Deep in the Bavarian woods, where the faerie realm touches on the human world lies Schloss Mondschein. Owned by a corrupted human family, the castle is the playground of the Fae. The human staff are their toys.
Servant's daughter Andromeda Arendt h...
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Solitude was a good thing. Andromeda didn't care that the bathroom floor wasn't very bathroom-like. The underground was rugged rock and tree roots, glimmering because of the narrow stream that meandered through the space. In the back, there was a hole in the earth to do one's business, but for now, she sat on a thick patch of moss that was dry and soft, the music of the rippling water the most soothing lullaby. Sleep came for her eventually and pulled her under so deeply that when hours later, North Winterborn tiptoed in and scooped her up, she didn't object.
She woke up in the four-poster bed, warmly tucked in, with North Winterborn dozing on a chair in the corner. The moment she sat up, he startled awake too, his hands shooting up in front of him, ready to cast his faerie magic where needed.
"It's just me." She swallowed, hoping they knew each other well enough for that introduction to calm him.
They stared at each other for the longest time, allowing the memories of yesterday to catch up with their nightly dreaming, meanwhile trying to assess who they had in front of them ... friend or foe?
Andromeda couldn't tell for sure, but she remembered him talking fondly of her pa. She also vaguely remembered him lifting her up and making sure she got a comfortable place to sleep, so she whispered, "Good morning."
"Morning, phantom. Are you hungry?"
"I could eat a shifter."
That made him laugh and the knot in her stomach loosened a bit at the joyful sound.
They picnicked on the bed. The sweetness of the fruit and the satisfying feel of bread landing in their bellies made their quiet togetherness less awkward. After devouring four slices thickly covered in honey, she worked up the courage to confront him with some hard questions. "Did you know my ma?"
He finished his bite of bread before he replied. "I've heard the stories. I had seen depictions of her, but yesterday was the first time I saw her in real life."
"There are stories of my ma? Depictions?"
"Elvira Blossom is the most famous pixie in Faery."
Andromeda almost choked on her milk. "My ma is not a pixie."
North stopped buttering his next slice to cast her a compassionate glance. "You didn't know?"
His obvious pity made her squirm, the ridiculousness of what he was saying made her fidgety. "North! My ma is not a pixie."
"You know I can't lie. Not outright, I can't. And I don't think I'm mistaken. I recognized her in the mirror, and I recognized Joseph Arendt next to her. Your name being Andromeda Arendt, I put two and two together. I'm sorry it took me so long."
"North, stop it. This is not funny." She didn't want to cry again. She was not a crybaby dammit, she was Andromeda Arendt, the ghost of Mondschein.
"Your mother is a pixie of the Well. There were only three of them left, but she gave it all up to elope with a human. The human ... I reckon now ... your father."
