She showed me her potholder, which she’d crocheted with blue and yellow yarn and had even managed a frilly edge.
“It’s beautiful,” I said.
She blushed. “Thank you,” she said.
I made sure to lock up my booth before we left. As we made our way through the crowd and past the gates, my thoughts were on Mr. Kaufman and the poppy flowers. The meaning of this flower could help us find the killer. I only needed to find out what it meant and where it came from. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the Gypsy girl was carrying the exact same flowers found in the victims’ eyes. After I found out more about the poppy, I would inform Brent, although I still wasn’t confident he was looking for the right person… if we were looking for a person at all.
Kull would know more. He had gotten close to the creature, and I was willing to bet that whatever had attacked him was the same creature that had killed the two men. I dreaded speaking with Kull, but if I wanted to help the fairies find their starstone and stop a murderer, I didn’t have a choice.
We made it back to the tent, hearing laughter from inside before we even opened the flap. As we stepped into the main room, I was surprised to find it filled with close to a dozen people. Prince Terminus stood in the center of the tent, speaking with a measured cadence as he recited a poem. When the poem concluded, he paused, letting the excitement and anticipation build.
“Red!” he said loudly, and with a cloud of purple sparkles, a tulip appeared in his hand. He wandered through the crowd until he stopped by an older woman. “The meaning for this flower is ‘may you always have beauty in your life’. It is yours,” he said solemnly.
She took it, smiling, and thanked him. He moved on.
As I scanned the room, I noticed the three Wults had also gathered with the group, and I spotted a few other familiar faces as well. Jordan stood on the edge of the crowd with his arms crossed, a smug look on his face as he eyed Terminus.
Had the prince stolen Jordan’s customers? And how had Jordan gotten out of jail so soon?
I also noticed a few Gypsy women—including their mother, Madame Glitter. The stars must have aligned just for me, because she was exactly the person I needed to talk to, except I would have to wait. Terminus was moving in her direction.
He gave her a wary glance as he walked toward her.
Madame Glitter didn’t look her age. I knew for a fact that she was pushing fifty—she had been my patient, after all—but at a casual glance, most people would have guessed thirty. She told me she ran four miles a day, and her body was proof of it as she had barely any body fat. Her long brunette hair was always styled to perfection, and today she wore a snug cotton dress with a shawl tied around her waist and jangling golden bangles on her wrists and ankles. She smiled as Terminus approached.
He gave her a polite bow and then straightened. “As for you,” he said, “I shall give you the bloom that suits you most.”
With a flick of his fingers, a whoosh of purple magic echoed through the room and a small yellow dandelion appeared on the palm of his hand.
“Yellow,” Terminus said. “Do you know its meaning?”
“No. Should I?”
“Yes, perhaps you should. Perhaps you already know its meaning all too well. Yellow,” he said, “is the color of infidelity. This is the color that suits you most.”
She frowned.
He offered the flower to her, but she refused it.
“As this flower has not wilted and its petals are without blemish, I would say these devious acts are still occurring. You are false, Madame. While you hide, the truth will be discovered, and you shall pay the price for it.”
Her eyes smoldered. “You are lying.”
“Flowers never lie,” the prince answered.
“You claim to know my secrets because you divined your knowledge from a flower? Ridiculous!” She forced a nervous laugh, though no one laughed with her. “I will not play your game any longer.”
She turned to leave when the flower shriveled and vines sprouted from the stem, wrapping it in a cocoon that soon sprouted thorns.
“I fear a great danger awaits you,” the prince said.
Madame Glitter’s eyes widened as she looked at the flower. She motioned to her girls, and they all followed her out.
There went my chance to get any answers from her. But… perhaps I had them already. What could the prince have meant about an affair? Was Mr. Kaufman or perhaps Mr. Duncan involved with the Gypsy woman?
I stored my questions away as Prince Terminus continued his show. Heidel stood on the edge of the room, and he stopped in front of her.
“I don’t believe there are any flowers meant for me,” she said. “You should move on.”
“Yet,” he said, “there is one flower that I believe suits you.” He waved his hands, and after the magical cloud dissipated, he held a white calla lily. “This is the flower of rebirth and new beginnings. I hope you will accept it.”
She studied the flower for a moment. In the short time that I’d known her, Heidel had managed to trick and betray my companions and me twice. I wasn’t sure if I could ever trust her completely again, yet I knew something had changed. She was different now. Her attitude had changed, and it seemed a small thing, but she no longer carried her goblin blade.
Heidel took the flower and gave Terminus a solemn bow. “I will accept it. Thank you,” she said.
Terminus moved away from Heidel. I hoped he wouldn’t come near me—whatever power he used to divine someone’s inner workings was a little disturbing,
