by Jordi Burton
“Preferably once we return home,” said Celia.
Anarose leaned forward. “But, until then, we will try and learn everything we can from the ‘good’ half about the other half’s plans. Why did he bring us all here, and what does he hope to accomplish?”
Anastasia nodded. “I think we should talk to Durse.”
“Follant?” William darkly intoned. “You shouldn’t trust a word he says.”
“All the same, he helped us escape the castle. He was one of Joey’s men, he might know something that will help.”
Anarose inclined her head. “I agree.”
“Well, then let’s go meet the others,” said Celia.
They all rose and followed the winding pathway through the trees and down to where Anastasia had eaten the day before. There, the table was filled with similar delicacies from the previous evening. The large group they’d taken from the castle sat around it, chatting amiably. Warmth and contentedness radiated from them in waves, calming Anastasia and her family.
The Fairy Queen joined them a moment later, and they all took a seat at the table. Everyone else stopped eating, staring between the royal family and the Queen, all except Mohan and Vlad, who were royals themselves, and used to such a meal.
“Good morrow,” said Anarose.
Norden dropped his fork, shock plain on his face.
Lili cleared her throat. “Good morrow, Your Majesty.”
The Fairy Queen clapped her hands. “Well, now that that’s all settled…” She turned to Durse. “You were one of the leaders of the Soster. What can you tell us?”
Anastasia had to appreciate the Queen’s abruptness. She knew how to get right to the heart of a conversation. Her mother seemed to appreciate it as well, for a sly smile tugged her lips. Everyone else, however, needed a moment to collect themselves.
Mohan frowned. “If he was one of the Soster, he can’t be trusted.”
“Wait,” Ericcen held up a hand, “what is the Soster?”
Dani leaned forward. “They’re people that were previously possessed by Shadows who feel a sort of kinship with them. They serve them like masters.”
“He also held us prisoner for months,” Hayde grumbled.
“I told you you couldn’t trust him,” William said.
Dani shot him a look. “But he helped us to escape.”
“Yeah, before we were brought to this world,” said Hayde. “Once we were in the castle dungeons, he kept us there.”
Anastasia narrowed her eyes. Durse Follant had kept Dani, Hayde, and Mira prisoner all this time? While Joey had been there? Had they been tortured? It hadn’t seemed like it. And what would Joey have needed with them? Or Durse for that matter? Gods and Angels, they’d been prisoners before Joey had even cast his spell, and she’d had no idea they were in any sort of trouble. She hadn’t been concerned when they hadn’t reported to Sehir as members of the ancient families of Jacqueline, and they’d been prisoners the whole time! Guilt gnawed at her.
Durse splayed his hands on the table. “I feel like I should explain.”
“You’d better,” William growled.
Everyone turned to him, wearing varying expressions of distain. But Anastasia felt his conviction. Whatever his excuse, he believed in it wholeheartedly.
“Two years ago, I was reporting to Warrior Elken, then head of the royal guard.”
Anastasia remembered Warrior Elken; she had seen her die in one of her first premonitions. It was how they’d known the Shadows were possessing werewolves. She’d gone to her funeral to pay her respects.
“I passed by the Hall of Rulers,” Durse continued. “There, I saw a woman in the looking glass.”
Anastasia froze. It couldn’t be.
“It was Queen Analie. She told me all about what happened to her the night the Shadows attacked, and how she’d managed to escape. At first, I didn’t believe her, but then things she’d told me started to come true.” Durse shook his head. “So, I went back to her and she recruited me to help her. I’ve been following her instructions ever since.”
Silence met his words. Anastasia couldn’t believe it, but a part of her knew it had to be true. She thought back to the conversation she’d had with Durse in Ostana’s chambers, when he’d escaped the dungeons: I’m only following instructions, Your Highness. This is all a part of it, a part of the bigger picture. I wish you could understand. He was following instructions—her grandmother’s instructions. Just like Valdon had, and Turania, and Miruna, and Jumba, and the Fairy Queen. They were all strands in her grandmother’s tangled web.
“Queen Analie is dead,” Dani breathed. She looked to Anastasia’s parents, to her brother, but none of them met her eyes. “Isn’t she?”
Elliot inclined his head. “In a sense, yes. My mother-in-law can never return to our world.”
Gerrard furrowed his brow. “So, where is she?”
“An alternate universe.”
Taking in everyone’s shocked expressions, Anastasia sat back. For so long, she’d been keeping more secrets than she could count. Now, one of the biggest was out here for them all to see. Somehow, the reality didn’t frighten her. She trusted every single person at this table, even Mira and Balan. It was time the people started to learn the truth.
Mira choked on her drink. “I’m sorry, what?”
“That’s why I had to distance myself from William, to let him and Chris go to prison,” Anastasia explained. “We couldn’t let anyone know about the alternate universes. But they are both innocent.”
“Speaking of,” Anarose got to her feet, “I hereby officially pardon William James Dinas and Christopher Jay Woodsman. You are no longer fugitives of the Crown.”
Dani squealed, throwing her arms around her brother. Chris just sat, utterly stunned. All those months they’d sat in prison, the degrading trial led by the Representatives, William’s charge of treason, it was all gone. Elation flooded Anastasia. They were free, finally, blessedly, free. They could live whole lives, without the darkness of their charges cloying at them.
Aelnold narrowed his eyes. “You don’t expect us to believe that ‘alternate universe’ stuff, do you?”
“It’s the truth,” Elliot intoned. “There are three universes that we know of. Ours, the one Queen Analie is in, and the Shadow world.”
Norden frowned. “The Shadow world?”
“It’s where my family and I were held those months we were missing,” explained Bale. “We were tortured at the hands of a man called Adrian.”
“Where is this Adrian now?” asked Gerrard.
“We don’t know.”
Graham shook his head. “It seems Joey has taken his place.”
“Which brings us back to the original point,” the Fairy Queen said, turning to Durse. “What can you tell us?”
No one spoke for a moment. Anastasia took in their emotions. They ranged from Vlad’s acceptance, to Dani’s confusion, to Durse’s resignation, to Balan’s skepticism. But beneath it all was an underlying understanding. They believed her family and were willing to accept the idea of alternate universes and Queens that weren’t truly dead.
“Joey was looking for something, some sort of source of power,” Durse said with a sigh. “He still hasn’t found it.”
Gerrard frowned. “What would he need the power for?”
“Probably to take the throne,” Anastasia said. “That’s his goal, to assert himself as King of Jacqueline.”
Looking up, Anastasia met Anarose and Calla’s eyes. They understood, he was asserting himself as the true heir to the throne, the son of the firstborn daughter of the Queen. It made Anastasia’s stomach clench, just thinking about evil Joey taking the throne and ruling over Jacqueline.
Mohan chuckled. “Well, there’s not much to rule out here. Everything and everyone is so scattered. There’s no High Council, no King of the Land. If he wants to rule, it will be over one city at a time.”
Vlad nervously licked his fangs from where he sat, hidden from the sun. “
Unless he starts a war.”
“Prince Vlad is right,” said Ryke. “If he starts to conquer the lands, he could build himself an empire. Especially if he has some immense power at his fingertips.”
Balan worked his jaw. “Then we need to stop him.”
“Now that we’re all on the same page.” The Fairy Queen rolled her eyes. “We will keep him from getting that which he seeks.”
“How?”
The Queen motioned to Anastasia. “We are the Ancients. You think one such as him could defeat the most powerful beings of time? We were given the power of Gods, child. The power to restart entire worlds.”
Chris nodded. “Once Princess Isidora and Prince Hughie arrive, you can Awaken us, and we can go home, where we will be stronger, have a home advantage.”
“He’s right,” said Mohan. “Joey was not raised in our world. He doesn’t understand it like we do.”
Anastasia didn’t mention that she wasn’t raised in their world, either. Though, she supposed, six years surely trumped the months Joey had been in the realms. And while it would be good to return home, seeing as Mohan and Calla would have their magic again, the idea of leaving didn’t sit right with Anastasia. What was to stop Joey from just bringing them back to the Old World, to get the power he sought?
“I agree that we need to Awaken the Ancients,” she said. “But we should be focused on finding the power Joey’s after.” She turned to Durse. “Do you have any idea what it is?”
Durse shook his head. “He wasn’t very open to talking about it.”
“So how do we find what he’s looking for?” Lili asked.
Anastasia wracked her brain. What could Joey have wanted so badly he needed to murder nine people and cast a spell to go to the Old World to get it? It must’ve been something that only existed here, something he couldn’t find anywhere else.
“We can check the library here,” said the Fairy Queen. “While we wait for Isidora and Hughie.”
Graham nodded. “Good idea.”
Moments later, Anastasia found herself again in a library surrounded by scrolls. This one, however, was high in the boughs of the tree. Long branches connected to hold a mossy, leafy canopy over them, bathing them in pale green light. The shelves were carved from the tree itself, as were reading alcoves, tables, and benches. While it wasn’t as tall as the Royal Library in Bahail, it was long; it seemed to stretch across all the trees in the city.
Opening a scroll, Anastasia found that the words inside shimmered and shifted until they were in the ancient language. She’d never been happier for fairy magic than she was at that moment.
She and William filled their arms with scrolls and tucked themselves into a nook to read. Everyone else spread through the enormous library, the Nadmilise flying about on their wings, and the sorcerers and Vlad strolling leisurely along.
If they hadn’t been trying to find a way to defeat Joey, Anastasia would’ve been happy, seeing them all together this way. As it was, she was just glad to have something to do, something that made her feel like she was making a difference in ending what had happened to them. Settling back against William, she started on her pile of scrolls.
Slowly, William trailed his fingers over her hand as he read. She smiled up at him.
Regardless of the situation, she was still pretty happy.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
T hree weeks had found Anastasia and the others up to their elbows in scrolls in the fairy library. The Queen came and went, needing to run her kingdom, but she helped when she could. Otherwise, they were on their own. Occasionally, the fairies’ dogs curled up with them while they read; Anastasia loved to pet them while she worked. They were soft and sweet, and radiated nothing but warmth and contentment.
Stretching, Anastasia turned to William. He dozed in the alcove they occupied, sunlight playing upon his face. Sometimes, she couldn’t quite believe they were together. She often thought back to when they first met, and everything they’d been through since. He’d gone from the frightening warrior that held a blade to her throat, to the man she loved more than anything else. She’d never imagined she’d trust him the way she did, and yet, she still hadn’t told him about her premonitions.
How did she even broach a subject like that, especially after the way Aatu had reacted, and the way the alternate universe William had called her an abomination? She couldn’t bear it if her William looked at her like that. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if he wasn’t a part of her life anymore.
“He hasn’t left your side since we got here.”
Startled, she turned to see Gerrard standing in front of her.
“Sorry,” he said. “Thought you heard me come up.”
“I was lost in thought.”
He motioned to William. “He must take his job as a warrior very seriously.”
“He does.” She faltered. “But that’s not—it isn’t really—”
“I get it,” he murmured. “We can feel each other’s feelings, remember? I knew how you felt about each other as soon as he arrived in Bahail.”
She nodded. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
“You needed a husband for an heir, so the throne wouldn’t be lost. And he was in prison—not a likely candidate for the future King.”
Anastasia nodded, turning to look at William again. She imagined what he would be like as a king, wearing a shimmering crown, sitting in the throne beside her. Perhaps, someday, a painting of the two of them would hang in her daughter’s study, just like her grandparents did in her mother’s. Maybe they would look as regal, as happy.
At that moment, she realized, regardless of the circumstances, she wanted William to be the future King of Jacqueline. She wanted him to become a part of her family, to pick up the mantle so many incredible men held before him. It was almost a physical need, to bring him into her home.
A voice carried from down in the library. “I think I found something!”
William jolted awake as Gerrard ran forward. As Anastasia leapt off the alcove, William grabbed her hand, pulled her back to him, and kissed her.
“What was that for?” she asked.
His eyes searched hers. “You are the love of my life.”
Her heart skipped a beat; she was speechless. He sounded so serious, and a cursory read of his emotions left her overwhelmed by determination and love. Part of her wanted to step out of his embrace, to lessen the emotions, while another part of her wanted to step closer.
Gerrard called, “Come on!”
Slowly, Anastasia stepped out of William’s arms. Keeping a hold on his hand, however, she followed Gerrard to the middle of the library, where Hayde sat at a table peering over a scroll. Everyone gathered around him, crowding the small table. The tension among them was palpable. Only little Aagney broke the strain, radiating joy from his perch in Celia’s arms. Her Aunt had taken to the baby immediately, bouncing him on her knee and babbling at him incessantly. Anastasia was glad to have a reprieve.
“It says here that there is a power of the Ancients,” Hayde said. “That each Ancient had an individual strength, used to repel the evil from their world and protect their people.”
Anastasia frowned. So the Ancients were warriors? From what she knew of Anistes Droun, that didn’t fit. The ancient magic cocooned the Ancients until a time when the world was safe, and they could use their magic to restart the realms. Was it different in the Old World? Were they a God-given weapon to protect the realms?
“How does that help?” Mira snapped. “We already knew the Ancients had power!”
“Yeah,” said Hayde. “But the raw power they had was too powerful for them to handle, so they needed something to help them channel it.”
Dani frowned. “And?”
“And it could store power in it. Whoever wielded it could wield the power of the Ancient it was from.”
“While fascinating,” Celia icily intoned, “I don’t see how this helps.”
Hayde flipped the scroll around so they could
see it. “What does that look like to you?”
Collective shock went through the room. Anastasia looked down at the scroll and gasped. There, sketched among the words, was her pendant. But not just hers, there were seven of them, all identical save for their color.
At that moment, Anastasia remembered her premonition: Six identical copies of myself stand around me on the line of the circle. They’re dressed strangely, in anciently-fashioned clothing, but that isn’t even the strangest thing about them. No, they’re all wearing my pendant, but the stones are different colors. They weren’t different version of her, they were the Ancients! Wearing their pendants that helped them channel their power.
Gods and Angels, she’d had a tool of the Ancients since she was six-years-old. It had been passed down through her family since the very first Queen of Jacqueline. Which, of course, now made sense. The pendant helped her channel her premonitions, just as Valdon had told her. As the Fairy Queen said, they had the power of Gods. It was too strong on its own.
“That must be what Joey’s after,” said Graham. “Anastasia’s pendant.”
Anastasia shook her head. “There are seven pendants.”
“And Joey wants all of them,” reasoned Dani.
Balan shook his head. “If he gets all of them…”
Mohan frowned. “He’ll have the power of all the Ancients, the power of the Gods.”
“We’ll just have to find them first,” said Ryke.
“How do you suggest we do that?” demanded Mira. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we can’t just portal willy-nilly and start searching all the kingdoms. For all we know, they’re not even here!”
“Joey wouldn’t have brought us here if they weren’t,” Chris retorted.
As they fell to arguing, Anastasia stepped back from the table. If her premonition was to come true, the Ancients would throw their pendants to the ground and shatter them. It would render the stones useless and make it extremely difficult to use their powers. Not to mention, there was the bit about the Ancients turning to stone.
But then there was also the part where she grabbed the shards of the broken stones and used some sort of spell to go back to the castle in Armol and repair the pendants. But there was the concern that she was alone there. Did that mean the Ancients remained encased in stone?
