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My mind kept working. The ambassadors had been the same ones since Dhalia’s time, so Father couldn’t have been one of those. Somehow, without their power, he’d found a way from this realm to the fae one. There must be a bridge of sorts, which meant I had hope.
Father watched me think, until my watch ticked. I pulled up my sleeve to see the second hand drift to the two, then the one. One minute remained.
“Time is almost up, child. Any further questions?”
My breathing quickened. I had a million more questions. “How do I survive being a Mortal Queen?”
He assumed his place by the stairs and shifted into the frozen stance. Only his mouth moved. “I spent your childhood teaching you to fight. You are strong enough to find a way.”
I knelt at Malcom’s side and wrapped my arms around him once again, holding tight, wishing I could press the watch again. The clock ticked thrice more, then life unfroze. I pressed the watch again, but nothing happened. I was out of time.
“One more minute,” I begged.
Malcom let out a squeak. “Thea? You’re crushing me.”
Prying metal bars apart would have been easier than releasing my arms from Malcom and watching him step away.
Eliza came down the stairs with Cal in tow while we all pretended not to notice their red eyes.
The dark-haired fae approached her.
“Choose a mask.” He opened his hand to show the five colors—white, gold, silver, black, and red.
She looked at me. “Black, just like Thea.”
The fae frowned. I smiled.
“As you wish. We shall have two queens in black masks.” He lifted the mask and secured it to her face. Her blonde hair accented against the black in a way my dark hair didn’t, and already she was stunning enough to fit in with the fae.
“Now the earrings.”
Cal stepped forward. “Do you have to do this?”
The fae growled as if Eliza was his to protect, but Cal didn’t back up. Father placed a hand on Cal’s shoulders. “It will be over in a moment.”
I was trying not to look at him for fear of the fae seeing all I’d learned through my expression. But I was only half here and half in my mind, as if the answers were there if only I looked the right way.
“Our queens are strong,” the fae was saying. He took out the earrings. Cal held Eliza’s hand just as Malcom had held mine, and she clenched her jaw against the pain. I could almost feel it with each hole he punched into her, but Eliza didn’t shed a tear. Her chin only raised.
“And the pension.”
She glanced to Cal. I guessed whose name it was she signed. My brothers would be well cared for on two queen’s pensions.
“Say your goodbyes. Our realm is hungry for its queens,” the silver fae commanded.
Father frowned at this, and Malcom’s arms were around me again. Cal pulled Eliza into him and buried his head over her shoulder.
“You be good,” I whispered to Malcom. “And I’ll be back soon.”
“Promise?” he asked.
I brushed his hair away to see his brown eyes. “I promise. Antonio will take good care of me until I return.”
He brightened. “Antonio is a good soldier.”
“Yes, he is. The very best.”
Cal had released Eliza and was wiping his eyes while Eliza opened her arms for Malcom. He embraced her with as much fervor as he’d embraced me, and I heard him say that Antonio would watch us both.
