Chapter 12

Sarah shook like an autumn leaf as she stood at the edge of the portal at Stonehenge. She could feel the power emanating from the invisible shift in the air and knew that all she had to do was place her hand inside and she would be pulled home. She hadn't been inside Fairie since her father had ordered her permanent banishment but Aiden was relying on her to at least try. Shaking off the nerves, Sarah inhaled and stepped into the gap between two of the upright stones.

Her breath instantly caught as her feet touched the soft grass of Faerie. She had spent far too many years looking at the green hills and valleys of Salisbury that she had almost forgotten how beautiful Faerie was. Scores of pink and orange hues filled the cloudless sky. Seemingly endless fruit trees that stood in fields of greens and yellows, twinkled with lights from the fairy homes within their branches. She could see the castle, standing in all its golden glory on top of the largest hill, overlooking the valley below it.

Each step that took her closer to her ancestral home pushed Salisbury further away in her mind and she knew she had to be careful. The more time she spent in Faerie, the less likely she was to go home.

She tried to block her ears as a wave of flowers drifted into the air by the hundreds, each one holding a tiny sprite that giggled incessantly as they floated. Their meek little voices called to her as she walked through the floating flowers, promising her a lifetime of happiness if she stayed to be their queen. They had always been mischievous little things and if she listened, she knew they would cast their Glamour and she would be forever lost in a world of make-believe.

"I'm not listening," she told them, brushing them away. She had fallen for their Glamour once before as a child and would never forget the immense pain of leaving them behind.

"You loved us once, Princess. Come back to us. We can…"

Sarah swatted the flower away from her and her ears were suddenly filled with a high pitched squeal of laughter as the floating flowers fell gracefully back to the grass.

"I see you haven't lost your touch, Sarah. You always did manage to get yourself caught up with the wrong crowd."

"I see you still enjoy sneaking up on people, Seraphine," Sarah said.

"Sometimes. Father is wondering why you've returned." There was no ignoring the resentment in her sister's voice.

"Is he, or is that just you wanting to know what has brought the prodigal daughter back home?"

Seraphine shrugged and fluttered her large translucent wings. "I'd walk with you but why walk when you can fly around in the beautiful eternal sunset of Faerie? Why don't you try it, dear sister? Oh, that's right, you can't. How silly of me to forget such a bittersweet day."

Sarah sighed and continued walking up the hill towards the castle and her waiting father.

"You know, Faerie hasn't changed at all and unfortunately, neither have you, Seraphine. Make yourself useful and have father ready himself, little sister. I have something to discuss with him and then I am leaving."

"Father does not want to see you and you are no longer a sister of mine. You're a disgrace to our family blood, Sarah, and you have no right to be here."

"That may be so but I would rather hear that from my father's mouth. Father and the Circle may have clipped my wings and bound my magic but they did not banish me from Faerie, or end my claim to the throne. So, regardless of your opinion, I am still Princess and I expect you to address me as such, little sister. Have the guards open the gate."

Crossing her arms, Seraphine harrumphed and fluttered away angrily. Sarah was surprised to see her sister stop and speak to a guard, who quickly began heaving at the thick wooden gate. Seraphine had never been one for doing what she was told, especially by soon she thought was beneath her. The outer grounds of the castle hadn't changed at all over the years. Children played chase in the street, men sat around surrounded by clouds of smoke, talking and laughing, while women hung clothes for drying or beat the dust from carpets.

Keeping her face expressionless, she walked through to the inner gardens that led to the huge wooden doors of the castle. Nausea rose up in her throat and her stomach cartwheeled with each nervous step that she took. The doors swung aside as she reached them and with a deep breath, Sarah pulled her shoulders back and raised her head as she walked into the castle.

"Your father and the Circle are ready for you in the main hall. I trust you remember your way there?"

Sarah nodded at Edmeed, then smiled as he hugged her tightly. "I have missed you, dearly, old friend."

"And I, you, my dear. Each day without you breaks my heart. You are still bound, I see," he said.

"For now, yes. It is only what I deserve," she said. "How have things been with the…"

"Cuttlefish! You fell in love, that was all. I told your father he was making a mistake but he refused to listen. Stubborn as a troll he is, even now. As for the Dark Fae, they are at bay, for now, thanks to you and your wolf. Although rumour has it that the Black Seel are preparing a revolt."

Sarah shuddered at the thought of a second revolt. It had been during the first that Sarah had met Benjamin and it had only been through his pack's help that her kingdom had survived. "We won't survive another revolt Edmeed."

"Hush, Princess. That is of no concern right now. Let's see your father. I trust you want to be alone with him and the Circle?"

Sarah shook her head. Edmeed, despite being her tutor and probably as old as the castle itself, was her only trusted friend in the kingdom. "Would you stay? I don't think I can do this alone."

Sarah followed Edmeed through the archway that entered into the meeting hall. Her gaze instantly fell upon her father, seated on his golden bench wearing beautiful emerald green office robes with gold inlay to match the gold laurel crown upon his greying hair.

"Your abomination of a child needs your help and you've come to ask for your magic to be released?"

Sarah's heart almost stopped at her fathers' words. She had always believed he didn't know that Aiden existed.

"How..?"

"Never mind how. Tell me why I shouldn't have you thrown in the cells and have that bastard dragged here, too?"