“The coast is clear,” Clare said. “Let’s go and see the renewed Ireland.”
“I can’t wait,” Griffin said, picking up the torn ostrich wing. “But shouldn’t you fly us upinto the sky? I’d like to soar over our fair isle and see everything unfold below me.”
Clare gulped and tucked the wing under her armpit. “Let’s take one baby step at a time. My wings are broken, and I will need to visit a fairy mound to renew my strength. We should also get you cleaned up. Your leg is bloody, and your clothes are scuffed and muddy.”
Griffin patted himself and staredat his own body as if he’d never seen it before. “Why am I wearing these dandy clothes? I’m not that kind of man who wears suspenders and a handkerchief.”
“Trust me, you looked great,” Clare said. “Do you happen to have a change of clothes locked away in here?”
“Let me quiet all my senses and see if anything comes to me,” he said. He walked over to the mirror on the wall. It wasfull-length mirror, as tall as a man.
“If there’s a mirror, there must be clothes,” Clare said. “For both of us. I’m the new queen of the fairies, and you’re the high king. We are the rulers of the new Ireland, and we can’t look so disheveled.”
“I agree.” He knocked and tapped at the wooden panels in the bedchamber while Clare pulled aside what’s left of the drapes.
“I’vefound it!” Griffin cried. “There’s a hinge behind the mirror, which means a door.”
He tapped on the panels, and the mirror opened with a creak.
Clare gasped at the array of sumptuous gowns lining the closet. These were far more splendorous than her entire online catalog. There were forest fae, winter fae, well of healing fae, starlight fae, and more. “I can’t decide what to wear.”
“Then wear your bridal gown.” Griffin pointed at the skeleton on the bed. “That is obviously the changeling who came in here and died, giving her lifeforce to you, my dear Brigid.”
So now, it came to him, that she was the goddess Brigid. Great. She’d play the role until she got away from this madness. She was a novelist, sure, and she lived in hidden fictional realms. But how wasall of this goddess worship going to get her that movie deal?
“Okay, then you wear something fit for a bridegroom, and I’ll get into being the Brigid Bride.” She left Barbie doll unsaid.
He turned into the closet to select his clothes, while she gingerly stripped the disheveled skeleton of the sparkly gown and pearl-strewn veil and placed the Heart of Brigid in the proper place.Then she swapped her Morrigan outfit with the skeleton’s bridal clothes, and she was once again playing the role of Brigid the Blushing Bride.
Minutes later, Griffin emerged from the closet wearing a dashing white and silver coat and tails with a cravat, top hat, and a diamond topped ebony walking stick.
“Any idea what this is?” He handed over a cell phone which she recognized ashers.
“My mobile,” she cried. “It has my whole life on it.”
Griffin wrinkled his nose. “I’ve never seen such material. A mirror inside a tiny box. What type of mineral covers it? And why would it have your entire life on it?”
“It’s a magical fairy box,” Clare said. “Watch this.”
She turned it on and punched in the passcode. Then put it in selfie mode and stretched herarm.
She took several pictures of the two of them, decked out in their fairy wedding clothes, then swiped to the photo gallery.
“See?”
Griffin looked between the images and the mirror. “My dear goddess, you are full of tricks. How’d you do that?”
She zipped her lips. “Secrets. Let’s go now and announce ourselves. Ready?”
She opened the door and peeked out intothe foyer. The rune-covered gate was left open, and light streamed through an opening up top. It bounced off bits of glass and gems embedded in the walls, creating rainbow colors and points of light.
“It’s a new day. The first day of spring!” she cried, holding Griffin’s hand.
“What glories await us, my dear,” Griffin said. He reeled her in for a kiss and then beamed at her. “Wedid it. All the glories of Ireland are restored. We’ve thrown off the shame of the Norman invasions, of Cromwell, and the Troubles.”
He was going to be disappointed, but hopefully, once Clare got him back into the real world, he’d remember the real Clare Hart and his promise to get surgery to treat his forgetfulness.
They passed out of the gate and instead of going the way back tothe closet, Clare steered them into a maze of twisty-turning tunnels. She didn’t want to chance bumping into Biceps and her gun.
