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My heart faltered. She’d been with Ivory for an entire year and lost her two days ago. Everyone had.
When they celebrated me upon my entrance to this realm, had they just finished mourning the queen who died? Did they mourn her still? Would they mourn me? “Talen told me they love us, but did they even cry for Ivory?”
Gaia twisted her hands together and stared at them with tight shoulders and a quivering chin. “They did. It’s the only time I’ve seen them broken. But then we left to fetch you, and when I returned?” She gave a slight gesture. “They hid their sorrow well, but I could still see it.”
Ivory must have slept in my same room. The High Queen of the West, gone in the blink of an eye and replaced by another. My skin prickled. “If you do nothing, you die.”
“You don’t know that,” Gaia said. “This is how I hope to win. By appeasing the fae in all they ask. If I find enough favor in their eyes, perhaps I’ll be spared.”
“Spared from what? How did Ivory die?”
Gaia almost recoiled at the question. “It was horrible. The entire realm flocked to our palace to try to save her, but when the day ended . . .” She clenched her jaw. “She was here, then she was dead. Same as them all.”
I swallowed. “How? How are we to die?”
“It’s different each time,” Gaia said. She shut her eyes. “No one knows. No one can stop it.”
I ran a hand over my face. It was like another one of the fae’s games, and that meant it could be won. There had to be a way.
I sat on her bed. “No Mortal Queen has survived?”
She opened her eyes and shook her head. “None.”
My body settled, but each breath caught in my throat like I was hearing the news for the first time again. “Why?” I wanted to know. “Why do they need the Mortal Queens? Why not just leave us on the five islands?”
“That,” she said somberly, “I’m afraid I haven’t solved. It’s clear they need us, and they don’t enjoy us dying, but I don’t understand why.”
“Then maybe I start there. If we knew our purpose, perhaps fulfilling it would save us. Something tells me the story we were told about a general who convinced the fae to take queens is not true.”
Gaia stood like an angel on the balcony, hands poised over the balustrade, thin dress floating in the breeze, stars over her head. The stars shone brighter, and eight chariots carried fae from one island to another other. It must be nearing morning now. She took a deep breath. “If I’m going to die, at least I’ll get two years in this paradise first.”
She straightened to her full height and squinted at me. “You lost your mother, right?”
I drew back. “What?”
“Your mother? She disappeared one night. No one knew where she went. Your father was a brilliant general, but he was aimless without her. You and your brothers barely got by.” I didn’t know how she knew that when I knew nothing about her. But with her next breath, she gave me something. “I had both my parents, and I had a decent life lined up. And yet?” She held her hand out for me to join her and I did. “Look at it all. We are queens here. We have everything we need, and anything we could want. Surely two years here is worth a lifetime on the five islands.”
It was a sweet idea, but not mine.
“I want a lifetime.”
She looked at me sorrowfully. “Let it go, Thea. Fighting it is not the key. It’ll drive you to your death, just as it did with Ivory.”
I stood tall. “We will see. I’ll save us both.”
Morning dawned, which meant little in this realm. Simply a continuation of the night. Torches lit themselves around the perimeter of islands and chariots took to the skies, and I watched them glow from outside the palace courtyard while summoning my courage.
I tightened my fist over Antonio, the little toy solider that made me feel connected to Malcom. “This will work,” I told myself. “It will get me home.”
I stared over the edge of the floating island at the vast darkness. When we arrived in the fae realm, we ascended through the clouds. So to get back, down had to be the answer. Down currently showed nothing other than endless black sky and a sea of stars. Eventually it had to give way to my realm.
If I jumped, I was bound to find my way back home.
My feet inched over the edge. Rocks broke from the cliff face to tumble below. They faded from sight. What would happen back home if I died here? Would they still send pensions to my family if I was gone?
Cool air sent goosebumps rippling over my skin. Or perhaps the goosebumps were already there. Fear keeps you alive, my father would say. But it doesn’t win the battle.
Maybe bravery would come if I focused on the weight of Antonio in my hand instead of the drop at my toes. I tried, but fear still coiled around my fast-beating heart.
