Cass leaned over. “McKale’s a shoemaker for the Fae?”

Mom nodded, but her eyes were too big.

Tidbits of folklore swirled through my mind, but a hard sense of denial set up camp inside me. It couldn’t be the same tale I was imagining.

“Who are they?” I asked.

“Hm?” Mom eyed her almost-empty glass. “Where is that stewardess?”

“Mom…” My heart pounded and I chose my words carefully. “What is McKale’s clan called?”

She wouldn’t look at me. The cabin space seemed to close in on me. It was forever before she answered in a cracking voice. “They’re the Leprechauns.”

“That’s not funny,” I said. Mom stared at her hands. She didn’t laugh or say, “Gotcha!”

I was going to suffocate. Cassidy gasped next to me and I flung off my seat belt, jumping up from my seat with my hands in my hair, breaking the magical bubble with a loud pop that only the four of us could hear. My father sat straight up, dropping the magazine and looking around with a hardcore expression of seriousness. My action had sent him into work-mode. When he was sure nobody had noticed he gave me a severe look that kind of scared me.

Mom grasped my arm and I shrunk down to the edge of my seat. I couldn’t look at her yet. My heart was banging and I could hardly breathe as I fought the wide expanse of emotion.

“Leprechauns?!” I demanded. The word tasted wrong in my mouth, like I was expecting a sip of water and drank lime juice instead.

Cass leaned over me. “As in, the Leprechauns?”

“Sh,” Mom said, looking around to make sure the people up front hadn’t heard. Then she chewed her lip as her eyes flitted to me, a horribly guilty expression on her face. I gaped at her.

I was not marrying a Leprechaun! Who thought that would be okay? A sense of betrayal overtook me, worse than any feeling I’d ever experienced.

“Hurry, pretend to sleep again,” Mom ordered. I placed my elbow on the armrest and leaned my head against my hand, closing my eyes. When I felt the shimmer of magic I couldn’t lift my heavy head. All my life I’d stayed positive no matter what, knowing if I allowed negativity to invade it would take over like a weed. All of my subdued fears and doubts surfaced like a blitz, ignited by my parents’ secrecy. I leaned my face into my palms and burst into tears.

Cassidy sucked in a breath, her voice warbling. “Oh, my gosh… Robyn? Mom, you made her cry!”

They both rubbed my back and smoothed my hair. Sobbing was demoralizing and humiliating. I wanted more than anything to stop, but my body wouldn’t cooperate.

“Shush, dear. Please don’t cry,” Mom crooned. “I hear he’s the tallest lad in the clan.”

Oh, no she didn’t.

I looked up through hazy, swollen eyes and choked out, “So he’s four feet tall instead of three?” Cassidy had the nerve to giggle.

“Maybe he’ll be the funniest and the sweetest wee man in the clan,” Cass said brightly. I shook my head in my hands and my chest heaved with another round of uncontrollable weeping.

“Don’t say wee man!” Mom hissed at Cassidy. To me she whispered, “There, there, love.”

“Flying shitballs,” Cassidy grumbled. “This is bad.”

“Watch your mouth,” Mom scolded. “You know I hate that word.”

“If there was ever a time that warranted the use of ‘shitballs,’ it’s now, Mom.”

“Och! For the love of all things holy, child. Attempt to filter what comes out of your mouth!”

Lost in my own anguish, I barely registered the bickering between them.

I’d always felt like an Amazon woman, standing as tall as the guys at school, and even taller than many of them. Next to McKale I was sure to be an absolute giant. How could my parents have agreed to this? I mean, I know it was important to keep the magical bloodlines alive so the Fae secrets could be kept in as few families as possible around the world, but still. There needed to be basic attraction between two people if they were going to bind their lives together and try to have children, right? Everything about this was wrong and unfair.

Impossible.

I took a deep, cleansing breath and sat up with a mild shudder. My practical nature raised its head, composed. Time to stop crying and get answers. I wiped my face and looked at Mom. My voice was thick.

“You should have told me sooner. I need more time than just a day to process something this huge.”

I wanted to keep going, to tell her off completely and make her feel the betrayal I was experiencing, but she looked miserable.

“Yeah,” Cassidy chimed in, rambling with indignation on my behalf. “Not cool. This is a major detail. I mean, how short are they anyway? Are we talking ‘sit on your lap’ short or ‘sit on your shoulder’ short? Because if he’s only a foot high I don’t know how anyone expects them to do it.”

Gah! Images of a Ken doll popped into my mind.

“No, no, it’s not like that.” Mom cradled her forehead in her hand like she did when a migraine was coming on. Something wasn’t adding up.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I yelled in frustration.

Dad cleared his throat and rustled the magazine, causing the three of us to turn to him.

“Or you, Daddy!” I wanted to cry all over again. How could they keep this from me? Why would they pair me with a freaking Leprechaun?!

He spoke without looking away from the pages, keeping his voice low so passengers a few rows ahead couldn’t hear him since he wasn’t in our magic bubble. “Don’t be so hard on your mother, girls. Perhaps we didn’t have much choice in the matter. The Fae can be quite… convincing.” He looked directly at Mom now. “You need to tell them, Cecelia.”