“It’s settled then,” Gabriel said. “I’ll ask Marius to man the kingdom in our absence.”
Up to that point, Charlie had been content observing from the sidelines and praying Aunt Avery would attempt her mother’s plan, but her father’s words brought her back into the moment. She smiled up at her father and cleared her throat. “No need to ask Marius,” she said brightly. “I will head the kingdom in your absence.”
Her mother paused, looking flustered. “Oh, Charlie, Marius has a wealth of experience from his work as ambassador. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
She shook her head. “I don’t mind. Marius is busy with his own duties as well as his family. I am princess, and I have no other responsibilities. I’m happy to do it.”
“Well, that’s so sweet of you, Charlie, really, but, uh—” Raven glanced at Gabriel as if pleading for him to back her up.
A dull ache started in Charlie’s chest as she slowly came to suspect that her mother either didn’t think she was capable of leading the kingdom in her absence or didn’t trust her with the responsibility. “I am a fully grown adult. Older, in fact, than you were when you had me—”
“But you’ve never done something like this before,” Raven argued breathlessly. “And we’ll be gone two to three weeks. Maybe longer.”
“We will?” Avery flashed her sister a confused look.
“We need to give the tooth time to become part of you,” Raven explained. “Penelope says that if the magic is given time to root in all your cells that when your abilities return, they won’t recognize it as something foreign. Only we don’t know exactly how long that will take.”
Avery closed her eyes for a beat as if she found the idea overwhelming.
Charlie made use of the silence that followed to continue to plead her case. In a kind but confident tone, she said, “I understand why you’d be worried, but I’ve participated in every aspect of running this kingdom from your side for no less than five years. I know the ins and outs as well as anyone, and aside from one meeting of the Elder Council, which I can lead in my sleep, there is nothing but managing the house on the royal schedule at the moment. Besides, it’s not as if Marius won’t be here if I have questions. And if by some twist of fate he’s unavailable, Alexander and Maiara are still in residence, and Colin and Leena are too.”
“She has a point,” Gabriel murmured, eliciting a pained look from her mother.
Aunt Avery and Xavier became suspiciously quiet as they no doubt attempted to avoid getting caught up in the family tiff. Charlie hadn’t meant to make anyone uncomfortable—it just seemed obvious to her that this was her job and one she could easily do.
Her mother coupled her hands in front of her hips. “Listen… Charlie… You’re right. You are ready, but why don’t we let Marius take this one, and then when your father and I return, we can gradually transition more responsibilities to you and create some opportunities for you to practice your leadership skills during shorter absences and under more controlled circumstances.”
A deep well of disappointment opened in Charlie’s chest. “You don’t think I can do it.”
“That’s not what your mother is suggesting,” her father said. “We want to be fair to you. I’ve managed people for most of my existence, and I would never spring a responsibility of this magnitude on someone of your age and experience with this short notice.”
Charlie could hear the note of finality in her father’s voice and frowned at the floor, knowing that the decision had already been made. As disappointing as it was to her, the last thing Charlie wanted was to be a burden on her parents during this already difficult time. If they were worried about the kingdom, they wouldn’t be free to concentrate on the spell that could save her aunt. She’d only wanted to help, not to cause them more worry.
“All right,” she said softly.
Her mother gave her shoulder an empathetic pat. “I’ll tell Marius to allow you to lead Elder Council and to lean on you as much as he needs to.”
Charlie’s smile was shaky as she replied, “Okay. I understand.”
“Then it’s settled.” Her mother turned back to her sister. “Avery, Xavier, let’s plan to leave first thing in the morning.”
Avery clutched Xavier’s hand, her lashes fluttering. “Three weeks means we’ll miss Christmas in the builgean.”
Xavier shook his head. “If this works, it’ll be the greatest gift ya could bestow ’pon our clan. There’ll be other Christmases, curaidh.”
Funny, Charlie had participated in a few Christmases with her mother and human grandparents when she was very young, but it had been more than two decades. Once it was deemed dangerous for her to leave Paragon, their family stopped the tradition, even when her grandparents came to visit. She couldn’t remember much about the Earth holiday or why it was so important to humans. The way her aunt and uncle were acting, it was a true loss to miss it.
“We should make preparations,” her father said before rising to leave the room. Everyone stood to follow, murmuring about what to bring on their royal trip to Darnuith. Charlie was left staring after them, fists clenched. Deep inside, she just knew she was born to lead, and she vowed to someday prove it to them.
Chapter
Two
The library of the Obsidian Palace was one of Charlie’s favorite places to be. When the palace was renovated after Eleanor was overthrown, her mother and father had doubled its size and one could spend hours perusing three stories of shelves. There was no librarian, but thanks to a clever locator spell, you simply asked the library itself for a book on any topic and she would deliver. (Charlie had always thought of the library as a she, although she knew it wasn’t sentient.)
She stood before the perpetual flame at the center of the library and wrote Earth-dimension Christmas on a slip of paper. Folding it twice, she tossed it into the flames. A rumble like a minor earthquake shook the floor beneath her feet, and then a book appeared on the table beside the fire.
No title graced the cover or the spine, which looked to be solid gold and was patterned with a garden scene, but inside, the parchment held passages about Earth history and folklore. Charlie carried it to one of the long wooden tables at the center of the library and sat down to flip through the pages for an entry on Christmas. They’d celebrated Avery’s birthday with an Earth cake. Maybe there was something Charlie could do to lessen the sting of missing this other Earth holiday.
