by Olivia Hart
“When the battle was done, whoever won was given control over the other clan. Eventually, one clan became dominant and slowly controlled all of the rest of the clans. That’s why goblins don’t live in the mountains anymore. The ones that are still living outside the cities have a king, and he makes the laws for the goblins.”
“That’s interesting. I had no idea they had a history of war.”
Rose pressed her body against mine, and I felt a warmth radiating from her. She felt lighter, less burdened. “I think that we may win this, Sebastian. Against all the odds, I think we’re going to do it.”
“Me too, Rose. Seraphina isn’t going to know what hit her.”
Rose seemed to be thinking about something else, but then she looked up at me and smiled. “Sebastian, how would you feel about having a baby?”
A thousand thoughts ran through my mind. The world was insane right now. We were training goblins to protect her. Now was not the time to have a child, but at the same time, the thought of having a child seemed so amazing. I’d never believed that I’d have a child. Women didn’t want to have children with incubi. But Rose was my wife. “Where is this coming from? I’d love to have a child with you, but that’s kind of an unexpected question.”
Rose took my hand and put it on her stomach. My heart started racing as she said the thing that was terrifying and wonderful all at the same time.
“I’m pregnant.”
Chapter 20
Seraphina
The artificer was the best in the Immortal Realm, and he knew it which made him act like he was far more important than he was. Normally at least. Today, and for the next week or so, he was going to be the most valuable fairy in any of the worlds.
“I need the strongest and least detectable poison you can create. It doesn’t matter what it costs. She’ll know most typical poisons by scent, so get creative. None of this will work if she detects the poison.”
“Lady, I am a master of my profession, but I am not a fucking alchemist. Get an alchemist if you want poison.” I didn’t hesitate. My hand moved faster than even I expected. My palm connected with his cheek with a loud slap, and his head snapped back. There was no real damage done, but he got the point.
He put his palm to his cheek to press against the growing handprint. “Don’t you dare talk to me that way. Never again.”
He glared at me as I continued. “I have consulted alchemists already. They have no poisons that will be undetectable. That’s why I’m talking to you. Use an essence of something or other to either hide a normal poison or to be a poison.”
That seemed to make the request click in his mind because he began to nod. “Yes, Lady. I have some ideas.”
His hand went back to his side, and I smiled at the bright red handprint that covered his cheek.
“I’ve researched the rest of your earlier request. I will not need the entire body. Only the eyes. Carve them out and bring them to me whole. That will be enough.”
“Only the eyes? Are you sure?”
He nodded. “Yes, Lady. The eyes are the only part I will use, but be sure not to damage them.”
I smiled at the fairy. I hated needing little shits like this, but it was necessary. Soon enough, the Queen of the Dark Court would be dead, and I would be more powerful than anyone in the history of the Immortal Realm.
Chapter 21
Rose
Finally, a night to relax. Dinner in bed with Sebastian along with my latest craving: steak fingers, french fries, gravy, and ice cream. Well… It wasn’t really the same as the Mortal Realm version, but it was as close as I’d come so far. Being pregnant with no access to the food I’d grown up loving was not a problem I’d expected to have, but I’d finally broken down and accepted that something was better than nothing.
The gravy was right. I’d shown the cook how to make that. The French fries were a little denser than I would like. The steak fingers and ice cream were a completely different story. Thin pieces of steak that were chewy. They’d been dipped in eggs and milk and then a thick coating of flour. They dripped with grease, but Sebastian couldn’t get enough. I’d never seen him so over the moon about food before, but I now knew that he’d end up as a very fat man if he lived in the Mortal Realm for very long.
When I got to the ice cream, though, something seemed off about it. Something I couldn’t place. I took one bite of the homemade ice cream and immediately jumped out of bed. My stomach cramped hard enough that it felt like I was being stabbed. Then the nausea began, and I rushed to the bathroom, groaning.
One bite of ice cream was all it took to ruin my night. I bent over the basin we kept in the bathroom now. Sebastian came in behind me, and I looked up at him.
“Don’t eat the ice cream,” I groaned.
“I already did. I don’t feel bad at all. Could this be because of the baby?”
“I don’t know.” Another wave of nausea ran through me. “Maybe?” I felt sick again and bent over the basin.
Sebastian had gotten a towel and a glass of water for me. “Is this what it’s going to be like for nine months?” I asked.
“You mean a year, don’t you?”
The nausea was better, but the sharp pain was only a little bit duller. “A year? What are you talking about?”
“Aren’t humans pregnant for a year?”
I felt another pain shoot through my stomach, and I snarled at Sebastian, “No. Nine months, well ten really. Are you telling me that I’m going to feel like this for a whole year? Are you freaking kidding me?”
Sebastian almost seemed to shrink as he felt the frustration inside me, and I tried to calm down. A deep breath in and a deep breath out. In and out. In and out.
The pain began to recede as I calmed down, and my nausea seemed to be gone. Sebastian handed me the towel when I stood up, and I cleaned off my face.
“I’m sorry. I just… Most women are miserable when they’re pregnant, and they’re only pregnant for nine months. This is going to be hard, Sebastian.”
“Every gift requires sacrifice…?” he said hesitantly.
“Screw that. I just get to be a little pissy, okay? I’ll do the whole sacrifice thing for a lot of stuff, but if I’m gonna puke every time I eat ice cream, you’re just going to need to cringe a little softer, okay?”
Sebastian nodded and handed me the glass of water. I drank the whole thing, glad to get the taste out of my mouth.
“I love you, Rose.”
“I love you too. And I love this baby. I do not love being pregnant. I’ll put up with it, but pregnant women are allowed to be a little bitchy.”
This time he smiled at me. “You’ve always been a little bitchy, Rose. I love you regardless.”
I grinned at him now that I was feeling better. “A smart man wouldn’t say things like that. It’s a good thing you’re so pretty.”
“Come on, let’s get you back in bed and hide the ice cream.”
“That’s a good idea. You know, when all this madness is done, I’m going to go to the Mortal Realm and spend a month watching trash TV.” I put my hand on the hard muscles of Sebastian’s chest and said, “And you’re going to come with me. It’s time you learned how humans deal with things.”
“That sounds like a very strange month, but if that’s what you want, then I won’t argue.”
“You’re sounding smarter already.”
Chapter 22
Seraphina
The boy and the girl had scorch marks on their chests, but they still breathed when I stepped through the mirror into the Sister’s realm. The familiar stone pathway was unchanged. The thousands of mirrors still showed glimpses into other worlds. Nothing changed in this silent world. The scent of rot and ash filled the air. The Sister was nearby. My wings carried me through the still air, and the children rested on my shoulders.
I needed the sacrifice to be well worth the gift this time. I’d never given her two children at a time, so that should do it. That strange voice echoed in my mind, quieter no
w, but still there.
Stop, Sera. Stop this. Remember her. Remember me. Remember us.
Don’t fight her. She’s our child.
I wasn’t actually hearing the words now, but this morning, the voice had said those things to me, and I couldn’t stop the echoes of them. I didn’t know where I’d heard that voice before, but I knew it. It was like the word on the tip of your tongue. Infuriating, like an itch you can’t scratch.
And I knew better than to scratch this itch. I knew that there were memories that I’d glamoured away. There were too many fuzzy spots in my mind. Too many years that I just couldn’t remember. The only person strong enough to do that was me, and that meant I’d done it on purpose.
That didn’t stop the strange pain in my chest that seemed to ache anytime I heard that voice or saw that strange black-haired man. I’d never actually seen his face. Only his hair and hands, but those were the worst. I had to close my eyes every time I came near the mirror now so that I didn’t accidentally see him.
When I landed in the center of the circle, I dropped the children to the ground. Their heartbeats were slower than normal. Barely alive. That wouldn’t matter to the Sister. She knew that someone, somewhere would mourn these children, and that was what she truly fed on. That suffering.
The groaning of aching bones filled the air. She would be here soon. Every time I came here, I felt that same fear creep into me. Even though I knew what to expect now, it was impossible to keep from being afraid of the Sister. She was older than the mountains, stronger than anything in our world. As she said, I was a child talking to a god. The thing about gods was that they underestimated everyone.
I controlled myself. I didn’t even form my shield. As the ancient branches bent, the massive raven stepped into the circle. Her blood-red eyes looked at me and then the children.
With a loud caw, she asked, “Why have you come this time?”
“Take your sacrifice and then we will talk.” I tried to maintain my composure, tried not to let my heart race. She would hear it beating wildly, and the best I could do was slow it slightly.
“Two?” she asked suspiciously.
“The knowledge I require is more complicated than previously. I value our relationship and do not want you to think that I am trying to cheat you.”
She stepped forward, and I could tell that something was different. She was the cleverest being anyone had ever heard of, but she was old and powerful. Just like Aurora.
The Sister put her beak to the girl and smelled her. Without any more hesitation, she crushed the girl’s rib cage just as she’d done before. Blood spurted as the girl gasped. Then, the girl died, and her soul returned to the void. The Sister dug her beak into the girl’s stomach and began to rip pieces of flesh from the body.
It was sickening to watch, but I couldn’t turn away. As the Sister swallowed whole pieces of her body, the overwhelming scent of a warm breeze filled with a thousand flowers in bloom filled the area.
The sister immediately turned to me, and I could see the rage in her blood-red eyes. She began to make vomiting noises, and I smiled at her. Her thoughts ran through my mind, screaming in pain, “HOW?”
“The essence of a phoenix mixed with the essence of a gnome was injected into both of them, and then their hearts were shocked to the point of barely pumping. On the brink of death, the essences did not spread fast enough to kill the children.”
She began to gag even harder. Her legs shook, and after only a few moments, she fell over onto her “sacrifices”, her legs kicking uncontrollably. Pulling the obsidian blade that I’d taken from Sebastian from the hidden pocket of my dress, I approached the Sister.
Her eyes were closed, but she continued to retch, the smell of death coming from the pooling liquid under her beak. I stood to her side, and the giant raven’s head came up almost to my waist.
I squatted down next to her, and gripping her by the beak, I did my best to steady her head as I dug the obsidian blade into the eye socket closest to the rocky ground. Sawing away, I cut widely, being sure not to damage the actual eye that was nearly as large as my palm.
A phoenix had been the key. Hard to catch, but easy to drain, it had taken an entire week to gather enough of its essence. The phoenix was the only creature that never truly died. Its “lifespan” was only a few weeks, but then it would turn to ash and be reborn a day later. It rested in the void during that time, and thus it never needed the long rest of death.
And so it was the Sister’s bane. The only creature that was her exact opposite. A creature that was always newly born and never dead, it burned brightly with life. That life and light and brightness was a toxin to a creature who lived on misery and death.
It wouldn’t keep her under very long, though. The Sister was immune even to the obsidian dagger’s power, for no magic flowed through the blade. But the blade would cut her flesh, and as I reached in to pull her eye out, she began to stir. I shoved the first eye into that hidden pocket in my dress and began to work at the second as the Sister began to move.
As I ripped the second eye from its socket, covered in blood and fluids, she cawed in pain, her voice screaming in my mind. Not words, just an unintelligible sound so similar to the one that she used to send me home.
I leaped from her, my wings carrying me back to the mirror connected to my own room. Looking back, I saw her right herself, her eyes gone, and in their place empty sockets. Screaming again, she tried to move, but she tripped and fell face-first into the stone.
When I landed next to the mirror that was connected to my room, that violent, angry rhythm filled my mind. She would not be sending me home now. She would be incapacitating me to exact her revenge. Even as my body began to shake with the pain of her song, I stepped through the mirror into my room.
And it stopped.
I’d made it. I’d managed to cut the eyes out of a god. Now, I would use them to become the only god of the Immortal Realm. The most powerful being in the world.
I picked up the chair and smashed the mirror. I would never go near another mirror again, but I wouldn’t need to. Not now. I pulled out the Sister’s eyes from my pocket. They still moved. Somehow, they were still alive, and they glared at me with hatred. I smiled down at them. “I’m sorry, Sister, you’re a child in a world of gods. Now, you understand that unlike you and everyone else, I’m not afraid to do whatever it takes to rule.”
I pushed the eyes back into the pocket and took a deep breath. I was going to become a god by the end of the day.
Chapter 23
Rose
I sat on the Dark Throne in a black dress that had been covered in glittering black gemstones. It was the opposite of the one my mother had worn when she’d convinced me to leave the Dark Court not that long ago.
Now it was I who held control of a Court. I felt stronger than I had in a long time. The Goblin Secret Service or GSS as I liked to call them, stood around the Throne with silver swords in hand. They’d trained for weeks now, and though they still struggled to beat some of the best warriors, they were proving that they were capable of far more than cleaning walls or moving furniture.
Sebastian’s new Assassin’s Guild was still soft. They didn’t have the same drive that the GSS did. Only about fifty of the original hundred and twelve shadow walkers had agreed to train. They weren’t ready for battle yet, but they would be. Sebastian was sure of that.
The trolls had become an asset beyond anyone’s expectations. They’d always been considered slow and lazy, but everyone had been wrong. They simply didn’t have music in the city. As soon as they were allowed to drum, they became as steadfast and efficient as any dwarf. Except that they were also able to carry stones the size of cars and knock down trees just by pushing on them.
Sebastian had found a way to utilize the Queen’s Gift to connect large groups of soldiers in a dream state. It took a lot out of him, but he was able to let them experience true battle without the fear of death or permanent injury day after day.
/> We weren’t ready for war yet, but unless Seraphina showed up tomorrow with an army, we would be. Now it was time to just do the work. Continue showing the people that I was the Queen that they needed. Continue pushing the soldiers.
Continue growing the baby in my belly.
My hand went to my stomach again as the previous petitioner left the Throne Room. Weeks had gone by since I’d found out, and my thoughts were turned more and more to it. I wondered if it would be a boy or a girl. If it would be an incubus or fairy.
Cara had offered to read its soul, but I’d declined. There was still so much at stake. So many chances for me to be forced into a battle. So many chances that my baby could lose its life.
No. I still had to make decisions for the Dark Realm. I needed to do my best to stay focused on that. Soon, the entire possibility of war with Seraphina would be done. Then Sebastian and I could focus on our new baby.
I smiled until the next petitioner walked into the Throne Room. I glared down at a vampire whom I had seen in the Room of Disillusion but had never met. Lips so red that they looked like they were covered in blood. A pale face and hands. A very traditional suit from the Mortal Realm. Damian. The artificer who had made the necklace for me when my wings were still wet. The one who had charged Sebastian an obsidian dagger for it. I saw the dagger’s hilt rising from a brand new hartskin sheath.
“What do you want Damian?” I asked.
He did not show even a smidge of fear as he looked up at me from the petitioner’s position. “Queen Rose, I do not want anything. I come with information for you.”
“From the Mortal Realm?” I asked with confusion.
