Chapter 15

“What do you want?” a shrill waspish voice practically screeched in answer to the knocking. The door creaked open a crack and a pale pointed face poked out of the crack to peer into the fire. A quick shriek and the door slammed in their collective faces. The image jumped back about a foot while the fire wavered a moment and then recovered.

“Come out; come out, Mother, dear.” Brendan tapped his foot impatiently.

“You COULD give some WARNING, oh precious son. At least let me put on a bit of glamour before you see me; I have aged so disgracefully since you left.” Her tone went from demanding to wheedling then to self-pitying, before becoming guilt inducing. Cassie was impressed in spite of herself. Her mother could only generate a maximum of three separate emotional manipulations in two spare sentences. Here were three with overtones of a fourth she could not put her finger on.

Brendan turned to her and smiled. “Mothers,” he mouthed and blew her a kiss.

“I heard that, boy.” The door opened again and the image in the fire followed it into a beautiful room, lavishly decorated in palest green silks and satins, delicate furniture sat tastefully around the large open room, curtains of deep forest green velvet with golden fringe rose from the floor to the high ceiling, tied back with cream colored ropes with long tassels decorated with pearl tear drops. Mirrors around the room reflected back pieces of the room, as well as seemed to peer into other rooms. The flame’s angle finally settled on an armchair in front of the fire. Soon their view appeared to be from the fireplace, thus Titania was peering into her fire as Brendan was peering into his.

Titania looked like many of the depictions of her all rolled into one. She was beautiful by any definition, her long oval face crowned by an enviable head of fine white gold hair looped up on top of itself in the most absurd fashion, yet on her it looked elegant and graceful. Her eyes slanted upward in a gentle tilt, violet irises peering out between her softly golden lashes. Her creamy smooth skin contrasted nicely with the heavy forest green velvet gown she wore and her hands looked positively tiny, with perfect rings with exquisite gemstones gracing her slender fingers. Perfectly proportioned, she looked like she had never given birth to anything larger than a deep thought.

“To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure, my son? I have been expecting your call for, oh, over one hundred years now. Your fiancé is beside herself, literally, she has split herself by mistake. They’re working on a cure, but I still think you should come back. Two half wives is better than none, yes? Besides, you need to learn to rule, to take over when your father and I die.” Her voice lilted and trilled in an affected accent that gave Cassie the impression that Titania had taken acting courses from either a very good coach, or an exceedingly bad one.

“You will never die, Mother, and I do not want to take over anyway.”

“Ungrateful!” Titania hissed, her voice and face becoming harsh and jagged. A moment passed before she regained her composure and continued. “Be that as it may, you still have responsibilities. I desire grandchildren, you must continue on the royal line.”

“Why can’t any of my brothers or sisters have this responsibility? There are many older and more interested than I, and I would defer to any of them right now.”

“Not one of your brothers or sisters is from the right side of the sheets, my son. Nor are any of them MY children. Your father’s bastards will not rule.”

“Mother, you know as well or better than I that I could be from the wrong sides of the sheets as well. Isn’t it possible that I am actually Shakespeare’s fourth child? Or possibly Goldsmith or Burke? Come now, Mother, let’s be honest with each other.”

“Yes, honesty is the best policy,” she managed to croak out. “You first. Where are you and when are you coming home?”

“I am home, and I am not coming back to you.”

“Ever?” The word slipped out of her mouth before she could think. It betrayed a longing and a sense of loss that Cassie felt acutely. Titania flew into a towering rage, leaping to her feet and hurling a nearby bottle of wine into the fire. Brendan ducked as the bottle flew out of the grate and crashed against the rocks behind him. Cassie jumped again, shivering from both the cold and her fright. Ainsel came to sit beside her and offered her his jacket, which she gratefully accepted.

“Not ever. I have made myself a life here and I intend to live it. Mother, I am sorry that I’ve been such a disappointment. I do love you in my own way, but I cannot bear to watch you and Father fight and bicker and machinate around each other. The court and its goings on is only part of why I left. And I found what I was looking for, so you can forget trying to woo me back with trinkets or prizes.”

Titania seemed to listen to him and Cassie, even at the odd angle, could see her mind working. Suddenly the angle of the fire flickered and Titania was staring straight at her. Cassie instinctively threw her arms up over her face and turned away. Ainsel cowered behind her like a puppy who has been smacked once too often.

“Ah ha! I see what you think you have found, you sniveling coward. You walk away from royalty to consort with mortals, to give your precious love away to one who will die long before even half your life is over. You have no sense of loyalty, to your own people, to your homeland. How dare you come to me and show me this little worm of a girl? Come home now and I will forget this ever happened, but if you continue to defy me, watch out, you will feel my wrath.” Her tone had flattened into a thin bronze blade with a keen edge and a deadly sharp point. Cassie shivered reflexively.

Brendan threw up his hand and jerked the view of the flame back to him. “Mother, you will not insult, harm, or defile my wife. I had intended to hear you out and perhaps return for a visit with you and Father, but now I have no intention of doing that either. How DARE you talk about her or to her that way? This is my life and I choose to live it outside the bounds of your petty little world.”

Titania’s face changed imperceptibly when Brendan said the word ‘wife’. Cassie had pulled down her arms and watched her closely and saw another mask slide on top of the one already in place. A cunning look flashed in her violet eyes and was gone before its import could be measured. Cassie certainly did not like the look and a cold knife of fear sliced into her already unsettled stomach. Brendan, however, did not appear afraid, but angry, as angry as she had ever seen him.

“Your wife? How can you marry another when you have a fiancé at home? How can you even begin to think that whatever paltry human ceremony you witnessed would even bind you to this woman? You are not married; you are still a child playing at house, playing at life. Come back and take up your responsibility; you will never be a man, a full man, without it. Without my blessing, you remain a child, an aging, sad, pathetic little boy longing to join with the grown ups, but destined to always play with broken toys.”

Brendan, white with rage held up his left hand and thrust it toward the flame. The blue and white flames flickered and cast strange shadows, giving the small clearing a preternatural look. His wedding ring, the large gold band Ainsel had stolen from Oberon for him, glittered in the flames’ dancing light. From where Cassie sat, it seemed that fine writing chased across the ring as the flame hit it. She instinctively looked at her ring and saw the same strange reflections in the gold.

Titania fell silent at the sight of the ring. She knew what it was and what it signified. She also knew it was Oberon’s missing ring; she could feel the resonance from her seat by her own fire. Somehow he had circumvented her plans for him; plans she had nursed over the last century waiting for him to get his wild oats sown. How could this have happened? How could Taliesin have gotten away with it without her knowing? Her eyes narrowed. Perhaps he was lying; perhaps he hadn’t truly gotten around her geas, but was pretending to give her the slip yet again. She suddenly brightened. That had to be it.

“Very well, my child,” she fairly purred. “I apologize for my rudeness toward your beautiful bride. I would love to meet her, to give my blessings and be a part of your lives together.”

“Do not be coy, Mother. I know your tricks. You will not meet her or come anywhere near her or me. Leave us alone.”

Titania’s eyes flashed again. “You leave me no choice.”

“You always have a choice. You could bow out gracefully; let me live my own life. You never know; I might come back of my own accord.”

Titania seethed on the other end of the flame image. “You are an ungrateful brat and I cannot for the life of me recall why I thought you were important enough to bother with. Have your own little life. What do I care? I will reign for another thousand years while you weep for centuries over your lost mortal love. Good riddance.” She picked up a bucket sitting next to her armchair and threw its contents into the fire. Water splashed out of the blue and white flames, catching Brendan before he could get entirely out of the way. The flames flickered and then returned to their steady state. The image within had vanished.

“Well, so much for my mother, Titania, Queen of the Faeries.” Brendan took a handful of dirt from the ground and threw it lightly on the fire, mumbling a few words. The blue and white flames flared then died down completely. The branches appeared as if nothing hotter than a warm summer’s day had ever touched them, and Brendan took them out and scattered them on the ground.

Cassie came up to him and took his hand, feeling the warmth of his skin and the odd coolness of his wedding ring. Hers felt like ice on her other hand and she wondered why, but decided not to ask. Later she would wish that she had.