Category: The Faerie Thief

The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 018

The Ruby Queen's Garden (Episode One)Gwyn turned her pockets out, searching in vain for a handkerchief. When none seemed forthcoming, Robin sacrificed one end of his scarf with all the air and dignity of a martyr. She buried her face in the soft red wool, mindful not to tug too hard, as her cousin was still wearing the rest of it. It smelled of the wild with a hint of blackberry, and made her stomach fizzle as though she was the one accustomed to swooping through the air and gusting with the wind.

“Really, it’s for the best,” Robin said, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder and looking everywhere but at her.

“I-I don’t s-see how,” she whimpered. Now that she’d started crying, she was having a difficult time stopping. It was as though each tear was determined to draw out all the sadness and frustration she’d ever felt, and no fewer than tens of thousands of them would be up to the task.

He gestured to the room. To the murky walls with anonymous stains that were streaked with grease. To the rafters stuffed with cobwebs and lost dreams. To the the filthy floor gritty with bracken and debris that must have blown in when she’d been locked up.

“You’re in a cage, Gwyn, and the sooner you accept that, the better.”

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The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 017

The Ruby Queen's Garden (Episode One)With a flash of crimson sleeve, the queen’s arm snaked out and she caught Gwyn by the ear and pinched down tight.

“Don’t think you can escape me, girl,” she whispered. “You belong to the garden, and thus to me.”

Gwyn winced and tried to keep her head even with the queen’s grip. It wasn’t easy, though, with the queen being a few heads shorter than she was.

“W-where are we going?”

The Ruby Queen gave her a look so filled with fury and hate that she nearly made a door back to Lyra’s world then and there. The only thing that stopped her was the certainty that the queen would follow her and drag her back to the garden after she’d destroyed Lyra’s world completely.

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The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 016

The Ruby Queen's Garden (Episode One)“Busy?” Gwyn slowed to a stop. As much as she hated the daisies, turning her back on them when they’d a taste for blood was only foolishness.

The Q.P.D. nodded, her grin curling all the way across her face and bleeding into her sepals. “We know how you got there,” she said, vicious laughter crinkling the corners of her eyes.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean,” Gwyn said, although she had a sinking feeling that she did. Still, it was impossible. There were no daisy beds near the croquet course.

The Q.P.D. turned up her nose. “Do you hear that, girls? The child expects us to believe her tales of innocence and no wrong doing, as though the clover would lie!”

“Clover—“ Her stomach twisted with the memory of sugared pear. Of course there had been clover, but why had it turned on her?

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The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 015

The Ruby Queen's Garden (Episode One)Gwyn landed with a bone rattling thump next to a manicured rose tree cut into the shape of a heart.

She only had enough time to get her bearings—and slip her gloves back on—before something small, reddish-brown, and spiky zoomed past her, missing her nose by the narrowest of margins.

Though it was foolish, she lay in place for a moment to catch her breath and reorient herself to a world dulled by gloves until it had gone barren of all magic.

All magic, of course, but the—

“What are you doing?” the Ruby Queen shrilled, mincing toward her with the grace of a poppy and the teeth of a venus fly trap. She had one of the servants propped up against her shoulder like a parasol and her crown pushed slightly back from her forehead.

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The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 014

The Ruby Queen's Garden (Episode One)Gwyn wasn’t ready to leave the Otherwhere quite yet, she never was, but the binding pulling her back to the garden was getting stronger now. She rubbed her hand against her ribs where it pinched her. “I guess.”

She reached forward to dive into her window, but Lyra put a hand out to stop her.

“Before you ever go through a door you’ve made, you need to be sure that it can bear you. Put your hands along the edges,” Lyra positioned her hands for her, “and strengthen it first. That’s important.”

“Strengthen it how?” Along with the delight and wonder came a spark of impatience. She’d lived in the garden her whole life, had paid strict attention to everything her parents did when they visited, and she’d witnessed enough of Robin’s pranks to know that magic should be easier than this.

“The same way you created it. Focus. Think. Believe.”Read More