Page 14 of The Beauty and the Griffin

The Gamekeeper’s conversation had spoiled me. Every year, I looked forward to walking with him in the gardens again because we could freely discuss important intangibles, things no one else seemed to care about.

He also offered wise advice a few years later, when Eddi flirted with young men I considered wrong for her. “She must work these things out for herself,” he reminded me time after time. “We learn best from our mistakes. I believe your little princess is solid at her core. You’ll see.”

Eddi had grown into a strikingly beautiful young woman with a big heart and an overdeveloped competitive drive that frequently got her into scrapes. She had always loved horses and riding, and since her father bred, raised, and trained flying horses at a farm not far from the palace grounds, it was only natural that she longed to ride and race a winged horse of her own. After months of constant nagging, King Koldo indulged her with flying lessons, believing she would lose interest in the sport over time. I wasn’t so sure, but His Majesty seldom requested or considered my opinions regarding his daughter.

As Eddi matured, I had gradually morphed from a nanny into her personal aide and companion, which was a position I hoped might continue indefinitely. The princess would marry someday and have a family, but as heir to Bilbao’s throne she would always need personal aides. Eddi and I both assumed our lives would continue together forever.

However, two major changes affected our situation during those years. First, the summer I was twenty-two and Eddi was sixteen, we met Kamoana, one of the sirens of Faraway Lake, in human form and helped her solve a mystery to find her True Love. After her lakeshore wedding, when Kammy spoke to us while in her siren form, Eddi could suddenly see the many magical creatures living and working at Faraway Castle. I let her believe that this magical power was new to me as well, promising myself I would confess the truth at the right time.

Which was pretty much a cop-out, I know.

The second change was less magical yet more earth-shaking. After many years as a widower, King Koldo fell in love again. The new queen was a kind and gentle woman, but Eddi hated every aspect of her father’s remarriage, closing her ears and mind to her stepmother’s many virtues. And when Queen Jakinda became pregnant and gave birth to a son—the new royal heir, due to Bilbao’s law of male primogeniture—Eddi extended that contempt and resentment to her own baby brother. Drawing on the Gamekeeper’s advice, I urged her to look for good things about these changes. After all, I knew she was secretly relieved since she’d always dreaded becoming Queen of Bilbao.

I might as well have saved my breath.

Arabella

It was midsummer yet again when Pukai and I met for dinner at her favorite restaurant in the capital city of Auvers. As usual, Pukai appeared as a gorgeous woman, and I looked old enough to be her mother. Maybe her grandmother. Also as usual, the maître d’ fawned over her and scarcely noticed me. I may or may not have rolled my eyes. But once our meals arrived, Pukai made us virtually invisible and inaudible, then bluntly asked, “I do not understand why Beatrice isn’t at Faraway Castle by now. How can we get that girl to break the curse if she’s never here?”

“She’s coming soon, never fear. Her princess moved their summer holiday to later in the summer. So, as it turns out, Beatrice will have two extra weeks to spend with the Gamekeeper this year. And I’m just as happy she wasn’t here when all that craziness with Princess Zafira went down.”

Pukai started to shake her head, but I spoke first. “Please don’t start criticizing my choices of a century ago! I was a novice fairy godmother and did the best I knew at the time.”

To my surprise, Pukai smiled. “Yes, and thanks to your quick thinking, everything worked out in the end. Am I the only person who knows you’re the last living fairy godmother on the planet?”

“Prince Briar figured out that I’m a fairy godmother when he stripped Zafira of her fairy gifts and my fairy curse. And just last week the Beast took on both Briar and thecarovnagardener girl, Rosa, as his apprentices, so now they both know.”

“Do you think he made a wise choice in apprenticing them?”

“Yes, I trust his judgment; those two are solid. But I don’t believe I’m theonlyfairy godmother. It’s a large world, you know.”

Pukai pondered for a few moments while I enjoyed my meal. “I’ve been too distracted recently. I’ve lost my edge since Kamoana married,” she stated.

“Is it really so bad, having a human son-in-law?” I inquired.

One brow twitch was her reply.

“That bad, huh?” I tried to sound unaffected. Pukai is a good person, but intuitive regarding other people’s emotions she is not.

“At least they visit frequently,” she said, “and Kammy recently gave me another grandson.” With all four daughters married, Pukai was already a grandmother several times over, but this new grandson washerbaby’s baby.

“Really? Congratulations!”

Pukai smiled. “My magic passed down to him—he can already switch his appearance from merman to human.” She sounded downright smug.

“How fun! I bet he’s super cute.” I longed to ask if her cousin had grandchildren. Or children, for that matter. Did she even remember my acquaintance with Kapono?

7

BEATRICE

During my final springas her nanny, Eddi was so busy riding and training her father’s flying racehorses that she’d chosen to delay our yearly Faraway Castle holiday. I knew this was mainly because her current crush would arrive at the resort just before the annual Midsummer Ball, but she also wanted to be at the resort for the annual Faraway Castle Cup flying-horse race, traditionally held the closing weekend of the summer season. The schedule change would give me extra time with the Gamekeeper, so I wasn’t about to complain.

That summer unfolded into my happiest yet. Boy-chasing, group events, and chaperoned mountain treks kept Eddi preoccupied, leaving me far more time to myself—time that I spent with the Gamekeeper whenever he was available. He and I discussed world events, history, politics, theology, and many profound life questions on a far deeper level than I’d ever experienced at school or found in books. Despite his vastly greater knowledge of the world, he never once belittled my ideas, and he always encouraged me to keep seekingTruth.

As our relationship deepened, my curiosity about him grew. Who was he, really? Other than generating the magical foundation of the resort and chatting with me, what did hedo? Where did he live? Did he have a family? Exactly what manner of being was he? I desperately wanted to know, but as the days and weeks ticked past, I never worked up the nerve to ask him even one of those pressing questions. Unfailingly kind though he was, he maintained a quiet dignity that discouraged personal inquiries.

On Thursday of the summer’s final week, while preparations for the fête and race day transformed the playing fields into semi-organized chaos, the Gamekeeper and I took a stroll through the topiary garden and unexpectedly encountered the Head Gardener, Rosa, talking to a few of her magical shrubs. “Oh, pardon me,” I said and started to turn away. But at the Gamekeeper’s rare touch on my arm, I stopped short.

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