Matax made a grunt as he hefted Jeze on his back. Her giggles carried on the wind like chimes striking one another.

“Matax loves me,” Jeze declared. “Yippie.”

Her words had the fairy’s smile growing wider. “Saying such things will never get me to admit them.”

“Oh, admit them,” Jeze teased, biting his ear. “Admit them!”

Matax winced but laughed in kind. “Never.” He caried her into the tall grass. “You and these blasted shoes. What’s the point if you can’t even wear them into the brush?”

“Who needs to walk when Matax will carry me?” Jeze declared.

Fancy dress scrunched up against his back, Matax turned around to ask Wyrn, “If I leave you here for a moment, will I come back to find one of you killed by the other?”

Sorem, still atop his horse, burned with embarrassment. Was this blasted fairy calling him craven or untrustworthy? It wasn’t fear or cowardice that sent Sorem hiding behind that wagon, it was preparation. How was he to know no one else would join him in safety? That hunchback. He’d put everyone in danger, and worst yet, threatened the sullying of Sorem’s reputation. Now this blasted fairy was taking liberties and calling him a cad on top of that?

More than ready to answer him with something rude, Sorem opened his mouth but found that Wyrn replied, “At this point, I no longer care what silly risks she takes with her life!”

Vadde, standing a good distance from her husband, turned up her nose and declared, “Nor do I care what foolish risk he takes with his own without a second’s thought of me!”

They both turned their backs to one another, Sorem firmly in between them, pleased.

Were they…fighting?

Another glance from one to the next showed just that.

They were. They were absolutely fighting. Sorem scanned the vast high grass, wondering if the proximity to the statue had anything to do with the hunchback’s waning power over the princess.

Matax scoffed and waded into the grass. “Very well. I will return. Hopefully without this one snatched up by something or either of you dying by the other’s hand.”

His laughter carried even after he was swallowed by the untamed weeds and shrub.

The eerie silence to follow their absence was palpable. Sorem sat on his horse, uncomfortable beyond words.

At length Wyrn sneered. “Are you sure you don’t want to follow? You know, since you’re so eager to throw your life away. I’ll gladly wait here for you to crawl into the jaws of the nearest wild beast you can find.”

Not to be outdone, the princess called back, “Certainly. But I wonder if this imaginary beast will be one any self-respecting Jaffo can notice, too!”

Wyrn spun around, looking past Sorem to her. “I would have noticed it if you’d kindly kept out of my blasted way!”

Vadde was next to turn, raring for a battle for the ages. “Well, excuse me if I cared too much about you to simply stand idly by and watch you get gored before my eyes!”

“I’m a Jaffo, in case you hadn’t noticed. The fact that you treat me as if I haven’t two sound thoughts to rub together is beyond the pale.” He brought his hands to his throat, miming being choked. “And your kind of help , I can do without!”

Everything fell silent after that. Vadde stared him down, nearly radiating in her fury.

“You—you….” She broke into tears, called him a name, and marched back down the barely used path.

Wyrn’s chest heaved and fell from his mounting rage. Finally, his jaw vibrated when he turned to Sorem and begged, “Could you please accompany her for a moment? It is not safe for her to roam by herself. And she’s….”

He ran out of words to explain their strange situation, so Sorem dismounted. Sorem’s reason for lingering here longer wasn’t for laziness’s sake, but rather, his appreciation of seeing Wyrn grovel.

Finally, Wyrn bowed his head. He was a prideful fool, but Sorem threw his horse’s reins down and said, “You’d let a woman walk by herself to mistreat her?”

Without looking, Wyrn caught hold of the reins and twisted them in his fists. He had nothing to say.

Sorem turned to make his way down the path after the princess who wasn’t walking at all that fast.

This road wasn’t as well-worn as the main highway from which they’d strayed, but the grass was lower.

Upon reaching the princess, Sorem slowed in his stride. She stopped walking entirely then turned.

“I’m sorry if—”

Upon seeing Sorem, she caught her breath then looked past him to Wyrn who brought the horse’s reins to the wagon to tie it tight.

By now, it was more than clear to her that her hunchback wasn’t coming.

She shed a tear and turned to march down that path in a fury.

“Princess,” Sorem called, giving chase. “Princess, please. You can’t go walking by yourself.”

“Well, what does it matter? He doesn’t care.”

With that, Sorem could not argue but he risked holding her shoulder. She’d since changed into a new dress. Instead of the fancy one she’d started with, this one resembled the one she’d worn the first time he’d seen her…with clothes on.

It was bare in the back and had a deep cut in the chest. And it was an off-white color. Thinking back to how she’d received it from the hunchback who’d rummaged for it then thrown it in her face, Sorem squeezed her shoulder.

Bad enough she was under an enchantment, but to be treated so poorly during the fact…. This was unforgiveable.

The sob was heavy and sudden, and she covered her face. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault. All of this is my fault. But I’d never been anywhere. I spent my entire life locked in that castle and then when he’d taken me away, I was too afraid to try to even see the path we’d traveled to get here. I stayed under that covering, witnessing nothing of how I’d come to this valley. And once we’d settled, everyone was having babies and it was such a chore to get all the offerings ready and travel to get blessed. But I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I hadn’t. I swear.”

Feeling her tremble with each cry was a strange sensation.

Sorem felt proud of her confidence in him. Surely, that was the wrong reaction to have, but he didn’t care. He loved this vulnerability.

He decided to risk embracing her. It hardly mattered who saw now. And all the better if it made the hunchback angry or envious, he could use that excuse to slay him and carry her back home to her family a hero.

She tensed in his embrace, but he patted her bare back. Sorem didn’t rival Wyrn by much in height, but he did in the broadness of his chest. Perhaps that unfamiliarity, the strength of a real man, was why she fell silent.

Sorem waited until he was adequately satisfied with the hug before giving her one last squeeze and stepping back.

“It is unforgiveable for a man to treat a woman like this,” Sorem affirmed. “I hope you know that.”

Her tears had stopped but she looked up at him, woeful. “You are a priest. You…you are able to offer absolution, are you not? Could I tell you a secret? And it’s one that’s quite terrible.”

Filled with pride, Sorem bowed. “Of course.”

Vadde wiped her eyes then glanced down the road. Sorem did as well to find Wyrn sitting in the wagon, faced away from them, elbows on his knees.

“Those charms are deadly,” Vadde squeaked out. “I feel they are actually deadly. Last year….” She hesitated but once before wiping her eyes yet again. “We had a fight. An awful row.”

Sorem held her shoulder, kneading it with his thumb. “Take your time,” he entreated her.

“Well….” She found interest in her hands as she muttered, “We’re not really human. At least I’m not. Not anymore.”

The gasp of surprise Sorem gave off dripped with authentication, he was sure. “Well, what are you?”

Her big brown eyes looked up at him as she shook her head. “I’d rather not say.”

Sorem’s mind went into a panic. What was happening? Why didn’t the Jvalan affect her? It even affected Matax, the fairy. What was she? What manner of creature could resist it?

He risked asking something she might answer. “Are you and he…the same now? Did he transform you into whatever he is?”

Vadde covered her face to hold back the next sob. “Prince Sorem, you’re not even listening.”

Surprised, Sorem held both shoulders now as he assured her. “Of course, I am.”

He was sure to glance down at his cage, expecting to see the Jvalan with its eyes closed and feet tucked up. What he found was surprising. The Jvalan…slept.

That….

No wonder Vadde could resist his questioning. Sorem wanted to shake the useless Jvalan awake but didn’t dare let go of this tender moment.

Instead, he dipped low and looked up at Vadde. “Go on, Princess, I’m listening. I promise.”

Vadde took time in lowering her hands. She shed another tear. “I hadn’t…I hadn’t known we couldn’t have children while transformed. In his true form, he can’t.”

Sorem asked, “But you still could?”

She lowered her hands but kept them together, her gaze there. “I was born human. So…I asked him if perhaps we could have children in our human form. He said it’s not impossible, but the child would just be normal and never have any power.” Her big eyes stared up at him yet again. “But that’s all right, isn’t it? Even if it’ll be a plain child surrounded by magical creatures. It isn’t selfish to wish for that, is it?”

Her desperation made her beautiful voice vibrate. Even with her eyes red and cheeks soaked, she was still stunning.

“Of course, it’s all right,” he assured her. When she said nothing further, he urged, “Go on.”

The next tear she caught with the back of her hand in such a casual fashion, Sorem nearly missed it.

“After a year, nothing came of it. And we were very active,” she admitted. Her brows furrowed when she met Sorem’s gaze. “Very active. We must have…engaged one another every day for a year. Every day. Morning and night.” She hesitated, face taking on a slow crimson. Once she was convinced by Sorem’s feigned composure, she cleared her throat and said, “Then I suggested we consult someone about—about if either of us—well, if I’m honest, about—about him, if it was possible for us to make his human form a bit stronger, he—I’d never seen him like that. He…he stormed off and didn’t come home for days.”

Sorem scoffed but counteracted his smile when she looked up at him. He forced the frown, nodding with understanding.

“Some people are too prideful, Princess. Sometimes a man is simply a man, regardless of the species, and he cannot admit when he’s wrong.”

She let out a weak sigh. “But that’s not the worst of it. After he calmed down and came back, we decided to live without children.”

The sudden silence had Sorem squeezing her shoulders. For a moment, he even considered shaking her. That thought surprised him enough that he let her go and waited instead.

“I was disappointed, but a week later, we found a basket by a lake. And….” Her eyes were big and bright when she stepped closer. “And a baby was inside.”

Sorem’s chest felt heavy. “Oh.”

Vadde rubbed her neck. “And of course, I was overjoyed. I felt like all my prayers were answered, but he said it was likely a theft by a fairy and that we couldn’t keep it.”

Relieved, Sorem nodded. “All right. And….” He squinted at Vadde and guessed, “And he ate it?”

“What?” Vadde’s head snapped up. “What? No. No, of course not. No. Of course not.”

It wasn’t disappointment Sorem felt at being wrong but worry. This disgraceful hunchback now had the means to trap her.

“Where is this child now?” Sorem asked.

Vadde hesitated then admitted, “We turned it over to the temple of The Living Goddess, frozen from aging. I agreed it was the right thing to do.”

She wiped her eyes with a sigh. “But if no one claims the baby, we…we…perhaps we could give an offering and make a claim.”

Sorem’s pulse raced. No. No. No!

“So that’s why I got the fertility charm. It wasn’t…for a real fertility, it was…for good luck. Of course, I want the baby returned but…but just in case. Just in case….” Tears welled in her eyes again and shed one by one. “But it was selfish. The Living Goddess is looking for the baby’s parents. With power like that, I just wanted a fair chance but…but it was wrong and now I risk losing everything. I feel like it’s backfiring and for my selfishness, I’m going to lose my husband as well.” After taking two shaky steps forward, Vadde begged, “So would you please, please absolve him of this quest so that we may return home? I’ll forget about the baby. I’ll forget about all of it. Please.”

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