A Wintertide Spell Read Online Free Page B

child into her arms. At once, the child ceased crying. Queen Geneva
met her daughter’s gaze. Her eyes were dark, alert and seeking. Queen and
princess inspected one another’s faces. The babe’s hair was not black as ebony,
and her skin was red, wrinkled and moist, not white as snow.
    Yet her toothless gums were pink as
roses, and Geneva knew with one glance beauty would come. One day, this child
would steal hearts—as she had already stolen the Queen’s.
    “Look at our beautiful daughter.”
For the fiftieth time today, tears welled up in Geneva’s eyes. “Look, Reginald.
Look.”
    With a disappointed grunt, the King
leaned over her shoulder and peered into his daughter’s round, red face. Geneva
tore her gaze from the baby to watch as his glower melted in a wash of paternal
adoration.
    Now King and princess inspected one
another’s faces, and it was, as always, love at first sight.
    “She’s perfect,” Reginald admitted.
“Peter is absolutely perfect.”

 
     
    Chapter 5
     
    The next day during the Wintertide
gifting, Geneva nursed her new daughter in a comfortable lounger by the tree
while the older girls played bronco on the floor with their father. All the
toys under the tree, including an abundance of magic flutes, and Susannah and
Calypso preferred to ride on their father’s back as he galloped madly around the
carpeted room.
    Which was exactly as it should be.
    Without ceremony, Foresta’s FAE
representatives—the fairies Budbud, Pleasentia and Gary—popped like soap
bubbles into the center of the room.
    Geneva had been expecting them
since the moment Peter’s naming ceremony had concluded, but as always she felt
some degree of apprehension at their arrival.
    Who knew what trouble the fairies
would bring? She was certain, even if they didn’t wish to harm humankind, that
they wished humans little good, either. Naudo or no Naudo.
    Calypso had no such reservations.
She squealed and pelted toward the trio at a dead run. Susannah approached at a
more mannerly pace. Reginald straightened his royal pajamas and ruffled hair.
    “Did someone say there was baby in
need of christening?” Budbud, who’d been old and cranky as long as Geneva had
known her, had an almost cheery look about her this morning. A ribbon of
Wintertide white strung with bells danced around her shoulders.
    “There is indeed.” Reginald rose
from the floor and gestured grandly toward Geneva. “There she is with her
mother. Princess Peter of Foresta. There is nothing you can give her that will
make her any more perfect than she already is.”
    “Then perhaps,” Budbud said with a
glint in her eyes, “it’s our job to make sure she isn’t too perfect.”
    “You shan’t give her anything like
what I got, will you?” Susannah asked the elderly fairy. “My presents weren’t all
nice, and then Mama and Papa had to make the bad lady go away.”
    “Gary, Gary, Gary, Gary!” Calypso
chanted, hanging off the male fairy’s robes like a monkey. Pleasentia, a young
female fairy, smiled at Reginald and wiggled her fingers.
    “We’ll give Peter exactly what she
needs,” Budbud assured the royal family. “And we will also give you a few words
of wisdom. Geneva, are you listening?”
    Geneva nodded. “Yes, of course.”
    Budbud cleared her throat
importantly. “Peter is not number three. She’s number four.”
    “What does that mean?” Geneva
asked. “And why do you have to be so cryptic all the time?” Sometimes she
wished humans had never begun dealing with fairies. They were often more
trouble than the magic was worth.
    But then she remembered Naudo’s
pain spell and held her tongue.
    “Think about it, Queenie.” Budbud
slipped her wand out of a concealed pocket and gestured toward the new baby.
“But think about it later. Right now, I want to meet Princess Peter.”
     
    ~*~
     
    Budbud watched the royal family
gather around the new baby with some degree of satisfaction. They had no idea
how important their