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“My Queen,” the elderly fae woman said.
For a fae to look as old as she did, she must have been around since the start of the Mortal Queens. The corners of her eyes wrinkled with pleasure. “We are delighted to honor you tonight.”
I bent to my knees.
They didn’t require much from me. I removed my crown and held my head steady. She drew the new crown on my skin in black ink with a silver pen in swift movements that left no more than a tingling sensation. The dark tattoo would match my mask well. Now I’d have a band around my forehead, with dainty detailing like a tiara imprinted forever upon my skin, so all would know that from this point onward, I was a queen.
Her soft hand cupped my chin, lifting my face to hers. A slow smile came to her lips. “You may sit.”
My knees straightened. The throne towered behind her shoulder, summoning me. I hesitated.
This morning I was a girl stealing vegetables from a garden. This moment didn’t feel real. It was a dream I’d soon wake from.
But the touch from the old woman was very real as her hand pressed against my back. “It is yours, my Queen,” she murmured. “Take it.”
My footsteps echoed in the large hall as I took one, two, three steps to the threshold of my throne. I gathered my long dress in hand and swept it to the side before lowering myself onto the seat.
The cold of the stone armrests against my sweaty palms felt unnatural. I kept to the front of the throne so my feet could touch the ground, leaving a chill to travel down my back, matched by a shiver of excitement. Or perhaps a shiver of nerves. The two were becoming impossible to differentiate. My first breath was shallow, and the second was almost impossible to take.
You have dreamed of this since you were born, Cal’s voice reminded me in my head. You can do this.
Just like that, my third breath came deeper, and the dizziness in my head cleared.
At my feet, the crowd roared. It was enough to make any girl feel adored, but all I could wonder was why creatures such as these, capable of moving walls and creating rooms with a click of their fingers, said to have built the stars themselves, would ever need a Mortal Queen. I may be their ruler, but I wouldn’t forget for one second that every creature in this room was stronger than I was. Except perhaps Gaia.
The elderly fae took great effort to bow. With her next line, my position was sealed. “Let a new reign begin.”
The music restarted. Talen drew near to the side of my throne and stood tall. “Stay here for a few minutes,” he said quietly. “Let them get a proper look at your beauty before you form strong alliances tonight.” He folded his hands in front of him and stared down his nose at the others.
“How important is it that I make friends?”
“Your reign depends on it.” He placed a hand over mine. “But not at this moment. Take a few minutes to breathe first. Then dive in.”
I tried to look in control on a throne so large I could hardly reach both sides.
“Who did Gaia align with?” I asked under my breath.
“Initially? The House of Berns. You remember Thomas, right? Pleasant chap. You are much better off with me. They try to keep her quiet and hidden. Me, however? I intend to show you off.”
Gaia had been quiet when I met her. It didn’t occur to me it might not be by choice.
She might be quiet, but the rest of the room was not. The party extended beyond the grand hall and into the courtyard where chariots still danced through the sky that had yet to show anything other than brilliant stars. “What time is it?”
“Evening,” Talen replied.
“I never saw the sun.”
“We have no use for such crassness. It steals all the beauty of night.”
I tried to fathom such a thing. “Well, you might not need one, but it’s practical. How do you tell time?”
I didn’t care for the bemused way he looked at me. “Clocks.”
“Oh.”
The room was a chorus of faces turning to me then looking away, the throne room surrounding us yet keeping the two thrones in their own bubble of space. I desperately wished to know what they spoke behind their hands. While the realm was a flurry of activity, this was the first moment since being selected that I rested, and the day caught up with me. My thoughts that had been at bay now seeped in, reminding me how unprepared I was for this role.
“Can you get me something to drink?” My voice clawed from my throat.
