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The fourth and final brother has short, dark brown hair. His bright green eyes meet my gaze with a calculating, but unreadable look. His face is stoic, and unchanging. I would have sworn he was a statue if it wasn’t for his eyes blinking every so often. He’s huge, built like a bodybuilder and an image of him throwing me on a bed and having his way with me, flits through my mind. Control yourself, Bella... they’re just men. Sexy gods among men, but still men.
But they aren’t just men. I feel an instant and all-consuming attraction to all four of them that leaves me breathless. It’s startling and I can’t shake it. And not just attraction, but a magical calling that is too foreign to me to truly understand.
My head tilts as I look back at the first brother. Now that I’ve studied them, I know there’s no real way they’re brothers. They look nothing alike, but then again, Jacob and I aren't related either; sometimes family is more than blood. He meets my gaze and winks. On him it’s not creepy, it's panty melting. Shaking myself internally, I offer a small smile and bow my head at each of them.
“I would be honored. I think that’s enough travelers for our first expedition. Too many may cause more of a disturbance than would be safe. Thank you, my friends who volunteered.” Keeping up formalities, I give one more nod of my head to the crowd before sitting. Dormouse seems to notice my nerves and nudges his tiny nose on my hand. I smile and give him a few pets before letting out a long breath to calm myself. Being a queen is so unlike anything I’ve ever done and I still feel like an imposter.
Now that the speech is out of the way, food is brought to the table. All through breakfast people try to talk to me, including Jacob who gets more and more annoyed by the second, but my mind is still on the mysterious brothers. They’re a puzzle I’m dying to solve and a hint of a connection is buzzing through me. The only thing I manage to focus on is feeding Dormy, though his incessant squeaking might be why.
After breakfast I go back to my tent to change into more appropriate clothes for travel. I don’t exactly have an extensive wardrobe with me, and my clothes are meant for the human realm, but I make do. After putting an angry Dormy back in his cage where he’ll be safe, I grab a form fitting purple, long sleeve shirt and skinny jeans. If I’m hiking through forests with unknown plants, I want my skin protected. Finally, I pull on a pair of boots and braid my hair, before throwing the long white braid over one shoulder.
Happy with my outfit, I hurry back to meet Jacob and the others. Jacob promised to pack up food and water for travel, while Allwyn went to gather weapons. I find them waiting by the bridge to Spring, along with the others who volunteered.
“My Queen,” the man who spoke for his brothers greets me. “I am Maddox. We’re survivors of our courts and found each other while escaping Faerie. We stuck together and returned together. We’re not blood brothers, which I have a feeling you gathered, but we’re brothers just the same," he explains, answering my unspoken question from earlier. He looks pointedly at the other three, telling them to speak up and introduce themselves.
“I am Bowen, Your Majesty,” the red headed brother says with a sexy smirk. I’m unable to stop the grin from spreading across my face. He seems so full of life that I just know he’s going to make this more bearable.
“I am Gerwyn,” the silver-haired man states quietly. He gives me a shy smile and another bow. I have a feeling an afternoon with Jacob and I will either drive him insane or bring him out of his shell. The quiet ones always seem to be hiding the most.
“Emrick,” the huge brother grunts his response, his voice is deep and gravelly, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. It suits him. If he didn’t have the pointy ears of the fae, I’d question whether or not he was really a human. When you think of fae you think tall, lean, and beautiful. He’s handsome in his own way, and his eyes are captivating, but his intimidating presence distracts you from that. I’m hoping he’s one of those intimidating, big guys that is really just a soft-hearted teddy bear underneath. Because I’m definitely in over my head already.
“Welcome, friends. It’s a pleasure to meet you. This is Allwyn, my personal guard, Prince Jacob, my human brother, and my friends Andras, River, and Gwen.” I point out each person as I introduced them. “Jacob, do you have enough food and water for everyone?” I ask as I gesture to the pile of items in front of him.
“Yes. Does anyone else have a pack?” he asks the group as he bends down in front of his supplies. Gwen, Maddox, Bowen, and I all step forward, bags in hand. “Okay, here’s water, you can each take a few extra for the bagless people. Then some snacks and food to last us two days, just in case.” He finishes distributing the provisions and we pull our packs on.
“Weapons?” I ask Allwyn. He studies me for a moment, clearly contemplating something.
“Have you ever used a dagger?” he asks in his somber voice. Frowning, I shake my head, not wanting to lie. Though the idea of everyone protecting me, doesn’t settle well. Eventually I’ll need someone to train me. “Then you may not have one, we can begin training tomorrow. Do you four have weapons?” he directs at the brothers. They simply nod and hold up their gear. “I’ll take the lead, since the Court of Spring was my home. Could you four split up among the group, with one in the back? Queen Arabella, please stay in the middle next to a guard. You’re too important to lose, please let us protect you, with no argument.” He fixes me with his intense gaze and I hold back an eye roll, but cooperate. I guess we’re back to the condescending Allwyn.
We get into our travel positions, ready to start this adventure. Allwyn leads, followed by Andras and Jacob. Maddox stands behind them with River and Gwen. I’m behind the second row, flanked by Gerwyn and Bowen. Emrick is directly behind me. I try not to think about the surly, walking statue looming behind me.
We wind our way through the entrance of Spring, retracing our steps until we reach the garden. I’m disappointed to find no visual changes… but maybe there are magical changes happening I can’t see?
“I’d like to stop here and see if the land feels different," I call out, veering off without waiting for a response. Allwyn’s micromanaging is starting to wear me thin and we’ve just started. As I step out of line, Gerwyn and Bowen keep their flank around me. I’m not used to being so closely guarded, but they’re graceful and seem to naturally move with me, as if we’re tethered together.
The group surrounds the stone structure as I sit on the raised stone stool like before. Instead of trying to tap my magic reserves, I focus on the magic already in the Court of Spring. Sorrow and pain fill the connection as I connect with the land. The feeling of spring rain and the life growing around me is muted behind the powerful onslaught. But beyond that sorrow, a faint glimmer of hope and healing is trying to shine through. It’s as if I put the healing in motion, but on such a small scale it will take years to happen. I need to find a way to enhance it somehow. Maybe next step needs to be the libraries?
Tears prickle at my eyes the moment I open them, the idea of being able to actually heal Faerie seems so far out of reach. I worked so hard, literally emptying my magic into the ground, and it’s done so little.
“Any improvement?” Gwen asks excitedly, clearly not reading my expression at all. I give her a sad look and shrug in defeat, unable to admit out loud that I’m in way over my head here.
“I can feel a sense of healing, but it’s so small it would take years before it spreads. I put as much magic as I could into it yesterday, but I think we need to find more answers than this. Maybe when we get back I’ll go through the portal and speak with the gatekeeper again. Especially if this journey doesn’t lead to any results," I muse.
Realistically I knew I wasn’t going to just run into Faerie, sprinkle some magic dust, and bring about a new land. But I did expect to make some changes at least.
“Let’s find those answers then," Bowen says as he gestures us forward. We fall back into position and continue forward toward the high stone walls. Bowen gives me a reassuring smile that helps lighten my mood a little.
When we make it to the gates separating the gardens from the rest of Spring, I notice there’s no visible way to get through. No handles or hinges, just small cracks in the stone in the shape of a door.
“How do we open it?” I muse aloud, looking first at the brothers flanking me, then up toward Allwyn. Allwyn simply walks up to the gate and rests his hand in the center, no words or magic, just touch. The gate takes on a bright green glow before swinging open. “I guess that answers that," I huff, annoyed that Allwyn didn’t explain that before he opened the gate. More of his damn secrets. Sometimes it feels like he’s working against me, purposefully keeping me in the dark and gainin
g my trust. But I’m not a fucking tool to be used. As I mumble under my breath, I hear Bowen and Gwen snicker to themselves.
To say the Court of Spring is vast, would be an understatement. From the view outside of the stone walls, I thought Faerie was small, the gates simply blocking a castle. The truth is much different. The castle is so far in the distance we’d be lucky to reach it by nightfall, nestled among the grassy fields.
Now that we’re past the gates I can see that the Court of Spring spans as far as the eye can see. A city rests at the base of the castle, a forest is beyond that, and if it weren’t for the mountains barely peeking over them in the distance, it would seem never ending.
There are a few villages sprinkled throughout the land, and the land itself is full of plant life. When they said Faerie was uninhabitable, I assumed all plants had died out and it was just a barren wasteland. Quite the opposite faces me now, as they seem to have taken over completely. Everywhere you look it’s covered in some form of plant life, from ivy to grass to flowers.
