“Did you hear, Streya? Lady Ariadne disappeared last night and an old lady was found dead in her bed this morning,” the princess told me one morning two months after she had replaced Lady Demton as I entered the room and her ladies were leaving.
   “I had noticed the difference, My Lady. The seers death will be a blow to the king,” I replied as I sat down and after the ladies had left the room with the door closed firmly behind them.
   “Nonsense, Ariadne was a young lady, not over thirty summers, I swear. The lady they found is said to look like the body had been dead for years.”
   “The older members of the herd often caution the young ones not to trust their eyes. Eyes are often easily tricked by magic or deception. What Ariadne saw when she looked in her mirror was a lady nearly as ancient as the compelled sorceress looks. Trust me, your seer was much older than she let on.”
   “Nonsense, only witches hide their appearance like that and they are evil. Ariadne was not evil.”
   “No, she was merely confused. However, would your father have allowed a woman that looked ancient in his court? Do you remember anyone at court looking old? Many have gone to extreme lengths to hide their age for fear of being kicked out. Your father is very focused on outside appearances. To look anything but perfect is to be ridiculed or not allowed entrance. It is most amusing to look in mirrors at meals and see what people really look like. I cannot wait until tonight to see what everyone looks like in the mirrors in the ballroom. In all their finery many will look atrocious. As to all witches being evil, that is another myth like the one that humans can own unicorns. Most witches are merely knowledgeable humans. Only the truly powerful can manage to outlast death and live for years. However, Ariadne was old and her power was leaving her. She knew her time was coming. She had already spoken to your father about leaving to find a peaceful place to die, it just was not supposed to be so soon.”
  “You keep saying that the unicorn Father brought home last month is not real but it sure looks real.”
   “Yes, a white horse with a small white horn is rather convincing but if you look at him in a mirror you merely see a sad older man. My guess is that magic has aged him beyond his years but that man is not happy. He also is not a unicorn. Besides, real unicorns glow white in a way that horse does not.”
   “You speak so simply, like everyone knows such things. Sometimes I wonder if you are merely telling stories or truly know. Oh, nevermind, go, you need to get to your dance lesson before it is time for you to prepare for the dance tonight. You must shine tonight. Go,” she said, again waving her hand as I gathered my tapestry that I was embroidering and left the room.
   Later that night I was in what I had realized was considered servant’s clothes, only one dress, no petty coats nor overdress or stays, and using a candle to search the books in the library. The opening ball had been lovely. Dancing with so many men weighing my dowry and connections against the fact that I have yet to speak in society during each dance was almost amusing. At least dancing with some of the married men compelled by wives who wanted to be associated with me was more amusing as some of them actually tried to talk to me and got a few smiles. However, something had happened halfway through the ball. It seemed like all the unborn boys in the kingdom had fallen ill at once. Some of the younger ones had already died and the princess’s precious little ones were no longer healthy. The babies cried out to me, their pain kept me from sleep and I was searching the palace library for a book I hoped could answer some questions.
   “You should be sleeping, My Lady,” the prince said as he stopped beside me.
   “So should you, My Lord, but you do not seem to be either.” In fact, he seemed weary of something.
   “Point taken, some things came up during the ball that needed to be dealt with. I had just finished when I noticed the candle in here.” That explained why he was still in ball dress I suppose.
   “Events are starting, I do believe. The stars would not grant me sleep until I find a book they say is here.”
   “What book?”
   “I am not sure but it is supposed to be quite ancient. I will know it when I see it but these history books do not seem to be it.”
   "How about we ask the librarian? He would know where the older books are kept. It is a large library.” He was already walking away before I could tell him not to bother the sleeping man, that I could find the book alone but he returned with the sleepy-eyed man who led us to where the nature books were kept and pulled out a book practically falling apart. After putting the book on the desk nearby, the prince bid him to return to his bed and he left without complaint.
   I got so focused on the book and the language I hadn’t read in many years that I didn’t realize the prince was still there until he started stroking my spine gently. “Well, this is definitely what the stars wanted me to find, I just cannot figure out what I am supposed to find here,” I said to cover my uncertainty. As much as I liked his touch, it made me want to turn into his chest and just relax. He had never done this before. In fact, this was the first time we’d ever touched, not counting the polite kisses on my hand that were part of society and meant nothing. I had no clue what he meant by the touch, nor the rapt look on his face as his eyes followed his hand. Best to focus on the book.
   “How can you understand that? I have never seen writing like that.”
   “No, this is the language of the Ancients. It’s said that the Greatest herself created this language for her children. Agalia taught it to me so I could be her scribe during my time with her and write her journals. Interesting writing as she was so old and had had so many adventures in her time, but this book is not nearly as old as Agalia. My bet is that this was written by a lady too old to train an assistant or wanting to make a name for herself. Foolish but common about three hundred years ago.”
   “Can you read it to me?”
   “I am not that stupid. This is a book of spells and stories of magic. To read it aloud would make the spells stick, most likely to you and some of these would not be pleasant, although so far they have been rather harmless.”
   “Why would the stars want you to read a book of magic?”
   “A curse was put on this land tonight during the ball. I am hopeful there is a counter spell that can be found to undo it.”
   “I felt nothing, I mean no disrespect but are you sure?”
   “Positive. Every unborn male cries to me in pain, many of the younger ones are already dead. The powers that be are most unhappy. So many miscarriages were not meant to be. Your sister’s twins are hurting and she knows something is wrong. If something is not done they will be stillborn and she will go with them as so many mothers have done this night. Hm, interesting.”
“What have you found?”
“It seems I have found the spell for turning a person into a unicorn. That explains the horse in your stables.”
“Are you saying that the unicorn Father brought back that he so brags about is really a man under a spell?”
“Of course. If that were a real unicorn the stars would have exacted their revenge for separating the unicorn from its herd and the pastures and the palace and most of the town would not exist. Sad but true. It seems that the only way to break the transformation spell is to kill the one who spoke the words. The best I can do is modify the spell to remove the horn so the horse looks like a normal white horse and say a spell that will allow the cursed to be human by night but horse by day. Small joy that.”
“Will that not mean you need to die for them to be free?”
“Not according to this. If I do that, there is another spell I can use to allow the cursed to be human all the time. The day/night transformation seems to more be a joke curse than the more permanent one. In fact, there are a number of stories here about how a prince discovered this spell and turned his mistresses into horses to hide them from his wife. Unfortunately that had interesting effects on his offspring. The ones that were born by day looked like horses but acted like humans and could speak but the ones born at night looked like humans but acted like horses. Needless to say, his fun didn’t last long. The author even speculates that this spell may explain the origins of the centaurs somehow.”
“Interesting. Do you know what the man in the stables looks like?”
“Of course, that’s why I never go down to visit him anymore. It breaks my heart to see how sad he is.”
“Could you draw his face?”
“I can try. Drawing people is not my strong suit.” I tried a few times on the paper in a desk drawer but nothing came out so I glanced back at the book. There was a story about a young virgin that the prince liked so he turned her into a mare and himself into a stallion. Unfortunately, that meant he didn’t have a voice until the sun was fully down and they were captured and sold for labor. Needless to say, he never tried that again and the “pretty filly” never went near him nor court.
“That is rather good,” the prince said as I finished the story. Looking down at my hand, I realized I had drawn the face nearly perfectly one handed without thinking about it nor looking at the paper. “In fact, I do believe whoever sent the unicorn has a sense of humor. Twisted, but it makes sense.”
“Why do you say that, My Lord?”
“I do believe that is my uncle. He disappeared from his bed some months ago, in fact, his daughter is now at court and his son just left to marry Lady Edwina. My uncle always scoffed at my father’s near obsessive need to see a unicorn. To have my father think my uncle is a dream come true does have a sense of humor to it, though a rather twisted one. Father will be most disappointed that he has yet to see a real unicorn.”
“It may be for the best that your father has not seen one. He seems like one of the foolish humans that have tried to make a unicorn their pet and quickly died.”
“Yes, I do not imagine Father seeing a unicorn and not claiming it as his own. Anything the foolish man wants, the foolish man must have. Are you alright?”
“Yes, I am just suddenly very tired, I believe I shall go to sleep now,” I commented, leaning heavily on him as my body suddenly seemed made of stone.
“What of the babies?”
“I doubt that spell nor its reversal will be in this book. This thing tells minor spells, it’s more a history of magic and its spells than a spell book. I don’t believe something as powerful as the death of so many young ones, the most sacred of beings, would be found in here but I will look tomorrow morning.” Leaving the book and drawing as they were, we started to walk out of the library but it was slow as I was leaning heavily on him. Suddenly we stopped and he slid his free arm under my knees and swung me up into his arms. “Hmm,” I muttered, cradled snuggly but gently against his chest, “if only I was awake enough to enjoy this.”
“I could always do this again sometime when you are fully awake,” he said quietly and I heard it in his chest.
“That would be nice, my Rhodri, that would be very nice,” I muttered as I fell asleep as he walked. I was barely aware as he lay me gently down on my cushion under the stars but as soon as he backed away, I was back in my pasture with Hermana. She was still grilling me about the prince, even though she didn’t know his name nor job or title, as she always was when I felt eyes on me and turned. There, not too far away stood a white horse with a small white horn.
“Oh, how lovely, a unicorn!” the lady exclaimed as she ran to it and it shied away.
“No, darling, not a unicorn. Another hostage. Oh Rhodri, he got you as well, didn’t he?” I asked as I slowly approached the sad horse and gently petted his snout.