore ... "

"So, Noli's still yours in some way, she just doesn't have the protections of the House of Oak anymore?" James asked as they entered the hedge maze center where the oak lay.

Steven went over everything in his head one last time. "I ...I think you're right-and where the queen can keep her from the protections of our house, she can't keep her from being with me, unless she breaks her oath."

James snapped his fingers, green eyes dancing. "If she breaks her oath you could challenge her to a dual."

Even queens weren't excluded from the bindings of an oath.

"You're right. Not that I relish the thought of challenging her to a duel." Which wouldn't end well, but perhaps the thought that he could challenge her would prevent any oath-breaking. Steven still felt sorry that Noli had to endure the pain of the stone being broken. "What would I do without you?"

The oak came into sight as they entered the center of the maze. Little wood faeries sat on the roots and branches of the gnarled tree. Some still clutched little wooden swords.

James shot him a silly grin. "I don't want to think about that. Do you think she's well now, or do you think we'll have to leave her for a little longer?"

"As long as she recovers, I don't care." Steven greeted the little wood faeries distributing crumbs of a cake he'd brought from the house. The greedy little beasts scrambled over the gnarled tree roots as they fought over the sweet. Crouching next to towering oak, he put his hand on the trunk and reached out to the tree. Time to bring his darling home.

Will you tell me another story? the voice asked Noli. Noli yawned, well, she would if she had a body. The nothingness still enveloped her. She'd been napping between telling stories to the faceless, bodiless voice. Noli liked sleeping here in the mist where the nightmares couldn't get her.

"Could you tell me a story?" Noli replied, still half asleep. That might give her time to think of something she hadn't told yet.

I could, if you promise to remember it.

"I'll try."

Once, long ago, the Otherworld was different. Only a few people remember, and most don't remember it correctly. Once, we didn't need to rely on the blood of mortal girls with the Spark. The high queen wielded a staff, and through it there was enough power for the land to live without blood sacrifice. Some grew jealous of the staff's abilities and great power can easily be abused. One day, in anger, the Bright Lady broke apart the staff, scattering the pieces across the mortal realm. But even she couldn't break the staff's heart, a gem of great power. That, too, was hidden in the mortal realm. Without the staff, the land had to rely on her people to bring her nourishment. Gradually everyone, even the rulers forgot that once we didn't need a sacrifice ...

The impact of the story made Noli's mind reel. "The artifact? Are you saying that there is an artifact of great power that if rea.s.sembled will negate the need for a sacrifice?"

Not needed a sacrifice could be beneficial, however, she knew enough about the Otherworld to know that there would be much, much more to the staff that that.

Keep that piece of the staff safe. It's in your valise, the voice added. You must keep it out of the wrong hands.

"But how does it work? I don't understand. And why was it destroyed?" Something must have gone very wrong. Perhaps the wielders of the staff went insane or were easily corrupted due to its power.

Her entire being, well, what she could feel of it in the mist, began to tingle.

No, no, no, you can't go yet, the voice told Noli.

"What?"

They're trying to take you. You're not well enough to go yet ... and I'm not just saying that because I like your stories and you're kind. Also, I haven't finished my story.

"Wait, who's taking me, taking me where?" She wasn't even sure where she was, other than safe and cozy, not hot, cold, or thirsty. The urgency in her voice made Noli's skin crawl.

The princes. They wish to take you.

"Wait, V? Is V here? But I want to go with him." The thought of seeing him again made her heart soar. He'd come back for her. Did that mean that his quest was over? She remembered now. A little.

You do?

"I ... I love him. I love him so much." With every fiber of her being. Memories of him flickered through her mind like a zoetrope. "Please, let me see him."

You do love him, and it's so beautiful. The voice made a happy sigh. If you truly wish to go, I'll make you well enough.

"You can do that? I don't even know who you are?" Her body tingled in a way that almost hurt and lights flashed in front of her eyes. What was happening?

Noli didn't feel afraid, just p.r.i.c.kly.

Don't forget me and remember my story. You must keep the staff out of the wrong hands. You're a good person, Magnolia Montgomery Braddock.

"I am?" Sometimes she wondered about that, with everything she'd done of late.

The voice didn't answer, other voices echoed through the fog. Familiar male voices.

"Noli, darling, can you hear me?" V pleaded.

"Maybe we should put her back in, I don't think she's done yet," James replied.

She felt as if she were being tugged like taffy. The nothingness slipped away and the p.r.i.c.kly sensation ebbed. Hands gripped her and a breeze caressed her skin.

Noli's eyes fluttered open, and two very concerned princes came into focus. "Not done yet? What am I, a cake?"

"Oh, Noli!" V's unspectacled green eyes grew as wide as saucers as he pulled her to his chest. "You're alive. I'm so glad you're alive and well."

Noli wrapped her arms around him. "You came, I knew you would. Everyone said you wouldn't, but I had faith in you."

"That makes me so happy." V buried his face in her hair. "I feared I'd lose you."

"Where was I?" It felt so nice to be in his arms again.

"We put you in the tree because you were sick." James leaned back on his hands in the soft moss surrounding the big oak. Wood faeries encircled them, some even had swords.

"How did I get to the Otherworld?" She waved at the wood faeries, who waved back. A pink one perched on her outstretched hand, translucent wings flapping, dress resembling flower petals, pointed ears poking out of her brown hair. They were in the grove at the center of the maze at the big house. She was also wearing her nightdress.

"We brought you here." James crouched beside them.

V stroked her hair. "Are you feeling better? We were so worried."

Noli nodded. She'd been in a tree? But she'd been someplace ... memories of where she'd been hung like a haze-present but not quite tangible.

"Oh good." V caressed her face.

"Why did you put me in a tree?" Something nagging at the back of her mind, something she wasn't supposed to forget ... but she just couldn't remember. More things escaped with every second she tried.

"Let's return to the house, I'm hungry," James groused, standing and shifting his weight from foot to foot. "I'm glad you're better, Noli."

V moved her off his lap and they stood. He took her hands and pulled her to him, gazing so deeply into her eyes it was as if he were looking right into her soul.

"I'm sorry I hurt you. I love you so much. When I saw you so ill ..." he shook his head, eyes misty. "I never would have forgiven myself if something had happened to you." V leaned in, his lips soft and sweet. Her toes tingled in delight as she savored his deep and gentle kiss ... and kissed him right back.

Breaking it off, she caressed his face trying to remember him with her fingers. "Apology accepted." She punched him in the arm. Hard. "Never, ever do that to me again, Steven Darrow, or so help me ... "

V rubbed his arm, eyes meeting hers. "I'll try not to, I promise."

"Good."

"First one to the library wins." James took off through the maze.