The Last Faerie Queen

by Chelsea Pitcher

  I wanted to feel the ocean then, to feel waves pouring over me, showing me all the creatures that lived underneath. But the light felt a lot like water, like something warm and fluid moving over me. Or maybe there were faeries there made out of light, touching me. It was impossible to know what was real. Was all of it? Was none of it? And, more importantly, did it matter?

  All the worries I’d carried for most of my life—my father’s disappointment in me, the loss of my brother, my never-ending quest to gain love from Elora, from anyone—just slipped off of me, and I felt clean. Unburdened. I leaned against the trunk of a tree and felt arms reaching out for me, lifting me into the branches. The bark scraped my back but I didn’t care; it felt like scratching an impossible itch. It was only when those hands started getting too friendly that I detached myself from them and really looked around.

  The sight should’ve been ordinary—a host of branches dangling green leaves. But it was anything but ordinary. A world existed between those branches. Each tree was home to a civilization. I poked my head into a hole and saw a dwelling way bigger than the space implied. Little creatures scurried around inside, with backs like pinecones and faces like men. The creatures were not lounging, they were re-arranging. A bed of moss flew into the air, barely missing my face, and landed on the other side of the room. Tables and chairs moved of their own accord. A particularly small creature raced this way and that, screeching, “Different! Different!” and another one, sitting surprisingly close to my face, hissed like a talking snake. “Which kind of flowers?” it asked.

  I couldn’t imagine the right answer, so I said, “Roses,” thinking I could give them to Elora. I missed her, even now. In fact, I may have missed her more, because I wanted her to be able to share this experience. But my eyes started to wander, and my brain followed as roses sprang up out of every wall, climbing over the bark and twisting around branches like a living tapestry, a painting you could smell.

  And they smelled amazing. The entire world smelled like roses. I reached out to take one and immediately regretted it. A thorn pierced my thumb so hard, I thought it was deliberate.

  “The beauties bite back,” said the hissing faerie.

  “No shit.” I stuck my finger in my mouth, sucking away the blood before the flowers could get to it. Evil roses. The vampires of the garden. Well, they wouldn’t get my blood! The Bright Queen already had my name, and that was plenty, thank you very much. Sure, I was having a grand old time, but I had to keep a sense of myself, or I’d be lost.

  I remembered that much. I remembered …

  The hands were back, caressing my legs in a way that made me feel special and very uncomfortable at the same time. Pulling my knees into my chest, I lifted my head out of the tree to find so many nymphs, I thought I must have been hallucinating.

  Well, duh! I am hallucinating.

  Except some of the nymphs were probably real. I was just seeing three or four for each one of them, or maybe I wasn’t. It was hard to tell, and it was hard not to stare. They weren’t exactly wearing much, except in the weirdest places, like a leaf covering a shoulder, or a vine wrapped around the thigh. Clothing as costume rather than covering. Something Keegan would dig. He liked to use outfits to screw with people, like Alexia used words to screw with people. But Kylie—she never screwed with people. She was just honest. God, they were awesome. I missed them.

  I fell out of the tree.

  “Ow,” I said, more because I thought I should than out of actual pain. I mean, when you fall ten feet onto your ass, it’s supposed to hurt, right? But it didn’t. I thought, with a kind of detached fascination, that someone could pull my arm out of its socket and I wouldn’t feel a thing.

  God forbid the doctors get ahold of this shit. With faerie drugs at hand, the medical industry would have a field day. I started busting up then, because we were having a field day. We were actually in a field, or a reasonable facsimile of one. Field day. Oh my God, I’m hilarious. I was laughing, and then my friends were laughing, and then the trees started laughing, which made us laugh even more.

  Then everyone was dancing with everyone, and I feared the nymphs might start to kiss me, but instead they twirled in circles, waving their hands. At first I thought it was some kind of ritual—a Welcome to Faerie dance—but then I realized they were manipulating the light around me. Ever since I’d spoken my name to the Seelie Queen, that light had clung to me the way it clung to her faeries, but now it solidified behind my back. Turning this way and that, I saw the tips of golden wings, veined in green. It was only glamour, but it looked amazing.

  The dancing continued, and I started to spin around, trying to get a better look at my wings. Then Kylie and Alexia were kissing in this totally frenzied way, like they might never see each other again, which gave me this creepy-crawly sense of premonition, and Keegan was sneaking into the forest with a satyr. I thought I should go after him, maybe warn him against getting too caught up in the happy faerie­land illusion, but he didn’t get far because suddenly trumpets were blaring. And pipes, and, and … what was that sound? A sort of tinkling, crinkling sound, the way glitter would sound if it had a sound. I mean, the way laughter would sound if you were underwater. I mean …

  I had to sit down. My legs had gone all gelatinous, and it was kind of serendipitous because someone was sliding a chair right under me. One of those recently crafted chairs where you could still see the shape of the branches, with a pillow made of moss. As I sat down, the others gathered around, and this huge, elaborate dinner table was constructed right in front of us, out of branches and vines and a tablecloth that I swear to God had to have been spun from sunlight because it was so light and soft.

  When the food arrived, I realized how hungry I’d become. I could’ve eaten a horse, except I wouldn’t be doing that here because horses were probably centaurs in disguise, and besides, faeries didn’t eat meat due to their aversion to iron. And I was okay with that. I was more than okay with that. If everything was alive, I didn’t need some animal to die for me. I didn’t need anyone to die for me. Especially not Elora.

  Elora.

  And there she was. Dressed in glowing teal, the same exact color as her eyes. The Seelie Queen had probably put her foot down at Elora’s usual black. But this was nice too; it was better than nice. God, she was so beautiful. I wanted to pull her into me and kiss her and tell her I’d give anything to make up for what she’d given me. I would have, too, right in front of everyone, if my legs hadn’t turned to jelly.

  The shaking I felt was worse now, with her standing so close. Across the long table. To the left of the Queen. How angry the bright faeries must’ve been to see the daughter of the Dark Lady taking her seat next to their queen. But if they only got to know her, they’d fall in love with her.

  What was not to love?

  She was amazing.

  Now that she had joined us, I couldn’t care less about anything else. Faeries were closing in around me, filling my goblet, dropping treats onto my plate, but I couldn’t focus on them. I started drawing an image of Elora with my food: her fire-lit eyes, bright as blue and green flames dancing. Her pale, luminous skin. Her wings.

  Wait.

  “Oh my God.”

  “What?” Kylie asked, following my gaze. She nudged me, like I’d simply been taken in by Elora’s beauty.

  Hello, that was two minutes ago. Catch up.

  “Her wings,” I breathed, barely able to produce simple sentences.

  “I told you,” Kylie said, juice dripping from her mouth. Alexia’s hand was in her lap like they couldn’t stand to stop touching each other.

  “That was so … fast. The healing … ”

  “It’s magic.” Kylie grinned like she was some amazing faerie expert. I wondered how she was going to feel in the morning.

  “It must be. I have to go talk to her.” I pushed back from the table, determined to make it over to
Elora, no matter how wobbly my legs were. But something else stopped me from moving this time. A hand on my shoulder, holding me down.

  “Not so fast, little mortal,” a voice whispered in my ear.

  I looked up to see a faerie with hair made of light. Her pale skin was glowing, like she was lit up from the inside, and her green dress clung to her so tightly, I thought it might fall away at any moment.

  “Why can’t I go over there?” I asked.

  “You can,” the faerie said, crouching next to me. From this angle, I could see the wings poking out of her back. Unlike Elora’s wings, which were black and tattered, even before the dark faeries got to them, these were green and glistening like a dragonfly’s. “But should you?” she pressed.

  “I … yes.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “Oh my God. Just say what you’re thinking. Don’t hint. Say it.”

  The faerie laughed. And she placed her hand on my knee, making me all kinds of squirmy. “I know about your deal with the Queen.”

  A hitch caught in my throat. “What do you know?” I asked, pretending to drink from my goblet. I wanted to hide the movement of my lips, in case anyone was watching.

  “I know you offered your name to save the princess.”

  “Can you tell me what that means?”

  She hesitated. On the other side of the table, the Queen was leaning into Elora, whispering about something, but she could glance our way at any second. “It means she can control your every move, if she is so inclined.”

  “But will she?” I asked, and my body twitched. It was like I wanted to feel fear, but I couldn’t quite get there.

  “She is not a dark faerie. She will not harm you—”

  “There are lots of ways to harm a person,” I said, glancing at my knee. At her hand on my knee. “And they don’t always require a sword.”

  The faerie took back her hand. “Forgive me,” she said, blushing. “It has been so long since mortals have graced this land.”

  I know, I thought smugly. Elora had told me all about the sanctions between the courts. The dark faeries had agreed not to attack humanity if the bright faeries agreed not to befriend them. It was a tentative agreement, but it had put centuries of fighting on hold. Now it was all unraveling because of me.

  “I will respect your boundaries,” the faerie said. “I will, but … ”

  “The Queen won’t?”

  Again, she paused. Across the table, the Queen of the Bright Faeries sat like an embodiment of Mother Earth, waiting to cradle us in her arms. But I had seen another side of her, a side that would kill as easily as give life. She would’ve let Elora bleed out if I hadn’t offered up my name.

  She was beautiful and powerful, like nature itself. But what did nature want with a human boy?

  “Will she … force me to do things?” A tremor ran through my back. For a second, the fear was real. “Is that why you’re keeping me in my seat? Will the Queen be jealous if I sit by Elora?”

  The faerie lowered her head, speaking softly into my ear. “I would never say anything bad about my queen. The bright faeries love humanity. We will not intentionally hurt you—”

  “But?”

  She lifted her gaze. “The idea that you could be kept, like a captive … ”

  “Wait. Are you saying … ” I studied her face, not believing what I was hearing. “You think humans should be free?”

  The faerie nodded. “I cannot say it. Anyone could be listening in.” She glanced up, at the trees. “But there are those you can trust in this place.” She pointed across the table, to a nymph with great, curling horns. Pale brown skin peeked out of a dress so low, I could practically see a belly button. “The royal seamstress. And over there … ”

  I looked to the left. Next to Keegan, there was a lady with branches for limbs. Her rich brown skin was dark as the earth, and leaves shot out of her head. When she smiled, I saw she had twigs for teeth. Sharpened, of course.

  “The royal storyteller,” the faerie said.

  “And you?”

  “Me?” She blushed, like she’d been nominated for an Oscar. Like she was just happy to be considered. “I am Maya de Lyre, the royal songstress. The three of us, together, are the Queen’s favored ladies. We are the closest to her, and yet she has not trusted us with her reasons for keeping you. This concerns me.”

  It concerns me too, I thought. But I didn’t say it. Instead, I decided to take a chance. “So you’ll help me break free?”

  The faerie sucked in a breath. Maya de Lyre, I reminded myself, trying not to forget her name. Trying not to forget any of this.

  “The punishment would be dire,” she said. “But I can investigate. If there is a possibility that you could be freed … ”

  “Do you think there’s a possibility?”

  “I think this is a riddle, and I’ve yet to hear a riddle I couldn’t solve.” She flashed white teeth. Her smile was fierce, like everything in this forest. The light. The drugs.

  “I solved the Queen’s last riddle,” I boasted. “I figured out she wanted a nice human instead of a nasty one.”

  Maya de Lyre frowned, her hair flickering like I’d struck a nerve. Slowly, that light trickled back into her.

  “Ah, so you’ve met him?” I asked. “Brad, I mean. The asshole of Unity High.”

  “The Queen told me to take him home.”

  “And you already did?” Vertigo washed over me. Something about her wording felt familiar, like it had been rehearsed. “How long was I asleep? Or is he, like, tied up somewhere, waiting to be transported?”

  She laughed. “Don’t worry so much, darling. The path to the mortal world can be treacherous, or it can be swift. If you travel to the sea of the Undulari, there are merfolk who will carry a mortal through the waterways without harming him in the slightest.”

  “So he really is gone.” I should’ve felt relieved, but cold dread was settling over me. Pressing into me. If Brad was gone, I was definitely the offering the Seelie Queen had wanted. She wasn’t changing her mind, calling Brad back, and releasing me. She wanted me for some nefarious purpose, and even her closest confidants didn’t know why.

  “So you’ll help me?” I asked, just as the Queen glanced over. The leaves in her hair brightened to gold at the sight of me. Shit. Shit. Shit. I took a gulp from my goblet, trying to look busy. Naturally, liquid sloshed down my shirt.

  Still, the stain provided us with an opportunity. Maya de Lyre knelt in front of me, turning away from the Queen, to blot at my shirt. “I will give you what you want,” she said softly, “but you must do something for me. You must not tell the princess that you are the Queen’s offering.”

  “Why not? Elora could help me.”

  “She could,” Maya de Lyre agreed. “That is the problem. Wouldn’t she do anything to set you free? Even unravel her bargain with the Queen?”

  “I … oh, crap. I didn’t think about that.” Elora’s revolution depended on the Seelie Queen’s help. No one else was strong enough to bind Elora’s mother, the Unseelie Queen. I couldn’t mess that up.

  “You’re right,” I said, lifting my goblet again. It was a cheap trick, but it would work for the moment. “We’ll figure this out on our own.”

  Maya de Lyre grinned, and I thought she was going to throw her arms around me. But she didn’t. She simply squeezed my shoulder, respecting my boundaries.

  I thought that was significant.

  “We’ll meet again in private,” she said, rising to fill her own plate.

  My heart started to race. For the first time since I’d arrived here, I felt grounded. Like I was actually gaining control, even though faerie drugs were still swimming in my veins. I decided two things in that moment: I would regain my freedom from the Seelie Queen. And I would fight in Elora’s revolution.

  4

  ElorA<
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  As the mortals ate, the Queen made conversation, and I tried to appear interested. But I wasn’t. Much more interesting was the scene playing out in the periphery of my vision, the faerie hovering around Taylor, finding excuses to touch him. Here, she placed her hand on his cheek, pretending his untamable hair was bothering her. Here, she pressed her bosom against his arm to reach for a berry.

  How subtle, I thought, anger pulsing through me. He seemed so at home with her, all green eyes and golden hair. They’d even given him wings, to make him look like he belonged in the Seelie Court. In fact, all the mortals had been glamoured to look like faeries for their own protection, but on Taylor it looked natural.

  A shudder ran through my back and I closed my eyes.

  The Queen was prattling on about some banquet she was planning for the mortals. A banquet! Wasn’t that what was happening now? But the Bright Queen’s claim to fame, more than her ability to heal, was her ability to throw a fabulous party. It was how she kept her people controlled. She lavished gifts upon them, kept them drunk and happy. Then, when she needed them to go into one itsy-bitsy battle, who were they to argue?

  Who would say no to that?

  When she turned to me and said, “It is my expert opinion that oak-aged whiskey tastes better after the first three centuries,” I nodded politely, forcing myself to pay attention. The timing was good, because if I’d only pretended to listen to the Queen’s next statement, it would’ve been great folly.

  “Tonight, we will allow the mortals to rest and rejuvenate themselves after the terrible things they have seen,” she said. “Tomorrow, we begin our journey to the heart of the Seelie Court, where they can seek refuge.”

  “No.” My voice was louder than I expected it to be. The faeries of the Seelie Court took notice. “We cannot take them farther into your lands. We have to send them home. You have no claim to them.”

  “No claim to them?” She raised her eyebrows.

  A trickle of fear crept down my spine. Was this why she had agreed to help me? Was she plotting to keep four humans instead of Brad?