Faeiria Glassboria's Arc

Chapter 9 of 11

Faeiria waited in the pumpkin patch until dawn. She did not sleep. She did not move. She simply knelt among the vines and felt the world shift around the choice she had made. The slipper was still there on the palace steps. She could sense it even from this distance, a single point of light that refused to fade. But as the sun rose, something else pulled at her awareness. The palace stirred with activity that felt wrong. Faeiria stood and turned toward the distant stone structure, her eyes—all of them—opening to see what was happening. A woman had been taken to a tower near the palace grounds. Guards dragged her inside while a crowd watched. Faeiria recognized the residue clinging to the woman's hands. The slipper had touched her. She had worn it. The prince had found someone, but it was not Cinderella. Faeiria moved without thinking. She crossed the distance between the pumpkin patch and the palace in moments, her true form flickering at the edges of her control. She found the court mage in a chamber filled with candles and glass circles on the floor. The man knelt over a book bound in worn leather with gold symbols pressed into the cover. He turned pages slowly, tracing his finger over diagrams that matched the magic Faeiria had used. The slipper sat in the center of the circle, surrounded by light. The mage looked up as Faeiria entered, and his face went pale. He saw her. Not the small form she usually held, but something closer to what she truly was. "You anchored it," the mage said quietly. His voice shook, but he did not look away. "The slipper should have vanished with the rest. You broke the rules." Faeiria did not deny it. She stepped forward and the candles around the circle flared brighter. The mage closed the book and stood. "The woman in the tower stole the slipper from the guards. She tried to claim it was hers. But the prince knows something is wrong." Faeiria felt relief and dread twist together. Cinderella was not in danger yet, but the slipper had caused chaos she had not expected. The mage looked at her with something between fear and wonder. "What are you?" he asked. Faeiria met his gaze and let him see enough to understand. "I am what was sent to make sure she was seen," she said. The mage nodded slowly and picked up the slipper. "Then I will help you finish what you started."