The Archbishop handed Aurora to Bianca. Bianca also took her with the confidence of someone who has handled a lot of babies, cradled her in her left arm, and dipped the fingers of her right in the vessel. She dabbed Aurora in the same place, and for a moment, the baby glowed with a clear white light. “Aurora Chloe Serafina, I give thee the gift of love. You shall give and receive love in equal measure and be beloved and loving for all the days of your life.”
Mama smiled, and there were tears of joy in her eyes. I knew exactly how she felt. This was a powerful gift. No ruler who loves her people will ever mistreat them; any ruler beloved by her people will be protected by them.
Bianca handed Aurora to Domna. The ancient Fae whispered something to Aurora, who cooed with delight, before she dipped her fingers in the water. “Aurora Chloe Serafina, I give thee the gift of wisdom. You shall dispense wisdom, learn it in equal measure, and be heard and willing to hear for all the days of your life.” And once again, Aurora glowed with a soft radiance for a moment as the magic settled about her.
Now it was Brianna’s turn, and I held my breath, wondering what the legendary Fae would bestow. Brianna’s fingertips left a drop of water on Aurora’s forehead. “Aurora Chloe Serafina, I give thee the gift of fortune’s favor. When all seems darkest, the Infinite Light shall always find thee, friends will appear unlooked for, and—”
And at that moment, Brianna was interrupted by a terrible crash of thunder. Darkness enveloped the Hall in a shroud of inky blackness. Out in the crowd, people screamed as the Light Fae reacted by conjuring sources of illumination—floating orbs, flaming staffs, even lighting themselves up and flying a few feet above the crowd. Brianna instinctively gathered Aurora closer to her, Domna had produced a staff with a glowing gem on the top of it from out of nowhere, and Bianca held a glowing sword in her right hand and a shield of light in her left.
My eyes instinctively went to the Dark Fae, but they seemed just as startled and confused as the humans. They had crowded up against the wall in a series of defensive postures.
And then the thunder cracked again, there were more screams from the rear of the gathering as people tried to crowd away from the center aisle—and the eyes of all the Dark Fae literally glowed with pleasure and increased power.
And a Dark Fae and her entourage came marching toward us through the parting crowd.
Scampering along in front of her and behind her were ugly skeletal creatures dressed in stained rags. They were taller than humans, but there was something wrong about the way they moved, as if they had more joints than humans did. Their skin was stretched over toothless skulls, pale green eyes filled up their entire eye sockets, and they had no hair at all. The Dark Fae, stunningly beautiful, raven-haired, and wearing a headdress made of bejeweled sheep’s horns, was clad in a red gown the color of spilled blood. Black gems set in tarnished silver ornamented her gown and circled her waist.
I felt as if all the blood in my veins had turned to ice. At that moment, I was surely a feast of fear for any of the Dark Fae who were near me.
A slight movement to my left caught my attention as the Dark Fae stalked up the aisle. Papa was looking frantically at the Clerk of the Court, who was shaking his head. I looked to my right. Brianna, Bianca, and Domna stared at the apparition dumbfounded, but strangest of all, every single one of the Dark Fae either stood in shocked, stunned amazement or exchanged baffled glances with one another, momentarily allied in puzzlement. And that was when I realized that no one knew who she was. Not the Clerk of the Court. Not the Light Fae and not the Dark.
Which meant she hadn’t been invited, and she had been offended. The Rules were clear. She could do what she wanted—and Brianna had already given her gift, so there would be no Fae gifts to counter whatever curse this uninvited guest cared to deliver. And from the looks of her, she intended it to be something awful. Something lingering and painful to extract the maximum amount of sorrow out of not just our family but the entire kingdom.
I felt paralyzed, feet rooted in place, hands clasped hard on nothing, sick with fear and helplessness.
“So,” she said, stopping with her entourage of monsters crowding close around her. She had a voice like velvet, and she was horrifyingly beautiful, a creature of icy perfection, with green eyes that glittered like a pair of baleful emeralds. “I did not receive my invitation to this festal occasion. I am hurt. Truly, I am crushed.” Her eyes swept across all of us, and it was clear she savored our fear. “What is it? A wedding? A sixteenth birthday?” She pretended to see Aurora in Brianna’s arms for the first time as Bianca impotently clutched the hilt of her sword. “Oh, no, I see it is a christening! Well, I have a gift for the dear, sweet little child—”
Papa reached for the sword he wasn’t wearing; from the look on his face, he was considering flinging himself empty-handed at the Dark Fae, but he had to know all those minions would tear him to bits before he could get within five feet of her. Mama was so white, she was transparent, but she held on to Papa’s arm as if trying to hold him back.
The Archbishop’s face looked like a thundercloud—but he was surrounded by his acolytes, who pressed close to him in terror and kept him from moving at all.
As for the humans in the audience, they had huddled as far away from the Dark Fae as they could get, inadvertently trapping the knights and the Royal Guard in their midst. They wouldn’t be able to fight their way out without hurting someone.
The expressions on the faces of the Light Fae were variations on pure, helpless horror. They weren’t the ones in peril. So they couldn’t act. We had opened the door to whatever this Dark Fae wanted to do because we hadn’t invited her. Brianna couldn’t even flee with Aurora—the curse magic was specific and would find Aurora no matter where she was.
Meanwhile, the interloper drew herself up and raised her right hand, and the black crystal embedded in the top of her staff flooded the Hall with a sickly green light. “Aurora Chloe Serafina,” she cried out. “I give you the gift—”
“No!” I screamed. “Leave her alone!” And I threw myself between Brianna and the Dark Fae, spreading my arms wide to absorb as much of the impact of the curse as I could. At least that was my plan, such as it was—which was stupid, of course, since it was a curse that had already been cast in Aurora’s name, and I couldn’t possibly intercept it.
But when the terrible magic of the curse, visible as a bolt of that green light lancing out from the Dark Fae’s staff, struck me—it shattered. It fragmented into a million pieces that landed at my feet, sizzled on the floor, and vanished.
The Dark Fae stared at me. Her expression turned from gloating to one of rage. I had barely a breath of respite—I saw in her eyes that she was going to try to blast me into powder with the power of her staff, as opposed to cursing me—and I flung my hands forward, palms facing her, just as she let loose. The burst struck my palms and splashed off.
By now there were people screaming and trying to escape. The Dark and Light Fae faced one another across the aisle, everyone daring the others to make a move. One move, one slip, would be all it would take to spark open warfare in the Hall, and the Dark Fae would target us humans first. Behind me, I sensed my family escaping. Now Brianna could run; Aurora was safe. Specific curses like that take a long time to prepare—days, in fact. And by the time the Dark Fae had another one ready, the Archbishop would have given Aurora a new name and she’d be in hiding with Brianna.