by Leia Stone
I didn’t want anyone to know what my mother had become in the end, that she’d been so desperate for a crystal she was willing to put a gun in a sick five-year-old’s face.
“Yeah,” I lied. He did deal the first blow that injured her, so it wasn’t a full-fledged lie.
She shook herself, smoothing her hands over her dress. “Right. You’re here because you need my power? When Indra put me into a sleep, I still had my connection to the tree as it is a link to my power, my consciousness. So I used what little magic I had left and created a portal from the tree to my mind before I fully lost consciousness.” She looked off into the distance. “It was a flippant thought that if Indra somehow kept me asleep too long, your aunt could bring you to the tree when you came of age so that you could become Queen and take over. I never really thought I’d stay asleep this long.”
She started to pace the tall grasses, flattening them as she walked. “You should have been crowned at age fourteen. What’s taken so long? How did Indra pull this off? You look in your twenties!”
She looked at me then, and I could see the confident Queen in her. Something I wasn’t, not yet, maybe not ever. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I didn’t want to lie either. She would see right through that. Although I knew it would hurt her, I told her the truth.
“Indra… manipulated everyone’s memories. It’s one of her witch powers.”
The color drained from the Queen’s face, and then something dawned on her. “You… you didn’t grow up hearing about me, did you? That’s why you weren’t crowned when you came of age…”
Tears pricked my vision, and I tried to hold them in, which just made everything blurry, so I let them fall. “We’ve… all been living under the assumption that all royalty was killed in the dark war and that I was just a normal seeker fae. I only learned you existed a month or so ago.”
Her lip pulled back into a snarl. “I’ll fucking kill that witch.” But her anger quickly vanished as she realized what this meant. “So you… grew up without a mother?”
Gods give me strength.
“No… I… your sister was my mother. Indra messed with her memories and made her think that I was her child.”
A sob formed in her throat, and she nodded with tears rolling down her cheeks, but then her frown turned into a radiant smile. “I’ll bet she was a good mom. Probably too soft on you, but good.”
I laughed, smiling with her. “She was great.”
The Queen nodded, wiping at her eyes. “So, you were loved, had a good childhood?”
More tears rolled down my cheeks, and I swatted them away. I never in a million years thought I would be having this conversation when I set out this morning. “Yep. Very.”
She looked out onto the landscape again. “That’s good. That’s what I wanted.” Silent tears rolled down her cheeks, and she made no move to wipe them away. I wondered if, since we were in her mind, she couldn’t control her emotions like she’d be able to in person. I certainly felt more raw and exposed than normal.
“Are you married? Children?” She looked down at my ring finger.
I shook my head. “No, but… I met my soulmate.”
She grinned. “Like a real one? Blue light?”
I nodded. “His name is Liam.”
I could simultaneously see the joy and sorrow play out on her face.
Losing my mother, watching her die was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life, but this was second. Watching a woman openly grieve the loss of her child, being robbed of her daughter even knowing she existed, it broke my heart in two.
“When I did learn about you—” I stepped forward “—I did everything I could to protect you, to figure out what was going on.”
She smiled weakly, stepping closer to me. “You did well. Tell me what’s going on. Did your mom not get the crystals back?”
She had no idea how big the Winter King’s resistance had become. How scattered the crystals had gotten out on Earth and that the Sons of Darkness needed them to survive.
“She got six. I got the rest, but then the king stole them all, and the protection dome fell. Now we have three.”
Determination settled into her features. “I tied the protection field to the Tree of Life, which weakens without the crystals.”
I quickly rambled anything else I could think of, I didn’t know how much time we had. I told her how the king was changing the crystals to be dark, how he was working with Chrysanthemum, the witch, and how we’d formed an alliance with a small band of rebel halflings, which was actually led by Liam. She didn’t look as shocked as I’d thought.
“Good. Alliances are good as long as you know you can truly trust them.”
I told her about Indra and how I’d confronted her and she’d fled; she stood before me, listening to every word as I finally unpacked everything I’d been carrying and rested it on someone else’s shoulders.
“Now he has all of the remaining crystals on Earth and is creating a ‘New Faerie’.”
She nodded as if she wasn’t surprised. “Okay. Here’s what you’re going to do.” She stepped forward and rested two hands on my shoulders, looking me square in the eye.
“You’re going to take my power from the tree and restore the dome, widen it so that it can encompass more land. Then, you’re going to march into ‘New Faerie’,” she said those two words with venom, “and tell every fae on Earth, halfling, full-blood, warlock or witch, that they are welcome to return home.”
My jaw dropped open. “What?”
She nodded. “This war has gone on long enough. And you can’t fight a war without an army. Your halfling alliance sounds like a start, but it’s not enough to take on the king and his ‘New Faerie’. If you want to truly win this war, you need to bring everyone home.”
She was right.
“But what if some of them come back to Faerie and… take the crystals or kill our people or—,”
“They might try.” She nodded. “And hopefully, I’ll awaken before that happens, but this will test your leadership. You’re a Queen now with the blood of our ancestors running through your veins and the magic of sunlight.” Her voice was a growl, and pride swelled in my chest as she continued. “They don’t have that. You will always be superior in power to them. That’s not ego, just fact, and if you need to demonstrate that fact to make them see, then so be it.”
Whoa.
“Okay.” I gulped.
She dropped her hands from my shoulders. “Every new fae who comes from Earth to live in Faerie must pledge an oath of loyalty to you and join the royal guard.”
I nodded, palms growing sweaty.
“You will treat them all equally. Give them a job in society, give them food and shelter.”
“But why would they want to come here when they can just stay there with the king?” I didn’t think he was giving them jobs and making them join the royal guard.
A twinkle shone in her eye. “Because nothing will ever replace Faerie. Not Earth, not Mars, nothing. Their souls yearn to return and be with their motherland. It’s time to end the war, Lily, and I need your help to do it.”
I nodded, about to respond when I felt a tug at my navel.
“Lily!” Jasper roared, his voice echoing through the space. The Queen flinched, grabbing her head.
She looked at me desperately as if she wasn’t ready for our time to be cut short. I wasn’t either. She was giving me advice on how to fix all of this, and I was actually getting to know her, my mother... Seeing her right in front of me was so crazy. She looked so much like my mom.
We both rushed forward at the same time and crashed into a tight hug. I felt that pull at my navel again, and I knew Jasper was going to pull me out.
“I’m going to wake you! I have a healer with you—”
She grabbed the sides of my face. “Be strong. Be confident. Don’t worry about me. As long as you’re okay, I’ll be fine.”
Moisture pooled in her eyes, and I nodded.
“Lily?�
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“What?”
“If Indra comes back, cut her fucking head off.” Her voice was a growl, and it was the last thing I heard before my body was ripped from hers. I flew backward, a glowing white light rushing after me, slamming into me from every angle. It hit me so hard that I felt it in my bones and instinctively knew this was her power. She was giving me her power.
A scream tore from my throat as heat and light seared my skin.
‘Be strong.’ Her words echoed in my head as my body slammed onto the ground and my eyelids snapped open.
“What the fuck, Lily!” Elle was standing over me, tears streaming down her face. “I thought you were dead.”
“You were barely breathing.” Trissa shook my shoulders as if that act would wake me up further.
My chest heaved, and my gaze went to Jasper next, his hands were out, stilled in the air, and he looked at me with a worried gaze. “I couldn’t find you. It’s like your soul… left your body.”
Damn.
I swallowed hard. “I… was with the Queen. In her mind, she created a link with the tree.”
Trissa and Elle looked at me like I was crazy, but Jasper nodded as if this made perfect sense.
I sat up fully, and Trissa handed me some water. “The Queen? How is she?” she asked.
I gulped the water, catching a droplet from falling off my chin. “She’s… good. Mad about Indra, sad about me, but… good.”
The more I thought about our encounter, the more I realized what a great Queen she was, a strong Queen who could make quick and hard decisions.
“She told me what to do. How to fix things until she can wake up and take over.”
They helped me stand and watched as I chewed nervously on my lip.
“Out with it!” Jasper hissed.
“Don’t talk to her like that. She’s the Queen,” Elle snapped at him, but he waved her off.
I took in a deep breath and then exhaled. “I’m going to invite all the fae from Earth to come home and live back in Faerie. Halflings included.”
I paused for the collective intake of breath.
“The Sons too?” Elle looked worried.
I nodded. “Everyone. Then, we’ll have an army to defend Faerie against future attacks. I can bring the crystals back, and when the Queen wakes, she can restore Faerie,” I said it all in a rush, and they blinked at me like I was crazy.
“Invite them here?!” Elle shrieked. “What if they steal more crystals or hurt our people?”
“Then I’ll kill them,” I said matter-of-factly. One thing I’d gained from the Queen was that I could not go into this soft-hearted.
“Oh, I love the new you.” Jasper rubbed his palms together conspiratorially.
“She said that? To invite everyone back?” Trissa looked worried, and I reached out and grasped her hand. “She said to bring everyone home, that it was time to end the war.”
A single tear welled in Trissa’s eye before she swatted it away and nodded curtly. “Then, that’s what we’ll do.”
I stood, feeling lighter, taller. The burden of doing this alone was lifted from me. I had the Queen, Trissa, Elle, Jasper, Liam and so many others.
“Did you get the activation? The powers?” Jasper asked.
I shrugged. “I think so. Stand back.”
They all took a generous step backward, and I held my hands out toward the ashy burnt floor. Leaning down, I placed my palms onto the dry brittle ground and pulled up my power. Pulses of light and heat trickled from my chest, down my arms, and out my fingers. It was like I was holding on to a livewire as the pulsing electric power buzzed through me.
Green grasses began to grow up from the cracked ashy ground and then flowers and trees. The lava hardened, becoming a thick mound blanketed with grass as the Spring Castle garden was restored to its former glory.
I stood, brushing my hands off on my thighs. “It worked.”
Trissa and Elle looked happy, but Jasper frowned. “You can’t kill the king with flowers. Shoot that stone wall into smithereens, or I’m not convinced.”
Trissa nodded. “He does have a point.”
Okay… true.
I’d felt the Queen’s power when it sucked into me, but they didn’t know that, and it was best to practice now rather than experimenting with the Winter King where I could be hurt.
Widening my stance, I took a step back and raised my hands, aiming at one of the castle’s outer protective walls. It was solid stone and would be a good test for my new power. Pulling up the light from within me, I let the power build in my palms before shooting it out in one big burst. The light shot from my palm, blasting me backward a little and incinerating the wall before me. It was… dust.
“Holy shit!” Elle breathed.
I’d been rocked back with such force that I teetered on my heels, staring open-mouthed at the ten-foot hole in the wall as the dust cleared.
“Okay, I think I got the full power activation,” I breathed.
Jasper strode across the newly grown grass and peered at me. His bald head and snake tattoo were unsettling to look at, but I’d come to have his presence grow on me.
“You know I could invert the power you have that gives life, and you could kill a man with one touch.” He gestured to the ground around him.
“Jasper!” Trissa hissed.
“Yeah, whoa, dude. That’s some dark shit. We aren’t inverting her power,” Elle barked.
Jasper shrugged. “Just giving her options.”
I chuckled, clapping the mage on the shoulder. “I appreciate it, but I’ll pass.”
A blur in the sky to my left caught my attention, and I whipped my head that way just in time to see Liam’s second eldest brother Tye. His eyes were wide with terror as he flew toward us at full-speed.
Something was wrong.
I kicked up into the air to meet him, and he stopped before me, panting from exertion.
“What is it?”
“Liam’s been taken by the Winter King.”
My whole body went numb at his words, and a stone sank in my stomach.
Chapter 10
I flew faster than I’d ever flown before, heart pounding against my chest, rattling my ribs like a cage.
How the hell did the Winter King get in Faerie? Mara? Was she hurt? Was Liam hurt? Why did he take Liam? These thoughts spun maddeningly around my head as I raced after Liam’s brother, flying too fast to ask him anything. We zipped across the farmlands, past my new house, and over the bridge to the boys’ new campgrounds.
My feet hit the ground hard, sending a jolt up my legs. A few of the guys were comforting Liam’s younger brothers. Cam had his arms wrapped around Cain.
“What happened?” I shouted, adrenaline rushing through me.
Cam looked up at me with terror in his eyes but said nothing.
Fuck.
“Talk to me,” I breathed and allowed my heart to calm down.
Cain was sobbing in Cam’s chest, no doubt reminded of when his father had kidnapped him.
Cam nodded, seeming to snap out of his shock, and I noticed then that he was bleeding from his thigh. “Tye and I were getting ready to accompany Liam to Earth to go to the hardware store.” My heart constricted, thinking of our dreams of living in the treehouse, dreams that didn’t work without Liam here. “Then, the Winter King came out of nowhere. Just stepped into the camp through the woods and yanked Liam right from his hut.”
I frowned. Out of the woods?
“There must be another portal around here.” Trissa looked beyond the woods and pulled her blade.
“Did he say anything? Why he wanted him? Did he take a crystal?” I asked Tye, who stood next to me.
Cam handed Cain off to Tye and stepped closer to me. “The moment we saw him, we attacked. We were able to protect the bridge so that he couldn’t cross and get the crystals, but… he didn’t seem like he cared. He just wanted Liam.”
Liam was a good fighter, his father’s equal. There were no scorch marks o
r icicles to show any sign of struggle. As if reading my mind, Cam stepped closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. “His father had the Sword of Night, used it to control Liam. He went… willingly.”
Willingly… because he was mentally controlled.
Breathe. Focus. Be strong.
“Did he say why?” I growled. If not for crystals, then why the hell was the king here? Did he need Liam for something?
Cain sniffled, rubbing snot from his nose, and whispered something. I didn’t catch it. Stepping closer to him and dropping on one knee, I asked him what he’d said.
“When my daddy took me before, he talked to the bad witch lady about needing my blood for a spell.”
Chills ran the length of my arms, and I swallowed hard. “What else did they say?”
Cain sniffled again. “The bad lady said if he had blood from his strongest heir… it would be better. Then Daddy said Liam’s name.”
It was so beyond fucked that he called the Winter King Daddy, but I wasn’t even going to think about that right now. Opening my arms, I gave him a hug. “Thanks for telling me that. I love your brother a lot, and I’m not going to let your dad take his blood, okay?”
He nodded, pressing his chin into my chest.
I stood, prepared now to fully be the Queen I needed to be and get Liam back. “I’m going to reinstate the protection dome, and then we’re going to get Liam back. Prepare to head out!” I shouted. “The young boys can stay at Elle’s house with her mom until we get back.”
“Absolutely,” Elle said from behind me. She, Trissa, and Jasper had just landed.
Cam nodded and started to gather the young brothers up to cross the bridge and head over to Elle’s place.
The other guys looked at me expectantly.
Did I know how to raise a protection dome? No. But I had the Queen’s power and a memory from Indra of her doing it. The hardest thing right now was getting my mind to focus on the task before me and not on Liam.
Old Lily would have run for the blue door and gone right after Liam, but I was Queen now. I needed to think of my people, and I wouldn’t leave them vulnerable to another attack while we were gone. Indra was out there, as well as all the dark creatures, and I couldn’t risk it.
