Another Kind of Glamour Read online

  Frantically I searched, but Titania was nowhere to be found; it wasn’t within my power to find the Fairie Queen if she didn’t wish it so. I could circle the Earth in a heartbeat and it wouldn’t be quick enough. I could feel the fabric of our reality tearing like a rotten veil. Soon the real world would rush in and once that happened there would be no way on heaven or earth to push it out again.

  Don’t you ever get the least bit weary of living in a world that is nothing but a fabric of lies?

  I remembered what Oberon said. The lie part wasn’t true, well, not yet anyway, but part of me understood what he meant. Perhaps it was better this way. No more careful balance, no more patching and mending the threadbare truths and keeping the mortal’s reality at bay. Let the royal children rip it all to shreds in a fit of pique for all I cared. I had failed. I was tired. I wanted to rest. I picked the first soft and mossy place I came to and lay down.

  “And just what do you think you’re doing, sprite?”

  Cowslip sat cross-legged on the branch of an oak tree a few feet above me, staring down.

  “Resting,” I said. “Waiting in a comfortable spot for the world to end.”

  “Liar. You’re moping. That’s what you all do at times like this. Bloody useless, the lot of you.”

  Was she right? Had the King’s melancholy got to me? Yet the king’s period of moping had apparently ended. So why wasn’t I angry too? And why in blazes was Cowslip talking to me?

  “A little while ago you wouldn’t have spoken to me, even to be insulting.”

  She grinned, and I was suddenly reminded what a sweet face she had.

  “Insulting you is fun. Why should I give it up just because Themselves are having a row?”

  Matters were worse even than I had thought. It was bad enough when all the fay shared their sovereign’s moods, but when the link was broken, well, surely it was the end of Fairie. And yet, Cowslip sounded almost like herself again. I looked around. Fairie was still here; nothing at all had changed, so far as I could see. I looked to the border… and I couldn’t see it beyond the mist. All was Fairie, as far as my eye could see. I had a sudden suspicion.

  “Cowslip, do you know where Titania is?”

  “Of course I do, and if you had any brains in that fat pan of yours, so would you.” Cowslip cocked her head to one side, listening. “I must away, sprite,” and she was gone.

  I sat up, and then stood up. All was quiet. Whatever summons Cowslip had responded to, it wasn’t meant for me. The wood around me was suddenly bathed in a gentle golden glow.

  “Greetings, Puck.”

  The light resolved itself. It was a glow of regal glamour, and in the center of it stood King Oberon and Queen Titania, arm in arm, smiling at the world but mostly at each other. Behind them were attendants Bellflower, Cowslip, Mustardseed, and the entire host of the fay in solemn procession.

  “Majesties?”

  The Queen smiled at me. “We are having a dance and revel in the middle glade, Good Robin. Will you join us there?”

  I bowed low. “Of, of course, Majesty.”

  Later I caught Oberon alone, but barely. Titania had grandly and conspicuously retired early and it was clear Oberon would join her presently, if he—and all of us—knew what was good for him.

  “What happened? And why did you send me after the Queen, My Liege?” I asked.

  He smiled a little wistfully. “Because I didn’t want you to witness what I had to do to make matters right, Puck Robin,” he said. “Things were bad enough. Did you know that, while our world was falling apart, she still took the time to tell me exactly what she thought of me, thoroughly and at length and with great inventiveness? I’m almost sorry I sent you away for that part; you would have enjoyed it immensely, I’m sure.”

  “Then why are we all still here? And why were you so angry, My Liege?”

  “Because I wasn’t wrong.”

  The more I heard the less sense it made. “You were angry for being right?”

  He laughed then. “No, Puck. I was angry because I was right, and yet I was still going to go apologize to my Queen.”

  “And you made things right between Yourself and Her Majesty, so easily?”

  He laughed then. “Easily? Puck, weren’t you listening? I had to apologize! It’s not something I like doing, and I certainly needed no more witnesses to my shame. Yet I am king enough to realize—with a little reminder on your part—that there are more important things than being right. Fairie is one. Titania, my love, is the other.”

  Cowslip appeared at the edge of the wood, looking Ominous. Oberon nodded. “Tell the Queen I will join her straight away.” She disappeared then, looking worried. Oberon turned back to me. “I must go now, Puck. Matters are too easily undone.”

  I nodded. So easily that, doubtless, they would become undone again. “This may be important later, so I have to ask, Your Majesty: what did you say to her?”

  He shrugged. “I said that I loved her, that she was more important to me than all the world. That she was the world.”

  I frowned. “And she believed you?”

  He looked at me very seriously then. “Why shouldn’t she believe me, Puck?

  After all, it is the truth.”

  Oberon took his leave then, nor did I say anything more. After all, it wasn’t the first time the Fairie Queen had loved an ass. Still, so were we all and truth was a risky business all around. I wasn’t sure how many more wild roaming truths Fairie could stand. Yet, and despite the odds, peace had been achieved in Fairie because this time Oberon and Titania’s truths were in harmony. So Oberon went to meet his Queen and I went to get some well-deserved sleep. Or at least I started to, when Cowslip appeared again looking, if anything, even more Ominous.

  “And where do you think you’re going, sprite?”

  “That depends,” I said quickly.

  “On what, Puck?”

  “On you.”

  Cowslip smiled and took my hand. So much for my sleep, but I knew the risks. Truth is a dangerous thing, as I said before, and living by it always brings consequences.

  Some, fortunately, were more agreeable than others.