Page 55 of A Little Highland Magic

“Would you and your friends take us to Moonstone Castle? We need a little help escaping so that we can speak with Oberon.”

“Aye. W-we’d be h-happy to h-help.” The frog before her croaked and came to the third one’s side.

Aria pressed her lips together. “We might need some help getting onto their backs,” she said to Graeme, searching around her for a stone or a tree to aid them.

“W-we can h-help with that.” The two frogs who had been attacking the fairies released loud belches that carried the metallic scent of blood. With the release of air, the amphibians reduced their size and were now about five feet tall, which would make it easy for Graeme, Gille, and herself to scramble atop their backs.

“Mount up, quickly,” Aria directed. The beelzebufo who had been talking with her also reduced its size. “We must leave before those members of the army who were not eaten regroup.”

Aria, Graeme, and Gille crawled up and straddled the amphibians a moment before the three frogs drew in more air, returning to their original massive size. The beelzebufos set off to the east, easily hopping through and over what remained of the fairy army. Following behind the three frogs and three riders were not the army but the sprites.

Aria held tight to the skin of the frog beneath her, trying to find a rhythm to the hopping that was not smooth like the gait of a horse. But the animals would help them achieve their goal of reaching Moonstone Castle. A little discomfort was a small price to pay for that service.

Aria’s beelzebufo hopped evenly with Graeme’s. His features were shuttered as he stared off into the distance. His anger had returned. Her heart clenched, and her limbs went numb. She had damaged the trust between them by withholding information about Keiran.

“Is that why you were so eager to come to Fairyland? To be reunited with your beloved?” The bitter pain in Graeme’s eyes brought a catch to Aria’s throat.

“I have never lied to you about my feelings for you or my reasons for coming here. It is my own guilt over Lady Janet’s death and Keiran’s loss that drove me back here. Nothing else. Even though Keiran and I are betrothed, it is not something either of us ever wanted. And once Keiran is free from his enchantment, he will tell you that himself.”

The pain in Graeme’s eyes lessened. “Betrothals are binding.”

“Not if the parties involved object. Marriage cannot be forced on anyone in the human or fairy realms.”

“You are certain Keiran feels the same?” Graeme asked with a glimmer of hope in his voice.

Aria desperately wished she could stop the beelzebufos and prove the sincerity of her words. But it was imperative they keep going before the rest of the fairy legion came after them. She would have to voice her feelings instead. No longer holding anything back, she let everything she felt towards Graeme ripple through her until she was certain her feelings shone in her eyes. Faith. Love. Devotion. “I do not love him, Graeme. I love you.”

After a moment of shocked disbelief, he smiled a smile that hit her like an errant ray of sunlight, warming her insides and bringing sensation back to her limbs. “If I could touch you, I would let you know I return those feelings tenfold. And once we are off these magnificent beasts, I promise a more thorough expression of my feelings for you.”

His voice rippled through her, and she felt a connection between them that was stronger than ever. Graeme completed her. With him she had learned to trust in others once more, and knew she was infinitely stronger with him at her side. And with that newfound strength, she would not bow down to Oberon’s demands or his dark powers. She would not give up what mattered to her the most—her human family. She would not allow her memories of her past to affect her decisions about her future. Oberon might be powerful, but she was finding a strength all her own, and the source was not flowing water or magic, it was love. The most powerful force ever created.

The amphibians jumped up a hill and, at the top, Moonstone Castle came into view. The castle’s white spires reached up towards a silver sky speckled with a thousand stars and a three-quarter moon. A long white path stretched out before them—the path that would take them to Oberon.

“Are you ready for this?” Aria asked both Gille and Graeme.

Both Gille and Graeme nodded.

A responding wave of anticipation flared in Aria’s chest as her mind raced through the possibilities that lay before them. Their goals were simple, if difficult to complete. Break the enchantment over Keiran, convince him to return to the human realm with them, and persuade Oberon to release her mother from the shadow realm.

It did not take the beelzebufos long to make their way to the castle’s gates, which were open as though Oberon knew they were coming. The amphibians stopped and reduced their size, allowing the travellers to jump down from their backs.

Aria placed her head against each of the creature’s snouts in a sign of respect. “My thanks to you all for your assistance.”

“G-glad we c-could help,” the beelzebufo she had ridden said before the three of them hopped away, heading west.

Silence descended over the trio as they walked to the arched doorway where two guards stood at attention. They did not look at the travellers as they passed inside the castle, simply kept staring ahead as if the arrivals were no threat to Oberon or anyone inside the whitewashed castle.

As they neared the throne room, Graeme’s gaze swept the area as it always did, searching for a potential threat. Instead of the guards Aria expected, there were female fairies of all shapes and sizes, dressed in diaphanous gowns with wreaths of flowers in their long, flowing hair. And there were male fairies in breeches, leather vests, or brightly coloured tunics, wearing crowns of leaves and antlers, lining the walls of the open chamber.

Aria had been to the Seelie court many times, but for Graeme this was a new experience and she tried to see the chamber through his eyes. Large Corinthian columns with capitals decorated with flowers and leaves were positioned evenly about the chamber. Ferns and ivy grew around each base, and twined up the columns, making them appear more like trees than works of stone. Small-winged fairies flitted about the chamber in clusters, the fluttering of their wings adding a soft humming to the sounds of the court.

At the upper end of the chamber was a dais with a silken canopy overhead that rippled in the breeze created by two satyrs, who waved giant palm leaves in the direction of the proud-looking man in a gold, ornate chair. At their entrance, Oberon turned to Aria and for a moment he was not the malicious overlord she had left behind but simply a man who was pale and careworn, as though weary of so much state and ceremony. In the blink of an eye, the image vanished, and the proud, powerful ruler of Fairyland was once more in place. Standing beside Oberon was Keiran.

“Aria MacLeod.” Oberon drew out her surname as if to taunt her for identifying herself as such. “What brings you back to the Seelie court? Have you come to your senses and returned to the place where you belong?”

“I do not belong here, just as Keiran MacLeod does not belong.”

“You ran away from me, from your home.” Oberon snapped his fingers and Aria’s plain blue gown was replaced with an elaborate gold dress.