A Fairy Tale With Two

Chapter 12

     That night, at the castle...

        "Kaizen is officially threatening war," King Alden rested his hands on the table in front of him, "In one week, if we don't hand over the border to him."

     He was sitting at his desk in his normal office room, but half a dozen people were sitting in front of him, each chair part of a neat line. The lighting was dim, but King Alden could still see the grim looks on everyone's faces. His advisors and other political balancers were around him, listening to their king speak.

      "We may not be able to stand against an attack," the King said gravely, "But if it does come to it, we'll fight. I wish to know which you each think is the better course of action..."

       Adeline stood in the corner, listening to her husband speak. She felt her gaze wandering out of the window, where she could see the edge of the forest barely lit by torches. The hunter boy she had sent after Rowan had still not returned, and she'd been forced to the conclusion he had made a run for it. So she'd had wanted signs put up all over the kingdom for him, Kaden Hendrix. The stable boy. And traitor. He was linked to the princess's disappearance, or so she had announced. She had an impressive reward on Rowan's head as well. The King had argued to make the reward huge, so she had put it at 3 million credits, only a quarter of their bank, but enough money to feed a kingdom for a couple years.

      Adeline found herself longing for her husband to finish his boring chat with his group of political friends so she could get a nice massage before bed. But she knew he could take forever.

       Her eyes rolled back in her head with boredom as she peered out of the window again. She was tired and wanted to go to bed. She didn't care if there was a stupid war. It wasn't her problem, unless it emptied their bank and left them penniless.

       She paused as she watched a carrier bird land on the windowsill just outside. Adeline's eyes narrowed as she recognized the black bird, but she opened the window a crack so the king wouldn't notice, and she unhooked the tiny scroll from the bird's skinny leg, unrolling it in her hands. In thin handwriting, there had been written only one sentence—

        "She has been spotted in the marshes."

       Adeline's eyes narrowed, and she tore the paper up in her hands. She seethed silently. What had Rowan been doing in the marshes? The only thing there was Maleficent, and what would that princess want with the fairy? Adeline grinned her teeth together. Maleficent couldn't remove the spell, according to the king. Her feet dragged across the shredded paper on the floor. Fine. The boy couldn't do it, so she'd do it herself.

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       Rowan woke up early, before the others did. She had smuggled the black book from her bag, and was now reading the handwriting from the yellowed pages. Her eyes darted across the writing, fascinated with it all. The pages whispered of spells and potions, magical rituals and whatnot. But it also seemed to be some sort of diary. Some of the pages were dedicated to describing what the witch had done during her days in the moor, talking of warm days and village raids.

       The more she read, the more entranced Rowan became. She didn't want to put it away when the sun began to creep over the horizon, but she tucked it in her bag carefully, burying it in her other possessions.

      "What's up?" Aliyah sat up, her jaws parting in a wide yawn. She was in wolf form, not yet touched by the morning sunlight. She stretched, her fluffy black tail swishing from side to side.