The footman, who was human and perhaps a few years younger than either of them, looked at Idris doubtfully. “If this is the prince, why has he arrived a day before the rest of the royal family by foot and with no staff in tow? Now, you’ve had your fun, but really—”
The footman could not finish his sentence, and Rinka couldn’t blame him.
There was a loudcrack,and the smell of a thousand struck matches filled the air.
Rinka felt a gust of wind just beside her before she saw it.
Standing next to her, in the exact same spot where Idris had been moments before, was a large red dragon.
Chapter Eighteen
MAGIC AND MEMORIES
Alison
“Ino longer go by that name,” said Charlotte. “But yes, Danny—Daniel-—is the name I was born with.”
Danny was Charlotte, and she was alive.
She was alive.
Alison cried out and ran to her, pulling her into her arms. Charlotte was stiff beneath her. “You’re alive. You’re alive. You’re alive,” said Alison over and over until Nolwynn gently pulled her off of the young woman.
Alison wept openly and without shame. Charlotte looked at Nolwynn with the same furrowed-brow concern that Keir so often did, and it made Alison weep even harder.
“Have you been here all this time?” she forced out between sobs. “Is this where you went after you went over the falls?”
She could see it clearly now. The coming up for air at the end of her experience in the vine’s world was real. Charlotte really had resurfaced after the fall. And the sound of singing: it must have been the korrigans. Nolwynn had told Alison when they met that korrigans didn’t drown people, they saved people from drowning.
“You saved her,” said Alison to Nolwynn. “Oh, thank the Gods. You saved her.”
“He told you about me?” asked Charlotte. “What did he say?”
Alison thought through all of the things she’d heard about Charlotte as a child. All of the stories Keir had told her, of all the times he’d tried to shield her from their father’s wrath. Of all the times he’d taken the blame to protect her. Of the times their father had blamed Keir to drive them apart.
She understood why Nolwynn had told him to leave.
“It wasn’t him, Charlotte. He loved you—loves you—so much. It was your father. He lied to you to keep you apart. But he was cruel to you both. He hurt you both. Keir did everything he could to help you—”
“No,” said Charlotte. “They were in it together. You don’t understand. They were happy I was gone. I was alone in that house.”
“You weren’t,” said Alison. “Let me bring him back here. He can tell you—”
“No!” said Charlotte, taking a step back away from Alison. “I don’t believe you. I think you should leave.”
Alison panicked. She had to find a way to make Charlotte believe her, had to find a way to convince her that Keir had only been trying to protect her. He deserved to have her back. They deserved to have each other again after all these years apart.
“Show us,” said Nolwynn. “I can feel the old magic on you now. Show us what you know.”
Alison had no idea how to do that. To share her memories with them—it wasn’t the same as moving some water around the room.
Was it?
“I’ll help you,” said Nolwynn. “Give me your hand.”
Nolwynn took one of Alison’s hands and placed it on Charlotte’s. Then she placed her own small hand on top of them both.
Alison felt a surge of power from Nolwynn into Alison and then into Charlotte. It felt different from the power she’d felt from Keir or Idris, more akin to the fairies’ magic. It was the same power she’d felt drawing her to the path, and Charlotte shared it too. Alison could see in the connection how the korrigans shared their magic with the other races who came to live with them, how it shaped and changed their bodies to adapt to life in and near the water, how it had transformed Charlotte into her feminine shape as she grew.
