by Kailin Gow
“But here you are!” Raine stretched out her hands to me. “And I’m so glad to see you. It’s been ages, Logan!” She turned to Frank. “Logan and Breena were inseparable as children,” she explained. “Logan was at my house almost every day – morning, noon, and night! It was like having a second child, a son.”
I couldn’t help but feel an involuntary pang of bitterness at these words. A second son. That’s what I was, after all, to the Malloy family. A brother, rather than a husband or a boyfriend – someone loved and treasured for my fidelity and my courage, but all those things that made me me, a man, a man desperate for the love of a woman, all these things shunted to one side, forgotten.
I looked around, half-expecting to see Breena walking through that door. But she was nowhere to be found. Had she made it to the Summer Kingdom safely, I wondered? Was she able to get her father to help provide for the Winter citizens with the bounty of the Summer harvest?
“She was just here,” said Raine to me, smiling kindly, as if she had overheard my thoughts. “Breena, I mean She left right before you showed up – you just missed her.”
As always, I thought, with a grim smile.
“She had to go back to the Winter Kingdom to immediately implement the magic that she and Frank prepared here in Summer, using the harvest-magic to make seeds bud into blood.”
“What a shame,” I said, trying to keep my voice light and informal, so that Raine wouldn’t guess at my heartbreak. “I’d hoped to catch her while she was here.”
“You miss her, don’t you?” said Raine, her eyes wide with sympathy. “I remember the way you two were just so inseparable when you were younger – even as kids. I thought the two of you would be thick as thieves your whole life through.”
“I thought so too, your Highness,” I said, and this time my voice could not disguise the bitterness I felt at the harsh fact of the truth. A truth I never would be able to forget.
“Oh!” Realization spread like a blush across Raine’s face as she allowed the full meaning of my words to sink in. “Oh, Logan, I’m so sorry. I should have known…” She looked down, avoiding my gaze. “I should have guessed that you and Breena were more than just friends.”
How could I explain to her the truth? How could I put the enormity of what had happened between us into words.
“We were even engaged once,” I said, keeping my voice as steady as possible. “When Breena first became Queen.”
An awkward pause hung like stagnant smoky air in the room.
“Anyway,” Frank cleared his throat, skillfully changing the subject. “Now Logan and his Wolves are some of our most trusted allies,” he said, turning to Raine. “The pact between Summer and the Wolves has been a fruitful alliance for both parties, I’m sure.”
I don’t know what I’m doing.
The voice was as loud as Raine’s or Frank’s – echoing in my ears. But it wasn’t Raine’s or Frank’s voice. It was Breena’s – clear and crystal-bright as the streams of Feyland. Clear – and full of pain.
The Winter Palace is a full day off yet – and I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get there. People are starving every day; every day that the magic takes to work is a day when children will die. The harvest in Summer is good, but it’s not enough. Not enough for all those people.
In my mind’s eye I saw Breena turning to Kian, giving him a shy, brave smile. Telling him nothing of her fears, of her worries, of the vulnerabilities that were tearing her inside out.
This has never happened to Feyland before, Breena was thinking. As a human, I have seen what starvation does to people. What the dying of crops and poor weather conditions mean for millions. I’ve read newspapers. I know death. But Kian…this is all new to him. He can’t understand; he doesn’t know what I know. They’ve experienced war – but never hunger. Never this. He doesn’t know what’s in store.
Only I know. And only I can help them.
But how?
Her pain flowed through my veins like blood. Somehow Breena trusted me; somehow she had let me hear her thoughts, even when she had kept them from her love Kian.
I had to help her. The knowledge was as sure in my heart as the power of the Wolfstone. I had to go to her.
I knew what I had to do.
“Won’t you stay?” Breena’s mother stretched out her arms to me. “We could hold a banquet – in your honor, and in the honor of all the Frost Fire Knights.” She smiled at me. “I know plenty of the Summer Fey women have been asking about you. Apparently they missed you terribly while you were gone – they pester me with questions about you!”
“Apparently you’ve made quite an impression,” added King Flametail.
“I’m afraid I can’t stay,” I said. “I have a mission which spurs me onwards. I must leave this place – but I hope I will return.”
Raine gave me a soft smile. “I hope you find what you seek,” she said. “Even if you don’t know what it is you’ve been seeking.”
I bowed low before them both. Then, leaving Alistair and the others behind, I made my way back to my horse, mounting quickly and riding off into the forests.
Alone.
Chapter 19
I found them resting at a brook. When I saw them from a distance, cradled in one another’s arms, looking so happy as their limbs twined into one another, my first reaction was fury – rage. Completely irrational – and yet so compelling – my desire was to tear Kian limb from limb, to savage his body and carry Breena off for my own. And yet I couldn’t bear to intrude upon her happiness. For she did look happy, there, in his arms – resting in his lap, with Kian’s pale rosebud lips lightly touching her forehead. They were the perfect picture of domestic bliss.
And here I was – about to come between them. Half of me wanted to run off – to leave Breena in her cradle of happiness, to force myself to resign myself to the fact that she was happy with her fiancé, so happy, and there was nothing I could do about it. But half of me – the stronger half – needed to see her, to speak to her. This time I could save her. This time it wasn’t Kian’s fairy magic that could save the day, but rather my own skills. My knowledge of the human world.
So I stepped forth into the clearing, bracing myself for the pain of seeing Kian at her side as I called her name.
“Breena!”
She turned around immediately, and when her eyes fell upon me I saw her face light up with happiness. It’s all worth it, I thought to myself as she grinned – all the pain and suffering I had been through was worth it just to see that smile on her face, just to see her look at me like that. A look that was full of love.
“Logan!” she cried, springing to her feet and running towards me, throwing her arms around my neck. “I haven’t heard from you for days – and I was so worried about what happened. I heard your call and I wanted to come – but so many people needed my help in the Winter Kingdom; I couldn’t turn them away. I couldn’t turn my back on them. I sent Alistair…”
I stopped her, pressing a finger to her lips. “I understand,” I said. “You sent your knights in your stead, and that was more than generous enough. Your people need you here, in Feyland, to rule. At the palace – ruling over them, providing for them, protecting them. Not fighting off Minotaurs in Wolf country.”
“Minotaurs?” Kian’s face lit up at the prospect of battle, as it always did. “Is that what your call was about?” He laughed softly. “I would have joined the battle in a heartbeat if I could have done. But Bree’s right. We cannot drop our responsibilities the way we used to, when we were merely knights and not Kings. We cannot forego our main responsibility, which is to our people. We must protect and provide for them.”
“Which is why I’m here,” I broke into the conversation. “Because of the issue with the famine. I have an idea.”
“How did you know about the famine?” Kian’s brows furrowed.
I turned to Breena, and gave her a significant look, watching recognition dawn upon her features. “I heard through a good
friend,” I said softly, and color came to her cheeks as she realized the meaning of my words.
“Anyway,” I continued on. “Perhaps our time here in Feyland has made us forget much,” I said. “But Breena and I are from a different world. A world without many of the benefits of Feyland. But a world with benefits of his own. I guess being here in Feyland has made us forget the conveniences of our old life – technology, mass production, mass storage. We don’t have quite the agriculture you do, but we do have a little thing called supermarkets.”
Breena’s eyes lit up as she realized what I had in mind.
“So simple,” she breathed. “But sometimes the best solution is the simplest, no?”
Kian looked confused as his eyes traveled from Breena to me, and back again. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“Food in America…” Breena was smiling. “So much is wasted every day. We’ll pass into the Land Beyond the Crystal River, go to the grocery stores, supermarkets, bakeries. Buy all the canned and preservable food we can – and bring it back here. Cans upon cans…”
“And how are we going to do that?” Kian rounded on her. “Allow every fey to grocery shop?”
“Why not, eh?” Breena laughed. “Logan and the wolves cross back and forth all the time.”
“They know the rules. Our fey do not. They’ll be discovered in a heartbeat – destroying the secrecy of Feyland forever.”
“Then we’ll only allow our most trusted knights to go over,” Breena said. “Along with volunteer Wolves. We’ll send our knights, our men over, along with the palace cooks, to buy up canned food and nonperishables in a large enough supply to tide over the Fey until our harvest is ready, and Feyland is back on its feet again.” She took a step towards me and took my hand is hers. “A simple solution – and I never thought of it. Thank you so much, Logan, for reminding me of home, and of some of the perks of being human.” She laughed and turned to Kian, kissing him lightly on the cheeks. I tried not to bristle. “No offense, darling, but sometimes it is nice to just use common sense ingenuity rather than relying on magic all the time.”
Kian nodded, looking me and Breena up and down. “I’ll...erm…I’m going to get a drink of water from the brook. The horse looks thirsty.” He walked away, somewhat awkwardly, leaving me alone with Breena.
Her face was rosy and flushed from riding, her bright chestnut hair swept back by jeweled combs that sparkled in the sunlight. She was maddeningly, breathtakingly beautiful. And I wanted her – desperately.
“Breena,” I said, trying to force the words out. “I’ve been getting these visions. I’m not sure how or when or what or why – but they involve you. As if you’re calling to me – as if you’re worried. Trying to get something out – something you can’t discuss with others?” My eyes fell upon Kian in the distance. “Not even with him.”
Breena nodded slowly. “How did you know?” Her voice was low. “There are just some things I can’t talk to Kian about – he wouldn’t understand, you know; he’s not human. Only you and maybe my mother would understand – those of us who grew up human. All this time – it’s funny – all this time I kept thinking I needed to perform this great big magic that no Fey had ever seen in order to restore Feyland to...well, I don’t even know, do I? I don’t know what Feyland was like before. And it’s been a lot of pressure. And Kian, well, he tries – but he believes in me so strongly that sometimes I’m afraid I’ll disappoint him if I don’t believe in myself…”
I couldn’t stop myself from touching her face, feeling the smooth, soft skin beneath my fingers. Breena inhaled softly, closing her eyes as she gave herself over to my touch.
“Breena,” I whispered, stroking her cheeks with the pads of my fingertips. I wanted to kiss her, to take her into my arms, to run my hands up and down her whole body.
“I know you chose him, Breena – but there’s still a connection between us. I feel it – can’t you? I wouldn’t be having these visions if there weren’t…”
Breena nodded, her throat tight. She was barely able to speak. “I know,” she said at last. “There is a connection. I felt it, too. And it scares me, Logan.” She opened her eyes and stared into my own, her expression terrifying in its intensity. “For the first time since I became engaged to Kian, I’ve been having thoughts that maybe…I should have…oh, Logan, I can’t go there…it’ll just complicate things.”
“It’s complicated enough already,” I couldn’t hold back another minute. I pulled her close, brushing my lips against her cheeks. She tasted so sweet – of berries and chocolate. She gasped.
“No, I can’t!” Breena pulled back, hiding her face from me. “I’m with Kian, now. We’re friends, you and I, and nothing more…”
“But the visions!” I couldn’t stop myself, now. I’d begun, and there was no turning back. “I’m hearing your thoughts, your feelings – we have this connection.”
“Just of me?” Breena asked.
I stopped short. “No,” I admitted slowly. “Not just you.”
“Other women?”
I nodded.
“Who?”
“You…Rose…Clariss…”
“Really?” Breena arched an eyebrow, and I thought I saw a hint of jealousy in her bright eyes. “How…odd. I don’t know what could connect us. Except, I suppose, an attraction to you…”
“What do you mean?”
“Perhaps your heart is more divided than your head, Logan?” Breena put a hand out on my shoulder. “Maybe Feyland is trying to tell you to move on, that there are more options for you out there.”
“I don’t want to move on!” I felt tears sting at my eyes. I couldn’t think that way. It had always been Breena, no one else. And hearing those words broke my heart as it had never been broken before.
“Or maybe all four of us have a connection. I don’t know what it means – but I do know that strange things happen in Feyland…”
“Breena!” I wanted to kiss her, to convince her to love me, but it was too late. The rustling of leaves meant that Kian had returned with the horse.
“So, we’re really going to do this?” Kian was incredulous. “Send over our knights Beyond the Crystal River on a mission to buy up all this food and bring it back?”
“Not quite slaying dragons, is it?” Breena laughed. “It’s a funny image – Fey in disguise in Go-mart.”
Kian laughed too, his voice twinkling like stars, his whole voice and expression ethereal.
“Stranger things have happened before, my love,” he said, taking Breena’s hand and kissing it. “But it is a solution – and the best one we have right now.”
Chapter 20
Breena, Kian, and I had decided to keep our meeting and our ultimate plan a secret. While we needed to start sending emissaries across the Crystal River as swiftly as possible, we were all too wary of the dangers of letting loose a pack of untrained fairies onto the mortal world. Several fairies I could think of would be none too handy at hiding their magic; within hours, the mortal world would discover Feyland – with disastrous consequences. We had to keep the operation stealthy, for now. Fairies didn’t often cross beyond the Crystal River, with good reason.
“There was one program a few centuries ago,” said Breena. “I did some research on it. An old Summer King sent his men across to get guns – thinking that such weapons would give him an advantage over his enemies. But instead, his Fey began to misuse their magic – stealing gold and jewels from humans, casting love spells, running amuck. So he ordered them all to return, to leave the guns in the mortal world, and nevermore to have anything to do with the corrupting influences of humanity.” She smiled bitterly. “And just look at how far we’ve come.”
“We have to keep the circle of people in the know to the absolute minimum,” Kian agreed, nodding. “Just your palace cooks, accompanied by your bravest knights and most reliable soldiers. And wolves to train them in the art of appearing human.”
“I’m not sure how open my wolves would be to tra
ining your Fey,” I said. “There’s a lot of bad blood these days among my clan.”
Kian turned to me with pleading eyes. “This is for all of Feyland,” he said. “Not just for the fairies – but for everyone. If people start to starve…” He looked gruff, but I knew that his grim exterior masked his pain.
“I understand,” I said, and shook his hand, feeling his cold skin against mine. Even now, even after all that we had been through and the jealousy that divided us, I felt that Kian and I were brothers. Our love for Breena bonded us – stronger than blood, it linked us.
We understood one another.
I began to lead expeditions into the mortal world. The journey was tiring and taxing – each time we traveled across the Crystal River I found myself more exhausted, more in pain, than the last time. The trip seemed to leave me drained – I arrived on one or the other side of the border breathless and gasping, unable to move for seconds or even minutes. But I couldn’t stop what we were doing – not when we were doing such important work. We rented trucks and drove to big-box chain stores, buying cans in bulk by the thousands, noting that fairy gold was worth as much as human gold, but was by this point far more plentiful. We brought food back to Feyland, distributing it in the town squares and to the homes of the elderly and sick each day.
Meanwhile, the Summer King was working on restoring the crops – a process that, though slow, was far less stressful now that the denizens of Feyland had enough to eat. Unfortunately, one trip was not enough to stock the larders of Feyland, and every week a new expedition set out to the mortal world, traveling across America in search of food. We had so far avoided any major disasters – nobody had been outed as a fairy just yet, despite a few close calls – and after a few months I began to get used to the grueling routine of “running” trade across the border.
