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He was silent for a while, taking me in. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “The House Representatives have been tasked with delivering this news for centuries, and we’ve yet to find a good way to do so. You seemed like someone who would want it straightforward, but perhaps that was not the way I should have done it.” Talen showed emotion for the first time as he wiped his eyes quickly and cleared his throat. “I’ll do everything in my power to make this better.”
There was no way to make this better. The fae realm was a beautiful death.
“Thea,” Talen said kindly. “If there was anything I could do to save you, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
I clutched Antonio to my chest, and his sword drilled into my skin. I needed the pain to plant me back on the ground.
When Mother spoke of the wonder, she failed to predict the danger.
That was why they needed queens so often. That was why we never saw more than last year’s selected. That was why Gaia paled at the mention of girls before us. The Mortal Queens are not ours to keep. What did that mean? Who took them?
My promise to Malcom to return swelled in my throat. I had to fulfill that promise. Antonio weighed heavy in my hand with the memory of my brother and the idea that I’d never be reunited with him again. My sweet little brother. I pressed the metal figure against my lips. “I’ll find a way to you.” My eyes darted to Talen. “I have to live.”
He removed his top hat and knelt on the ground before me. “My Queen, it can’t be done. None have survived.”
I clenched my teeth together and gritted out each word. “I . . . will . . . live.”
He bowed his head. “And I will do all I can to try to save you. I make this vow to you.”
“Go,” I ordered, ignoring the hurt in his eyes. I turned away toward the window. “Let me have peace as I sort this.”
His footsteps retreated, and the door closed. When I turned again, he’d left his hat on the handle.
I sank to the floor. Cal would excel in this situation and have it all solved before the night ended. I could paint it, but my brushes couldn’t solve the dilemma.
A tear fell upon the little soldier’s eye as if it cried with me. Malcom had held my hand so tight as they pierced my ears and reminded me how strong I was. I didn’t feel strong. I felt hopeless. If I could draw some of Malcom’s bravery and Cal’s intellect, I would have a better chance of surviving. All I knew how to do was paint and hide from Father when he was in a nasty mood.
I lifted my head. I wasn’t entirely alone. Another Mortal Queen still lived, and Gaia must know the fate that awaited us. She’d had a year here before me. That would be ample time to learn about the world and uncover a way out of the realm safely. I stood. There was no time to mourn when Gaia would have answers.
Poor Gaia only had one year left. She needed saving more than I did.
I took off without a second thought, hurrying through the empty hall and down the long stairway to the throne room with the river. I fled over the bridge to the east side, where identical features greeted me. The same long stairway in the hall, the same tall door at the start of the corridor.
Talen had rooms down the hall from mine, but the rest of my wing was empty. If Thomas stayed here with Gaia, I never saw him. The rest of our home was eerily large and quiet.
My heart thundered as I pounded against the door.
By the clocks, it was well into the night and neared morning. I pounded harder. A moment later, the door slid open.
Gaia peered out. “What in the fae’s name are you doing?”
“Surviving.” I pushed past her and into her room. A light pink carpet welcomed my bare toes as not one, but two fires burned on either side of the large room. I spun to face Gaia. “I’m going to help you live. We have to leave.”
She shut the door slowly. “The Mortal Queens?”
I crossed my arms. “Dead. I appreciate the warning. You could have saved me before I came to this realm. Instead, you watched them pierce my ears and cover my face with a mask without saying a single word.”
She pulled her shawl closer. Her silky blue nightdress flowed like wind around her body as she moved to the open doors leading out to a balcony. Her rooms sat on the exact edge of the island, so it looked as if the balcony was suspended into the night sky.
After an irritatingly long pause, she spoke. “There was nothing I could have said.”
I gaped at her. “I can think of a few things.”
“It is not for me to disrupt the ways of the fae.”
“Are you truly so complicit that you’d roll over and perish willingly?” I stood beside her. “Did you not grow up on the same island I did, training in the same arena while preparing for battle? This, Gaia, this is our battle.”
She looked up at the dark sky. “Fighting will get you nowhere.” The calm in her voice splintered. “Ivory fought every day to find a way to survive, no matter how much I begged her not to. It did her nothing. The night fell on her second year, and she faded away.” A tear rolled down Gaia’s cheek.
