A Modern Fairytale

The goodness of her heart

Yes, I did all of that. Does it surprise you? I did a lot more than that as well. Would that surprise you? Now that I am whole again, I can openly admit to everything I have done—though not what I plan to do, not yet—on behalf of every version I have been. With the same spell, I cursed Jena and also enchanted a carpet; with the same mind, I drove one false angel to near-madness and another onto a path of healthy self-actualization; with the same spirit, I shoved one fairy as far away from the chaos as possible and plunged another into the center of it.

And you—with the same hand, I will tear you apart and stitch you back together. Why? If I said it's out of the goodness of my heart, would you believe that? Oh no, don't force yourself to believe in something you know you don't understand. I don't need your sympathy, and I certainly couldn't care less what you or anyone think about me.

If I did, I wouldn't be where I am now.

☆☆☆

King Alasdair was standing in front of a mannequin, studying it silently. The curtains were drawn, but the room was bright as day. The mannequin was as accurate a depiction of the human body as it could be—save for the face, which did not exist. The King turned the mannequin around, taking a step to his right at the same time. He studied the arm of the mannequin wordlessly and closely. Still a minute later, he scribbled something onto a piece of paper—or maybe he sketched something.

Behind him, the door opened and then closed. Without turning around, he asked, "How are you, my princess?"

The question was not answered. Instead, as a familiar set of footsteps drew closer, a fairy's voice asked, "And you, Sire?"

Alasdair turned around, laying the sheets of paper onto the table and the pencil on top of it. He smiled. "Unscathed. Whatever is the matter?"

"Have you heard from Einar lately? Or seen him in person?" Valerie stopped at approximately the spot where Alasdair's notes were laid. One hand on the edge of the table, she leaned slightly toward it—and slightly closer to the King.

Without losing his smile, King Alasdair placed his hand next to hers, just close enough not to touch. He tilted his head by a negligible angle toward her. "I have not," he said, "Your gesture and your words combined speak direfully to me. Valerie, what do you need?"

Valerie blinked, a glint in her eyes.

"Your well wishes and a day."

☆☆☆

A lack of information was all that King Reginvalt needed to know that the attempted regicide was staged partially by Valerie; likewise, a lack of movement was all that Valerie needed to know that something wasn't quite right with Einar. The night they parted, long ago, she had planted her own seal on his back. The clover mark had immediately sunk in, made permanently invisible to all by his own spells—but the important thing was that it existed, and it allowed her to know where exactly he was at any given moment. It was that seal that allowed both Valerie and Reginvalt to rest reassured each night knowing where Einar was—after all, he most likely wasn't visible, wherever he was. Neither did anything about that information; having access to it was sufficient. Then, as Reginvalt and Valerie wreaked havoc at home and elsewhere, Einar took care to stay far enough away to not be involved but close enough to be available to them if his presence was ever needed.

As far as he was concerned, neither Reginvalt nor Valerie ever truly needed a second person to help accomplish what they had to do; at the same time, they were always within arm's length of each other. The result was simple and straightforward: Einar became an observer.

We're all going to die, miserably and tragically. This was a thought Einar had since the day he and his brother met the heiress of Mecrisdale—since his brother decided to become associated with her—and that thought never quite changed. It seemed to him an unchangeable fact; the only unknown was when it would become reality. The thought never disappeared from his mind, but his attitude towards it shifted discreetly and surely.