“Neither do I,” The Dave agreed.
“The Reggie said he felt another presence in the shadows when he found what was left of me,” I told them.
The Dave nodded. “He said as much to me as well, but there was no proof. The Corinne made herself Queen that very day, imprisoned me, and locked down the chambers you were murdered in.”
“Here? I was murdered in the Grand Fun Palace?”
“You were,” The Kev said, holding me tighter.
My mind went to work again even though I would have done anything to turn it off at this point. I knew what I had to do. Remembering the past was the key to changing what was happening in Zanthia now. My baby’s future depended on it.
“Is the chamber still locked down with magic?”
“It is,” The Dave confirmed.
“Created by The Corinne?” I asked.
Both The Dave and The Kev nodded.
“Take me there. I need to see it.”
“I don’t know if we can get in,” The Dave said.
“Who is the fucking Fairy Queen?” I demanded as sparks began to shoot from my fingertips.
“You are, lover,” The Kev said with a grin.
“Damned right, I am. Some murderous, bitchy sister who got eaten by my Guardian Angel cannot keep me out of what is mine. You dudes feel me?” I shouted.
“I feel you,” Susu squealed with glee as she shot around the room like a colorful bullet.
The Dave gave me a thumbs up and a smile so bright, I had to hug him once more. The Kev always had my back and I would always have his. I was terrified to do what I was about to do, but there was no other way.
I was the fucking Fairy Queen.
Chapter Sixteen
I regretted my decision the moment I entered the chamber. The room was lightly dusted with an iridescent green mist and small glowing globes, remnants of golden enchantment, bounced around as if lost. I recognized it as my own—from many centuries ago. Reaching out my hand, the glimmering bubbles came to me and rested around my head like a broken crown. It was melancholy and tragic. The crystal at my neck heated and I gently rubbed my stomach to reassure my baby.
The spell that The Corrine had placed on the room was shoddy. I was surprised no one had been able to break it. But then again, maybe no one had really tried. It was not a nice place to be.
“Do you remember this room?” The Dave asked quietly as I stood as still as a statue and looked around.
The Kev reached for me, but I held my hand up for him to stay back. This was a trip I had to take on my own. As much as I loved my Fairy, he could not erase what had happened here and neither could I.
“I remember,” I said. My voice sounded far away to my own ears—hollow and small.
The room was not tacky at all. It was more my style than anyplace in Zanthia I’d seen so far. It wasn’t grand or gaudy, but it was lovely in an understated way. Well, it had been at one time. Now the furniture was upended and broken as if there had been a deadly struggle—and indeed there had been. Only the desk survived unscathed.
For a brief moment pictures of Zanthia flashed through my mind—the Zanthia from before. There were no Tilt-O-Whirls. No carnival rides. There were trees and paths and lovely architecture. Had The Corinne changed everything?
“I feel her here. I feel myself here,” I choked out as I grabbed the edge of the desk. The minute I touched the mahogany wood, I fell down a hole like Alice in Wonderland. However, there was no silly rabbit to greet me. My body was here in the room, but my mind traveled far back in time.
The vision ran in slow motion and it was the worst horror movie I’d ever seen. My stomach cramped and searing pain coursed through my body. The Dave and The Kev’s words of concern sounded like distant gibberish.
Closing my eyes against the travesty that was rushing across my vision didn’t stop it. There was no way out. The pain was almost unbearable, but if remembering was the price I had to pay to keep my baby safe, then remember I would.
I was the fucking Fairy Queen of Zanthia.
“You will sign this into law,” The Corinne hissed. “You must. Demons want Zanthia. This is the only way to keep our race pure.”
“Why is that so important to you, sister?” I asked, eyeing her with distrust. Nothing was straightforward with The Corinne. My sister was exquisitely beautiful and extraordinarily bad. There was always an ulterior motive. Her pathetic vying for power made me weary. We were at war with the Trolls and it took all I had to make sure my army and my people were safe and provided for.
“Because it’s right,” she snarled. “To taint our blood with outsiders will end us. It’s disgusting and unacceptable. You must see I’m correct.”
“No,” I said. “I see that you are elitist. Right now our blood is being shed on battlefields with an enemy far more dangerous than the Demons. It’s the Trolls that want Zanthia, not the Demons.”
“Rubbish. Demons are vile and full of evil. We should have never gone to war with the Trolls,” she snarled. “I simply don’t understand your reluctance. You’re as weak as our mother was.”
“Do not speak ill of The Jewel,” I said in an imperious tone that made The Corinne back up and paled considerably. “Our mother was fair and good. I should only hope to be as good a Fairy Queen as she was. Do not mention her again in any kind of derogatory way—ever. Am I clear?”
“Yes, my Queen,” she choked out as she went to her knees and bowed.
I was very aware of how much she hated calling me her Queen. She was older and felt she’d been passed up, but Fate decreed what Fate decreed, and I was the true Fairy Queen. I was certain if my sister had the chance to take the crown she would do it in a heartbeat. However, I would never give her the opportunity. She would be the ruin of Zanthia—not the Demons.
“I will not sign the decree into law. Satan is far better as an ally than an enemy. And not all Demons are evil. They were created to punish evil—not make it.”
“Lies,” The Corinne snapped. “If the choice was mine, I would build a wall to keep the vermin out.”
“Then it’s a good thing the choice is not yours,” I replied lightly, ready for her to take her leave.
Her constant nagging about keeping Zanthia pure had increased as of late and she was causing unrest. My own people were questioning me about the war with the Trolls because of her. The Corrine was trying to undermine my authority. However, she was my blood and I would look after her until the end of time because that’s what family was supposed to do. She just made it difficult—extremely difficult.
“Is that your final answer on the matter?” The Corinne inquired in a strange tone.
Glancing up at her sharply, I narrowed my eyes and nodded my head.
“Say it,” she insisted, moving to the far side of the room.
“Say what?” I asked, frustrated.
“Say that the Demons are allowed in Zanthia and damn the Trolls to Hell. I need to hear the words, dearest sister of mine.”
Had she lost her mind? What game was she playing now?
“Fine. If I do as you so rudely ask, will you leave my chamber? I have work to do.”
“Your wish is my command, my Queen,” The Corinne said in a condescending tone.
Sometimes I wondered if she truly was my sister. Our mother and father were two of the most divinely good people to roam the Universe. While they hadn’t been each other’s true mates, and not meant to be together forever, they had raised us with love, discipline and compassion. The Corinne had been sour even as a child.
And when our mother had found finally her true mate, The Corinne had been horrid to him.
The Reggie was a dear soul and so heartbroken after The Jewel’s death. I’d kept him close to me. He was a scholar and a healer and one of my closest friends. The Kev and I adored him.
“Say it,” The Corinne shouted, sounding more insane by the second.
Fine. If it would get her to leave, I would say just about anything. However, what she wanted
me to say was exactly what I believed. “Demons are allowed in Zanthia and the Trolls can go to the Basement of Hell and burn for eternity for all I care. Are you happy now?” I demanded.
“You will never know how much,” The Corinne replied raising her arms above her head and shrieking like a banshee.
The next part of the vision was so raw and vicious I could hear my own screams… right now in the present. They matched my screams from the past. The Corinne’s shriek was not because she was crazy—that was a given. It was a call—a signal. My chamber filled with the most grotesque creatures known to the Universe and the creatures my people were fighting. I could hear my sister’s maniacal laugh as she watched me fight each evil monster after each evil monster.
The Corinne chanted and fucked with my magic. Only someone from my bloodline could do something so heinous and cruel. Under normal circumstances her chanting wouldn’t affect me. I was far stronger than my sister, but she’d taken me by surprise.
One weakened Fairy Queen against thirty Trolls was not going to end well. She knew it and I knew it.
The only thing that kept going through my mind was The Kev. His devastation at my death would only match mine at his. Visions of his beautiful face kept me fighting for my life.
As each limb was torn from my body and my blood pooled in macabre puddles on the floor, I kept fighting. I fought until there was no breath left—until my battered and destroyed spirit floated out of my body and looked down at my scattered remains.
The Corinne laughed and picked up my severed hand. She placed a quill pen in my hand and pinched my lifeless fingers together. With no emotion except hatred and greed emanating from her evil body, she sighed the decree to ban Demons from Zanthia. I had indeed held the pen that signed the heinous ordinance into law, but it was the hand of evil that had truly done the deed.
The Trolls bowed to my sister and she cast a horrid spell. Gone were the grotesque ten foot bodies of the Trolls and in their place stood what appeared to be beautiful Fairies. Her words no longer made sense. The Corinne’s voice was shrill and I couldn’t make out her directives to the imposters. But I didn’t need to hear the words. I knew now exactly what she had done.
With a violent jerk, I came back to the present. I felt sick and weak. My tears flowed and created small crystal pools on the desk. My throat was raw from the screaming. The Kev and The Dave looked positively murderous. The devastation in their eyes matched my own.
“I didn’t make the law,” I choked out as I reached for The Kev.
He was beside me so fast I didn’t see him move. The Dave was equally as quick. They both held me as I sobbed.
“You are safe here in Zanthia,” I told The Kev. “The law was signed with my hand but only after it was torn from my body. The Corinne used my severed hand and signed it into law. Not me.”
The Kev’s wail of fury was so enraged and visceral I felt it down to my toes. The Dave’s body shook with fury and both men’s magic bounced around the room tangling with each other’s as they both tried to soothe me.
Thankfully, it worked. The pure love infused in the enchantment, wrapped me in a protective blanket of hope and adoration. Letting it enter me, I sighed and laid my tired head on The Kev’s chest as I held tightly to The Dave’s hand.
“She didn’t kill me,” I whispered. “Well, she did, but she didn’t.”
“You don’t have to talk about it,” The Kev said, burying his face in my hair.
I smiled. My Fairy wanted to protect me from the Dark side but he couldn’t do that. What he could do was love me and that would give me the strength to face it on my own. There was simply no other choice. It was my destiny.
“I do,” I corrected him. “If I bury the memories, the darkness will live on. That’s not how I roll.”
“Do you know who killed you?” The Dave asked.
Nodding my head, I straightened my spine and moved away from the men who loved me. Walking around the room, I could now place faces. Two of my killers were in Susu’s stomach. And twenty-eight more still roamed Zanthia. In fact, I’d just spoken with two of them.
“Trolls,” I said in a flat tone. “And they’re still here.”
“In Zanthia?” The Dave asked as his magic ramped up. “Where?”
“In your Dark Court, and from what I’ve observed here, they’re winning,” I replied as my eyes blazed and an eerie mist of pink, gold and silver began to swirl through the room.
“Trolls are the species of the Dark Court?” The Kev ground out, glowing so brightly I had to shield my eyes.
“Not for much longer,” I said, feeling stronger and more like myself than I ever had.
Knowing my past had freed me. Now I just needed to live to see my future.
“If you can spot them, I can kill them,” The Kev snarled.
“And I as well,” The Dave added not looking as sweet as he had a moment ago.
“Not yet,” I told them as my magic ramped up. However, now I had complete control of it. My power no longer controlled me. My insides tingled and I closed my eyes to enjoy the feeling. “Susu, can you transport The Kev, The Dave and myself back to the Plaza? My magic is weak right now. I need to sleep.”
“I can,” Susu, who had been hovering around my head the entire time, said as she kissed away the tears that still flowed from my eyes. “I can do anything you ask of me, my Queen.”
“Thank you,” I told her, gently kissing the top of her lovely little head. “We have work to do.”
A truer statement had never been said.
Chapter Seventeen
The Plaza was full. Thousands of Light Fairies filled the rooms and thousands more rimmed the perimeter of Zanthia. The magic in the hotel was invigorating. As it touched my skin and danced with delight around me, my exhaustion quickly faded.
These people were the reason I was here. The reason I’d been reincarnated. These were my people. However, apparently the word about the Thumb of Respect had not been spread very well. As I visited each and every room in the hotel, Fairies dropped to the ground with such speed, they banged their heads on the floor. I was certain many would end up with a concussion or at the very least a resounding headache.
“It’s incredible,” I whispered to The Kev with a giggle when we’d finished our rounds after a long but wildly satisfying five hours.
“It is, lover,” he said, pressing his lips to mine. “But we should rest. Dawn is coming soon and you need to yank another plan from your delectable ass.”
“This is true but I already have one in the works,” I told him with a grin.
He took my hand in his and led us back to the fifth floor where our friends awaited our arrival. “Did we lose Susu in the melee?” he asked, glancing around.
“Nope,” I told him with a sly little grin. “I sent her back to Astrid at the Cressida House with a message.”
“Do tell,” he said with a raised brow.
“And ruin the surprise?” I asked with mock horror. “No way. You’ll just have to wait and see. Don’t you trust your Fairy Queen?”
His eyes narrowed playfully and I laughed.
“I trust my Fairy Queen with my life and the life of our little one inside you,” The Kev said, turning serious on a dime.
He reverently touched my stomach and the crystal at my neck warmed. “I think she trusts me too,” I whispered, placing my hand over his.
“She does,” he said. “She told me so.”
With a smile of absolute contentment pulling at my lips, I took a deep breath. “Let’s go see our friends.”
Everything was different now. Well, it was the same, but I remembered my past and there was one person in particular I couldn’t wait to see.
“Hairy Peen!” Martha shouted and jumped up from the couch with her eyes shining like a child on Christmas morning. “You missed it. We killed the rock star temper tantrum. Killed that fucker dead.”
“Almost killed a bunch of Fairies too,” The Shelia said with an eye roll and a laugh.
The entire room was filled with my inner circle and I grinned. I squinted at the two certifiable Vampyres who were dancing around with glee. “What happened?”
“It was so motherhumpin’ perfect,” Jane gushed. “They didn’t know what hit them.”
“Understatement,” The Shelia muttered, shuddering and laughing at the same time.
“Tell me,” I insisted. I really needed to hear something funny. If The Shelia’s expression was anything to go by, this shit was good.
“Okay,” Martha said, patting her buddy Jane on the back in congratulations. “First off, I’d like to say I will never knee Jane in the clam again. After today her va-jay-jay is safe from my knee until the end of time… or we get beheaded.”
“That’s the same thing, shit for brains,” Jane pointed out.
“Explain yourself, assmonkey,” Martha demanded, gut-punching the same woman she’d just sworn not to knee in the lady bits for eternity.
“You’re such a dumbasswanker. I bet you think Johnny Cash is a pay toilet,” Jane snapped as she landed an excellent left hook to Martha’s face.
“You think so, you ancient atomic wiener?” Martha hissed and walloped Jane in the back of the head sending her flying across the room.
“If we get beheaded, it is the end of our time, you steamy bum gremlin,” Jane grunted getting up and flipping her buddy off.
Martha paused in deep thought—which was a total oxymoron.
“Oh,” Martha replied shrugging her bony shoulders and scratching her partially bald head. “My bad.”
“No worries,” Jane replied, unfazed by their violent exchange.
“Umm… I have stuff to do,” I said with an eye roll at their ridiculous antics. “If you want me to hear the story, tell it now.”
“Right,” Martha grunted, getting back on track.
She opened her mouth and began to laugh so hard, I laughed with her. When Jane joined in with her high-pitched cackle, I was done. I was laughing so hard tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. It had been a long and shitty day. Maybe hysterical laughter was the medicine I needed.
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