Moonlight and Ashes (26 page)

He smiled and held out his arms to me and I was in them, breathing in the living scent of him, laughing and crying. His lips were on my hair and he murmured, ‘Will you stay with me always, Selena? Will you, my love?'

‘Yes!' I cried, ‘Yes, yes! Oh yes, my darling . . . my love.'

I was still shy about using his name, for it was hard to call him Leo, not Max. He smiled again, knowing what I felt, and said, ‘When I was a child, I always preferred to be called by my second name. It seemed to me so much more exciting than Leopold. You can call me that if you like.'

‘And what is it?' I asked, laughing.

‘It is Ash, in honour of Giant Ash from your own country, Selena,' he said quietly.

My scalp prickled and my breath caught. ‘It is a good name, Ash, my love,' I said, as steadily as I could. He kissed me. ‘Yes. Yes, it is.'

And then he looked beyond me at the General Secretary, still hovering, and said in a firm and commanding voice, the voice of a prince, ‘The blood has been spilled, the shadow has lifted and we are all in the light. And so the world must now change.'

The General Secretary looked at him, his face expressionless for an instant. Then that thin half-smile broke over his features, lightening them all at once. ‘Yes, Your Royal Highness. Indeed it must.' He looked at me. ‘Indeed it must,' he repeated, and nodded at me in a way that wasn't exactly warm or friendly, but was full of something else, something worth even more. And that something was respect.

So history was made in that moment and the pain of a hundred years had begun to roll back. And though I knew it would take time, a great deal of time for us all to trust each other again, for the opposing forces to co-exist once again, it was still a start. One we would never regret.

The Count, his son and Bastien were hauled away for questioning, while my friends and I reunited with a good deal of joy, laughter and exclamation. On the way back to the city we sat all together in the same carriage. Olga told me how she, Tomi and Max – or rather, Ash – had cobbled together what she called a ‘compass spell' out of my locket and our bits of hair she'd forgotten to throw away, to try and find out where I had gone after Dremda.

‘Our first spell, and a little crooked, I think, because it did not bring us straight to where you were but instead to Andel.'

Andel laughed heartily. ‘I could take offence if I did not know what you meant, dear Miss Ironheart.'

‘Well, you say you do not believe in magic,' she said crossly, ‘so when it bring us to you I am sure there must be mistake.'

‘Not a mistake,' piped up Tomi, eagerly, ‘because it was Andel's barge that brought us to Faustina after all.'

‘So it did but slow. And he not let us try any other spell either to hurry it along,' grumbled Olga. But the glance she shot at Andel quite belied her cross tone, and knowing that, he grinned.

‘Magic may be all very well in its place but that is most definitely not on
Wanderer
,' he said firmly.

‘Oho, Andel, so now you are converted you will be no doubt writing to the author of
The Laws of Magic
to set him straight on its existence?' I said.

‘Hmm,' he said, looking a little sheepish, ‘I'm actually thinking of writing my own book – on how the laws of magic might actually work . . . at least sometimes.'

Olga snorted and Ash, laughing, said, ‘Good luck with that, then,' and added, with a sidelong glance at me, ‘At least you'll have expert advice to call on.'

I blushed. ‘I'm no expert, not at all, not in the least, I'm just . . .'

But he stopped me with a look that made me tingle from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it, saying, ‘Are you ready, then, Selena?'

I nodded, rather nervously. For we were off to the palace to see his father and mother – the Emperor and Empress.

‘Good,' he said, ‘because I know it will be just wonderful.'

I must have looked a little cynical because he smiled and said, ‘Not only will they be glad to meet you but I know that my mother especially will be happy knowing that a new chapter is beginning in the story of the empire.'

He told us then that his mother had long believed that something should be done about the situation with magic. ‘Being from Ruvenya herself, she simply does not share the
official line, though she'd never say so in public,' he said. ‘I suppose it was partly her influence that made me think about it in a different way, as well as reading about our history, and the ideas I was exposed to at university.'

‘Like
The Laws of Magic
,' Andel said, mischievously, and Ash laughed.

‘True enough. That forced me to think, what exactly is magic? What do we want from it? And why do we in charge of this empire try to control it so tightly, when other countries seem to manage to muddle along with it?'

‘Dangerous thoughts indeed,' I said, echoing something the General Secretary had said to us just before he had left with his men and their prisoners. ‘Perhaps the plot against the Prince had not just been about ambition and power,' he'd said. ‘Winds of change have cautiously begun to blow and some people are afraid of it. The old guard, you understand, who think nothing should ever change and dangerous thoughts should be crushed like walnuts.' He'd given me a meaningful look and I understood by it that he'd meant people like Bastien. But not himself.

I had made a strange ally but one that I knew would be steadfast, even if he did not share all or even most of my ideas, or Ash's. He wanted the Mancers to turn the page, too. He knew it had to happen. And he was glad it had begun.

We called in first at the Hotel Bella, for there was something I needed to get before we went on to our final destination. I must have looked quite a sight as I dashed in through
the servants' entrance, but never mind. Back in the room, I unlocked the desk and saw that, though the casket of pearls and the documents were just as they had been when I left, the twig had changed. It was covered not only in leaves but in flowers too, and from them came a scent so fragrant that it made my senses swim. I touched the twig to my forehead, my heart and my hands, and I whispered, ‘Thank you. Thank you. I will always try to be worthy of your trust.'

Then I remembered the pretty dress and coat hanging in the closet. Where I was going, you were expected to look the part and right now the only part I looked in my dishevelled state and stained, rumpled grey dress was that of a servant. The servant girl, disowned by all, crouching in the kitchen amongst the ashes of the fireplace – hardly a fit bride for a prince. But even as the thought flashed into my head, I laughed and pushed it away. The time for parts and roles was over and my friends were waiting. Taking the twig with me, I left the room, went down the stairs and out through the main entrance. I had nothing to hide, not any more and not ever again.

Ash had been right. I'd had no cause for concern at all. The Emperor and Empress received us with great joy and relief. While the Emperor was still unwell and bedridden, the Empress told us she was sure he would be on the mend soon.

‘The General Secretary thinks a spell was cast over him by that treacherous Mancer to make him ill,' she said, ‘but
I believe it went deeper than that. I believe that deep inside he was uneasy, and that unease was caused by the fact that something was wrong, really wrong.'

She turned to Ash. ‘We both felt it; we both felt that something must have happened to you in Ashberg, my darling son,' she said, hugging him, ‘for we could not understand your sudden coldness and indifference; it felt almost as though we were dealing with a stranger. I was even beginning to suspect someone might have put you under a spell. Not that I ever guessed the truth, of course.'

‘I'm so sorry, Mother,' said Ash, hanging his head.

‘Bah, what's past is past,' she shrugged, ‘and now you are back with us. And though I do not approve of what you did, because of it you have seen and understood more of our people, and that can only be good for a future emperor. But best of all,' and here she looked at me, smiling, ‘you have brought back not only a lovely girl to be your bride, but one who has the true measure of your heart and soul. How can any mother not be glad of that?'

I tried to kiss her hand but she drew me up and kissed me on both cheeks instead, and said, ‘I know those stuffy old Faustinian courtiers would be shocked by my lack of ceremony, but I am Ruvenyan and we are an emotional people and I'm blowed if I'm going to put a steel rod up my spine even in private. I hope you feel the same, my dear, because otherwise we may not get along.'

‘Oh, yes, I do! I do,' I said, fervently. ‘Very much so. I don't have a steel rod up my spine nor ever could, even if my life depended on it. I'm much too prickly and twisted, so I've been told.'

She roared with laughter and gave me another kiss on the cheek and from that moment I became firm friends with Ash's mother, and though she could never replace mine, still I think my mother would be glad to know that her daughter was welcome in another woman's home.

So much has happened since then. The Emperor took action at once: old laws were thrown out, blanking was completely outlawed, and all sorts of people who'd been in prison for magical offences were let out. And he took our advice for a new system of laws relating to magic. A new Magic Registration Office was set up to regulate the practice of magic, but in a fair way. Shapeshifters were no longer considered illegal aliens. Moon-sisters were outlaws no more. Mancers were less secretive, thus less feared, and their membership open to more people.

A new wind of freedom and hope began to blow throughout the land. This extended to the government of provinces like Ashberg, who were to be given more independence, with local elected parliaments set up again as they had once been in the distant past. That part was Ash's doing. He was also adamant that when the time came for him to be Emperor, I was to rule jointly with him. (I hope
that won't be for a long, long time – I have grown to like his parents very much.)

Meanwhile, the Count, his son and Bastien were tried and stripped of their rank, privileges and lands, banished from the empire for life. They were fortunate to escape execution and life imprisonment; and it was only due to the merciful heart of my Ash who saved them, for both the General Secretary and the Emperor were disposed to be harsh.

We heard later that the three traitors had boarded ship for the other end of the world, that the ship had been wrecked, and that only Maximilian von Gildenstein had survived, washed up on the shores of a far distant land where he disappeared. I know that Ash hopes that the treacherous man who was once his childhood friend might be redeemed one day. Unlike me, Ash has never hated anyone in his life, for he has a sweetness of soul as genuine as it is rare. I doubt von Gildenstein is really capable of such a transformation, but doubt is not the enemy of hope, only its cynical friend. And so I say nothing about it. How can I? The transformation of the empire, even in these short eighteen months since the true Prince's safe return, is more than even the most dizzily optimistic prophet could have predicted for a lifetime. So who is to say that even the hollow and envious heart of Maximilian von Gildenstein cannot be made anew?

A few days after the events at the hunting lodge, my father died, with me at his bedside. Happiness had made me, if not forgiving, at least willing to see him again one last time, if only for the sake of my mother who had so greatly loved him. When I turned up at his door in one
of the imperial carriages, the panic of my stepmother and stepsisters can be imagined. Scared stiff that in my new ascendancy I would take my revenge on them, they had no idea what to do and were torn between falsely confident smiles and cringing obsequiousness. I did not care what they thought or how they behaved. I only wanted to see my father on my own. And though I knew they were probably listening at the door, I did not care about that either.

He was unconscious still and only opened his eyes once, towards the end. He looked at me then. ‘Selena,' he whispered, and that was all. Not ‘Forgive me' or ‘I'm sorry', or even ‘I didn't mean to do it, they made me'. It was just that, just my name –
Selena
– but the way he said it and the look in his eyes made a lump come into my throat quite unexpectedly. If he had asked for my forgiveness or had made excuses, I would have stayed cold as duty, hard as stone. If he had said that he had loved me in his way, I would have turned my back on him. But he didn't say any of those things. And that made all the difference, so that I took his hand and I held it until he drew his last breath. Then I sat there a moment with him, thinking sadly that it had all been too little too late, for the love that should have been there between us had withered long ago. And yet, somehow, I was glad I'd been there with him at the last. And I hoped that he would rest in peace, for there was only compassion in my heart for him now. Then I got up and left that house behind.

After that, Grizelda wrote to me a couple of times, and then Odette, but I did not answer. Then a note came from Babette, and that I did answer, because unlike her mother
and sister she did not try to worm her way into my graces by false expressions of regret or pathetic appeals to non-existent family sentiment. She just wrote, ‘I hope you will be happy. Sincerely, B.'

My note was just as brief, saying, ‘Thank you.'

It was sincerely meant too. I'd been caught completely by surprise for she was the last one I'd have thought had it in her to think of someone beside herself. And I'd frightened her badly with my trick with the spider. But people were surprising – even, I had to remind myself, people like my step-family. And Babette's note was one small, unexpected bright spot where none at all had existed.

They sold my father's house in Ashberg and went to live in Almain, where Grizelda, ever on the lookout for a good match, apparently met and married an admiral. I have not heard directly from them again and I have not tried to find out what has become of them. Time has passed, and with it any lingering bitterness. I do not wish them any ill in their lives; I have made my peace with the past and moved on with my life. That is all.

As for little Tomi, his overawed parents came from Ashberg to collect him a couple of days after the events at the hunting lodge, but Olga and Andel stayed in Faustina for a while before setting off to Ruvenya. They all came back, of course, for our wedding a few weeks later. Little Tomi was a very proud pageboy, and my dear friend, Maria, came with her daughter, and Sister Claudia came too.

Olga and my mother-in-law, Empress Alexandra, have become great friends too, and chatter away in Ruvenyan. She was the one who persuaded Olga that there was no
good reason why she shouldn't accept Andel's offer of marriage.

‘There's no reason,' she had said, ‘that a barge-dwelling philosopher and a footloose werewolf couldn't live together perfectly happily, wandering up and down the rivers and lakes of the empire and Ruvenya and Almain, or any other place they happen to choose. And who would not envy such a life?'

While my mother-in-law is a great romantic – my father-in-law is not so much. An anxious man, he was a little stiff and hard to know at first, because he'd been brought up so formally, unlike his wife. But once I got past the stern facade, I came to learn that he is a man who tries hard to live up to his duty but who is also kind and a little shy. My darling Ash's character is a blend of those things – his mother's warmth and his father's determination to do the right thing – with a whole magical element of his own.

Ash and I don't stay at court the whole time. I couldn't stand that, and neither could he, not any more. Since our wedding a year ago, we've spent as much time as we can in Ashberg, not in the castle but in a house we bought on St Hilda's Square – one of those charming houses whose sight used to cheer me in my sad past. We have a small staff and we try to live as normally as possible, going for long walks every day. Our neighbours were deferential and overawed at first, but we made it clear we did not stand on pomp and ceremony, but were there because Ashberg is my home and I love it.

You can imagine the consternation at the Angel, when they discovered that the girl they'd snubbed was now the
Crown Princess! The bowing and scraping that went on the day I swept in there would have been disgusting if I hadn't found it amusing. And when I calmly declined their cakes and tea, and revealed that I had only come to take their scullery maid Maria away to give her a job, the look of disbelief on their faces was so comical that I
did
burst out laughing! They'd have been even more dismayed, I suppose, when they saw the ‘job' we'd given Maria: her very own business – a beautiful dressmaker's shop which has already become the talk of Ashberg, and is giving Madame Paulina a run for her money. Oh, and Maria's daughter Rosa got married last year, wearing a new, magnificent creation of her mother's. Ash and I went to the wedding, and though at first the country people were very shy, they soon forgot who we were and Ash said it was the best party he'd ever been to, much better than anything at court.

We went back to the forest lands a few months ago and saw that things had started to change. Game had returned to the woods, crops were growing again, the animals thriving, and there was hope throughout the land – even in Smutny. It was funny to see that grouchy old headman, not exactly a bright ray of sunshine (that would have been a little too much to ask) but looking much less like he'd been sucking on a lemon. He told us a brother of his whom he'd not seen in years had unexpectedly come to visit – and there he was – my brave bank teller! He recognised me, of course, though he made out that he did not. Not because he was afraid, but because the old headman was so proud of boasting to his brother that he had ‘met the Crown Prince and Princess when they were on their
uppers' that clearly his brother did not have the heart to upstage him. (I might add that I had made sure that the money he had ‘borrowed' for me was returned discreetly, no questions asked.)

We went to a ceremony at Dremda on a beautiful night of full moon. The waterfall was flowing again, if not yet to its full volume; the muddy water had cleared and the trees had grown new leaves. It was no longer an empty place, for the moon-sisters had emerged, from all corners of the land, out of hiding and had come to gather. The old ones who had never dreamed this day would ever come; the middle-aged ones who no longer had to keep their secret; the young ones who had only recently learned of their heritage – all had new hope in their eyes as they clustered around us with soft exclamations and garlands of roses and hazel leaves. The oldest of them all solemnly presented us with
The Book of Thalia
, and as Ash and I turned the page together, these words appeared:

The protection of Dremda will always be with you and evermore will your names be spoken with love and honour.

Then everyone cheered and we were led to a bower garlanded with flowers, by the side of the pool. We were given dishes of honey and cream, and soon the solemnity of the occasion dissolved in the sweetness of the meal, and the happy chatter and laughter of the moon-sisters.

There remains just one more thing to tell. We planted the hazel twig in the palace gardens the day after those tumultuous events and it has flourished there ever since. It has become a hazel tree of great beauty and every so often, when I'm at court, I go to sit under it and think – about my mother, about Ash, about the past and the
present, and the future. I have plucked no leaves from it since that day, for I know in my heart that is not what it is for, now. One day, I may need the magic again, and I know it will not fail me. But right now the hazel is there as a living reminder of the greatest enchantment of them all: the true and enduring magic of love.