The Queen

by C. J. Abedi

  “Careful,” Odin warned me. “Come and join me while I have brandy. There are so many great tales from the past I want to share with you.”

  I ignored his suggestion and took a step toward the spiral staircase, but Odin reached out and took hold of my arm.

  “What would you do?” he asked me.

  “I would tell Caroline that she is being unnecessarily stubborn and obstinate. She risks too much—”

  “Come with me, son,” Odin said. “With women, you must learn to pick your battles.”

  Even though I disagreed, I decided to follow him into his study. We sat in his favorite dark leather wing-backed chairs facing the fireplace. Within a moment, a table with a brandy and Odin’s favorite cigars was between us.

  “Are you planning on plying yourself with alcohol so I am forced to play guardian to you instead of continuing my argument with Caroline?” I asked curiously.

  “Guardian?” Odin shouted with laughter. “As if the that were even possible. First of all, you know I do not overindulge in anything. I always know my limits.”

  I stared down at his round belly and couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Well, the Fae know their limits and I’m sure your maturity will rub off on me at some point,” he replied with a knowing smile.

  He was right about both things. As a whole the Tuatha de Dannan were so in tune with our bodies that we knew the delicate balance of how far we could go. We connected in three ways: body, mind, and soul. It was so ingrained in our DNA that it wasn’t possible for a Fae to succumb to addiction or overindulgence. Our equilibrium was everything. Without it, energy wouldn’t flow through us properly and our powers would be weakened.

  Odin lit his cigar and poured himself a glass as he sat back in his chair. The fireplace roared to life. These were some of my favorite moments with my father. When we would sit with one another and just be. Until Caroline entered my life, he was the only person in the world that I believed understood me.

  “I was about to make another point,” Odin said quietly. “Ah yes, you have a bit of a new problem involving the situation upstairs.”

  “It’s laughable, really,” I said. “There is no way I will allow her—”

  “There you go using those words again, Devilyn,” Odin laughed. “Allow. Demand. Do as I say. Do you really believe Caroline will respond when you speak to her in such a way?”

  “I’m not trying to control her life,” I said, offended.

  “But you are,” Odin said sharply. “Your very actions defy your words, Devilyn. She cannot stay hidden away forever.”

  “After all that has happened, how can you even suggest that it’s okay for her to go to school, placing her in an environment where she is so exposed—”

  “I dare suggest it because her happiness matters to me,” Odin responded. “Her happiness is tied to her human life right now. She has lost all that she knew to be safe, Devilyn. It kills her to see her mother in pain. She wants these troubles and fears gone, so that she can go back to being the human daughter from a normal family. But you and I both know that it is not, nor will it ever be, the case.”

  “What are you saying?” I asked. “That we should appease her fantasies? They took her from a party, Father. Right under our noses. Not only has their anger intensified, but they’re humiliated. Can you imagine what will happen at school?”

  “She is right, Devilyn,” Odin said wistfully. “It is time for this to be finished. Whatever that future brings, it is time to face it head on. It must come.”

  “What if it brings her death?” I whispered the words that were like a million daggers to my heart.

  “Then it is as the Fates have warned us all along.”

  “No!” I roared. I jumped up and threw the brandy decanter into the fire; the blaze grew and crackled with wild intensity.

  “My son, she knows who she is,” Odin said tensely. “She knows what she is. We cannot reverse any of it. As a Queen she is allowed to select her own path. We must allow it because we certainly can’t stop it.”

  “But I am her King!” My voice rang out.

  Odin stood up and faced me, never afraid, even in my rage.

  “No. You. Are. Not.” His voice was powerful.

  I stared at him in disbelief.

  “Remember the path you chose.”

  C

  Tatiana and I made our way toward my bedroom in silence. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, even though I knew I had forged a new and closer relationship with Tatiana. Being in this house with Devilyn wasn’t going to be easy.

  His energy was so intense that it often clouded my judgment. But I couldn't go back to being dependent on him to guide me. And I couldn’t allow him to occupy my thoughts as much as he had in the past.

  So I was beyond grateful for the distraction Tatiana provided. If nothing else, she would be here to make sure that I wasn’t alone with her brother.

  Famous and I followed her up the stairs, making a left down one of the halls that I knew led to Devilyn’s room. I could feel my heart fall through the floor at the thought of sleeping next door to him for who knew how many nights.

  Tatiana flounced down the hall ahead of me, holding my enormous bag as if it weighed two pounds. I had crammed everything I thought I would need into the bag and my backpack. Right now, the only thing that mattered was that I would be away from my parents’ house and I wouldn’t be bringing trouble to their door. I didn’t want to have to go back for anything and draw unnecessary attention to them. The Dark Fae’s war was with me and Devilyn, not my mom and dad.

  “My brother is an idiot,” Tatiana said to me in a flippant tone as we turned a corner. Famous barked in appreciation. Right. It was hard to remember that he had magikal skills now. Since Devilyn had brought him back to life, we had a different connection. I could reach out to him in my mind and he could communicate with me in return.

  “You and I will be great friends,” Tatiana said to Famous. “I can just tell.”

  I almost laughed at the irony. Tatiana stopped at a large wooden door, which led me into a room the size of the first floor of my parents’ house.

  “Is this one room?!” I couldn’t help but exclaim.

  The entire back wall of the room had large glass windows facing a beautiful lush landscape that was Westmoreland’s back yard. I could also see the seemingly never-ending maze of shrubbery that Devilyn had told me stories about on one of my first visits. Looking down on it like this was a stunning sight to behold. Devilyn said that Odin had told him that it was here for one day when it would matter. At the time I remember wondering what that meant exactly, but now I felt like I understood the answer. The twists and turns of the seemingly endless labyrinth were no doubt filled with his magik. No intruder would want to get caught inside of it.

  “Do you think you’ll be comfortable in here?” Tatiana asked as she walked down a hall into what I assumed was the closet.

  Comfortable? It was filled with every extravagance I never knew.

  The room was decorated with a Parisian flair, donned in whites and old-world grays and blues with accents of gold everywhere. A beautiful antique bed with a tufted headboard was flanked by two side tables. The room also had a sitting area, complete with a couch with silk fabric, two large chairs, and a gilded coffee table, which overlooked the views below. Large antique paintings adorned the walls, and there was a beautiful gold chandelier in the center of the ceiling. In the corner sat a glass minibar filled with water and juice. I pressed a button on one of the side tables and a huge flat-screen television rose from the ground at the foot of the bed.

  Breaking me from my shocked trance, Tatiana called out to me to join her in the closet. I wasn’t surprised to see all of my clothes already neatly hanging in the largest and most organized walk-in closet I had ever seen. Only they weren’t all my clothes; tags still hung from many of the items. I ran my fingers along the extravagant wardrobe and looked at Tatiana in confusion.

  “Listen, before you argue,
you need to understand that I can’t have you looking like a pauper. You’re a queen, after all.”

  I stared at her, still in shock.

  “No offense, of course,” she said glibly.

  “None taken,” I replied.

  “I’m sure you might want to freshen up,” Tatiana said as she led me to the bathroom.

  “Yeah, I would love that.”

  We entered the equally huge bathroom that was covered in all-white Carrera stone. The shower in the room could literally fit twenty people. With so many electrical gadgets and different shower heads, I started to panic. Would I even know how to use it? The long vanity was filled with make-up, brushes, blow dryers, and a flatiron and curling iron.

  “You realize I don’t even know how to use any of this. I don’t even wear make-up,” I said to Tatiana.

  “You will learn,” she said knowingly. “I can teach you. And by the way, every girl can use a little blush now and again.”

  “Every girl except you,” I said, pointing out the obvious.

  “True,” she replied with a wink.

  She grabbed hold of my hand and led me back into the walk-in closet. She looked around at all the clothes.

  “Remember, Caroline, your clothes speak for you,” she told me.

  I almost laughed. If that were the case, I could only imagine what my clothes had said about me for all these years. I spotted some folded workout leggings and cute tops in one of the shelves. I knew they were an expensive brand because they were the only thing I had ever admired in the mall. Spending a hundred dollars for track pants always seemed ridiculous to me. I guess I didn’t have to worry about that anymore.

  “Of course, you go straight to yoga wear,” Tatiana said with an eye roll.

  I smiled ruefully.

  “What I wouldn’t give to go for a run right now,” I said as I looked out at the dark night.

  “You don’t have to give anything,” she said.

  “I usually run through the forest, or on a track. Forest is out, and Odin obviously doesn’t have a track,” I told her.

  “No, but Odin’s maze will cover both, and it lights up,” she said.

  “Lights up?” I asked her.

  “Yes, as you enter a section it lights up for you, guiding you, illuminating the way,” she explained. “Just talk to it and tell it that you want to go for a two-mile run, and it will show you the way until you’re done. I’m not into exercise but Devilyn does it all the time.”

  And just like that I was smiling again. I quickly grabbed a pair of black pants and a long-sleeved black hoodie jacket. Reaching for a pair of hot pink Nikes from the million different pairs before me, I made my way into the bathroom to change.

  “Wait, before you go—” Tatiana said to me.

  “Yes?”

  “I just want to make sure everything is okay between you and my brother. I mean, clearly it’s not, but I guess I’m just asking if you are okay.”

  I closed my eyes for a second. A conversation about Devilyn was the last thing I wanted, especially with Tatiana.

  “No, Tatiana, we’re not okay,” I said to her. “I’m not okay. And I’m sure he isn’t either, but he’s decided our path and I’m through with being his yo-yo. I have to start thinking about myself. And I need to start protecting my heart.”

  Tatiana’s eyes rounded in concern but she nodded in understanding.

  “I get it,” she said. “And I actually respect you more for it. You have to do what’s right for you.”

  “Thank you,” I replied. I was happy that she wasn’t going to try to talk about all of her brother’s amazing attributes.

  “Was he awful?” she asked me quietly.

  I knew she was referring to her father, Alderon. I could see the vulnerability written all over her face.

  “He was.”

  “What does he—” She stopped, shaking her head. “Never mind.”

  I knew exactly what she was asking. “He’s like smoke and mirrors. “His face, it comes and goes. The second you are about to succumb to his looks, he changes form right before your eyes. So you see the duplicity very clearly. It’s more honest. But his hatred is overpowering.”

  “I don’t know what to say, other than I’m sorry,” Tatiana said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I’m so very sorry that I am related to him in the most immediate sense, that he is my father and that he is doing this to you.”

  “I’m not his only victim, Tatiana. He’s done this to you as well,” I said, shaking my head. I could see how hard it was for her. And I didn’t blame her. To be the product of such evil and not have any Light inside. She battled her bloodline daily exactly like Devilyn had. It couldn’t have been easy.

  “Despite appearances and your genealogy, you need to know that you have the best father in the world, Tatiana,” I said. “Odin is everything. You’re blessed. And you might not have the blood running through his veins but you have his soul.”

  I squeezed her hand and felt a surge of magikal energy move through my body. I wanted her to feel this energy. I wanted her to know how powerful love and patience could be, and that she was made up of it just like I was.

  Tatiana’s surprised gaze met mine. And then a soft smile swept over her.

  “You took away my pain,” she said in awe. “It’s gone.”

  “It is?”

  “You really are the Queen.”

  • • •

  I stood at the entrance of Odin’s maze, dressed and ready for my run. Tatiana’s words kept echoing through my mind.

  You really are the Queen.

  My powers seemed to be growing without any help from anyone. Without guidance. Completely of their own volition. It was like something deep within my soul had accepted what I was and was now triggering everything to develop at this rapid speed.

  Would my powers become stronger?

  Would they stop eventually?

  Or would they be never-ending.

  What gift would I discover next?

  “Just peace,” I whispered aloud. “Just let me have this run in complete and utter peace.”

  I started down through the entrance of the maze and found that Tatiana was right. Before I had even taken my next step the path lit up for me, directing me where to go.

  Right.

  Left.

  Straight.

  It didn’t matter where I ran.

  Just the act of my feet hitting the ground, pushing me forward without rhyme or reason placed me at ease. Running was the best therapy for my soul. It was the only time when I just let go and relaxed. And I felt like I hadn’t done it in forever. I pressed play on my iPhone and adjusted my earplugs, letting Chris Martin’s sexy voice soothe all of my worries away.

  Before long I was running at a steady pace and starting to feel good about myself. Odin’s maze felt as though it was alive, taking each of these steps with me, surrounding me with Light. It made me feel protected.

  Before I knew it I had finished my four-mile run and was back at the entrance of the maze. I hadn’t even realized that I had made a loop back with all the twists and turns.

  Even though the night air was cold I was warm and felt more alive than I ever had in my life. I realized that no matter what everything was going to be okay. I would get past this and I would move on with my life, whatever that entailed, as Queen of the Light Fae or as normal Caroline Ellis from Roanoke.

  Everything would be okay.

  And then I felt him.

  Watching over me.

  Protecting me.

  Always.

  I looked up at Devilyn’s balcony and sure enough, he was standing there staring down. Our eyes met and I felt the surge of electricity rush through my veins, the way I always did when he was near, except now I knew what it really meant.

  I was the one to look away and break his gaze.

  I would no longer be the Caroline Ellis he had known. Gone were the days of me innocently pining after him and wishing that we could run away together and li
ve happily ever after.

  Now I knew the truth.

  One day we would each rule over a kingdom.

  But we would do it alone.

  Chapter Eight

  “Abashed the Devil stood, and felt how awful Goodness is.”

  —John Milton

  Roanoke Island, North Carolina

  The Year of our Lord, 1588

  Eleanor Dare

  The monster came for us when I was nine months pregnant.

  I was glowing.

  Happy.

  Elated with the knowledge that Arthur and I were having a beautiful baby. From the way I was carrying, the villagers had guessed that I was having a girl. And I knew they were right. Not from any wives’ tale, but because I had Arthur.

  Arthur could see everything. His powers allowed him to check on our baby, making sure that she was safe and sound.

  A baby girl.

  We named her Virginia.

  Pure.

  Innocent.

  Conceived in love.

  Despite what I had been told on that fateful day in the woods when Brighid, the great seer of the Fae, as Arthur later told me, had chanted her prophecy, I wasn’t selfish. I wouldn’t intentionally harm anyone. Not ever. I thought that maybe they had finally realized that. Those creatures in the dark had seen us and had understood that our love was indeed innocent, just like Virginia.

  But I had been a fool.

  I had tricked myself into believing that life would never change. That Brighid was wrong. That the bubble Arthur and I had created for ourselves would always be so sweet, and that there was no way that evil could touch our happiness.

  When I discovered I was pregnant and shared the news with Arthur, he had treated me like a delicate porcelain doll. Afraid at any minute that I would break, especially after I told him about my encounter with Brighid. Once he knew that she had approached me, he forbade me from venturing into the woods again alone.

  I decided to keep her fateful words to myself. I didn’t want to worry him, and deep down I wasn’t sure if I believed her. As a Christian woman I chose not to believe in a fate that was decided for us. Instead I had faith in the universe, that I alone chose my path while the Lord above kept me safe from harm.