by K. E. Miller
“That is enough,” I growled. The room returned to silence. I moved away from Aaron, determined to stand on my own. The Mages glared at me, clearly agitated if not outright hostile. “I’m not here for your validation! I already know who I am. Nothing any of you say or do is going to change the fact that I am your Queen.”
“I apologize for their behavior,” Nolen said as he walked around the table. “We’ve lived under constant threat from the Council for many years and it has made some of us suspicious of everything and everyone.”
“We understand,” I replied.
“Please allow me to welcome you, your majesties,” Nolen said, bowing to Aaron and I.
“Thank you,” I said.
I had managed to maintain my composure during our exchange, but I couldn’t contain myself any longer. An enormous smile spread across my face and I threw my arms around him. He stood there stiffly for a moment, shocked by my outburst, but he gradually relaxed and returned my embrace.
“Oh, I’m so happy to see you,” I said, memories swirling through my mind.
“There were so many times I thought I might not ever see you again, my queen,” he whispered. “I’m glad you weren’t lost forever.”
We broke apart and smiled at each other for several moments. It was Andrew’s movement toward me that pulled my attention away from Nolen. Andrew swept me into a big hug and I nearly lost all of my composure.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I whispered into his ear.
“I’m glad you’re safe too,” he replied.
We broke apart to see that Nolen was bowing to Aaron.
“My king, it is an honor to once again be in your presence,” Nolen said.
Aaron offered Nolen his hand and replied, “The honor is mine, old friend.”
“Let’s go get all of you settled,” Nolen offered.
I could still feel the unease coming from the group of Mages at the table. A part of me wondered if we had made the right decision to come to the Resistance, but I pushed the thought aside. Nolen was here and he had created everything because I’d asked him to. That was good enough for me.
◆◆◆
Despite the unease I felt about the Resistance, I agreed to have a room to myself. Two Resistance Warriors stood guard outside my door, but that did little to reassure me. Jaden and Thorn had been escorted elsewhere and Aaron had been given a room down the hall from me. I felt alone and exposed. The others seemed to think I would be safe here, but I had my doubts. Even with all of the security measures I’d seen, I knew I was still at risk from the Council.
The lavish room did little to comfort me. The stone floors and gray walls were cold and unfriendly. The furnishings, although beautiful, were like museum pieces that I wasn’t supposed to touch. The only thing missing was a velvet rope indicating which areas of the room were off limits. Nothing about it was cozy or homey. I knew I would have to get used to things if I was really going to take my place as queen, but that didn’t stop me from missing my old life.
When I discovered that connected to my bedroom was the largest closet I had ever seen and it was fully stocked with all the clothes a girl could ever ask for, I decided to trade my jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt for black slacks and a dark blue blouse. My shoes sat on the floor next to the bed, but I had no desire to put the heels on unless I was leaving the room. I had declared myself Queen to the Mages. I figured it was time I started dressing like one.
My fingers played with the amulet around my neck. Alone with my thoughts, I could easily sense the fear and distrust within the Resistance. I could also sense that my friends and I were in danger, but where that danger was coming from wasn’t clear.
There was a loud knock on the door, causing me to jump.
“Come in.” I said.
The door opened and small young woman timidly entered. The girl curtsied and when she stood, she kept her head lowered. There was something familiar about her that I couldn’t place. It made me a little uncomfortable that she refrained from looking at me and I had to once again remind myself of who I had decided to be.
“His majesty, the King, and Mage Darby have requested your presence, your majesty,” she said, her voice timid, but clear.
I sat down on the bed and pulled on my shoes. I noticed the curious way she would glance at me as she would sneak little peeks. I did my best to ignore the self-consciousness I was feeling as I stood and walked over to the door.
“You’ll have to show me the way,” I told her. “This place is a giant maze to me.”
The girl nodded and we set off through the labyrinth of corridors. The Warriors stationed outside of my room remained where they were, apparently not directed to protect me outside of my room. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I knew the girl leading the way from somewhere. I wanted to ask her, but she seemed so shy and timid. I didn’t want to make her anymore uncomfortable than she already seemed to be.
Instead I decided to ask her name.
“I am Sorceress Brianne Grady, your majesty,” she said.
I ran the name through my mind over and over. It sounded really familiar but, I couldn’t remember ever hearing it before.
“I haven’t met a Sorceress before,” I said, trying to maintain a conversation in the hope that she would see me as a normal person and begin to relax.
“Forgive me, your majesty, but I believe you have met many,” she replied, surprising me.
“Well I guess that’s true,” I said, fumbling. “I guess I should have said I haven’t met any in the Mortal Realm. Although it’s not as though I really remember that much of the Sacred Isle.”
I realized that I was starting to babble. The three years that I’d spent as a social outcast at Ardara didn’t do me any favors when it came to small talk and I felt like I was just making the awkwardness worse.
Brianne finally stopped and knocked on a door. I had no idea where we were, the long hallways seeming endless. There was a muffled reply from inside and she opened the door, standing aside to allow me to enter first. I walked into a large office with doors leading to several adjoining rooms. Aaron and Nolen stood over by a large desk. Both smiled at me as I entered.
“Thank you, Brianne,” Nolen said.
I turned to see Brianne bow before leaving and shutting the door behind her. I walked over to join the men, returning their smiles.
“Hello, my love,” Aaron said, kissing me and wrapping his arms around me.
“I missed you,” I told him.
He rested his forehead against mine and replied, “I missed you too.”
We pulled apart to see that Nolen was beaming at us.
“It’s as though you were never parted. It’s extraordinary,” he said.
“Where are Jaden and Thorn?” I asked, curious as to why they weren’t joining us.
“I’m afraid Laird is giving them the run down on our security procedures,” Nolen replied. “It’s absolutely ridiculous. Thorn has been a loyal member of the resistance for centuries.”
“Laird is Nolen’s most outspoken critic among the Mages,” Aaron told me.
“He’s an opportunist, ready to oust me at any given moment,” Nolen complained. “The Mages’ politics are brutal. I hope you’re both prepared for backstabbing, protesting, grandstanding, and whining because it never ends with that group. You should have returned two hundred years ago. We had such a nice group of Mages then.”
“Well since you mention it,” I began. “I don’t really trust the Mages.”
“I’m glad to see you still have your instincts,” Nolen replied. “They are an insufferable lot, resistant to even the smallest changes. Sometimes I think it’s a miracle that I’m still breathing the way they come at me during meetings.”
“Why are they still in power?” I asked. “You created the Resistance. Can’t you just fire them?”
“It’s the way things have always been done,” he answered with a shrug. “In the chaos after the Exodus, there was just too much to do for one person. I ne
eded help and the Mages helped me. Since then, they’ve grown used to their power.”
“Sounds a lot like the Council,” Aaron observed.
“I must admit, I’ve seen the similarities myself,” Nolen admitted. “As long as they remained loyal to the queen, I saw no real reason to upset the status quo. Perhaps that was a mistake.”
Nolen walked over to one of the sofas and motioned for us to sit. He waited for Aaron and I to be seated across from him before sitting himself.
“The Council has been one step ahead of us for years, beginning with the death of Alain and Braeden Neale. When you were born, your parents contacted me and told me of their suspicions. I, of course, told the rest of the Mages.”
“You really think one of the Mages told the Council and had my parents killed?” I asked, filled with anger.
“Yes, but I have no proof and I don’t know who to suspect. Laird seems too obvious. He’s irritating, pompous, and attached to his power, but if he were sneaking around giving information to the Council why would he make himself so obviously against me?”
“I agree,” Aaron said. “More likely he would remain quiet or make it clear that he supports you. It’s less likely to draw attention. As someone who spent the last several centuries spying, attention is not something I wanted.”
“I’m thankful every day that I kept your true activities with the Council secret even from the Mages. It would have been disastrous,” Nolen said. “Since the death of your parents I have kept most information to myself. Andrew called me a few months ago, asking for help protecting you after your Transition. I hid this from the Mages, but when I learned that you’d been attacked in Salem, I knew my suspicions about the Mages were correct.”
“The Council has a recording of that call,” Aaron said. “That’s what I was sent to investigate. They claimed to have traced the call back to the school.”
“It’s more likely a spy within the Resistance traced the call and then gave the Council the information. It should have been a secure line from outside,” Nolen said.
“So, we have a spy,” I said.
“Or several spies,” Nolen said.
“Things can’t really be that bad,” Aaron said. “There must be some loyalty to you or they wouldn’t have followed you all these years.”
“The other Clans believe in me, they always have. It’s the Mages who are the problem. They might not believe as the Council does; that the other Clans should remain intact and carefully regulated with little to no freedoms, but they don’t believe themselves to equal. Mind you it’s not all the Mages, just a few, but they are the outspoken influential ones.”
It seemed to me that there were few options left open to us. The Mages couldn’t be trusted to continue running things. If we were truly going to fight the Council, we couldn’t have a spy among us either. I really didn’t like where my train of thought was headed, but there really was no way around it. Despite that I still felt like just a high school student most of the time, I had to start acting like the person I was meant to be. If Aaron and I didn’t fully take over and remove the Mages from power, we would never be able to trust the Resistance.
“Nolen, I appreciate everything you’ve done here. I can’t imagine what it must have been like being thrown into a new world and trying to scrape together loyal citizens. All this time hiding from the Council and trying to maintain this vast network of Resistance operatives couldn’t have been easy. I will never forget the loyalty you’ve shown us,” I said. I glanced at Aaron and saw that I had his full support to say what I felt needed to be said. “I hope you understand that we need to take over from here. I know that might be hard for you, having built this entire operation, but there are things that need to change if we are to succeed against the Council.”
“Your majesty,” Nolen said, solemnly. “I have been waiting for a very long time for you to arrive and take all of this off of my hands.”
“You’re not upset?”
“Upset? I’m delighted. It’s about time someone else tried to reign in those leeches,” he replied, cheerfully. “You are their queen. They’ll fall in line once they remember what that means.”
With a bright smile on his face, it was clear that Nolen was being honest. Feeling that I had his blessing to make the changes I felt were necessary, a plan began to form in my mind. As it solidified, I had a gut feeling that it was the only way to go, and I remembered what I had told myself during the Transition. I needed to continue trusting my instincts.
We needed a way to take control of the situation, while at the same time exposing the person responsible for passing information to the Council. There was really only one path I could see that would guarantee exposing the spy.
“Is there a way to make an announcement to everyone?” I asked.
“Of course,” Nolen replied. “Things may look old down here, but this building is state of the art, I assure you. Let me get you something to write with.”
“I’m guessing you have plan,” Aaron said.
I smiled at him and replied, “I always have a plan.”
Chapter 6
Aaron
Nolen rushed off to make arrangements, leaving me alone with Shaylee. She stood next to the grand piano that stood in the corner of Nolen’s office and looked as though her mind was very far away.
I stood next to Nolen’s desk, trying to decide what to do with the gift for Shaylee that Nolen had been keeping for me. It was now residing in my pocket and I hesitated to give it to Shaylee. Things had moved quickly between us since her Transition and I didn’t want to scare her off by moving too quickly. I also wasn’t sure the timing was right. Even at the Resistance we weren’t safe and Shaylee may resist focusing on anything else.
“Are you alright?” I asked, walking over to her. I didn’t want her to stay lost in her thoughts for too long. I’d done that for centuries and knew how it lonely it could be.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she answered. “I was just thinking about how it wasn’t very long ago that I was just a normal teenager.”
“Do you wish you still were?” I asked, unsure I would like the answer.
“Sometimes,” she admitted. “but not because I liked being a normal teenager. Things were just much simpler. Now instead of just worrying about my homework I have to worry about the Resistance and the Council and regaining all my memories. It’s just a lot.”
“I get that,” I said, imagining how I would feel in her position.
She smiled and said, “I don’t wish I could go back to before I met you though. I never want to be without you again.”
“You never have to be,” I reassured her. “Even if you decided to walk out of here and never come back, I would just follow you.”
“There’s no version of me that could just walk away from this and you know it,” she replied. “As much as I sometimes wish I was still just a normal teenager, this is the first time that I know exactly who I am and what I’m supposed to do with my life.”
“I know you won’t abandon Nolen or the Resistance, but I would understand if you did wish to just be Shaylee Neale again,” I said.
“As tempting as that sounds, being Sophia Tremain sounds so much better.” She put her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her close.
“You wouldn’t believe how happy it makes me to hear that,” I told her. “But that isn’t your name.”
She looked up at me with confusion.
“Your name is Sophia Donelle,” I reminded her. “As you like to remind me, we aren’t married in this realm.” A smile lit up her face and she laughed, warming my heart and giving me the courage, I needed. “That brings me to the next subject I wanted to discuss with you. I have something for you.”
Shaylee frowned and asked with concern, “What did you get me?”
“Nothing that wasn’t already yours. I thought it was time it was returned to you.”
Suddenly unable to look her in the eyes, I pulled the ring out of my pocket
and showed it to her.
“That’s my ring,” she said, filling me with joy that she immediately recognized the sapphire and diamond ring. “I gave it to Nolen just before we cast the spell. I thought it would be the only way to convince you that I was dead.”
“You were right,” I told her. “You usually are.”
“He kept it all this time? He was supposed to give it to you,” she said, disapprovingly.
“I didn’t want it,” I admitted, sheepishly. “Those first few decades were a dark time for me. I didn’t want it as a reminder.”
“Why are you giving it back to me now?”
“Well you did say you would marry me,” I reminded her.
She stared at me, her eyes widening. “I guess I did say that,” she said, a blush darkening her cheeks.
“If you don’t want it- “
“No, I do. I just wasn’t expecting this. It just seems so fast,” she said.
“You’re right,” I agreed. “For you this must all be so confusing and moving so quickly. I can wait. You can take as long as you need.”
She stared up at me, her eyes round. I could almost see the thoughts flying through her head in her eyes. I moved to put the ring back in my pocket.
“Wait,” she said, stopping me. “I may not have known you very long as Shaylee, but as Sophia I knew you better than anyone else in my life. Those memories are in here somewhere,” she gestured to her head, “I know I’ll find them all at some point. That means this isn’t too fast. I just have to remember that I’m not human and neither are you.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, not wanting her to feel pressured in any way.
“I’m sure,” she replied, nodding.
“Shaylee Neale,” I asked. “Will you marry me?”
I held my breath as I waited for her answer. My heart was pounding in my ears even though I already knew what her answer would be.
“Yes,” she said, her voice filled with both amusement and emotion.
I pulled her into my embrace and kissed her. She chuckled at my enthusiasm. When I pulled away, I unfastened her amulet and slid the ring onto the chain, before securing it around her neck once more.
