Page 72 of Mountain of Mirrors and Starlight
“I can’t come again, can I?”
Aislinn shook her head. “The way opens only once for mortals.”
“But not your mother, right?”
“No, she gets a free pass. Queen of Faerie, and all. The land knows her.”
Caer pursed his lips. “Well, I suppose I don’t need to return homeimmediately,” he continued. “There’s not a great deal in Wales to tempt me.”
“You’re the heir to the throne.”
Caer shrugged. “I’ve never really cared for it. I was secretly glad when Owen married my mother and became the almost de-facto king… it took the pressure off me. Gave me more freedom than I’d ever had before. I rather hoped he might continue.”
Aislinn paused, thinking of the Owen she knew, the king she didn’t feel he was.
“I know you don’t much care for him,” Caer continued, “and I don’t mean to discredit your dealings with him, especially as you’ve seen him most recently, but he was not that man to me.”
“He… he wasn’tthatawful,” Aislinn admitted, “there was just… something about him I couldn’t put my finger on.”
“Fair enough.” Caer sighed.
A whistle sounded through the air, distant, but sharp.
They both froze.
“Caer!” called a voice, followed by another.
“Aislinn!”
Beau.
She tried to struggle to her feet, forgetting the jelly-like quality of her legs, and almost fell flat on her face. Caer, halfway out of the cave, stopped to steady her.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Go.”
“You’re sure—”
“Go!”
Caer sped out of the cave, his feet crunching against the snow. Aislinn pulled herself towards the entrance, clinging to the walls. She spied the party coming up the hill, the dwarves and Beau atop the wargis—grinning as they beheld him. Minerva galloped up the incline first, spewing snow behind her mount’s paws, shuddering to a halt a few feet in front of Caer.
“Caer,” Minerva said breathlessly. “Get down here.”
“What? Why—”
She marched towards him without another word, grabbing his shirt and tugging him downwards into a crushing, one-armed hug. Her metal one, it appeared, had been removed.
“Oh,” said Caer, relaxing, “that’s why.”
Beau reached Aislinn’s side next and hugged her so hard she thought her ribs might break. She sagged against him, strength depleted.
“You all right?”
“I think I nearly broke myself accidentally teleporting.”
“Which isinsane,by the way,” Beau remarked, taking her hands and breathing some magic into them—just enough to slice off a bit of her exhaustion whilst keeping himself stable. “I didn’t believe it, at first.”
The other dwarves had finally caught up. Bell went to Caer’s other side and squeezed his shoulder. “I know her affectionate voice and her I-want-to-beat-you voice sound similar, but—”
