“Ever seen the fairy prince come along?”
She looked back into the fire and pondered quite a long time. Then she said slowly:
“I think I did once, though I’m not quite sure. Only he hadn’t got any purple marks, not even quite a little one, on his face.”
“And there were dragons?”
Aryenis shivered. “Lots!”
“And did the prince kill them, all right?”
“Yes, quite dead.”
“And then he and the princess would live happily ever after? That’s the proper ending, isn’t it?”
“It’s the proper ending—in a fairy story.”
She got up slowly.