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Chapter Twenty-Four

S erena hesitated, knowing this would be the last time she saw her aunt’s words addressed to her, and then tore open the letter.

My Dearest Seren a

If you are reading this, then we are no longer together. I am so sorry to leave you alone, dear one, and trust me when I say that I would give up every single book in our collection if I could spend one more week with you and your smile.

You are the most special person I have ever met; I knew it the first time I held you in my arms, and you latched on to my finger, looking at me with those beautiful green eyes.

I have never been one to enjoy the company of people, but every single day in your company was a joy like no other.

You and I understood each other in a way few souls in this world are blessed enough to experience.

While I enjoyed my solitude in this cottage, I was always conscious of something missing.

That something was you, dearest. I know I was never the most expressive of people, and I struggled to convey my emotions the way you give yours so freely. But know that I have never loved anyone the way I love you, and I could not have loved you more if you were my child instead of my sister’s.

I have made many mistakes in my life, although I know you would shake your head if I said so.

But I have always said that it is only a fool who is unconscious of their own errors, and I might be many things, but a fool I am not.

I have pushed away people my entire life in the name of work, and while I am proud of what I have accomplished, I cannot say they have all been good decisions.

When you were born, I knew you were special, but I was so used to being alone, that I did nothing to reach out to you, fearing that you would reject me.

If not for my sister’s stubborn nature, there is a possibility you and I would never have had what we did.

I have not been a very good daughter, or a good sister, but I think I can believe I was a good aunt to you.

So, hear me now, child, forgive your mother.

She can be sharp, but she loves you in the way she knows how.

I knew when I went my own path years ago that I was pushing every family burden on her, and for that I will always be in her debt.

Your mother was a better sister than I deserved, and you are a better daughter than she deserves.

I have lived my life to its fullest capacity, on my own terms, and while I regret nothing, I fear that you think I want the same life for you.

Tread your own path, Rosie, do not let the cottage and duty cage you, for no matter where you go, Primrose Cottage will always be waiting for you to come home. Your light is too precious to forever be confined to the outskirts of Glenn.

Remember to have faith. Magic is always around the corner.

May the Scepter light your way.

Your loving aunt,

Maeve

By the time she finished the letter, she could barely see through the tears that streamed through her eyes.

She had known reading this letter would be hard, but she had not been prepared for the wave of grief that swept through her so strongly that if she had not already been sitting, she would have fallen to her knees.

Tossing the letter aside, she put her face in her hands and sobbed.

For her aunt, who had gone too soon, her relationship with her mother who had hidden the letter, and for herself.

Throughout her breakdown, Grim did not say a word, simply opting to hold her while she wept, murmuring soothing words to help her tears dry up.

It seemed like he always knew what to do to make her feel at ease.

He never pried, or lectured and she felt herself becoming more and more dependent on his unshakeable presence, falling deeper in love.

She wasn’t a fool, she was painfully aware of the fact that he still hadn’t said the words she longed for most. He had said other things, yes, beautiful things, but he had not said he loved her. Maybe she could tell him first, but she was scared, so scared, of his rejection, or worse, his pity .

No, she would keep her feelings to herself for now .

They stayed that way for a while, until she saw the sun start to sink, and she sat up, wiping her tears, looking at the letter again, memorizing the untidy scrawl as if it was the most precious thing she had ever seen. Grim gently took the letter from her then, and scanned it, pausing at a word.

“Rosie?”

“It was my aunt’s nickname for me,” said Serena, with a soft smile. “On account of my hair, and my name.”

“It suits you,” he said gently.

He continued reading, a frown appearing when he reached the end.

“What’s the scepter?” he asked.

She smiled at the question. “The Scepter of Wishes was part of her favorite fairytale, The Tale of the Knight and the Fairy Princess.

Aunt Maeve believed that it had once been what held the magical world together.

It was actually one of her most researched topics, and she was very devoted to its existence.

“The tale said the Scepter of Wishes was a magical object that was created when a fairy princess wished upon the stars to bring back her dead friend. It is said it created the first—oh my fucking stars!”

Grim bolted up, scanning the room for threats, but Serena rushed out of the room. A minute later she came back with a heavy looking book, which she tossed at Grim.

“Read the first tale in it,” she said excitedly.

He looked at her like she was a little crazy but opened the book and started reading. Serena had read the tale so many times that she practically knew it by heart.

There once was a fairy princess who loved humans.

She would often visit the human world, lurking around the village that bordered Faery, just to look at the villagers going about their daily lives.

Sometimes, unbeknownst to them, she would give them little gifts.

A farmer whose crops miraculously revived after a storm, an old woman whose milk jug never ran out of milk.

It was on one of these trips that the fairy met a village girl who was training in the woods to be a knight.

With wild brown hair and smoldering dark eyes, this girl came to the forest every day to practice in secret with her sword.

Sometimes she would stay there for hours, her steps as light as the breeze that ruffled her short dark hair.

There was something almost fae-like about this human, her graceful movements a stark contrast to the savage way she swung her sword.

The fairy had seen many humans in her time, but none who drew her like this girl.

And so, she revealed herself, and very soon the two became fast friends.

The fairy was drawn to the strength and unshakeable aura of the knight girl, and the knight girl, who had grown up in rough circumstances, was fascinated by the princess who, despite being a hundred years old, seemed to view the world with an almost childlike joy.

They would meet almost every day, in the woods outside the village where the knight girl trained, and the fairy perched on the tree to watch her and chatter.

It was one such day, when the young fairy was waiting for her friend, that she was discovered by a group of malintentioned villagers who came across her practicing her magic.

“A witch,” they cried. “She’s trying to curse the village!”

The fairy tried to protest this, confused by their hostility.

Their village, Fellhaven, was a place that believed in fairies, and there was no reason for them to doubt the truth in her words.

Unfortunately, it was not bigotry that moved them, but rather a glimpse of her iridescent silver wings that they had resolved to make good use of.

“Let us drown her in the lake,” they declared. “If she is a witch we will know once she does not drown.”

As they were dragging the poor fairy toward the water, the knight girl appeared, having heard the cries of her friend. Upon seeing what was happening, she grew red with rage and unsheathed her sword. She fought off the villagers successfully but was mortally wounded in the process.

The fairy princess threw herself across her friend’s prone form, and wept tears of grief so intense that soon she was sitting in a puddle of silver, (for Fairy Tears are silver in color).

And then she wished a pure wish of love and grief, a wish for her friend to be returned to her, a wish that the knight girl not be cursed with a short life simply because she loved a fairy.

It was Summer Solstice, and the stars were out in search of a wish to grant, a wish that held no malice, no selfishness.

A wish born out of love in the truest sense.

Upon seeing the fairy maiden sitting on the ground, her wings drenched in a pool of her own silver tears, the stars knew they had found the wish they would grant.

And then right before the fairy’s eyes, her pool of tears began to move and solidify until what remained was a gleaming silver crystal.

The stars bade the fairy to lay the crystal at the base of the magnificent oak tree, whose roots had soaked up the blood that seeped from her friend’s body.

She did so, and from the tree sprung forth a wooden staff, on which the stars then told her to place the crystal.

Upon doing this, the staff and crystal emitted a bright light and morphed together to create a glowing scepter that thrummed with magic.

The fairy maiden clutched the scepter to her chest, and once more wished for her friend to come back and lo and behold, the knight girl appeared hale and whole, in a flash of light.

However, she was now changed into something greater, something mystical. For the stars’ magic is no small thing.

And so, the first of the Spirits was created by the Scepter of Wishes, born out of the purest of loves and the most heart wrenching grief .

The Knight Girl then kneeled in front of the princess, swearing her sword and life to the fairy, promising to protect her until she joined the daughters of air as a mere note on the wind.

The fairy clasped her friend’s hand and promised to always be her truest friend in return, and so the two remained the most loyal of companions, until a hundred, and then two hundred years passed.

Until the Spirit and the Maiden both tired of life and together decided to lay down to rest in the Valley of Somnia, leaving behind the Scepter of Wishes as a reminder of their love for each other.

After a few minutes Grim looked up, his face etched in shock.

“Does that ring a bell for you? A crystal and a wooden staff that came from an oak tree- that’s the Silver Crystal and the Spirit Wand!

The Scepter of Wishes is mentioned only a handful of times in the oldest of fairy tales.

Then it simply disappears,” Serena said.

“What if what Nerida and the Spirits want is not the Wand but the scepter? The Scepter of Wishes can grant any wish, which would explain why the spirits said they could remove the curse from you if you completed their quest? This must be why Lore said what he did about Nerida wanting something from Arcana that later led to her demise.”

He shook his head, still a little skeptical. “That makes no sense. If that was the case, why would Nerida just give you the crystal? And what about the spirits? Without the crystal, they cannot possess the scepter either, so why would they send me on a quest based on that?”

Her excitement faltered a little as she pondered it. “Nerida mentioned that the Five might have consulted an Oracle, maybe they already knew that I would have the crystal. But you’re right, we don’t know enough, yet. We have to contact Nerida.”

“Well, said Grim, looking at the window, “it’s too late for that now, because we’re about to enter the fourth fairytale. Brace yourself.”