The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Fifty Seven: Riddles

Athane noticed the stiffening of my spin. "Don't worry," she whispered. "This is but the ghost of a moment that has not yet happened. They cannot see us nor hear us."

"We're in the future?" I asked. The question hung in the air, strange and foreign.

She laughed. "We are still in my nest, Dearie. I've merely changed your perception of it. Think of it as a dream."

"What about this one, Aurora?" The child withdrew a gown of sunflower yellow. She held it up against her nonexistent chest and twirled around, showing it off. I thought she would look very lovely in such a bold shade, with her coloring, but it would no doubt make Aurora look like death.

Aurora reached out and grazed her fingers across the flower's petals. She didn't even look in the girl's direction. Her voice rattled out her throat, "No. Is there not a black one in there? I think that would be far more appropriate."

Aurora sounded annoyed, angry even.

The girl seemed to hear the edge in her voice as well for she frowned and her brow furrowed. "What's wrong?" She asked in a soft voice. "Aren't you excited? Lord Kieran is very handsome. Don't you think so?"

The poor naive little thing. She was at that age where romance was just beginning to catch her interest when love was innocent and pure. Old enough to long for sweet kisses, but ignorant of everything else. For her, love was a fairytale and her sister was bound for her happily ever after with her prince charming. She didn't know, couldn't yet fathom, that Aurora was being married off to the dragon.

Aurora gave her half-sister a look that made even me cringe with pity for her. Her pretty face was pinched, her lips trembling with held back tears.

Titania rose to her feet and glided to the girl on soft steps. She laid a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Daphne, go play outside for a while, please." She commanded. "I need to speak with Aurora alone."

A disappointed sigh escaped Daphne's bow-shaped mouth, but she nodded, knowing better than to argue with her mother. "Yes, Mother." She said and allowed Titania to lead her out through the door.

The sound of the door clicking closed echoed through the room, far louder than it should have been. "Forgive her, Aurora." Titania leaned her forehead against the door. Her shoulders were slumped wearily as if the very act of holding her head up was tiring. "She doesn't know what kind of man Kieran is."

Aurora plucked the cream rose from its vine as she shifted into a sitting position. "I'm glad." She said lowly. "I don't want her to know what that beast is going to do to me." She held the rose by its stem at her chest and spun it round and round until the petals blurred together. "She adores Father. I wouldn't want to taint her view of him."

Titania visibly flinched. "I'm so sorry, Aurora." She turned, showing Aurora a pained expression on her usually stoic face. I would never have imagined that she was capable of showing such emotion. "Believe me, I wish I could have stopped it."

The rose in Aurora's hand went up in flame. She simply watched it burn, letting the ashes flutter away on the salty breeze. "You didn't try very hard." She remarked coldly.

Titania flinched again and now she looked on the verge of tears. Her eyes shimmered wet. Her voice was strained. "I did everything I could, but...it didn't work."

"You are still sharing my father's bed, are you not?" Aurora said. Titania stared at her with her mouth pressed into a thin line. Aurora's lips curved ever so slightly into a smile neither sad nor happy. "Then you have not done everything. I cannot help but wonder...if it were Daphne father had offered Kieran for his sacrificial bride, would you still be able to stand at his side?"