The cool breeze trailed an invisible path through the gardens, brushing past Candice softly. It was truly a wonder to be here and experience the fresh air, and the sound of bubbling water from the fountain only helped her relax her stance. Candice heard her governess approach her before she saw her. She also saw her father coming up to meet her right behind her governess. Both of them looked at her rather intently.
Miss Harcourt's hands trembled, so she clasped them together. Lord Edmund Whitcombe stood rigid, his face pale, his gaze fixed on his daughter with an expression Candice could not yet name, was it fear, hope or regret?
She wondered to herself.
"Candice," Miss Harcourt said gently, "there is something you should know about your mother, it may change how you may come to see yourself. It's time you knew dear."
"I am listening," she said.
Lord Edmund drew a slow, steady breath. "Your mother was not entirely human."
"She was a fae, a royal one. She possessed light magic. She hid her true form in our world." Miss Harcourt explained.
"We thought it best to tell you since you have discovered similar abilities." Miss Harcourt said, indicating her glowing hands.
"If I had not discovered I had magic in my veins, would you have sought to keep what you knew of my mother, a secret from me?" Candice asked, feeling upset that it had taken this long for someone to open up about her origins and who she really was.
Miss Harcourt stepped forward then and said, "We only wanted to protect you, we would have still told you even if you had not manifested your powers yet."
Candice felt the truth of it settle into her bones with startling ease.
"I always knew," she whispered.
They both stared at her.
"Yes, as a child, you would come to me with your dreams of magic and strange light and dancing faeries." Miss Harcourt replied, remembering the little girl, Candice used to be.
"I never fit in anywhere," Candice continued, her voice calm though her heart thundered. "I hear things before they happen. I see light where there should be shadows. When I'm afraid… the darkness pulls away from me."
Her hands began to glow then.
It was softly, like dawn spilling across the horizon. Warm light bloomed from her palms, spilling over her fingers, illuminating the roses until their petals gleamed. The air hummed alive and reverent before her.
Miss Harcourt gasped.
"My God," Lord Edmund breathed.
Candice lifted her hands, wonder flickering across her face. The light responded to her by swirling gently around her like a living thing. She felt no pain or fear, merely a profound sense of rightness, as though she had finally embraced herself fully for who she was, part human and part fae.
"This is what I am," she said quietly. "Light answers me."
Neither Miss Harcourt or Lord Edmund could speak for a moment as they marvelled at her ability to bend light to her will.
The glow faded slowly, settling back into Candice's skin, leaving the garden a little more alive than before.
"I want to find him," Candice said then.
Lord Edmund blinked then. "Find… whom?"
"Cassius," she replied without hesitation. "He matters to me. I know he's tied to all of this."
Miss Harcourt's face drained of colour.
Candice turned to her father.
He stood there awkwardly, uncertain, a man who had so much and given too little. For the first time, Candice saw not the absence he had left behind, but the grief that had shaped him.
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.
Lord Edmund stiffened at first, then embraced her in a moment of silence.
He held her as though she might vanish, his breath hitching, his hands wrapped around her. "I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair. "I never should have left you."
Candice closed her eyes. "I forgive you, Father."
Suddenly, the air seemed charged, and the wind howled.
Candice spun just as a portal tore open, the sound like silk being ripped wide apart, its edges writhing with fae sigils and silver flame.
Two figures stepped through.
They were tall, armed in silver metal etched with black runes. Their eyes reflected the silver flames. Fae warriors.
"Lady Candice," one said. "You have been summoned to the Fae Court."
"No!" Miss Harcourt cried, reaching for her.
Lord Edmund reacted on instinct. He shoved Candice behind him and drew the pistol from his coat, firing once, then twice. The shots rang aimlessly through the garden, the bullets dissolving midair as if swallowed by magic.
The warrior struck him down with the hilt of his sword.
Lord Edmund slumped to the ground.
"Father!" Candice screamed.
Miss Harcourt grabbed her, clinging desperately. "You cannot take her!"
A powerful hand wrenched Candice free. She struggled, light flaring from her skin in wild defiance, but the fae warriors did not falter. One struck the ground with his sword, suppressing her magic in a crushing wave.
"Enough," he said coldly.
Miss Harcourt fell to her knees, sobbing as Candice was dragged toward the portal.
"I'll come back!" Candice cried, twisting against their grip. "I promise...I will come back!"
The garden vanished from her eyes.
She fell forward and landed on soil beneath a sky of shifting violet and gold. Towering spires rose in the distance, carved from white stone and glowing with ancient power. The air thrummed with magic so dense it made her catch a breath.
Candice Whitcombe looked at her surroundings, which were alive with magic, then took her first step into the fae realm.