by Leia Stone
“Look out!” I screamed, bursting from where I’d lain sprawled on my back with my arm in the healing water.
Liam looked up just as his father was coming down with his sword. It was headed right for the Queen. Liam saw this in time and thrust his hand out, creating a sheet of ice over her as the sword crashed into the ice, obliterating it.
I’d gotten up, and to my relief, there was no dizziness, but I still felt a little weak. The Queen looked up at the Winter King from her place on the ground and growled. An honest to gods growl ripped from her throat, and relief rushed through me. She looked ready to fight. The king was so distracted with Liam and the Queen that he never saw me coming. I plowed into him like a truck, tackling him to the ground. He lost his grip on the sword, and we crashed onto the damp earth together. Pain shot up my arm on impact, but I ignored it, rolling over immediately. I kicked up into a standing position, ready to take him on. He stood as well, and I knew that it was now or never. If we didn’t kill him, he’d keep coming back, and I couldn’t have that. Faerie wouldn’t be safe until he was dead.
“Lily.” The Queen’s voice was strong. “Get behind me.”
I looked over, and holy shit, she was awake, standing with her hands out, and sunlight magic crackled like lightning between her palms.
She was back, and she looked pissed. “Cypress! How dare you betray your people like this!” Her voice thundered across the valley. The king had brought company, and I watched in horror as they ran or flew past us and toward the village. The only thing bringing me comfort was the knowledge that my light wall still held, and most of his men couldn’t fly over it.
I took two steps back like she’d asked, and then the king and Queen both launched into the air. It was like watching two rockets shoot upward. The ground was scorched where they’d just been standing. The second they burst into the air, it began to rain icicles and sunlight bombs.
Turning to Liam, I pulled on his shirt. “Come on. Let’s help the Queen. With the three of us, we can finally beat him.”
He looked pale, chest rising and falling with a heavy breath.
“Forgive me, Lily. I… can’t.” His voice broke, and he turned away from me with shame.
Could I kill my own father even if he was evil? When I had dozens of memories of him when I was young where he was a decent man?
No. I couldn’t.
“It’s okay. Go into the village, and help the others,” I told him, squeezing his hand before I shot up into the air.
It was going to have to be me and the Queen. Together, we could do this, and then Faerie would finally be safe. Chrysanthemum was dead. Indra was dead. Our last foe needed to fall for any of us to find lasting peace. I found them about twenty yards away. The Queen had slammed him into a tree, and it broke in half. He was draped on his back over the split stump while the Queen stood over him menacingly.
I dropped to the ground beside her, and we both shot bursts of light at him. He pulled up a shield of ice in protection, but we burned through it quickly, causing him to scream in pain as he lay pinned against the broken tree stump.
I noticed that my light was brighter than hers, and I wondered if it was possible to give her the power back that I’d borrowed without having to go back to the tree. As if she read my mind, she held out her hand. “Lily.”
I grasped it and then felt a surge of electricity run through my body. The light pulsed and then ripped through his wings, cutting them off like they were made of paper.
Holy shit.
His wings fell to the ground like a tortured butterfly as the king wailed in pain, trying but failing to protect himself. He had no sword, no army, and no wings. His powers were no match for us together.
“Daddy!” A small voice cried out behind us, and we both froze.
The Queen turned slowly, looking over her shoulder for a split second, and I followed her gaze.
Cain, standing in the woods with a tear-streaked face, was watching us… torture his father.
“I never would have hurt him,” the king whimpered, looking at Cain. His chest rattled as he breathed painfully. “I never would have hurt my children. That was all Chrys.”
Fuck.
My heart pinched at his declaration, and the Queen looked at me, holding him in place with a band of light that wrapped around his ankles, searing the skin there.
“Don’t kill him!” Cain screamed, and then Cam came out of nowhere and dragged him away.
Tears lined my eyes at the sight.
“He has young children?” The Queen looked at me, a little shaken. Psycho, world-dominating murderers didn’t have small children, right? Wrong.
I just nodded.
“Lily, you’re still acting Queen,” she said, “What is your command? Sentence him to death or imprison him for a thousand years?”
Oh gods.
She was going to put this on me? I mean obviously, I was the one who had been awake and knew what was going on this whole time but…
I didn’t realize imprisonment for a thousand years was possible.
My heart went out to Liam and his brothers then, and I thought of the pain he would feel if his father died. Even though Cam said he didn’t care anymore and Liam said he didn’t care… I think a small part of him did. If it was my mother or father, even if they were evil but there was a chance they could change their ways, I would want mercy.
“Imprisonment,” I declared, and she nodded.
Still holding my hand, she wove her finger in the air, and more bands of light slid around him until he was hogtied, and then she lifted him up into the air by an unseen force.
Holy crap, she was more powerful than I had ever thought.
The earth rumbled and then started to open like a cavern. It split in two, a deep depression growing as she slowly lined the cave-like impression with… iron. She was pulling iron from the earth and lining the hard-packed dirt walls with bars of it.
I expected the king to protest, but he didn’t. When I looked over at him, I saw that it was because he had a sunlight band right over his mouth, gagging him.
Over the next few minutes, the Queen pulled on my power and created a cell in the middle of the forest, deep into the earth, and then she lowered the king inside. Once he was in, she layered the top with bars of iron, only leaving tiny gaps for sunlight or water to get through. Then, she made a small six-inch hatch for food to be dropped down or a tiny bucket. When she was done, she stood over the iron grates as ivy vines curled over it and crawled toward her feet.
“Let’s see if a thousand years in here can change your ways,” she declared, and the sunlight bands fell away from him.
“No!!! Please!” he screamed, but it was no use. We were already walking away, hand in hand, my mom-aunt and me.
When we were far enough away that we no longer heard him, the Queen stopped and turned to me.
“You did well, Lily.” She looked down at me. “What do you say we restore our land?”
I nodded, tears in my eyes at the emotional roller coaster of it all. Now that the Winter King was indisposed, his men were surrendering, dropping to their knees, and coming out of the trees with their hands up.
I spotted Liam with Elle and Trissa, herding a dozen of the Winter King’s men into a circle.
The Queen took my hand and held it high up in the sky. “I declare Faerie for every magical creature. It’s time we put aside our differences and you all come home.”
With that, she dropped to her knees, and I followed her lead. We placed our interlaced fingers over the ground, and then she took a deep breath. “Ready?”
I was beyond ready. To see Faerie restored was my mother’s one dream, and to be able to have a hand in helping make that come true was everything to me.
A surge of heat and light and warmth pulsed through me, and then a shockwave of energy shot out from our palms and blew outward, into everything.
Holy mother.
This was powerful, so much power, and she knew just what to do with
it. I realized, in that moment, that I had so much to learn.
The shockwave of light spread throughout the land, causing the leaves on the trees to rustle. People were knocked backward a little. Water in the healing pool rippled. Everything moved as if Faerie had come alive or woken from a long sleep.
Then it happened.
Green.
Everything turned green and pink and purple and blue. Grass sprang up as far as the eye could see, blanketing everything, and flowers bloomed on nearly every plant or tree. The trunks of the trees, once dry and ashy, grew thick dewy moss the color of a vibrant green highlighter.
I choked back tears as my motherland was restored before my very eyes.
When it was done, the Queen released our hands and faced her people.
Fae came out of the woods from every angle, and they all fell to their knees, most of them openly weeping. Birds flitted in and out of the area as rabbits bound through the lands. Even the Mermaid had popped up from the healing waters with a teary expression.
“Lily.” The Queen turned to me and placed her hands on my shoulders. “I know you don’t know me well… at all. But I hope this can be a new beginning. A start of a… strong friendship between us.” Her voice cracked, and I could feel the emotions running off of her.
Opening my arms, I pulled her into a hug. “I’d like that. A lot,” I told her as my throat tightened.
For a second, she didn’t hug me. I think she was shocked, but then her arms tightened around me and it felt so, so good. It was one of those all-encompassing mom hugs, and I knew everything was going to be okay.
Thunderous applause rose up throughout the woods, and we separated, both smiling. The Queen then pointed to Liam. “You are the Winter King’s eldest son?” She beckoned him forward, and the applause quickly turned to stone-cold silence. Liam looked exactly like him… But surely she remembered him as the one who carried her to the healing pool?
Oh no. I should tell her that he’s my soulmate. That he’s my Liam—
“I guess I should take my men to go live in Winter…” Liam hedged, standing before her nervously.
She scowled. “You will do nothing of the sort. I’d like you to be on my advisory council, and I’d like to thank you for saving my life.”
She bowed deeply to him, and relief flooded through me.
The Queen was different from my mother. She didn’t have the same prejudices. She saw Liam for what he did and not who he was. Yes, he was a halfling, the son of a sick man, but he’d saved her life, and that was all that mattered.
“I’d be honored,” he told her, bowing back.
The Queen then grabbed Liam’s hand and mine and raised them into the air. “I think this calls for a feast!”
The cheers were deafening as they echoed throughout the forest. The farmers had come in from the outskirts; the border guards, everyone was here. Faerie was whole again, and we weren’t ever going to let it fall apart. Not for as long as I lived.
The Queen released our hands and then started to greet everyone, stopping to shake all of their hands.
I turned to Liam. “So, I’ve been thinking. I don’t think it’s right if I move into the treehouse with you.”
His face fell. “Oh… okay. I understa—”
“Not unless we’re engaged. I mean, you can’t give a man everything or he’ll never put a rock on it.” I extended my ring finger and wagged it in his face.
A full-toothed grin swept across his face as he laughed. “The term is ‘put a ring on it.’”
Whatever, stupid Earth terminology.
He bent down and then stood, grabbing my hand. Something cold touched my ring finger, and I looked down to see a small, dirty pebble held against my finger.
“There, I put a rock on it.” He winked.
Laughter peeled out of me as Liam wrapped his arms around me and spun me in a circle.
Our story wasn’t perfect. Hell, it was downright tragic in some parts. But the ending, oh, the ending was going to be happily ever after.
Epilogue
Three years later.
I married Liam two years ago under the Tree of Life with only a handful of my closest friends in attendance. Then, we had a reception with the entire village and partied for three days. It felt like that tree and those crystals had brought us together, and we wanted to honor that.
Liam’s father was still imprisoned. Guards brought him three meals a day and the Queen had ordered plumbing with shower and a toilet to be added to his cell, which I thought was a mercy, considering all of the heartache he’d caused. Cain and a few of the little ones still visited him. They were too young to understand the bigger picture, and Liam didn’t discourage it.
The Queen had also created a portal from the tree in Wyoming where Mara was laid to rest, connecting it to the treehouse Liam and I lived in. We visited his mother twice a week for yummy homemade lasagna and casserole dinners. Tonight, we were going there to celebrate Elle and Cam’s engagement. His mother begged to host the party in her Wyoming house. I think she liked having all of us over.
I skipped along the bridge and onto the path that led to our small treehouse, waving at fae as I passed. The fae from Earth that I’d invited to rejoin Faerie had come, and after a few scuffles for power, they pledged their loyalty to the Queen. Not me. The real Queen. She’d taken her power back at my request and was training me to take over one day. Some of the fae had spread out in search of their own land. Some Winter fae wanted to live in Winter. Every inch of Faerie had been restored to its former glory. But most of them chose to stay here in Spring, to live in a community with all of us.
“Hey,” The Queen called, and I spun. “I wanted to catch you before you went to Cam and Elle’s party.”
She looked radiant in a long flowing blue dress. She was strong, compassionate, loving, and fierce. I’d learned a lot from her over the past three years. We’d grown close like a real family, how I imagined we should have been all those years had we not been robbed of time. I still missed my mother dreadfully, but the Queen had filled some of the holes in my heart with her steadfast love.
“Hey, I wish you would come.” I pouted, sticking out my bottom lip.
She nodded. “Me too, but I must meet with the farmers. There is a fungus issue with one of the crops.”
She extended her hands, and I saw that there was a little gift in them. A brown paper-wrapped box.
I smiled. “I’ll give it to Elle.”
The Queen shook her head. “No, it’s for you… about that thing we talked about.”
My heart warmed at her words. I found out yesterday that I was pregnant. I hadn’t told Liam yet, and the first person I’d run to for advice was her. We weren’t really trying, so it was a bit of a shock, but I was happy about it. Faerie was finally safe enough to bring a child into it. I’d told the Queen my concerns about how small our treehouse was, how the baby would be a royal and a seeker, and how that would change his or her life. That I would never keep anything from them and would tell them of their duties and powers from the day they were born, unlike my mother did with me. I didn’t want my child to grow up in the dark like I had.
“Open it,” the Queen told me.
I swallowed hard, fighting the urge not to cry as I tore the brown paper packaging. When I opened the box, I looked down at the little brass key.
“It’s to the Tree of Life house,” she said as my throat constricted with emotion. “I’ve been remodeling all year, trying to rid it of the bad memories it held. Elle will be moving in with Cam, and it’s high time I moved back into Spring Castle. You and Liam should be the keepers of the tree. Raise your little one to respect the power of the crystals. It’s yours if you want it.”
I burst forward, pulling her into a hug. “Thank you, Mother.”
Her body stiffened against me at those three words. She’d been very frank in the beginning when she found out that I was raised, not knowing of her existence. She said I could call her whatever I wanted. I settle
d for The Queen or Dahlia, but just now, it felt so right to call her Mother. I decided right then and there I would never call her Mom. That was for the woman who raised me, but this woman, she deserved a special name too. She gave me life. She fought for me, for my mom, for our entire village, and then she was tricked into a sleep for twenty years.
My mom would always be my mom, but there was no reason I couldn’t have two.
We pulled away and both swiped at our eyes.
“I’ll only be a ten-minute flight away if you need help babysitting,” she said.
I nodded, smiling. The Tree of Life home was where the Queen had lain in slumber, where Liam killed Indra and experienced so many other things, but it was also the most important place to our people. And the Queen was right. With her full remodel, it wasn’t the same. The room where she used to slumber was now an indoor-outdoor Jacuzzi room. It was time to breathe new memories into that place.
We hugged once more and then parted ways. I made it to the tiny tree home I shared with Liam just in time. Elle, Jasper, Trissa, Cam, Liam’s brothers, everyone was assembled to go through the portal.
“You’re late, woman!” Elle called out. She looked so beautiful in her pale pink dress and tan heels.
“Sorry!” I ran to catch up, shoving the key into my pocket. I’d tell Liam about it all tomorrow. Tonight was Elle’s night.
When I got up to the group, Liam pulled me into his arms and kissed me long and deep.
“Gross,” Cain said. He was eight now, and his comment only made Liam and me grin.
“I missed you.” Liam pulled my hair away from my face, and the little brothers started to make fake retching noises.
We twisted the handle on the door to our home counter-clockwise and then opened it, activating the portal. Then, we all stepped through to his mother’s Wyoming ranch.
“Hey!” Liam’s mom was at the stove when we walked in. The house smelled amazing, rich, and fragrant. The long fifteen-person table was set up with tealights, and a bunch of fondue pots had been set out with different melted cheeses, small soft pretzel bites, and then melted chocolates with marshmallows. It was amazing. She went all out.
