Kidnapped

“You have a natural pixie quality.”

Louise was the one in charge of costumes and makeup for the troupe, and she was dolling Brielle up with flowers and glitter and helping her into the Fairy #3 dress. Brielle laughed at the comment but she had to admit that she did look pretty convincing as a fairy, with all the glitter and the yellow and blue flowers in her hair. Louise helped her into the dress, which was sleeveless and cinched tightly around her waist. The bodice was pale blue and the skirt was made with gauzy ruffles in a matching shade that just brushed her knees.

“Sorry if it’s a little…less clothes than you normally wear,” Louise said. “You look great though, if it helps.”

“To be honest, I’d dress like this every day if I could.”

Brielle bent down to put on the pointy little boots that went with the costume. As she stood, she peeked out of the dressing tent and spotted Jack talking to a strange man.

“Do you mind if I run out and talk to Edmund while you get my wings ready?” she asked. Louise handed her a robe to wear over her dress and she hurried over to Jack, surprised when he said he knew the man, Hugo; and even more surprised when he told her that their “fake names” were his parents’ names. Jack assured her that they could trust Hugo, so the knot of unease she’d felt when he addressed her eased. Then Pammy tugged her away for the show. As the opening scene unfolded, the fairies slipped out of their robes and were helped into their shimmery wings. Pammy was a purple fairy and Fairy #1; a woman named Francesca; was a green fairy. Louise tied Brielle’s blue wings onto her back and the three fairies waited off to the side for their big scene.

Despite her earlier confidence, Pammy seemed a little nervous as their scene approached. Brielle squeezed her shoulder.

“Relax,” she laughed. “You look great and you’ve practiced about a thousand times.”

They moved into position for their scene, poking their heads out of the trees to watch the main couple on stage and looking mischievous. Brielle’s designated role was hopping out and blowing a love potion into the face of the unsuspecting prince. The crowd laughed at the fairies’ antics, especially when Brielle blew the powdered “potion” at the prince and he started coughing and sputtering. Brielle flashed her best impish smile as the fairies scampered away from the chaos they had created for the play’s characters. They waited off to the side again, giggling and adjusting their disheveled curls. They were supposed to stay in their costumes until everyone took their bows.

Brielle caught sight of Jack and he flashed her a smile that she couldn’t help but return. Francesca and Pammy both giggled behind their hands.

“What?” Brielle asked. “What are you two snickering about?”

“It’s just so obvious you and Edmund are married,” Francesca explained. “You always smile when you see him and he looks at you like he can’t believe you’re real. It’s cute.”

Brielle felt her face grow warm. “He doesn’t look at me like that,” she protested.

“Yes he does. And you get all twinkly whenever he’s close to you,” Pammy said. “I hope I meet a guy who gives me starry eyes someday,” she added wistfully. Brielle didn’t reply, trying to will the redness out of her face. She certainly felt twinkly whenever she was around Jack, but it was hard to imagine that he felt that way about her. Just because he’d flirted with her a little while he was drunk didn’t mean he really saw her as anything besides Byron’s pesky little sister.

The show finally drew to its close and Brielle went up on stage with the rest of the cast, clasping hands with her fellow fairies and taking a dramatic bow. Everyone was laughing and in good spirits as they filed off to go change out of their costumes. Jack approached her as she was trying to get her wings off and helped her.

“You were great,” he said.

“I was only on stage for two minutes,” Brielle said with a laugh.

“That was more than enough time for you to enchant everyone. I’ve heard a couple different guys say they’d gladly let ‘the fairy in blue’ hit them with a bit of love potion.”

Brielle flushed. “Oh, stop. You’re making that up.”

“Now who’s being modest,” Jack chuckled. “As if you don’t know how stunning you are.”

Brielle blushed harder, feeling twinkly and bubbly again as he handed her the wings.

“Are we entirely sure our Jeanette isn’t a fairy?” Claudius joked as he walked toward them. “I must say that it suits you. And I wanted to thank you again, for filling in. And you too Edmund, for helping with the sets.”

“Please, it was our pleasure,” Jack assured him. “We’re very grateful for the ride.”

“Well before we all go our separate ways, I insist that you two join us for the post-show celebration. There’s blackberry wine and cake.”

“Cake?” Brielle perked up and Jack laughed.

“Well you’ve sold Jennie,” he said. Brielle changed into another dress that Louise had given her. This one was also pale blue but a simple, off the shoulder peasant dress with a little floral print corset that went over the bodice. She tied her hair back with a silky white ribbon since having it piled up had left it wild and curly. She made her way out to the little makeshift patio where everyone was dancing and laughing. She walked up to stand beside Jack.

“Well, we’ll always have a souvenir of this experience. Because there’s no way I’ll ever get all this glitter off,” she laughed. There were still shimmering bits of glitter on her face and shoulders and through her hair.

“That’s just your inner fairy,” Jack joked, gently brushing a bit of glitter off her nose.

“I feel a little bad about using your mom’s name,” she said suddenly, keeping her voice soft so no one would overhear.

“Why? Hugo was right, she would’ve liked you.”

“I doubt that,” Brielle said dryly. “I wasn’t always very nice to you when Daddy brought you home.”

“We were kids,” Jack replied, amused. “No one is going to fault you for holding your own against the older boys who picked on you.”

Brielle didn’t get a chance to say anything else before Pammy appeared and enthusiastically tugged them to a table loaded with snacks and beverages.

“You have to try all this blackberry stuff,” she said excitedly. Brielle lit up when she saw the huge slices of cake layered with blackberry buttercream. She munched on blackberry treats and enjoyed a few dances until the evening began to wind down. Somehow she found herself the center of attention when Claudius directed everyone to give them a thankful round of applause for helping with the show.

“Our fairy number three and her own love spelled prince,” Claudius joked, making Brielle duck her head shyly.

“Kiss her,” Francesca teased, and Brielle thought she might melt from the force of her blush when everyone else called out encouragement for the “happy couple” to kiss. She assumed Jack would refuse but to her surprise he gently tilted her head up and planed a quick, light kiss on her lips.

“Oh, come on,” Claudius laughed. “I hope you did better than that on your wedding day.”

“Kiss her like you mean it,” Louise agreed. Jack glanced down at Brielle and despite her flaming cheeks, she gave him a tiny smile and nod to show that it was okay. She expected him to just give her a slightly longer peck to appease the troupe, but he gently cupped her face with both hands and gave her a deep, lingering kiss that made her heart start racing.

She felt dizzy when he pulled away, and the cheers and good-natured whistling startled her. She had almost forgotten anyone else was there and she realized her hands were gripping Jack’s shirt. She quickly let go, still feeling lightheaded. Not long after the party began to wind down and they bid everyone good night so they could go procure a room at a nearby inn.

“I hope I didn’t cross a line,” Jack said quietly.

“You didn’t,” Brielle said. She had a lot on her mind as they went up to their room. She felt tipsy even though she hadn’t drunk anything more than a sip of blackberry wine.

“Jack?” she said softly. He turned to face her.

“Yes?”

“Can I…ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“That first night in Elmdale, you said something before you passed out. Nothing bad,” she assured him when he looked a little alarmed. “You said you haven’t thought about anyone else since you saw me again.”

“Oh.” Jack turned a little red.

“I thought maybe it was just the ale talking,” Brielle went on, her heart fluttering a little. “But you didn’t like Brennan flirting with me and you told Hugo that we’re married even though you didn’t need to, and the way you kissed me at the party…I just need to know, was it just the ale talking or did you really mean what you said?”