Page 12 of Love & Letter Charms
“You are.”
She turned to look at him then, tilting her chin upward to find his face. “You ought to be at my side for this. We’ve sharedalmost every moment since we were born. This shouldn’t be any different.”
He hesitated before answering, eyes still pointed forward. “Sometimes one must step forth alone. Perhaps it is for the best that we did not manifest together.”
“Then it ought to have been you first.”
He shook his head, finally turning his gaze toward her. “No. My magic is quite untamed. Sparks and surges without rhyme or reason. It doesn’t yet feel ready.” He paused, then added in a quieter tone, “I’m not concerned about when I’ll manifest. I know it will come.” His gaze drifted ahead to where Rosavyn stood arm-in-arm with their mother. “Rosavyn, though …”
The memory of that raw look in his eyes back at the cottage suddenly made sense. It hadn’t been disappointment for himself but worry for their sister. Aurelise’s heart ached with a different kind of tightness.
A sudden hush fell over the assembled crowd, rippling outward from the main approach like a stone dropped in still water. The High Lady’s golden carriage had arrived, gleaming in the twilight as if it had been carved from a single piece of sunset amber.
With a swift gesture and a near-invisible flicker of magic from the footman, the carriage door swung open. The prince stepped down first, turning at once to offer his arm. A moment later, the High Lady placed her gloved fingers in his and descended with fluid elegance, pale blue hair cascading freely down her back. Her gown of bronze silk seemed to hold stars within its folds, shifting and glimmering with each graceful movement.
She moved to stand beside her son, and Aurelise found herself frowning as her eyes moved to the prince. Midnight-blue hair fell in artful disarray above ink-blue eyes alivewith mischief. His skin, darker than his mother’s alabaster complexion, reflected the golden hues of sunset against sand.
As they began their procession through the parted crowd, his eyes caught on a small cluster of young ladies standing near the Rowanwood family. His smile turned decidedly roguish as he winked at them, causing an immediate outbreak of fan fluttering and poorly suppressed giggles. One young lady actually swayed slightly, as if the mere acknowledgment might cause her to swoon.
Aurelise suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Though she had not attended many society events yet and had seen the prince only a handful of times, his reputation as an incorrigible flirt was legendary. Every gossip bird in Bloomhaven seemed to have a story about Prince Ryden’s romantic entanglements and scandalous flirtations. There were also rumors that the High Lady endeavored to keep him confined to Solstice Hall for much of each Season, yet for someone supposedly under his mother’s watchful eye, he certainly cultivated an impressive collection of dalliances for society to dissect.
The High Lady climbed the stairs onto the raised marble platform and stopped before the pavilion’s entrance. She turned to address the gathered fae elite.
“My dear friends, we stand at the threshold of a most extraordinary evening. Tonight marks not merely the opening of a restored Dreamland, but also the dawn of a new Bloom Season, bringing with it the promise of new magic and new possibilities. You have journeyed from all corners of the United Fae Isles, while my son and I have crossed the veil from the royal realm in the Shaded Lands beyond the northern borders. All of us drawn to Bloomhaven, where the land is infused with potent magic unmatched anywhere else. Tonight, all eyes will witness our young lords and ladies debut their manifested gifts beforesociety—a moment that transforms private talent into public identity, forever shaping their place among us.”
And naturally, Aurelise’s magic chose that precise moment to betray her.
A delicate trill of flutes escaped into the evening air as the High Lady finished speaking. The sound lasted barely a heartbeat before Aurelise clamped down on it with desperate force, but she’d already sensed several heads turning in search of the sound. Heat flooded her cheeks as she gripped Kazrian’s hand so tightly that her knuckles ached.
“Steady,” he murmured without looking at her, squeezing her hand in return, and there was something anchoring in his firm hold, a familiar weight that drew her back to herself. She exhaled slowly, deliberately, feeling the restless magic within her settle like disturbed water gradually returning to stillness.
“Lord and Lady Rowanwood,” the High Lady said, gesturing gracefully toward where Evryn and Mariselle stood, “would you do us the honor of officially opening Dreamland?”
Pride swelled in Aurelise’s chest as she watched her brother and sister-in-law step forward. Evryn’s usual playful demeanor had been replaced by something more solemn, more worthy of the moment. Mariselle practically glowed beside him.
Together, they approached what appeared to be a curtain of pure golden light stretched across the pavilion’s entrance. They joined hands and, in perfect synchronization, pressed their palms against the barrier. The light responded immediately, fracturing into thousands of golden butterflies that burst outward and upward, dissolving into sparkles that rained down harmlessly on the delighted crowd. Applause erupted around them, and even Mariselle’s typically sour-faced parents allowed their pinched disapproval to soften into something that might, with generous interpretation, resemble admiration.
“Your Majesty,” Evryn said with a deep bow, while Mariselle curtsied beside him. “Dreamland awaits.”
The High Lady inclined her head graciously and entered first, Prince Ryden at her side. The crowd surged forward after them, and Aurelise found herself pressed ahead of Kazrian, swept along in the tide of silk and excitement.
The moment she crossed the threshold, wonder momentarily eclipsed her anxiety.
The interior defied all logic. They stood in what appeared to be a garden made entirely of spun sugar and starlight. Crystalline flowers bloomed along paths of rose-gold that shimmered with gentle radiance, while above them, the ceiling had vanished entirely, replaced by a sky that couldn’t possibly exist—swirls of pink and gold clouds that moved like living paint across a canvas of deepening twilight.
“Oh, look at it all!” Rosavyn breathed, appearing beside Aurelise and linking their arms together. “This is extraordinary.”
Despite her nerves, Aurelise couldn’t help but agree. Everywhere she looked, impossible beauty beckoned. They continued along the shimmering path and discovered fountains of liquid pearl spilling over tiered basins of mirror-polished stone. Trees with bark of polished rose-gold bore leaves of delicate glass that chimed sweetly in a breeze she couldn’t feel.
The path carried them through a succession of ever more fantastical scenes. Soon they came upon the champagne bubbles—vast, shimmering spheres large enough to contain entire rooms of magical delights, while countless smaller bubbles drifted through the air, as though they were strolling inside a glass of freshly poured champagne.
Then came the cloud bridge, appearing to be made of nothing more substantial than compressed cumulus, white and impossibly fluffy, stretching across a chasm filled with swirling mists of gold and silver. Tentatively, Aurelise and Rosavynstepped onto it, giggling with childlike wonder as they found it solid beneath their feet, though it compressed slightly like the finest carpet.
Rosavyn’s eyes lit with mischief. “Shall we test it properly?” Without waiting for an answer, she gave a small experimental hop. The cloud beneath her feet bounced her slightly higher than expected, and she laughed with pure delight. “Oh, you must try this!”
Propriety warred with curiosity for all of three seconds before Aurelise joined her sister. The sensation was unlike anything she’d ever experienced, similar to jumping on her bed as a child but somehow softer, more magical. They clasped hands and jumped together, their laughter ringing out across the ethereal space.
“Ladies!” Their mother’s scandalized voice called from behind them. “Such behavior is entirely inappropriate for?—”
