The forest leans in as it waits with bearded breath for the next twist in this story. Excitement and anticipation pulse around us.
“You understand that once I name you, the story cannot compress you back into a footnote?”
The spectacled one nods while the cheerful one does a little jump. The scowling one pretends not to care, but he’s as eager for this new adventure as his brethren.
“If you name them, you can’t claim them,” Nash warns.
I roll my eyes. Like I don’t have enough sidekicks already to contend with. Does he think I walk around with a permanent opening for more?
“Very well,” I sigh, dropping my hand from Hart’s. “Stand in a line and try to look historically significant.”
They arrange themselves into a line from smallest to largest beards. It’s chaotic, and I love it. No surprises there.
I point to Spectacles. “You are Magnus, because you see what others overlook.” He inhales.
I point to the one with the permanent scowl. “You are Bram, because you endure.” His scowl deepens, which I take as gratitude.
To the cheerful one I say, “You are Lark. You insist on optimism even when it is narratively inconvenient.” I lean down to whisper in his ear. “I can relate. Never let them break the way you see the world.” He beams.
Now the yawner. I squint, seeing his strengths beneath the tired exterior. “You are Soren. You observe before you act.” He straightens and nods with the largest yawn to date.
Next, the ledger dwarf. “You are Tallyn. Keeper of accounts and grievances.” He nods in acceptance.
I twist my lips as I study the pickax dwarf. “You are Garrick. Builder. Breaker. Protector.” His grip tightens on the handle.
And finally, the blinking one. Hardest to read, but if I have Nash figured out, this guy is a breeze. He stares at me as if the meaning of existence is floating just behind my left ear. “You are Ivo, because you think before the world catches up.”
Silence ensues as they accept their unfamiliar names and the knowledge that for the first time, their fate doesn’t lie with the Idols, but in their hands.
They stand a fraction taller. Seven individuals now exist where once there was a collective. Somewhere in the distance, a page tears, and the pieces flutter on the breeze.
The genie closes his eyes. The indigo smoke around him pulses once. “There it is,” he whispers. “The shift.”
The forest trembles with recognition.
“You are free,” I tell them. “Stay with Snow. Start a union. Open a glass empire, whatever you want. But you are no longer interchangeable.”
They each fall to one knee and bow their heads. “Thank you, Architect,” they chorus.
My heart swells. “Don’t kneel, don’t bow, and never put your future into the hands of anyone but who you choose.”
They rise and crowd around me. I glance over their heads at the knights, who wear various masks of amusement.
The rejoicing dwarves lift me off my feet and carry me in a circle. I giggle as they jostle me and sing a joyous song in the deepest voices I’ve ever heard. They no longer need a princess to complete them. They are now with purpose, not merely a device.
They put me down after a few tempos. I glance at the genie, who stares at the lake with his wispy bottom half rippling like the water. “Daphne, if the Idols feel this…” His eyes flick toward the east. Toward the Hallows. “They will answer.”
I have to hope the Idols are busy doing whatever it is they do all annus and not looking at the minor battles beginning to break out across the realm.
Chapter Sixteen
Daphne
The dwarves leave singing in deep, resonant voices that roll through the trees, weaving their newfound zest for life into the branches and the leaves of the forest. Seeing them find their new strength once they step outside their fated future steadies something inside me.
Magnus pauses long enough to bow his head to me. Not in submission, but in recognition. And then they disappear into the undergrowth. Seven ties cut loose. Seven threads rewoven into a destiny of their own making.
I lick my lips as the knights surround me with their love and devotion. The silence surrounding us isn’t loud—it’s listening forour next move. But I can’t give it any more attention until I have all my parts back.
