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I put it on my wrist next to Bash’s bracelet. I’d had a plan before Bash convinced me to try his. Today at the ceremony, I’d stop time and escape. I wouldn’t be returning to this forsaken realm where queens die and kings lie.
With the watch on my wrist, I was ready to face the fae.
I marched down the stairs and out to the courtyard where the fae cheered and the ambassadors waited beside a chariot. The six kings sat on their thrones, each looking at me with admiration, Bash beaming brightest of all.
My eyes narrowed at him coldly and his smile faltered.
I waded through the crowd to the center where the three fae stood. The silver-haired fae, the silent one, and the black-haired one. Same as last year. The two lanterns Gaia and I had lit were unlit now, waiting for me to return with a new queen.
The ambassadors would be returning with only one.
“Are you ready?” the silver-haired ambassador said.
I scanned the crowds until I found Lord Winster, curling his mustache that had grown back. I held my gaze on him, my eyes asking the question. He nodded.
If things went wrong, I could still control the silver-haired ambassador for the day. That was my only comfort as I climbed aboard the chariot and wished this realm farewell.
“Take me home.”
The ambassadors formed a circle around me as the chariot took to the sky, shaking with the cheers of the fae. As the silver fae and the silent fae watched the skies, the dark fae leaned closer to me. I put a hand over my wrist to hide the bulge in the sleeve from the watch and bracelet.
“An hour ago, they cheered only for the fact that we would soon have a queen again,” he said. Even at a distance, where we could hardly see the palace, we still heard them. “Now they cheer that the lost one has been returned.”
“Will they not mourn for Gaia?” I asked through straight lips.
He straightened. After giving me a look, he shifted outward. “We have been mourning her for eight months.”
His pinched expression almost made me regret my remark, but I didn’t. I’d had enough of this realm. My thumb stroked the watch. A few more minutes until I saw my brothers again.
The chariot dropped at an alarming rate, and every muscle in my body tightened. The stars stripped away, dulling in color. The islands fell back. The air grew colder. In a heartbeat, we had left the fae realm and now traveled through a void that belonged no more to one than it did to the other and held nothing of value to make either side claim it.
I found myself drifting near the silent fae to peer over the edge of the chariot. As my realm appeared, I was overcome with homesickness for the large oceans and the five islands, even with their heat and sand.
The darkness faded, then there it was.
The sparkling, blue ocean with trims of waves cast throughout, beating against the five islands. Ruen sat to the east of the center island, and I absorbed every inch of it. It was my first time seeing the island that should have been my home. Banners hung throughout to welcome the fae, even though we’d never touch down there. The people still crowded the streets with their eyes on the skies. Searching for us.
“Why can’t they see us?” I asked.
“Protection enchantment,” the dark fae answered.
They didn’t need a protection enchantment. The mortals adored the fae and would never hurt them. It was the same thing the fae said about their Mortal Queens, but no fae died in our land.
Then the center island came into view, and nothing else mattered. The musicians were playing their song, and it grated against my ears. Somewhere along the way, I’d become accustomed to the music of the fae realm enough to lose taste for my own. It saddened me. What else had I lost taste for?
My skin heated, and I gasped. I tilted my face up to welcome an old friend that once bothered me, but now shone more beautiful than a fae star. The sun. I hadn’t seen the sun in a year. The rays seeped into my cheeks to spread life through my body as if restarting my heart after it had sat still for too long. As the chariot dipped toward the governor’s house, dust found its way to our noses and I smiled. I was home.
No one would trick me here. People said what they meant, and they gave friendship freely. No one would fool me into loving them on the five islands.
Yet as we stepped off the chariot and into the miniscule courtyard of the governor’s home, I cast one last look to the sky. The fae realm was closed to me now.
“It’s time to choose our next queen.” The silver fae led us from the chariot and through the fig trees into the governor’s empty home. We moved to the back where the mortals chattered anxiously, eyes never leaving the dais for too long.
Words couldn’t explain how odd it felt to be on this side.
I wanted to tear away from the fae now, but I forced my steps to come steady and bided my time. First to fulfill my final duties as a Mortal Queen, then to stop time and slip away. As soon as they announced the next queen, I’d be gone. I wouldn’t wait around to lie to her about what an honor this was. She’d be lied to enough.
I’m sorry I cannot save you. I can hardly save myself.
