“Fairies have begun exposing their wings,” he says, nodding to the crowd. I follow his gaze. He’s right. Many of them do have their wings out, their thin membranes glittering under lamplight. “Why are they all out?” I ask. Fairies usually only bare them when their emotions run high. “Because ours are,” he says. Indeed, Des, who once studiously hid his wings from me, now proudly bares them. And I have no choice but to show off mine. “Why would they imitate us?” I ask. “Because we’re royalty.”
