Fauna worked fast to open a hidden door behind a bookshelf, pulling the shelf aside and unlocking the door. It had been adorned with four different locking mechanisms, all needing a different key.
“Where did you find the keys?” Gray asked just as I thought the same.
“They were in Millie’s old office,” Fauna replied. “I found them when the carpenters cleared it out.”
Maleficent’s office.
The very room was gutted and would be redone soon, becoming guest quarters.
“It isn’t her office any longer,” I said aloud.
Fauna looked at me with regret in her eyes. “I apologize.”
“No need to, Fauna. It’s hard to forget when someone takes over your life for so long. But we can’t go back, only forward.”
She nodded and swung the door open. I wasn’t anticipating the smell that came at me. I stumbled back, and Gray caught me.
Inside the circular room were six cellars, all barred with doors that locked from the outside. In the center of the room light poured in from an open ceiling. I walked in and as the light hit me, realizing it didn’t shine into any of the cells. I did a circular spin from one room to the last; it was a perfect circle. Anyone who was locked down here before, I felt instant pity for them—stuck in a dungeon that’s only light came from a ceiling and hitting a center in which you could never reach. They never got to touch it or see it dance on their skin again.
“The bodies are over here, Aurora,” Gray said breaking my trance. I followed her to the first cell and found the remains of a man. He lay with his hands out stretched toward his right.
I peered over and saw the girl in the third cell. Her hands were facing him.
And I remembered the story of these two lovers, Daisy and Walter.
“They were sent here by Maleficent. She kept them close enough to see one another, but far enough not to touch,” I uttered aloud. It was cruel and something Maleficent would do.
“We need to have them brought to the surface and buried. Notify their families at once,” I told Fauna. “Do you know who they really were?”
“They were servants of Maleficent’s, but that is all I know,” she answered. “I’ll contact whomever I can and see if we can find out more about them, their names.”
These poor souls were trapped for so long and no one even knew their real names. Maybe their names were really Daisy and Walter or maybe something else. Either way, I hated that they died so alone, reaching for one another upon their death. They died in pain and suffered.
“And as for this room, I want it sealed off when the upstairs is finished. Tell the carpenters please, Fauna. We will not use it again.”
She nodded and scurried up the stairs like a brave soul, not afraid of the dark like I was.
“You understand that you will have to hold prisoners in a cell at some point, right?” Gray said breaking her silence.
Did I understand that?
“Why would I need to have a cell like this? And who am I holding prisoner?”
Sure, I was still learning, but doing what Maleficent did was unjust and evil. I would not be that type of ruler.
“Would you not imprison Raven?” she threw back at me.
“No. I would not. Her, I’ll kill,” I said with certainty. “But as for anyone else, they’ll stand trial and we will not hold them in a cell like this, ever.”
Gray pulled me from the room and away from the sadness of the circular torture room. As we walked up the steps, she said, “And that is why you will be a wonderful queen soon.”
Chapter Seven
Merryweather
Merryweather and Flora drifted to the shore of Stirling safely, thanks to the Water Fairy. They left the boat and walked a short distance to a large gate. Huge metal grates were fused together to make the fence, joined together at the gate, towering so far above their heads that it gave Merryweather a queasy feeling just looking up at it. She began to wonder what Stirling’s people were trying to hide from. Were they at risk just standing outside of the walls?
“How do we get in?” Flora asked.
Merry walked around the fence and didn’t see any entrance from there. She’d hate to have to travel all the way around the large fence—it seemed to go on for miles.
Suddenly she heard a loud groaning and she froze. A door opened in the ground under her feet. She jumped to the side as a man with the longest hair she had ever seen walked out of the earth.
“Hello there, fairies. Do you want entrance into Stirling?” he asked cheerfully.
“Why yes, we would. Thank you,” Merry said.
“How did you arrive to our land?”
She pointed to the shore where the boat had once been.
Where did the boat go?
“We … we arrived by boat. But it seems that it may have drifted off.” She looked around the lake and still no sign of it.
“A boat you say?” The man laughed. “Did you make this boat yourself?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Flora huffed. “We are not boat-makers. Gulp made it for us.”
The man laughed and said, “Gulp’s boats usually go back into the ground and water once they’ve served their purpose. It seems you no longer have need for it.”
“I guess,” Merry said as she wondered how they were going to get back to Ancora from here. “I’m Merryweather. I come from Ancora where the future Queen Aurora resides. We are in need of a Healer Fairy.”
The man rubbed his scruffy chin and nodded. “My name is Holger. I am not a Fae, but a simple man. I run the gates for the town of Stirling. My job is to make sure that only the honest and pure are let inside.”
She knew that she and Flora were honest and pure. But they hadn’t always been. They had worked for Maleficent for a year and pledged to serve her in front of all of Ancora. Even though it was all lies, she wondered if news of such things travelled out here.
Flora stood tall and introduced herself to Holger. “I’m Flora. I serve the Queen as well. We do whatever we have to do to serve her. Even lie if necessary.”
“Flora!” Merry exclaimed quickly.
“Our queen’s beloved has been put under a sleeping curse; a curse that no one can wake him from.” She paused. “Maleficent’s lackey, Raven, hurt him for revenge. And it is our duty to wake him.”
Holger listened to the story of how Maleficent came to power. Flora didn’t leave a thing out, even telling him how they planned to find Raven and make her pay for her crimes. When it was all said and done, Holger was silent for a long time. He kept rubbing his chin and nodding as if he were having an internal war within himself.
Finally he spoke.
“You may enter. I will introduce you to our Healer, Aiofe.”
Merry clapped her hands together and smiled. “Thank you so very much!”
“Just one thing,” Holger said before he let the fairies enter through the door in the ground.
“Yes,” they both said in unison.
“We are not categorized by what we are here; we are all equals. Fae and mortals both. So I do hope you will not cast judgement on our … different ways.”
“I think I will like it here,” Flora said as she followed Merry and Holger down the staircase.
Chapter Eight
Rory
I paced the small room waiting for them to all sit down and stop talking. They were so annoying, always gossiping about the most trivial things. The Royal Council and the Fae Council had both been brought together so I could speak to them about change. The thing about the council was that they never liked to change anything.
They never hired new members to fill new duties. They never reformed the seating arrangements. Nor did they change what they wore to meetings.
The Royal Council—my council—al
ways wore blue. The Fae Council wore green. It was little things like this that made me want to scream. Why couldn’t we wear the same color? Or just wear whatever you’d like.
“My Lady,” Clara said as she entered the room with me.
I ran to her and hugged her tightly.
“Oh, Clara. I so wish you would have come to me sooner with the news. I would have never turned you away from my service.”
She pulled away and blushed severely. “I felt I let you down. I was scared.”
“I understand, Clara,” I expressed as I held her hands tightly. “But I am not my father, nor am I like the kings of old. I aim to change the laws of our kingdom. And that’s why I brought you here today.”
She nodded and said, “Mona told me. I have to admit I am scared they will lock me up and take my baby.” She ran her hands across her belly. It pained me to think of what a mother would go through after carrying her child for months and then having it ripped away from her forever.
“I will make sure that you get to raise your child.”
I put my crown on and took Clara’s hand as we walked from the small room and into the hall where the council’s sat.
“Her Majesty, the Princess Aurora,” the royal announcer said as I entered.
The council didn’t stand for me, but sat in their seats still talking as if I had never entered the room. I was extremely shocked by their rudeness, but I wouldn’t let it get to me.
“Excuse me! Your future queen has entered the room!” I shouted. They all stopped and looked at me in wonder.
“Princess? Are we having a meeting with you today?” Councilman Shepperd said. He was huffy and short with me, but I would proceed.
“Mr. Shepperd, were you not told that you were to meet with the Queen?”
He laughed heartlessly. “Yes, Princess. The Queen as in your mother. Or did you have your coronation without us knowing?” The crowd laughed at his snide remark.
I wished I could slap the smile from his smug face.
I wasn’t queen yet, that was true, but I would be in only three days.
“As heir to the throne, I am the acting queen. My mother has stepped down from her position. Did you miss the memo?”
He wanted to be snarky? Well, I would show him some snark.
Councilman Moore stood and said, “Your Majesty, please beg our forgiveness.” He bowed in my favor and the rest followed suit. “It has been such a long time that we did not realize that you were coming. We are used to your mother.”
“Well, get used to Aurora, because she is your queen now, and you all will listen to her,” Gray announced, taking my side standing tall.
“As Aurora’s mother, and former queen, I agree.” My mother sat in the chair to the side of the room. She had come to witness me speak. I would either fail and make her cringe or succeed and make her proud.
“Of course, madam,” Councilman Shepperd conceded. “I apologize.”
“You may be seated,” I told them as I stayed standing. I would have the upper-hand here as they sat and I stood over them.
“This young lady to my right is my handmaiden, Clara. It seems that she left my service recently to work in the kitchens. Now some would find that odd; a girl leaving her queen’s service to serve in the hot conditions of the kitchens. Am I correct?”
But I didn’t wait for an answer. “Clara is with child—a Fae child. And she was scared that I would banish her, or worse, take her child from her. I decided now that I am going to be queen, changes are in order.”
“Changes?”
“We do not change anything!”
“Oh boy, here we go!”
The council was in an uproar. They were all yelling and screaming about the old ways and how the Fae children have always been raised by the Fae. And I listened but I knew my decision would stay firm. No matter what they said, I would stand firm.
“Enough!” I yelled.
I caught Gray’s eye from across the room where she now sat with my mother.
“Shouldn’t you be trying to find Raven, instead of changing laws that have been in place for as long as this kingdom has been standing?” Councilman Shepperd said starkly.
“That’s the problem, councilman. These laws are old. And so are you, by the way. None of you want to stepdown and let in new members, and I have a real problem with that.” I paced the floor and tried not to make eye contact with any of them, even though they gasped and moaned. “You are under my rule, the last I checked. I am head of council as I am head of country. And as such, I make the rules.”
I stopped and made contact with the Fae Council. “You will not be taking your children from mortal mothers anymore. As long as they are from Ancora or seek refuge here, you will not have a say in what happens to their children. You will also reunite every Fae child that you took with their mortal mothers. As for the mortal fathers, they are allowed to see their child should they want to. I also will allow Fae and Mortal marriages in my kingdom. No longer will we say that the two are no longer equal.
“I love a Fae, and I am not afraid to admit it. You all have me courting princes like my love for Sawyer is fake. But I will not be persuaded. You can send all the princes you want to, but I love only one man. And will marry only one man. This will go into effect immediately. All those who do not agree may step down. But be careful, because your seat will be filled. I assure you I am not going to be sympathetic with any of you. You all have one hour to deliberate. I will be back to hear what you have to say.”
I gathered my skirts and left the room, with Mona, Clara, Gray and my mother following close behind me.
I could barely breathe when I entered the small room off of the hall. I pulled at my silk gown gasping for air.
“Aurora, breathe. It will be all right,” Gray said taking my arm and stopping me from ripping the dress from my body. “You did the right thing.”
“Did I? I mean you heard them; they think me to be a princess with no knowledge of the laws. They think I’m a fool,” I cried. Tears spilled from my eyes as I doubted myself.
“Never be a queen that rules for the thoughts of others. Be a strong queen who rules for the good of her people,” Gray consoled the best way she knew how as she wiped my tears. “Sawyer would have been proud of you today. He always told me of the bravery you had inside of you. It was that bravery that got you through every day while you lived in what you thought was an asylum.”
Sawyer thought I was brave too. That was enough to stop my blubbering and to stand tall.
“He said that?”
“Indeed he did. We travelled a long time together,” she began. “And on many nights when he would worry for your safety, he would stop himself and say, ‘If Rory could love me and risk everything, she can survive anything.’ I know he was right because it was that fire I saw inside you when you were a child, Aurora.”
I closed my eyes and thought about how I did risk it all for him. I gave up a marriage to Phillip to be with a boy who worked for my father. Never once did I worry about what would happen if my father found out. Because if he did, the worse scenario would be banishment and we’d be together. I was risking it all. I would have left my kingdom behind to be with him.
“Do not let some petty old fools scare you into thinking this isn’t right,” my mother chimed in. “I have dealt with these men for years, and they practically messed their pants when you told them how it would be.” She laughed. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“The only ones I worry about are the Fae Council,” I started. “I can’t tell them what to do. I can only rule my kingdom.” I was taking a chance, hoping that they wanted the same things I did—equality.
“We know, Aurora. But it’s a start in the right direction. It’s a direction that Raven isn’t going in.”
We sat in silence after
that. I waited for the hour to be up and their decision to be made. I was terrified I would walk into an empty room. If that happened, then what kind of ruler would I be?
Chapter Nine
Merryweather
Stirling was bustling with people. It smelled of baked bread and rich juices that made Merry’s belly ache with hunger. They had been eating rice patties for days and she was sick of them. Pulling her satchel over her chest, she looked at the coins she had brought. Could she purchase leg of lamb? she wondered to herself.
“Hungry?” Holger asked.
“Oh, we’re starved,” Flora exclaimed. “We have been eating the worst rice patties. They’re so dry.”
Leave it to Flora to be brutally honest.
“Well, then let me treat you,” Holger said as he led them into a small alley. He pulled on a door to a tavern and they entered. The room was full of Fae and mortal alike, an oddity to see them eating together in one place.
At home it wasn’t strange to see a Fae and mortal have a meal together during celebration, but not for lunch or dinner. They just didn’t do that sort of thing. And now that Merry thought about it, why didn’t they? They lived lives that were so similar. Sure mortals had no powers, but what else could be so different about them?
They all had the same feelings and emotions. They honored their families and loved the same. Thinking of Rory and Sawyer, she knew they loved the same, surely.
They took a seat at a table while Holger ordered the food. Soon a rack of ribs, corn, and beans came to the table.
“All the food is grown here in Stirling. We manage quite well,” he told them. “Do you all have gardens and farms?”
Merry nodded as she wiped the sauce from her chin. “We grow many crops in Ancora. The Fae grow certain things in the Fae Woods.”
Awaken (Slumber Duology #2) Page 4
