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She was a year younger than us. One more year of eligibility. If she won, that’d be good for her family of many brothers and sisters, who would be well sought after. Siblings of the selected were like royalty in the five islands, the closest we could get to being related to the fae. If I were selected, my brothers would have good prospects.
The dust itself settled to hear the ambassador’s next words. I found Cal’s hand and held it tight. “Tritshu un kuy,” he whispered. He spoke in the language our mother created. May he favor you. I repeated the saying to him.
An ornate bowl sat before the ambassadors. The silver fae’s billowing sleeve collected at her elbow as she dipped her fingers in. She didn’t dally with shuffling. She picked a slip of parchment from the very top and held it close.
Her voice trilled over the still crowd. “The fae have selected their next Mortal Queen. Althea Celeste Brenheda, will you rule over us?”
I tried to breathe but I couldn’t. My vision blurred. The land buzzed around me while all I could see were the smiles of the three fae as their eyes swept over the crowds. Searching for me. I might never move again. I’d live right here, forever immobilized by the way the silver fae’s lips had formed my name.
The explosive cheers of the center finally dragged me to reality. Malcom screamed loudest of all. Cal hugged my shoulders, and that hug was the only thing anchoring me to the ground.
Father had been right. I was chosen.
Cal nudged me and somehow my feet moved. The crowd separated to make an aisle. Remembering Cal’s words, I pulled my hands through my hair as quickly as I could to tame the mess.
The walk to the balcony took eons. I passed thousands of girls, all who’d spent hours getting ready, with their polite smiles masking disappointment as I tripped by. All the while, the fae stared down at me. I’d never felt so small.
Gaia stepped forward to take my name from the fae’s hand, as was customary. She was to place a kiss on the paper to bless me as I joined her in the realm, but the fae slid the paper into her pocket instead. Gaia hesitated and her hand shook before she stepped back into her statue-like position.
Next year that would be me, standing like a copper behind gold.
I made it to the stairs and ascended without falling. The fae ambassadors were even more magnificent up close. Not a blemish on their skin. They regarded me from behind crisp masks, and I tried to hold my chin up so the first look they got of their new queen was one of strength. It was all I could do to keep from trembling.
“Althea Celeste Brenheda,” the silver fae repeated. A diamond crown with three thin, sharp points rested in her hands. She lifted it above my head. “Will you rule us?”
I pulled my shoulders back, hoping my mother’s old dress did me half the justice it had her. “I will.”
The center cheered again, but I hardly heard it. There was one sound that rose above it all. As they placed the crown on my head, the bells tolled.
The world moved faster then, as if it had been holding its breath for that very moment.
The silver fae gripped my hand in her cold and rigid fingers, raising it above my head. All I could focus on was the weight of the crown paired with the weight of my disbelief. I looked at Gaia. She remained void of expression.
The silk of the silver fae’s dress brushed my arm as she said something in my ear.
“What?” My voice was hardly audible.
“Your home?” she pressed over the victory music. I guessed I wouldn’t be hearing them practice for next year’s ceremony after all. The next time I would hear them, they’d be playing for me when I returned.
“My home?”
The silver fae exchanged a look with the dark-haired fae. The third remained a statue beside them, looking more like a king than an ambassador. “We need to return to your home to get some things in order before we take you to our realm. Do you have a home?” I didn’t miss how she took in my unkept hair.
“I do.” I pushed confidence into my voice. “I can lead you.”
That was always the extent of the ceremony. The fae appeared, we worshipped the fleeting sight of them, then they took a new girl. Officers would hold us in the square for several minutes, then let us loose into the streets where we’d talk about how majestic the fae looked, this year’s selected, and what the fae realm must be like. But this time, the fae didn’t disappear from my sight. They followed me into the governor’s hall to the front door.
“I don’t live far,” I said.
They gave no reply. The trio walked in a line behind me along the streets, where the sun beat down on hanging sheets that cast shadows over our path. Gaia kept her head low and hands crossed over her silky, pink dress.
The silence allowed my thoughts to run untamed. In a matter of hours, I’d become a part of the fae world. I’d sit on a throne of gold or silver, I’d eat food so delicious I could cry, and I’d be revered by beings who held more power in their finger than I did in my entire body. I’d be a queen.
We had no queens in the five islands. That honor was reserved for the fae. Reserved for the select few—a group I now belonged to. I’d be welcomed into a sisterhood of Mortal Queens.
I tried to remember the girls from the previous years. Portia, Tris, Ivory. Years of muttering their names served me when my memory did not, until I’d dredged up twenty queens of years gone by. Soon we’d be reunited.
Fig trees bent at the will of the wind, almost bowing to us as we passed. The ambassadors trailed their eyes over our island with the faintest of frowns. The center island was the richest of the five islands, and even that wasn’t enough to impress ambassadors from the fae realm where they say jewels run like rivers through the sky. And soon I’d see the realm I’d only heard of in stories.
