“I try very hard not to,” Luci murmured gravely.
A small laugh from Brielle. “What was that girl’s name?”
“Lady Annabeth.” Luci wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Another, more genuine laugh. “She said I smelled like rotten strawberries, and you shoved her into the pond.”
Honestly, she should have done far more than that. Brielle hadn’t heard the other insults the noble girl had strewn across the lush summer grass. The things she had called Brielle. The pond hadn’t been nearly enough.
“Ten years isn’t long enough to be away from that dreadful place. All the nobles preening and prancing. Comparing whose estate was the largest or who was closest to the royal family.”
Luci made a gagging sound.
It usually would have earned her a laugh from Brielle, but today the sorrow of life had found her. It was evident in the long sigh that accompanied the rise and fall of her chest.
“Do you ever wish you weren’t forced to stay with me?” The question was quiet, a whisper in the wind.
Luci shot up and stared at her best friend with incredulity coursing through her like a tempest sea.
“How could you ask me that?”
At least Brielle had the decency to drop her eyes, pale cheeks going crimson, as she reached for her long blond braid nervously.
“I just–I know you love me, but don’t you ever wonder what it would be like to meet someone, fall in love? Have children of your own? See the world? Have an adventure?”
“I’m fairly certain the first few of those would negate the last, but neither way. I am happy with my life. Loving you isn’t a burden, Bri. You are my home.” Luci only wished she could make Brielle understand the truth of it.
It was hard to remember life before she came to Blythe, but what she did remember had been hard. Life had been cold and unforgiving. Even if she didn’t have those memories, she had seen the Meridian court and found it wanting. She had been tolerated there only as Brielle’s companion, but everyone looked down their noses at the lowborn girl who had been a gift to the sickly aristocrat. She heard their whispers and witnessed their sneers. Not one had tried to see Brielle for the beautiful soul she was.
As for love, Luci had never witnessed a love truer than what she felt for Brielle. She supposed the only romance she’d seen was between Brielle’s father, Sir Trevion, and her stepmother, Lady Margaret Treveon. That had hardly been a love match and was more like a business transaction. Sir Treveon had the land and the title; Lady Margaret had the money to feed his ambition.
Fifteen years later, all they had to show for their marriage was polite inquiries and posturing in public when necessary. It certainly didn’t inspire Luci to go out into the world to find a love of her own. All she needed was right beside her.
Having enough of the conversation, Luci cleared her throat and waved the fairytale book in her hand.
“Let’s see if that overgrown cat can earn his redemption.”
Wrinkling her nose, Brielle shook her head. “Don’t call him a cat, it ruins the allure of him.”
Luci raised an eyebrow, “Oh, what about horns, a tail, and an eight-foot frame covered in fur is exactly alluring to begin with?”
Waving a hand as if Luci couldn’t possibly understand, Brielle settled in against her, warm and familiar.
The small smile that sat on Luci’s lips was proof that this was all she would ever need.
“The fire crackled while Beauty tended to the Beast’s wounds…”
Chapter two
The Step-Mother
The Blue Fairy is renowned for not only her strength in magic but also her influence over those she chose to help. Would Beauty have made it to the Beast’s castle without her influence? What of the Sleeping Princess’ prince? No other fairy would have been able to guide him through the patch of thorns to where his love waited for his kiss.
-Tales From Meridia, Volume I
It was a great day. One that Luci would carry with her, coating her in armor for all the days that weren’t. The spring breezewrapped and danced around her as if it couldn’t resist sharing in the beauty around them. Her mouth was tingly from too many strawberries, but that wouldn’t stop her from eating the rest in the white bowl beside her.
Luci would have even dared to call it a perfect day if it weren’t for the splash of cold lake water that accosted her skin.