It has been a while, but I at last return with a new “Faylinn” short story! And this one is a extra special. *grins*

Let’s get to the info first.

For Newcomers

Each month Arielle posts a prompt on her writing blog that goes along with Fairy Tale Central’s monthly featured fairy tale. I’ve been writing prompts for it of a continuing story about a wingless fairy and banished prince, Raylinn and Finn, or “Faylinn” as is their designated ship name…and their tag along sassmaster, Zayd.

The Previous Stories

• Deal or No Deal (A Rumpelstiltskin-inspired story and the first introduction to these characters)
• Let Down Your Hair? (A Rapunzel-inspired story)
• It Ain’t Easy Having a Genie (An Aladdin-inspired one, and Zayd’s first introduction)
• Frogs and Bears Make Great Boyfriends (A The Frog Prince and Snow White & Rose Red crossover story)
• That’s Definitely Not Granny (A Little Red Riding Hood one that dives into Finn’s story a bit, and reveals he has a sister. Which is important to know.)
• The Genie Can Dance (A Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling in which we discover Zayd’s history.)

A Summary

(If you’ve never read the previous stories or just need a refresher. I know it’s been a while.)

Raylinn is a fairy who was born without wings and visible fairy markings, a shame to the proud fairies…and punishable by death. In a panic, her mother took her away from the fairy realm into the human world, where she left baby Raylinn with a kind farming couple. After a tragic fire killed Raylinn’s adopted parents (because fairy tale protagonists aren’t allowed to have parents, you know), Prince Finnigan of Talgaria found her and took her to stay at his castle. Except, one day, grumpy King Olten struck his son and Raylinn became enraged and her fairy magic released unbidden, revealing her true nature. Well, Olten hates fairies (as do most people, due to the fairies’ inherit ruthlessness), and tried to have Raylinn executed. Finnigan quickly defended her, causing his father to disown him. Raylinn and Finn escaped from Finn’s father, and, now engaged, have been on the run ever since, having all sorts of adventures and searching for someone who can help Raylinn learn how to control her magic.

At last they found someone, a snarky genie named Zayd. Genies were once fairies who betrayed the fairy queen and were thus stripped of their wings and cursed as genies—people who can only use their magic when their masters make wishes. Zayd’s master, Aladdin, has the genie lamp tucked away and has agreed to not make any wishes, leaving Zayd semi-free. In order to convince Zayd into helping Raylinn learn how to control her magic, she and Finn agreed to search the world for a way to break Zayd free from his genie curse and become a fairy once more.

And thus the threesome travel the world, and find a lot of trouble along the way.

There’s also a Pinterest Board!

The Prompt

This month’s featured fairy tale over on FTC is…

THE SNOW QUEEN

Okay but, THIS FAIRY TALE. It was one of the first fairy tales I fell completely in love with when I was little. And, honestly, it’s what got me really reading the original fairy tales and, well, here we are. It’s a special tale to me, and one that still fascinates me. There’s so much more to it than so many other fairy tales.

ANYWAYS. Before I go on a Snow Queen rave, let’s look at the prompt. Arielle decided to focus on one particularly intriguing bit of the story, where the Snow Queen claims her kiss is deadly.

The Prompt

Gotta love it!

You can find the post to this prompt HERE! We’d love for you to join in and write your own prompt piece!

With all that out of the way, I must explain what I meant when I said this one is extra special.

So far, even though they have some connecting elements, I’ve kept these stories as contained, single stories. WELL. That changes today! I keep saying I’d like to make them more connected with an overarching plot, and with the new year, what better time than to start now? Short stories just…aren’t my forte, so I’m super excited to turn this into a fuller story.

What I think I’ll do, is more or less do like a TV series. You know how they’ll have single, contained stories, and then during the season midway point and finale have a bunch of connecting episodes that brings everything together? I’d like to do that with these. Every few stories have a big overarching plotline, and then in between those, go back to the more lighthearted single stories. That way we’ll get a little mix of both.

Since The Snow Queen is one of my favorite fairy tales and a much longer tale than most, I think this one is perfect to use as one of the longer storylines. SO. This time this is not a single story. It’s got a cliffhanger, guys. Bwahahaha! And I shall be continuing The Snow Queen plotline for at least a couple of more of these (while somehow squeezing in the other prompts so…we’ll see how that goes).

ANYWAYS. All that to say, the Faylinn stories will be more connected now, at least for the next few months.

Also, I 100% cheated and totally changed the prompt to match the story. Eheh.

Also, also. You know how these are usually just lighthearted and silly? Well. Erm. Yeah… Things get a little more serious this go ‘round. Honestly, this felt a lot more like my full length novels. You guys are getting a taste of my normal writing style. Hope you enjooooy! *smile, smile*

ROYALTY IS A COLD BUSINESS

Raylinn clung to Finnigan’s hand as they crept through the thick forest. Just a little ways more and they would be entering Talgaria—Finn’s kingdom, both of their homes. Once. Until she accidentally revealed her fairy magic to Finn’s father, King Olten, and he banished Finn and threatened to kill her. It had been three years of traveling the world together, getting engaged, looking for a teacher to help her control her magic, pretending to keep out of trouble but actually finding it more often than not.

Three years of running. Hiding. Life threatening situations.

The best three years of her life.

But now they were returning to where it all started, and even though she had faced a dragon, a vila, a man cursed as a bear (and one as a frog), and a rearranging house with an evil wolf, to name a few things, this moment filled her with dread more than any other.

Outside of Olten’s kingdom, with just her and Finn (well, and Zayd) traveling the world, she could be herself, without having to hide. She felt like she belonged.

She was only thirteen when her adopted parents died in a fire and Finn found her in the ashes. He tried to make a home for her in his castle, but she knew of Olten’s hatred of fairies. Of everyone’s.

Who could blame them? The fairies had been torturing the humans for ages, using their magic to cause mischief and mayhem. When the fairy queen got the idea to start enslaving the humans, the mortal kingdoms had had enough, and, for the first time in the history of the world, they banded together. Thus the Fairy War commenced—all the mortal kingdoms against fairy kind.

Though the fairies possessed great magic, they were few in numbers. Having such long life, fairies seldom reproduced. With the kingdoms at last working together, the fairies were pushed back, and threatened to be put to death if ever sighted again in the mortal world. To this day, they rarely left their magical realm—accessed only through fairy magic.

The Fairy War had been the world’s darkest time. Those who still lived to remember it would never forget the ruthlessness of the fairies.

Raylinn held tighter to Finn’s hand. How could she blame the prejudice against her own kind? She had her own prejudice.

If not for the fairies’ pride, she could have known her real mother. As it was, she had never even met her.

Her adoptive parents never tried to hide her true nature from her. She was only four when she accidentally set a pot of water boiling with magic and purple swirls appeared on her arms. So they told her everything. How her mother, her real mother, sneaked her out of the fairy realm and brought her to them, begging for them to raise her and keep her safe. Because she had been born without wings—a disgrace to fairy kind.

The ruthless fairy queen would have had her killed immediately. So Raylinn’s mother gave her up to keep her safe.

It was hard. Being born a fairy and raised by humans—somehow both and neither at the same time. She didn’t belong in either world.

But then there was Finn. Finn, who never cared that she was a fairy. Who brought an orphaned fairy child to live in his great castle. Who chose her, when, as the heir of the great kingdom of Talgaria, he could have any girl in his kingdom and many other kingdoms combined.

She belonged with him. And that’s why she walked toward the border of Talgaria with his hand in hers. This was his kingdom, and, once, he was the heir. He gave all that up for her, but she knew he still cared deeply for his people.

Leaving the kingdom in the hands of his father and his less-than-pleasant sister, Trayla, had left him on edge. He needed to see the land for himself, to assure the people were doing well.

“And, hey, maybe Father realizes he’s missed me terribly and will welcome us with open arms,” he had joked as they discussed returning.

She had just forced a smile, knowing all-too-well that Olten would never welcome him back as long as he still associated with a fairy.

Finn had firmly told her to not feel guilty over that fact. He had made his choice, and never once regretted it. Still, the guilt would surface every now and again, as hard as she tried to stifle it.

She just hoped seeing his kingdom again would do him some good. Ever since he had had an encounter with a Roden wolf who showed him one of his greatest fears—his kingdom falling to ruin—there had been a shadow in his eyes she was not accustomed to seeing.

Perhaps once he saw Talgaria prospering as it always has, he’d be back to his chipper self.

“Is it just me or is the temperature dropping considerably?”

Zayd’s comment jolted her from her thoughts. Now that he said it, she realized goosebumps had appeared on her arms. It wasn’t just cooler, it was getting downright cold.

The genie frowned. “I know Talgaria is a little to the north, but I didn’t realize you people got freezing temperatures in late summer.”

Finn stopped in his tracks. “We don’t.”

Raylinn halted with him, and looked over to find all color had drained from his face. They shared a glance and then, without a word, crashed through the trees together. They burst from the forest, onto the edge of the main road.

“Ah, that would explain it,” Zayd said.

“It” turned out to be a wall, reaching up impossibly high, completely blocking the border into Talgaria. Raylinn squinted at the top where it curved up, forming a smooth ceiling. It wasn’t just a wall, it was an enormous dome of…

“Ice,” she breathed. Pure, solid ice, smoother than stone, stretching in each direction as far as the eye could see. The goosebumps on her arms deepened, and it just now registered that they did not come from the cold. Though there was plenty of that. “It’s magic. A lot of magic.”

Zayd nodded. “I’m sensing it too. I’d be curious to meet the person who managed to form an igloo over all of Talgaria.”

“Me too,” Finn murmured. Though his face still hardly held any color, there was a determination in his brow. He slipped his hand out from Raylinn’s and marched toward the wall.

Heart pounding, she hurried after him.

Side by side, the three of them assessed the ice formation. Both skin-numbing cold and pulse-quickening magic oozed from its surface. Raylinn reached out and pressed her palm against it.

She gasped.

Sparks burst from where skin touched ice and the powerful magic seemed to be pulling her into the ice wall itself. She jerked her arm back, but it wouldn’t budge.

“It’s stuck!”

“Well, that’s what happens when you touch ice,” Zayd said helpfully. 

“No, no. It’s…it’s pulling me!

“Zayd!” Finn snagged her wrist, trying to pull her away, but her hand sunk into the wall like jelly. But it didn’t just take her hand. She could feel her very insides being seeped away, as if the wall were a leech, sucking away her…magic.

She cried out.

Both Finn and Zayd tugged on her, trying to pull her free. But the wall kept sucking at her. White dots danced in her vision and she swayed.

“Ah, it’s you. She wondered if you’d come.”

Blinking away the fog, Raylinn glanced to her right, in the direction of the honey-like male voice. She caught a flash of white hair and an unnaturally pale hand waving in a circular motion toward her, Finn, and Zayd. Blue sparks, like snowflakes, shattered around them. Zayd hissed a curse just as the world blackened.

* * *

Cold.

Cold. So much cold. Piercing into her wrists, enveloping her body, her insides, her mind.

Raylinn snapped her eyes open. She grunted. Something bound her wrists from behind, some sort of frozen binding that dug into her skin and spread into her core.

Trying to take calming breaths, she assessed her surroundings. All calm left immediately. She sat strapped in a chair, in the middle of a room she knew well. The great pillars and tapestries on each side, the cool marble flooring, the dais just in front of her. And, atop it, the single ornate throne.

King Olten had sentenced her to death and stripped Finn of his title atop that throne. With a bit of cunning (and magic) they had escaped, and she had hoped she would never have to look at that throne again.

Except it wasn’t Olten sitting there this time.

With silky waves of auburn hair, sharp features, and eyes the same shade of brown as Finn’s, but lacking all the warmth, Trayla poised herself in the great chair. She watched Raylinn with the same hatred she had ever since Finn had brought her to the castle those eight years ago.

Rattling chains snagged Raylinn’s attention to the side of the throne. Her heart stuttered. Finn lay unconscious on the ground, manacles wrapped around his wrists and chained to the floor. He stirred softly.

With shuddering breaths, Raylinn reached for her magic, tried to form an orb of flames, but the frozen binds around her wrists dug in deeper as she did and pinched at her very heart.

Panic squeezed at her insides.

“That’s not going to work.”

The owner of the deep, satin-like voice appeared from around a pillar and sauntered onto the dais. He leaned against the back of the throne, one side of his lips quirked up in amusement. He stood tall and lean, with stark white hair and skin so pale it almost appeared blue. His pale blue almond-shaped eyes pierced into her like the binds to her wrist. He was beautiful. And terrible.

Raylinn squeezed her fingers together and glared, trying to hide her tremors. “What have you done to me?”

He merely shrugged. “Just a restrictive spell on your manacles, is all. It’s not leeching you like the wall, but it should keep you from using your magic. Which, I have to say, is a force to be reckoned with.”

“Stars above, can we not go one week without running into some powerful magic-user? This is getting old.”

Raylinn whipped her head around to find Zayd strapped to a chair to her right.

The white-haired man’s laughter rolled out like a spool of silk. “You, on the other hand, fire-top, have plenty of magic but can’t even seem to tap into it. I’m going to guess you’re one of the thirteen stripped of your wings and magic and banished from the fairy realm?”

Zayd raised an eyebrow. “Kind of rude knowing a person’s entire history when said person doesn’t even know your name, don’tcha think?”

The silky laugh returned and the man pushed from the throne to offer them a bow. “Kellen.”

A flicker of something flashed in Zayd’s eyes, something Raylinn rarely saw—fear. He opened his mouth, but Finn’s moans pulled everyone’s attention to him. Slowly, he sat up, rattling the chains as he rubbed his head. His gaze caught Raylinn first, and then his sister.

He leapt to his feet, swaying a little. “Trayla?” he breathed. “What…what is this? What are you doing?”

She pushed to a stand to face him eye-to-eye. “What you and Father never could—protecting our kingdom.”

His gaze moved from her to his manacles to the strange man casually leaning against the throne and back again. “Where is Father?”

She waved her hand dismissively in the air. “He’s fine, but being as how he refused to use magic to keep our borders safe, I had to take matters into my own hands.”

“Magic?” Finn eyed the white-haired man again, and his fingers curled into fists. “What have you done, Trayla?”

A sharp edge flashed in her eyes. “Me? I’m not the one who let a fairy live freely within our walls and then run off with her abandoning my kingdom. She learned all our secrets, all our weaknesses, and now she’s sent her kind to destroy us!”

“Excuse me?” Raylinn wriggled in her binds. Apparently Trayla’s unpleasantness hadn’t lessened over the years. In fact, she seemed more dangerous than ever. “I would never do that.”

“Oh? Then how do you explain the half dozen fairies who broke into our kingdom and ravaged the city?”

Raylinn’s heart sunk to the pit of her stomach as she shared a horrified look with Finn.

“What are you talking about?” Finn’s voice shook, breathless.

Trayla gestured a hand at Kellen. “Show him.”

Kellen stepped back and held both palms forward. A rounded mirror appeared with an intricate silver frame. It hovered in front of him, reflecting his own face, until snowy swirls obscured its surface. First the screams came, then the images. Through the mirror’s glass, Talgaria’s capital city appeared, with its tall buildings and smooth stone roads. But the usual happy hum of people going to and fro had been replaced with chaos. The citizens of Talgaria flew from the streets, soldiers appeared, weapons at the ready.

Bursts of colored light slammed into the guards, scattering them and throwing them off their feet. And then they appeared. Markings and hair of all colors—blue, green, orange, purple, red, yellow—and wings. Shimmering, transparent wings carrying them through the city as they set it ablaze, hurling magic at the buildings, the guards, the citizens.

Raylinn’s heart stuck in her throat. Aside from Zayd, she had never seen fairies before. And now they hovered before her, destroying the very kingdom she had grown up in.

The mirror shattered into a dozen pieces and dissolved into snow.

“Do you see now?” Trayla snapped.

Finn’s skin nearly matched Kellen’s in paleness.

“The guards were able to push them back,” Trayla continued, “but not before they ruined nearly half the city and killed dozens. And that was only six of them—the scouting party. They were clearly testing our strength before sending a full army. Father refused to seek outside help, so I had to take matters into my own hands before those monsters wipe us out completely.”

“And by your own hands, you mean Kellen’s,” Zayd said. “Not sure that was the wisest choice.”

Trayla glared at him. “It was the only choice. Kellen’s ice shield will seep magic away from any fairy who touches it. Talgaria is safe.”

Zayd snorted. “You do know who Kellen is, don’t you?”

She straightened her shoulders and turned up her chin. “Of course I do.”

“If that’s the case, why do you trust him?”

“We’ve come to an agreement.”

Kellen chuckled. “If only you’d seal it with a kiss.”

She rolled her eyes, but the tip of her lips turned up as she looked at him. “We’ve been over this, your majesty. Kissing you would kill me.”

He cast her a cheeky grin and leaned in close. “Only your humanity,” he purred, “and who needs that?”

She playfully swatted at him. “I happen to value my life right now. I’m proud of being human.”

He shrugged and pulled back. “To each her own.”

Raylinn stared at the two, trying to not gag as her mind whirled. One thing Trayla had said stuck, and she couldn’t get past it. “You called him ‘your majesty’.”

Kellen’s cheeky grin returned. “Oh yes, I suppose I forgot my full title when I introduced myself.” He inclined his head. “Kellen righ Sithic, king of the fairies.”

The room stilled.

Raylinn could barely process this new information. A dozen thoughts and feelings churned inside her, and she tried to sort through them, to find answers, reason, some sort of sense to this. But it was Finn who broke the stifling silence first, and, as he so often did, put words to the very thing that dominated her thoughts.

“You let the king of the fairies into Talgaria! All while claiming I’m the traitor?”

Trayla thrust a finger against his chest. “I’m the one who has saved our kingdom from ruin. You left us, Finn!” Her voice cracked on his name.

His lips parted, but this time nothing came out.

Trayla swirled around, putting her back to them all. “Kellen hates the fairy queen. He has struck a bargain with us. We help him take her down, at whatever cost, and he will assure no fairy ever harms Talgaria again.”

At whatever cost. What did that mean?

Raylinn gritted her teeth and a familiar slither of magic stroked her mind. She pulled in a breath. Zayd always said her magic was connected to her emotions. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the magic. And she was certainly feeling a lot of emotions right now. She grasped for that slither, but the binds tightened against her wrists, striking a wall between her and the magic. She huffed. How could she fight the magic of the very king of the fairies?

Kellen straightened his robe sleeves. “I’ve been wanting to destroy my dear ex-wife for years. Unfortunately, I could never amass a willing army. But after the fairies’ assault, the Talgarian soldiers saw it was necessary to take on my…”—he glanced at Raylinn with a smile that made her insides squirm—“gift.”

“What have you done?” Finn marched toward the man, but his chains jerked him to a halt two inches away.

Kellen just continued to smile. “Like Trayla already told you, what we’ve had to.”

A hand touched Raylinn’s. She pulled in a breath and glanced at Zayd. He shot her a warning look as he leaned discreetly in his chair and fiddled with her binds. She dared a peep over his shoulder to find his manacles dangling loose from the back of his chair. He pricked her wrist with something. A pick lock. She should have known he carried one around. No telling what that boy kept under his sleeves.

“Oh, looks like we have a clever one.” Kellen’s eyes on Raylinn sent her heart to her throat.

Zayd hissed, thrust the pick lock in Raylinn’s grip, and jumped from his chair. He darted toward the exit but hadn’t made it halfway before ice crawled up his boots, freezing him to the ground.

Kellen chuckled as snowflakes sprinkled down from his raised fingers. “I think our guests are getting bored, Trayla dear.”

“It seems so. Have the guards take care of the big-mouthed redhead. You can get started on Raylinn.”

Get started? Get started on what?

Finn tugged at his manacles. “Don’t you touch her!”

Kellen patted Finn’s head on his way down the dais. “I just have to make sure she hasn’t put any spells on you.”

“Spells?!”

Trayla turned back to face Finn, and Raylinn pulled in a breath at the sight of her red-rimmed eyes. “It would explain a lot,” Trayla said quietly. “Why you ran off with a fairy. She could have had you cursed under some sort of spell this whole time. Maybe, just maybe, you’re not a traitor after all.” She touched his cheek. “We can rule and save Talgaria together, like we were always supposed to.”

He stared at her, brow bent in shock, disbelief, confusion. “I am not under a spell, Trayla. Raylinn is not like the fairies you know. She is more human than you are being right now.”

The sharpness in Trayla’s gaze returned and she snapped around to face Kellen. “Take her away. And the other one.”

Smiling, Kellen snapped and a burst of white sparked around his fingers. A side door opened. With heavy thumps, two guards marched inside.

Raylinn’s breath hitched.

The men’s eyes were nothing but white and blue, like a frosted over window—lifeless and cold. Their skin resembled Kellen’s in paleness, and frost covered the tips of their hair.

“What did you do to them?” she gasped.

Kellen sauntered over to them and tapped two fingers to his lips. Frost formed around his fingers. He touched his frosty fingers to one of the man’s temples. “My gift,” he said with a smile. “I can give it to anyone, except they have to take it willingly. I can’t force it. These men now have ice powers, much like mine.”

Now she recalled Trayla saying something about her humanity being taken if he kissed her.

Why would the Talgarian soldiers willingly give up their humanity? They were mere moving ice sculptures now.

“Trayla…” Finn breathed, staring at the guards in pure horror.

She ignored him and waved at Zayd. “Dispose of him.”

The guards nodded stiffly and marched toward the genie.

“Stop!” Finn screamed, tugging on his manacles. “I demand you to stop!”

They kept moving, as if they couldn’t even hear him.

Heart pounding, Raylinn fussed with the pick lock, but would it even work on magical bindings? It felt like circles of ice clamped around her wrists.

“Hey, fellows, how about we not…”

Raylinn shot a glance over her shoulder to see Zayd holding his hands up in surrender, legs still frozen to the ground.

An icicle formed in one of the guard’s hands, its tip gleaming sharp.

Raylinn’s heart skipped. Heat pricked her fingertips.

The guard held up the icicle and thrust. Its tip pierced into Zayd’s abdomen.

“No!” Magic flared through Raylinn’s fingers and fire erupted around her binds, melting them away. She leapt from her chair and raced toward Zayd.

His eyes bulged as he clutched his stomach. The ice around his boots shattered and he dropped to his knees. The guards snagged his arms.

“Stop!” Raylinn thrust her hands out. Purple markings flared across her arms just as streams of purple light burst from her palms and slammed into the guards.

She reached for Zayd, but chains of ice whipped up from the floor and encircled her wrists, and that inner wall tried to creep back up between her and her magic.

The guards had scrambled back to their feet. They grasped an unconscious Zayd by both arms and dragged him to the exit.

Panic ripped into Raylinn. She focused on her anger, her horror, her despair, her determination to save those she loved. The walls shook, the floor cracked. Chunks of the marble ground broke away and hurtled toward Kellen. He jerked his hands up and a shield of ice bloomed around him. 

Raylinn snatched at her right arm and the ice chains broke. She thrust a hand toward Zayd, focusing all her power on him. She had to heal him, to get him out of here, to save him. Something. Light swirled around her fingers, and it felt as if her very heart was being ripped from her chest. She screamed.

Pure light burst around Zayd.

Raylinn gasped and pulled her hand back. The tugging in her heart lessened, and the light evaporated, leaving her weak and dizzy.

Zayd was gone.

She threw a hand over her mouth. What had she done?

The chains around her grew, snaked across her arms, her abdomen, down her legs. Biting, freezing, squeezing. She reached for her magic, but every ounce of her felt drained. The chains pulled her down to her knees, and light footsteps sounded from behind.

Kellen appeared before her, watching with that amused quirk of his lips. “You are a powerful one, aren’t you? It’s going to take some work seeing what all spells you may have cast on Prince Finnigan.”

“Well hurry up and do it,” Trayla spat out.

Kellen raised his hand over Raylinn’s head and blue snowflakes sparked around her, just as they had at the ice wall.

“Oh, and, Kellen?” Trayla added. “Kill her when you’re done.”

The last thing Raylinn heard was Finn’s cry before she and Kellen vanished.

*unrepentant grin* There we goooo! The first part of my Faylinn Snow Queen storyline.

I know the beginning was full of a lot of exposition. Whoops. Sorry! Since it’s been a while since I’ve written any of these and I’m starting a big storyline, I thought it’d be good to have a refresher on things and more explanation about the fairies.

And I know I left a lot of unanswered questions. That was intentional. Don’t worry, answers will be coming! It was kind of nice this time not having to tell a full story. But I have ideeeeas for the next bits and I’m excited! *cackles to self*

  LET’S TALK!

HONEST OPINIONS. What do you think of this bigger storyline idea? Did you like this edition? I write these for you guys so any and all thoughts are sooo very appreciated. SO. Do you like the single stories better? Do you want it to be a bigger story? And, just for fun, what do you hope happens next?

Don’t forget you can join the prompt yourself HERE!