Give Me (Wyrd and Fae #1)(17)

They both laughed.

“He has a right to be furious.”

“But that’s what you do,” Elyse said. “Isn’t that what wyrding is?”

“A moral wyrder plays with the universe, but never really changes it. We direct energy; we must never transform it.”

Elyse wasn’t quite sure she understood the difference.

“I was wrong to do it, and I’ve paid for it with ruined health and a shortened life. But that hasn’t satisfied Aeolios.”

“What does he want?”

“A wife.”

“He can have Lourdes,” Elyse blurted out. Her face turned red. “Well, it would solve a lot of problems.”

“Also my first thought.” Mother chuckled. “But human and divine couplings tend to end badly for the human.”

This was nice, just the two of them talking. They were never intimate like this when Lourdes was with them. “I don’t believe the Great Wyrding was wrong,” Elyse said. “Look how much good it has done, and it will last forever.”

“But the cost, Elyse. Every spell has a cost, and I did not consider it.”

“Like King Jowan,” Elyse said. “He didn’t think of what would come after he showed off the swords to Sarumos.”

“No, he did not.”

Time. Elyse needed more time with Mother, time to learn everything. Time to love her. All the magics in the world couldn’t give them that.

Mother stirred in her chair. “I need the glimmer glass.”

Elyse shook her head. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“Just inside, there’s one on my bed.”

This voyeuristic element in her mother was unnerving. On the other hand, it explained her uncanny intelligence of people’s comings and goings. The glimmer glass was on the bed, and as Elyse picked it up she was struck by a sick feeling. Had Mother ever watched her? In the woods she’d often felt followed, but she’d always believed it was the animals who tracked her movements.

“Thank you, Elyse.” Mother passed her fingers over the glass until Galen’s image appeared. He’d reached Igdrasil and sat cross-legged in a hollow at the tree’s roots. The bag of glamour dust rested in his hand. “Hold it with me.”

Elyse sat on her knees beside the chair. When she touched the corner of the glass, she heard seagulls calling and waves pounding on rocks—and Galen’s sigh, laden with care. He rose to his feet with a resolved look, opened the bag, and tossed a handful of glamour dust into the air.

“Diantha.”

Lourdes had known he would do it.

“Diantha.”

Prince Galen was no better or worse than any other man. He needed to know what she looked like.

“Diantha.”

“I didn’t tell Galen the entire truth about the glamour.” Mother was even paler than before.

“Please don’t distress yourself.”

“Listen to me—we don’t have much time!”

Oh, Mother.

“When Galen looks upon the glamour image, he’ll see past Diantha’s outer shell to her true nature. Not the brave front she puts on for the world, but the gentle soul she keeps hidden away. If he likes what he sees, his natural feelings will intensify.”

“You put a wyrd on the glamour after all.”

“Merely to enhance what is authentic and to smooth their path to each other, if there can be one.”

“How does it work?

“The very act of beholding a beloved has great power. It is mysterious and deep and all the stronger because it lives in hidden recesses of our hearts. If Galen sees in Diantha that which he can love, then we matchmakers can step back and let things take their natural course.”

“Direct the energy, don’t transform it.”

“Yes, my dear. You understand.”

An image formed in the air near Galen a few feet off the ground. It didn’t translate well in the glimmer glass. To Elyse it seemed like the ghost of a woman.

“Diantha is very pretty,” Mother said. “But if Galen loves, she’ll be beautiful beyond measure in his eyes.”

The only distinct feature Elyse could make out was pale golden hair that fell past the ghost’s waist. Apparently Galen liked what he saw. Worry fell away from his countenance like shattered glass. Until now, Elyse hadn’t appreciated how seriously he had treated this matter of an engagement. When such innocent pleasure lit up his face, it was easy to smile with him—and for him.

“It is done,” Mother said. “Observe. That isn’t desire you see. That is delight, far more ennobling.” She let out her breath. “Thank sun and moon. Galen and Diantha can be happy together.”

“Not if she can help it,” Elyse said. Lourdes rode into view in the glass.

“What are you doing here?” Galen said, and the hovering glamour image dissolved.

“We have to talk.” Lourdes slid off Hector’s back and ran to the prince. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. So much for talking.

“Lourdes, no.” Galen reached behind his neck to pry off Lourdes’s grip. “This isn’t right. This isn’t…” His eyes lost focus. He shook his head and seemed to notice Lourdes for the first time.

Elyse felt sick to her stomach. Lourdes had Galen in her power.