“Do you really think a story with singing pumpkins is going to scare us, Mom?” Rian asked.
“The pumpkins don't sing either,” Brevyn said.
“Mice sing,” Samara said. Then she began to sing, “Cinderelly, Cinderelly.”
“That's the one!” Rian pointed at her.
Yes, I'd played all the Disney classics for my kids. I brought DVDs to Faerie and played them on laptops. That's called good parenting.
“Shh now, settle down,” I said. “It's bedtime. If you two are going to listen in, you have to be quiet.”
“Yes, Mom,” the boys intoned together and took their seats on the foot of Sam's fluffy bed.
“All right, fine.” I scanned the page, decided it looked okay, then started to read, “In the Kingdom of Fire lived a Fire-Sidhe woman named Rivella. She was a great beauty, with golden hair like the heart of a flame and eyes that burned even brighter. So beautiful was she—” I rolled my eyes as I looked up from the page. “Ugh, why does it always have to be about a woman's looks?” I whined.
“Mom, just read!” Rian whined.
“Sorry.” I got back to it while Arach chuckled. “So beautiful was she that suitors came from every corner of the Fire Kingdom to woo her. But Rivella would have none of them. The girl was born with a heart of flames and could not be tamed.” I grinned and said, “That's a little better. She has a wild heart. I like that.”
“Of flames,” Arach added with a smirk. “Don't forget the flames.”
I rolled my eyes and returned to the story. “Rivella roamed the Fire Kingdom and found nothing to match the fire in her heart. So she requested permission to explore the other kingdoms, even Water. Her requests were granted, and she searched all of Faerie for something to make her immortality worthwhile.”
“She didn't last forever either,” Arach said. “She was—”
“Nope!” I pointed at him. “Fairy Tales have happy endings!”
“Those are human fairy tales,” Arach snorted, then his expression softened. “And ours will never have an ending, A Thaisce.”
I softened too, my heart of flames sizzling for my Dragon-Sidhe husband.
“Um, excuse me?” Rian snarled. “You're supposed to be reading.”
“Sorry!” I rolled my eyes. “Sheesh, you're demanding tonight. This is Samara's story time, not yours.”
Arach just chuckled.
“Mommy, read Cinderelly,” Samara said.
“In this story, her name is Rivella, but all right.” I found my place and read on, “Rivella visited the Earth Kingdom last, and that is where she found the one to fuel the flames of her heart.” I stopped to say, “Oh, now that's sweet.”
“I don't understand how a Fire-Sidhe could find more adventure in the Earth Kingdom than Fire, but what never,” Arach said.
I blinked. “Do you mean, whatever?”
Arach scowled. “Whatever? That's the word?”
“Yes.”
“But what never makes more sense.”
“How so?”
“In the way of, 'What? No, I'd never.'”
“That's ridiculous.”
“Your language is ridiculous,” he shot back.
