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The silver fae bowed her head to the crowd and stepped on a chariot where the other two ambassadors waited. Their cheeks were sunken in, and they wore black clothing.
I must have looked like a mess. I had no shoes on, my hair was horrendous from being blown about, and tears painted my cheeks. But I picked up my skirt and ran toward the courtyard. An uneasy plan formed in my mind.
“Today,” the ambassador was saying, “we restore the realm. We will bring back not one, but two girls to fill our hearts again.” They planned to trap two more girls. Their cycle was repeating.
The fae clapped, but it was a weak noise.
Using both hands, I threw the doors open.
“You will bring only one back!” I called out. I stood firm on my bare feet near the black river and stared down the ambassadors. “And you will take me with you, for it is my right as High Queen of the West to see my realm once more.”
An odd thing happened then. My words drifted over the courtyard and like a ripple, the fae clasped their hands to their chests, then knelt before me. The three ambassadors straightened, not as if struck, but as if coming to life again. Their chests expanded and color seeped into their skin. Smiling—even the silver fae—they joined the rest of the fae in kneeling. In a column around my body, the darkness separated, forming a sphere of light the fae marveled at.
The island was a murmur of praises. “My Queen. My beautiful queen. You have returned to us.” They spoke in hushed voices as they gazed at me with tears streaming down their cheeks. “The queen has returned.”
I stood watching, numb. They thought Gaia and I had left them. I wished that had been the case.
From where the seven thrones of the kings were placed, King Brock rose to his feet. I had difficulty looking at him because Bash was beside him, his hand also on his chest looking like he could scarcely breathe. At his side, Thorn winked like this was an elaborate reveal he and I had planned together.
I longed to board his chariot and ride away from all this. But I had a bigger plan that than. I stole a glance at Bash. What had he gone through in this lost time? Was he still prepared to make me a fae? Did I still want to become one?
Brock was speaking, “On behalf of the fae, we welcome you back to our realm. We were incomplete without you.” Everything about him grew more vibrant with each word and, at my feet, the river turned from black to a dark blue. The stars above brightened.
Was the land healing? Had it broken without its Mortal Queens?
Eyes never leaving me, Bash stood as if to come to me, but I took a step back.
“Allow me a moment to prepare myself to leave,” I stated. “And I will go with the ambassadors to the mortal realm.”
Bash’s face fell, and I turned quickly away. I pushed back through the doors to steady myself and find my room. The glass doors closed behind me to quiet the fae’s whispering. I passed my paintings on the wall and the image of Dhalia beneath Salvation’s Crossing. She was meant to be the key to my survival. I turned away from that too. I had to follow her footsteps. I had to leave him behind.
I’d just reached the stairwell when the doors opened, and both Talen and Odette rushed in from the courtyard.
“Where have you been?” Odette asked. Her auburn hair was loose around her shoulders and her cheeks were rosy. “Why did you leave us?”
“I didn’t.” She flung herself into my arms.
“You did,” she said, voice breaking. “You were gone so long. We couldn’t find you anywhere.”
I shivered to think of the fae prowling the land for me and Gaia. “Gaia was trying to save herself, and things didn’t go as planned.” The pain of her loss pierced me.
Odette pulled back. “She’s gone?”
I nodded slowly, swallowing the lump in my throat.
Talen stepped closer. “We’ve endured eight dark months without our Mortal Queens, and we are grateful to have even one of you return.” His eyes glistened. “Queen Gaia will be mourned greatly.”
I resisted glancing back to her rooms where her body surely still lay. The room would need to be cleaned before the next queen arrived.
In the short amount of time since I’d first come down the stairs, the cobwebs had started to fall from the throne and disintegrate at its feet. The black spiders scurried off to hide in the shadows as the chandelier grew brighter with each passing moment.
“What happened? Was the realm dying?” I asked them.
Talen bowed his head. “We cannot live without our queens.”
I swallowed again. The river was even more blue than black now, and I understood what I’d previously missed.
“It’s more than needing us,” I realized. “You feed off us.”
