Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales Paperback (47 page)

Even from the back, she seemed angry.

“Forgive me, your Majesty,” said Ivan, “but I have no wish to marry

the Princess, and I don’t think she wants to marry me either. We don’t even know each other.”

Princess Alethea turned and looked at him in astonishment.

• 379 •

• Blanchefleur •

“Thank you!” she said. “You’re the first person who’s made any sense all day. I’m glad you slayed the dragon, but I don’t see what that has to do with getting my hand in marriage. I’m not some sort of prize

at a village fair.”

“And I would not deprive you of a kingdom,” said Ivan. “I have no

wish to be king.”

“Oh, goodness,” said Alethea, “neither do I! Ruling is deadly dull.

You can have the kingdom and do what you like with it. I’m going to

university, to become an astronomer. I’ve wanted to be an astronomer since I was twelve.”

“But . . . ” said the King.

“Well then, it’s decided, “ said the Lady. “Ivan, you’ll spend the rest of your apprenticeship here, in the palace, learning matters of state.”

“But I want to go back to the wolves,” said Ivan. He saw the look

on the Lady’s face: she was about to say no. He added, hurriedly, “If I can go back, just for the rest of my apprenticeship, I’ll come back here and stay as long as you like, learning to be king. I promise.”

“All right,” said the Lady.

He nodded, gratefully. At least he would have spring in the

mountains, with his pack.

Ivan and Blanchefleur rode north, not on a farm horse this time, but on a mare from the King’s stables. As night fell, they stopped by a

stream. The mountains were ahead of them, glowing in the evening

light.

“You know, before we left, Tailcatcher asked me again,” said

Blanchefleur. “He thought that my time with you was done, that I

would go back to the Castle in the Forest with my mother. I could

have.”

“Why didn’t you?” asked Ivan.

“Why did you refuse the hand of the Princess Alethea? She was

attractive enough.”

“Because I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with her,” said

Ivan. “I want to spend it with you, Blanchefleur.”

• 380 •

• Theodora Goss •

“Even though I’m a cat?”

“Even though.”

She looked at him for a moment, then said, “I’m not always a cat,

you know.” Suddenly, sitting beside him was a girl with short white

hair, wearing a white fur jacket and trousers. She had Blanchefleur’s eyes.

“Are you—are you Blanchefleur?” he asked. He stared at her. She

was and she was not the white cat.

“Of course I am, idiot,” she said. “I think you’re going to make a

good king. You’ll have all the knowledge in the world to guide you,

and any pain you cause, you’ll have to feel yourself, so you’ll be fair and kind. But you’ll win all your battles. You’ll hate it most of the time and wish you were back with the wolves or in Professor Owl’s

tower, or even taking care of the lizards. That’s why you’ll be good.”

“And you’ll stay with me?” he asked, tentatively reaching over and

taking her hand.

“Of course,” she said. “Who else is going to take care of you, Ivan?”

Together, they sat and watched the brightness fade from the

mountain peaks and night fall over the Wolfwald. When Ivan lay

down to sleep, he felt the white cat curl up next to his chest. He

smiled into the darkness before slipping away into dreams.

••

Theodora Goss
’s publications include the short story collection
In the Forest of Forgetting
(2006);
Interfictions
(2007), a short story anthology coedited with Delia Sherman;
Voices from Fairyland

(2008), a poetry anthology with critical essays and a selection of her own poems; and
The Thorn and the Blossom
(2012), a novella in a two-sided accordion format. She has been a finalist for the Nebula,

Crawford, Locus, and Mythopoeic Awards, and on the Tiptree Award

Honor List. She has won the World Fantasy Award.

••

• 381 •

•
About the Editor
•

This volume and the just-released
Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and
the Macabre
are the third and fourth “original” anthologies edited by Paula Guran; her twenty-second and twenty-third anthologies

altogether. As senior editor for Prime Books and Masque Books

she also edits novels and collections. Guran has a website (www.

paulaguran.com) which she has yet to actually do much with, but

you can find out more about her there.

•
Illustrations
•

17: Year of Dragon © 2013 Avian / Shutterstock

31: Black Hellebore or Christmas Rose or Helleborus niger. Old

engraved illustration of a Black Hellebore showing flowers. “Trousset encyclopedia” (
Nouveau dictionnaire encyclopédique universel illustré
), Paris 1886-1891 / Shutterstock

49: 1790: An old English spinning wheel for spinning yarn. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images) / iStockphoto

57: The Muse of Dance, vintage engraved illustration from
La mosaique
edited by A. Bourdilliat, Paris, 1875 / Shutterstock

91: Newfoundland or Canis lupus familiaris. Old engraved illustration of a Newfoundland. “Trousset encyclopedia” (
Nouveau dictionnaire
encyclopédique universel illustré
), Paris 1886-1891 / Shutterstock 117: Engraving, bread and rolls with corn flax, vintage / Shutterstock 127: Illustration (1901) from
Tales of Mother Goose
by Charles Perrault; translated and edited by Charles Welsh; “The Marquis of Carabas is

drowning!” Illustrating “The Master Cat, Or Puss in Boots.” Adapted

from by Gustave Doré’s “Puss in boots” (
Le chat botté
). Date: Unknown, 1883 at the latest. (Public Domain) (modified)

• 383 •

147: Syringe, vintage engraved illustration from
Manuel des hospitalière
et des garde-malaldes
, edited by Librairie Poussielgue, Paris, 1907 /

Shutterstock

157: Eurasian Wolf, Canis lupus lupus; European, Common or Forest

Wolf or Altaicus or lycaon or Grey wolf. Old engraved illustration

of a Eurasian Wolf. “Trousset encyclopedia” (
Nouveau dictionnaire
encyclopédique universel illustré
) Paris, 1886-1891 / Shutterstock 183: Lupinus or lupins or lupines, vintage engraved illustration.

Dictionnaire francais il ustré des mots et des choses
, Larive and Fleury, Paris, 1895 / Shutterstock

189: Raven drawing © 2013 Silver Tiger / Shutterstock

215: Development of a Chicken Egg, vintage engraved illustration.

Dictionnaire francais il ustré des mots et des choses
, Larive and Fleury, 1895, Paris / Shutterstock (modified)

233: Corset, vintage engraved illustration,
La mode illustrée
by Firmin-Didot et Cie, , Paris, 1882 / Shutterstock

263: Norwegian village in the mountains, an illustration from
The
Encyclopedia Publishers Education
, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1896 /

Shutterstock

283: Annual Nettle (Urtica urens),
Meyers Konversations-Lexik
, Berlin, 1897 / Shutterstock

299: Peach or Prunus persica, vintage engraved illustration. “Trousset encyclopedia” (
Nouveau dictionnaire encyclopédique universel illustré
), Paris, 1886-1891 / Shutterstock

319: Old mirror, vintage illustration from
Meyers Konversations-Lexik
Berlin, 1897 / Shutterstock

333: Cat Art Drawing © Silver Tiger 2013 / Shutterstock

••

• 384 •