by Kris Black
She made it only halfway when black dots began to dance in her vision. She faltered and fell to the floor, Henry only just catching her before she hit the ground. Alina’s arms remained outstretched towards the plants. George looked from her towards the plants and back before he sprang into action. He grabbed two off of the sill and placed them in front of Alina.
Alina reached out, digging her blue-tinged fingers into the soil - one hand in each pot - and begged for the little plants to help her. Alina was sure that she was nearly blue in the face. Yet, the plants answered her call. Laggardly, they shared their energy with her.
“Abigail, what have you done?” George bellowed as he rounded on the eldest sister. Henry adjusted the princess, so he was no longer holding her, but helping her sit.
“I- I didn’t know.” Abigail stuttered.
“You didn’t know what?” George began to walk towards her. “That’s our little sister!”
“No, she’s not!” Abigail steeled herself and lashed out. “She’s not, and she hasn’t ever been! That is not Alina! Alina died as a baby and that changeling there is Rhiannon, the half-fae princess of the realm. She is not the baby that Mother gave birth to in our house!”
Abigail was panting, her nose flared as she yelled, but she deflated as swiftly. As though she held that in her entire life. As though an anvil finally lifted off her chest. Had she known? Had she known this whole time that Alina had not been who they thought?
“We raised her as our own! She is an Everston.”
“No, you raised her.” Abigail shot back.
This accusation clearly took George aback, because that’s what it was. His face flushed with anger, but he held himself back. “And what do you think the king will do when he finds out what you did to his daughter?”
“Nothing good, I promise you that,” Henry growled out.
“George.” Alina breathed out, her airways open just enough to speak - to whisper with her damaged, swollen vocal cords. She didn’t have a lot of time. The plants didn’t have enough to give to her, they couldn’t save her.
“How could you do this?” George shook his head in disbelief at Abigail before turning and dropping to the ground next to Alina. “What can I do for you? How can I help you?”
“Greenhouse,” Alina rasped out.
“See? She isn’t even human!” Abigail pointed at Alina.
“And thank the gods for that, otherwise she would be dead right now.” George gritted out and picked Alina up as though she weighed less than a sack of potatoes. He cradled her in his arms, resting her head against his shoulder. “The only one here acting inhuman is you, Abigail. What turned you into such a monster?”
“Take her. I’ll stay here until the rest of the Kings Guard and the King arrive.” Henry motioned for George to hurry before turning to Abigail.
George didn’t hesitate as he strode from the room. Elliot followed close behind.
“Don’t worry, Alina. I’ll get you there.” George sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her. Alina wanted to hold on, but the swelling was coming back and the world was turning. Her grip on his shirt lessened.
Noticing the change, George increased his speed. She listened to the rapid increase of his heart, the steady breathing of his chest as he hurried down the corridors of the castle. She was in a daze but still appreciated the music that was her brother. Perhaps, she thought, this wouldn’t be the worst way to die. Here, protected by the man who had raised her and claimed her as his family.
“Alina, you hang on.” She always thought George was a mind-reader, or that he had eyes in the back of his head when she was a little girl. He always seemed to be aware of what she was thinking or when she had been disobedient. “You do not get to give up. We’re almost there.”
Her vision swam again, and she closed her eyes. Her chest tightened and her breathing grew evermore shallow. She didn’t have the strength to keep trying to breathe.
“If you die here, you won’t see Christian again.” Her eyes snapped open at the mention of her mate. What would her death do to him? “Or Charles. Not anyone at that castle you care about.”
Alina tried to suck in another frantic breath. It seemed futile, but her lungs expanded slightly. He was right; she had to hang on. This wasn’t how this curse ended.
George kicked open the door to the greenhouse, startling the gardeners and the few nobles within. He rushed down the stairs as fast as he dared with his sister in his arms.
Brigit rushed over to them without a moment’s hesitation. “Quickly, the willow tree.”
George nodded and followed Brigit to the large willow tree at the other end of the greenhouse. He walked through the shroud of leaves, gently laying his sister down at the base. She was ashen and her eyelids barely open. Her lips and the tips of her fingers hued blue. She lifted her hand to place it on the tree, but it only raised less than half an inch before limply falling back to her side.
“Excuse me, Your Highness. Allow me.” Brigit gently picked up Alina’s hand and laid it against the trunk of the tree, holding it here and forcing Alina’s palm open and fingers splayed wide.
The swell of power that reached out to Alina seemed immense. The tree was much more powerful than the small shrubs and flowers she had been tending to, testing her power on. It was large and felt nearly ancient and imbued with something different, but altogether familiar - like the first time she had met the tree and called to it through the ancient power that ran through her veins.
Silently, she pleaded to the great willow for aid. It responded almost immediately, allowing its life-force to flow through its bark and through her fingertips and palm, numbing her hand with the tingle of power like electricity.
A quiet hum of energy jolted her as she felt herself drifting off. Only then did she notice another figure standing in the tree’s veiled boughs. A shimmering, pearlescent woman who wasn’t wholly solid. Alina watched her with hooded eyes as she walked through George and knelt beside her.
It was like looking into a mirror, seeing a reflection of herself - only with golden hair.
“Mother?” Alina rasped out a whisper as the spectral reached out and touched her face. Unlike with George, Alina felt the full hand rest upon her cheek - devoid of warmth, but solid.
“Rhiannon.” Breena’s voice was a beautiful melody. “Alina.”
“How?” Alina asked.
“Alina?” George was staring at her, wide-eyed and ashen. “Who are you talking to?”
“He cannot see me.” Breena supplied, seeing Alina’s eyes move to her brother. “He doesn’t have the ability, he is not fae.”
“Your Majesty.” Brigit’s hand relaxed on top of Alina’s as she bowed.
“Brigit?” Alina stared at the gardener who clearly saw Breena standing in front of her. Did that mean that Brigit was a faerie too?
“What is going on? Who are you talking to?” George demanded losing patience at his sister talking to a phantom.
“Brigit is a very close friend of mine from my home,” Breena confirmed Alina’s suspicions.
Brigit smiled at the queen before motioning to George. “Come, help me set your sister up against the tree.”
George moved to help Brigit swiftly. Alina’s hand fell from the coarse bark and her mother flickered for a moment, like a ripple on the water. They set Alina’s back against the base of the tree and she placed both hands on the trunk palm down, near the roots. Her mother focused again, becoming clear.
“Let’s wait on the path.” Brigit started pushing George away from the tree.
“But Alina-”
“Will be fine, trust me. She is a faerie with a very large, very powerful willow tree at her disposal. We’ll wait just outside so you can keep watch.”
George left, despite being half-dragged - leaving Alina alone with Breena.
Alina stared at the woman with the same face as her, trying to memorize her.
“I grew this willow from a sapling.” Breena caressed the b
ark of the tree. “I took a special interest in it; it was so unique here in the greenhouse. I ended up imbuing it with more faerie magic than I intended, I think. That’s how it has helped heal you repeatedly without sacrificing its own life-force. That’s how you’re able to see me now, with an overabundance of my life-force I gave the great willow.”
“But why? Why show yourself to me now and not before?” Alina was regaining her strength, slowly but steadily.
“I’m spending all the excess energy now to do this. I wanted to wait until you needed me, really needed me. This will be the only time we get.”
Alina’s eyes watered up, blurring her vision. “But there’s so much I need to ask you.”
“I know.” Breena knelt beside her daughter. “I wish we had more time - then and now. I thought I had a hundred or more years with you. Instead, we had months and moments. You’ve been through so much, and yet there is still more to come.”
“I don’t think I can handle much more.” The tears released from her eyes, trailing down her cheeks. She was tired. So tired.
“Allow me to ease some of your burdens.” The queen caressed her daughter’s face once more. “I will explain the riddle of your curse.”
“You can do that?” Alina’s voice was a hoarse whisper as she fought her tears.
“I am the spell-weaver, I may do what I please.” Breena smiled sadly. “You and Christian are the key to breaking this curse. You have completed the ceremony needed in his territory to join your lives together.”
Alina nodded, but Breena hadn’t posed it as a question. She knew what they had completed for the curse.
“That will shift the nature of the curse. Next, you must do two things. You must marry the human way, in your father’s kingdom - on his land.”
“But Christian can’t leave his castle lands. How will we be able to marry in Lormount?” Breena’s figure was fading. Where she had once been opalescent, but mostly solid, Alina saw straight through her - like looking through a sheer curtain.
“The faeries. Find a way to the fae and they will help Christian leave his land. If you join while in the Isle of the Fae in the faerie manner, it will also shift the nature of the curse.”
Breena was now so translucent that Alina was having trouble focusing on any of her features. Each passing moment as the tree healed Alina, it took from Breena.
“Mother, please don’t leave me.” The tears she had fought before wrestled their way out of her eyes in waterfalls and sobs. Never had Alina realized how much she had needed a mother. Now that she realized what she was missing, how could she go on without her?
“I will never leave you, my beloved daughter. Even if you don’t see me, I will be beside you. The fae are from the earth and return to it. I am the passing butterfly, the breeze that kisses your skin and the grass that tickles your toes. Because I am with the earth, you will never be alone.” Breena leaned over her daughter and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Sleep now, my love. Rest and regain your strength.”
Alina’s eyes became heavy as she sank further into the embrace of the tree. Her head lolled to the side as the wind whispered one last I love you.
Chapter Fifteen
The Prisoner
Belmont was there when she awoke. Alina couldn’t mistake his imposing form for anyone else as her eyes fluttered open. He was silhouetted against the window, a shadow in her room that rose when she groaned. She was in her own bed, propped up against pillows.
“How did I get here?” Alina’s voice was raspy like she had just screamed for hours on end. Her throat constricted, raw and burning.
“I carried you.” Her father sat on the side of the bed. His weight shifted the mattress, causing Alina to readjust herself. “By the time I caught up to you after one of your guards alerted me, you were unconscious in the greenhouse. I picked you up and carried you back here, once the physician assured me that all you needed was rest.”
Alina remembered being in the greenhouse, gasping and unable to breathe. Her throat burning and gagging for air. That had been before - before her mother had saved her.
“Mother.” She whispered and Belmont snapped his head towards her. “My mother was there. I saw her. Breena.”
“That’s… that’s not possible.” He stilled, hesitant, searching Alina’s face for any sign of untruth - of confusion or madness.
“I did. She told me how to break the curse. She helped the willow tree save me.” Alina paused, finally able to fully process what had happened. Her eyes welled. “I saw my mother. Gods, she was so beautiful.”
“She really was.” Belmont squeezed her leg through the blankets. “I knew you were my daughter the moment I saw you. You and she are more alike than just looks.”
Alina nodded, unable to speak. She blinked the tears away, swallowing the lump in her throat. “I wish things had been different.”
“I’ve thought about that every day since I lost you.” Belmont sighed. “What it would have been like to raise you, with your mother at our side. She was always supposed to outlive me, not the other way around. Maybe then you wouldn’t have had an attempted murderer as a sister.”
Abigail. Alina remembered the look in her sister’s face, the hatred that she spewed as Alina had fought for air, for breath. “What happened to her? To Abigail?”
“My guards apprehended her. She is in the dungeons awaiting trial.”
“May I visit her?”
“You may do as you wish, so long as you have your guard with you.” Belmont frowned. “Which I am increasing two-fold. You have almost been killed twice while under my roof. No more. I will not allow a third attempt.”
“I really don’t see the-”
“And I am sending the Everston family back to their home immediately after your coronation.”
“What? Why?”
“Alina, one of them tried to murder you.”
“And another one saved my life! Do not punish them all for the mistake of Abigail, I beg of you.”
Belmont breathed in deeply, allowing himself a moment to calm. “Perhaps a few may stay. We can discuss it after your coronation.”
“I have something else I need to discuss with you.” Alina hesitated, wondering if this was the right time. She barely had a moment alone with him and she needed to tell him she knew where the cursed prince was. That she knew exactly how to find Christian. “About the curse.”
“Is it what your mother told you?”
“No. Yes… well, sort of.” She mumbled. “She told me that the key to breaking the curse is to find the prince and join our lives together in the ways of all three species. She said that would break the curse.”
“Join your lives together? Like in marriage?” Belmont’s brows furrowed and his voice deepened.
“Well, that is one way.” Alina agreed.
“Are you sure this was your mother and not some vision that you summoned from a daze?” He implored again. “Breena would never ask you to marry a man you have never met or had no hope of finding.”
“I didn’t imagine her.” Alina asserted. “And… and I have met him. The cursed prince - Christian.” It was a relief to utter his name aloud, to say it freely without worry over who might hear.
“You’ve met him?” Belmont questioned, flabbergasted.
“I have. I lived with him for months.” Alina affirmed. “I lived in his castle for months.” She amended when a dark look passed Belmont’s face. “This was before we knew that I was the princess mentioned in his curse. We… We fell in love. We’re betrothed.”
Alina showed him the ring on her finger and he stared at it like it was the first time he had ever noticed it. He put a hand up to his forehead, using two fingers to rub it at the wrinkles on his brow.
“Why are you only telling me of this now?”
“I’ve tried to tell you before. But somehow, each time isn’t right. Or we get interrupted.”
Belmont sat in silence for a few moments, closing his eyes as in deep thought. “So, we have a
way to break this curse. A way to save you.”
“Yes. I only need to get back to Christian. Then, we need to find my mother’s people.”
“And he treated you well? This Christian? The cursed prince?”
“He did. He’s a little rough around the edges, but he really loves me.”
“Then after your coronation, I’ll send guards with you to escort you back to him. Do what you have to do and break this infernal curse and then return here so I can meet this young man who has stolen your heart and saved your life.”
Tears welled as Alina reached forward and embraced her father, promising to return.
“Oh my goodness, Alina!” Ella ran over to the sofa, taking Alina’s hand in her own. “I couldn’t believe it when they told me what happened. How are you feeling?”
“I’m doing much better now, thank you Ella.” She motioned for her friend to sit beside her.
“I wanted to come earlier,” Ella explained as she sat in the proffered spot. “But the king was here with you and I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“I understand. I’m just glad you’re here now.” Alina offered Ella a smile while Ella studied her. “I’m fine, I promise. Just a little weak. Nothing a little food and rest won’t cure, I’m sure.”
“The whole castle is abuzz with the news. They’re wondering if it was really Duchess Briarbay that attempted to take your life the first time, if another attempt was made.”
Alina took a sip of her tea, pondering that. She hadn’t questioned when the duchess had been arrested, content to let the guards do their job. But, what if Ella and the other courtiers were right? What if there was someone pulling the strings behind both attacks? Did that mean there could be another one? Alina could feel her throat closing up at the thought and struggled to swallow her tea.
“I’m sure it’s nothing but theories and gossip.” Ella was quick to amend. “I mean, there wasn’t even any poison on the apple that you ate. It has everyone flummoxed.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Alina placed her teacup down. “What do you mean there was no poison?”
