Free The Girl Who Never Was by Skylar Dorset

the misfortune not to be faerie royalty. Names of mere plebeian faeries are required to be revealed under faerie law. Must keep the population in line, you know.'
    'How does that keep the population in line?'
    'Say a faerie's name the right way, you can dissolve his or her enchantments, weaken him or her.'
    I look at Ben. 'That's what happened when I said your name.'
    Ben nods.
    'What was this enchantment?'I demand.
    'To keep you safe,'says Aunt True.
    'Safe from what? Why do I need to be kept alive? I don't get it. Why am I in danger of dying?'
    'Not dying,'Aunt True says somberly, anxiously. 'Being killed.'
    'Being killed by who?'
    Aunt True and Aunt Virtue wring their hands together fretfully.
    Will explains, 'The members of the Seelie Court do not have children. There was a prophecy, so many years ago that nobody can even estimate the age of this prophecy any longer''
    'Or just the other day,'interjects Ben.
    'Don't be confusing,'complains Will.
    Ben shrugs.
    'A prophecy,'Will continues firmly, 'that there would be four fays born of the seasons and, according to the Seelie Court, that these four fays would be the reason that the Unseelie Court would rise and take power in the Otherworld.'
    'What's the Unseelie Court?'I ask.
    'They're our greater of two evils,'answers Ben grimly.
    'Exactly. The Seelie Court may have its issues, but the Unseelie Court, well, no one wants them in power. Anyway, the four fays born of the seasons would be Seelies themselves. No other fays would have nearly enough power. So there was a prohibition on the Seelies creating children.'
    'But''I begin.
    'But here you are,'Will agrees. 'Your mother fell from the Otherworld. She was pushed. To this day, no one has ever caught the perpetrator, and the assumption is that it was someone from the Unseelie Court. She fell and your
    father found her, and he nursed her back to health'it is a long distance to fall. Your mother was in his debt, a dangerous place for a Seelie to be. She was desperate to be out of it. She asked him to name his payment.'Will pauses. 'And he named a child.'
    I am silent for a second. 'Why would he do that?'
    Will looks at my aunts, and I follow his lead.
    Aunt True and Aunt Virtue exchange a look, and then Aunt Virtue starts speaking. 'We are ogres, child. The last of the ogres'your father, True, me. We came here with Will years ago, here to this place. Safety from the Seelie Court, for all the creatures of the Otherworld who weren't faeries'it was Will's idea. The Seelie Court was always biased a bit in favor of their own kind.'
    'Yes, their cruelty toward faeries is slightly milder,'agrees Will drily.
    'So Will founded Parsymeon, an Otherworld place locked into the Thisworld for all the non-faeries to stand together, to weave our own protective enchantments, and together, all of us, we could keep faeries out.'
    'Parsymeon?'I say.
    'Boston,'says Ben. 'Will insists on calling it Parsymeon, but it's Boston, centuries ago, before the Boston you knew. This is Will Blaxton, who founded Boston by planting apple trees on Beacon Hill, apple trees born of the apples of the Isle of Apples.'
    I stare at Will. 'Boston was founded by a wizard?'
    'Yes, as a home for supernatural creatures.'Will sounds annoyed that I sound so dubious. 'A new world'why should it only house Puritans? I named the place Parsymeon. But then the Puritans were dying in their stupid little settlement, and I felt bad, and I invited them here, and they renamed it Boston and they ruined the whole place.'
    'Blaxton,'I realize. I look at Ben. 'You called him Will Blaxton.'
    'It's where your mother's last name came from, yes,'he confirms. 'Surely you've realized by now where the Faye comes from. It isn't her name. It was simply the best we could do with the records.'
    'Faye like your last name?'I say to Ben.
    'Yes,'Will answers on Ben's behalf. 'But it really just means faerie. Benedict's family happens to be a very old one.'
    'But not a royal one.'Ben smiles tightly. 'We