"Really, William, whatever would Sophia Winchell say if she were to see you now?" Tamara asked, her face alight with mirth. "Somehow I doubt she would appreciate your interest in the, ahem, affairs of these enchanting ladies."
William, for the second time in the space of ten minutes, turned red. "Well, I... Well, uhm..." Yet, though he tried for an air of indignation, there was nothing he could say to redeem himself from the wicked thoughts he had just been contemplating about a certain red-haired Faerie.
The lady in question blew William a kiss, as if to say she knew his thoughts and found them quite appealing herself, then turned to Bodicea. "We shall be yours to call upon in times of danger, Your Majesty. Our first loyalty is always to our own royal court, but you have won our allegiance with your great courage and wily cunning."
The ladies curtsied, their long hair spilling across their elegant features. And then they were gone, as if they had never been there at all. Bodicea turned to the Swift siblings, and William thought that she had never seemed more regal to him.
