The Faerie Path by Frewin Jones

came to sit with her and they watched as Zara took the lead in a particularly strenuous dance called The Voltaira.
    “She never stops, does she?” Anita remarked aftera move in the energetic dance that involved the men grasping the women by the waists and launching them into the air. “Where does she get the energy from?”
    “From five hundred years of yearning,” Sancha said solemnly.
    “That’s a long time to wait for a good night out,” Anita murmured. She gazed across the hall. Oberon was seated on his throne, speaking with some nobles . The King of Faerie . It gave her a curious feeling of pride as she watched the lords and ladies of the Court bow to him, almost as if he really was her father and she really was Princess Tania.
    “Idiot!” she told herself. “This isn’t real. Don’t forget that!”
    Hopie and a tall, dark-haired and-bearded man were standing arm in arm by the throne, speaking with the King.
    “Who’s that with Hopie?” she asked.
    “That is her husband, the Lord Brython of Cantus,” Sancha said. “He is a wise and learned man, high in the King’s Council.”
    Anita looked at Sancha. “Are you married?”
    Sancha laughed softly. “No, indeed,” she said. “My time is all taken up by my studies. I do not need distractions such as that.”
    Anita turned to Cordelia. “How about you? Anyone special?”
    Cordelia frowned and shook her head. “I find little of delight in the company of men,” she said.
    “Nor in that of women, truth be told,” Sanchaadded. “Cordelia lives only for her animals.”
    Cordelia lifted an eyebrow. “They are not my animals,” she said. “They each belong to themselves.” She looked at Anita. “You are welcome to visit the menagerie, if you wish.”
    “A menagerie?” Anita said. “That sounds great. I love animals.” She smiled, remembering the incident in Mistress Mirrlees’s workroom. “Even squirrels that I scare half witless.”
    “Don’t worry, he no longer fears you,” Cordelia said. “I have spoken with him. He now knows that you are a friend.”
    “Uh…that’s good,” Anita said, wondering exactly what Cordelia meant by “spoken with him.”
    She looked over to where Rathina stood surrounded by an attentive group of handsome young lords. So far that evening, Rathina was the only one of her sisters who had not spoken to her, but then the beautiful Faerie princess did seem to be permanently occupied with her competing admirers.
    “So, do I have any other brothers-in-law I should know about?” Anita asked.
    “Eden has a husband,” said Sancha. “The Earl Valentyne, but he quit the Court a long time ago, soon after the darkness fell, and Eden locked herself in her tower. We do not know where he went. Perhaps back to his own people in Mynwy Clun, a hundred leagues from here in the mountainous west.” She followed the line of Anita’s eyes. “As you can see, Rathina does not lack for suitors, but none yet has claimed her heart.And as for Zara, I pity indeed the man who seeks to capture her heart, which is as light and as blithe as a butterfly on the wing!”
    Anita spotted Gabriel on the far side of the hall. He was in conversation with Edric. She had not noticed Edric in the hall before, and the sight of that familiar but now achingly unknown face gave her quite a jolt.
    She pushed away her feelings of betrayal. Why did Edric’s treachery hurt her so much? This was only a dream ; why did seeing him make her feel so bad?
    “And then there’s Gabriel,” she murmured under her breath. She turned to Sancha and said more loudly, “Back then, before I disappeared…had Gabriel captured my heart? He must have, if I was going to marry him, but I can’t remember it at all.”
    Sancha looked thoughtful. “You seemed content to marry him,” she said at last. “But I know not whether you truly loved him.”
    Anita stared at her in surprise. “Really? Why do you say that?”
    “The marriage would have brought together two