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Evie arrived in the doorway, tying the belt of a red brocade robe with an exaggerated faux sable collar.

“Holy smokes!” she said, surveying the damage to the doors.

“Look what you’ve done now, you bloody bastard of a horse.

Were you raised in a barn? You see? This is exactly why I told you that horses belong in the stable.

If it’s good enough for the horses that pull the Wild Hunt chariot, it should be good enough for you.

” With an almost imperceptible wave of her hand, the doors reassembled in much the same way the castle entrance doors had.

She leaned around the horse so that she could clearly see Vidar.

“Who are you? And what are you doing up here? The second floor is for family only.”

“Vidar. I’m a friend of family. Niall, to be exact. He was showing me around.”

“Really? Then where is he?”

Vidar looked around like he hadn’t missed the prince. “I don’t know. He was just here.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. She didn’t know what exactly was wrong, but sensed something was ‘off’. “I heard downstairs that congratulations are in order.”

At that, Thorn struck the inlaid marble flooring with his front right hoof. “Leave. Now,” he told Vidar silently.

Vidar glanced away from Evie for a millisecond, letting the horse know he’d heard and that he didn’t take orders from out-of-place horses.

A squawk as discordant as squeaky chalk on a chalkboard came from somewhere behind Evie.

“Is that the dragon we heard about?” Vidar asked.

Not being at all in the mood for listening to chitchat, Thorn didn’t allow time for an answer.

He’d sensed Evie’s uneasiness, which drove his own agitation higher.

He reared up, pawed the air, and shook his great mane in a way that reminded Evie of a commercial for Paul Mitchell hair products.

When his feet struck the redwood floor, he began trotting toward Vidar.

As if in slow motion, a long, spiraling alicorn blossomed between the pronounced muscles of his forehead and grew to the length of a short sword.

Evie gasped at the sight. The unicorn had a visible gold-white aura shining so brightly a human would need sunglasses to look at him.

“Stop,” said Vidar. The fact that Thorn continued to advance was most perplexing for the demigod who’d thought he had dominion over all animals.

Vidar knew he couldn’t be killed, not even by one of the rarest of all creatures.

But he also didn’t want a reputation for harming unicorns.

They were thought to be a protected species; protected by the Powers That Be, themselves.

When Thorn continued his advance, Vidar simply faded to invisibility. Seeing this, the unicorn thought he’d chased the threat away. As he spun to return to the royal residence, the little dragon, who’d come to see what the fuss was about, jumped out of the way. Thorn snorted at it on the way past.

“So, I live in a menagerie now?” Evie said to no one as she closed the doors after the horse.

And the dragon. That was when the baby started fussing.

The unicorn instantly returned to looking like a horse, albeit a stunning horse, clip-clopped to the side of the bassinet, and peered in.

The queen was understandably alarmed by the idea of a ton-weight, door-battering animal being so interested in the princess.

“Shoo,” Evie said, trying to get him to go somewhere else.

“Thunder, is it?” That caused the horse to give her a contemptuous look over his shoulder.

Message received. “Yikes. I guess it’s not Thunder. Care to tell me your name?”

Light flooded the room so that even the Irish queen had to squint and shield her eyes, but the princess stopped fussing.

Evie was thinking she needed a proverbial “break” with a good, long winter’s nap.

“Where’s Diarmuid when you need him?” The blinding light gradually resolved into a transparent, shimmering female form wearing a layered diaphanous gown that seemed to ruffle at the whims of an unseen breeze.

It might be a ghost, or it might be a goddess on walkabout. “What now?” Evie said under her breath.

“Don’t be afraid, Evangeline,” said the spirit.

“I’m not afraid,” she said as confidently as if she’d been a queen for eons. “Who are you?”

That question was coming up too often for a single quiet night at home.

“Vaxingthe. I’m Esmerelda’s mother.”

It’s hard to say what Evie may’ve been expecting. But that wasn’t it.

“Oh. Really? Are you, um, alive?”

“In spirit form. I’ve sent this most magical of all creatures as a gift for Rhiannon to honor the friendship you and your mother have extended to my daughter. He’ll be with the princess until she reaches puberty.”

Evie looked at the unicorn. “I see.” She was hardly enthusiastic about Rhiannon having a pet unicorn, but couldn’t think of a way to reject the gift and have it not seem like, well, a rejection.

“My mother named him Thunder when he was thought to be nothing more than a good-looking statue, but I get the feeling he doesn’t care for the name. Does he have another?”

“Yes. Thorn.”

“Thorn. Fitting.” The unicorn bobbed his head up and down. “I guess this goes without saying, but I have to ask. Can you vouch for his behavior? A hundred percent? Because he’s a very large animal and she’s a very tiny baby.”

Vaxingthe’s laugh was as musical as chimes. “Certainly, my dear. The unicorn is here to protect the child from any who may not wish her well. He’s not fond of the dragon, but will tolerate it if you insist.”

Evie would’ve liked to say she did not insist and that it would be a kindness if Vaxingthe would take the dragon with her when she left.

As if the spirit read Evie’s thoughts, she said, “Thorn is a most reliable judge. He doesn’t like the dragon, but has agreed to tolerate it because of shared purpose. If the dragon was untrustworthy, you can be certain that the unicorn would have dispatched it straight away.”

“Well,” Evie said, “I suppose that’s comforting. Since the dragon was a gift from my mother-in-law, there’s nothing I can do. You know how that goes.”

“Well,” said the spirit. “Not really.”

“Right. I shouldn’t have assumed. So, is there anything in particular I should know about his, um, care?”

“He likes green oats and dandelions.”

“Oh. Um. Okay.”

“Tell your mother not to worry about Esme. Everything will be fine.”

Only when Vaxingthe’s form began to fade did Evie realize she’d never said thank you. “Wait. I need to…” But she was gone.

Vidar stood in a far corner of the room, his cloaked presence undetected by the queen, the unicorn, or even the distilled essence of a late Cardinal.

He was impressed by the queen’s connections.

He knew unicorns were a historical fact, not a fantasy, but even he had thought them extinct.

Perhaps the Cardinals had been hiding this one in their realm, which was one of the places he couldn’t access without invitation.

The little dragon was aware it was receiving instructions. It didn’t resist because it sensed no danger to itself or the princess. That being the case, it simply absorbed compulsions which would be triggered by any one or combination of events related to the impending party.

When Vidar left the room, Thorn felt a shift in energy.

He scanned the environment, but finding nothing out of place, went back to gazing adoringly at the infant in the bassinette.

Rhiannon opened her eyes, looked him over, and smiled.

And just like that, the unicorn was no longer a soldier on a mission.

He was a celestial guardian in love with his tiny mistress.

At the last minute before his exit, Vidar remembered to find Niall and wake him up. Forgetting could’ve been an oversight that gave alarm. Niall would’ve eventually been discovered. If no one was able to wake him, they would suspect foul play and would probably contract a top-notch investigator.

“How did I get in here?” Niall asked, looking around with a yawn.

“I don’t know,” Vidar lied. “I looked around, and you were gone. I hunted around and finally found you in here.”

“Oh.” The prince looked confused, but accepted the explanation.

“Thanks for the tour. I’ll see you around.”

Niall didn’t want the association to end so abruptly. After all, he had no friends. But in the span of a brief hesitation, trying to decide what to say, Vidar was gone.

As he emerged from the room where Vidar had supposedly found him, a butler carrying two huge vases of flowers almost ran into him.

“Pardon my clumsiness, Your Highness.”

“Watch yourself,” said Niall, feeling even more surly than usual after the disappearance of his new friend.