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“You saved my life that day,” Malcolm was quiet. “Mama talked about it one time when she thought I was asleep. The attack came out of nowhere. One minute I was flying next to her, using her wings to help stay afloat as I was so young. And the next minute I was plummeting to the ground and nothing I could do would keep me in the air.”
“I only saw you for a moment,” Andy admitted. “I was focused on staying out of sight and following the instructions. I never even saw who attacked you. After I got home, I asked Frederick to be accepted into his coven. Helene and I announced our relationship and moved to Brandlevine that very same day.”
“That’s the path my mother saw,” Claire said softly. “She wrote that, in her letter, that the path she saw most clearly was the one that led to me standing in that room reading her letter.”
“There’s so many times where it almost never came to be,” Holly breathed. And she was right. A different decision at any point in the last twenty five years and none of this would be happening. She wouldn’t be standing in this room, surrounded by friends she would die for and a Triad that completed her. All because of a woman’s visions.
“What I don’t understand,” Bethany said, breaking the serious moment, “Is why would the Academy break its neutrality to help us this much?”
“The Academy’s neutrality is actually a bit of a myth,” Helene explained. “The Academy isn’t so much neutral as it is dedicated to the Realm. That’s the real intention of the people who built it. They wanted to build a school that was dedicated to the Realm and serving the next generations of it. Most people have mistaken that as neutrality as the Academy doesn’t get involved in inter-territory disputes. But it will absolutely get involved if it means what is best for the Realm.”
“That’s why it named Claire as a Champion of the Realm,” Cody said. “She’s what is best for the Realm.”
Claire bit her lip. “No pressure, right?” she joked lamely. Sometimes it felt like the pressure threatened to break her beneath the weight when she actually thought about all of the responsibility that rested on her shoulders. Queen of the Elves, Champion of the Realm…
The group let out tense chuckles but gratefully dropped the subject.
“So where do we go from here?” Bethany asked.
“To the Fae lands,” Claire said. “That’s what my mother wrote in the letter. That my father has something for me in the Fae lands.”
“We’re coming with you,” Holly decided, holding up her hand when Claire went to protest. “You won’t leave us behind again. We need to be with you, to face whatever is ahead. I feel it.”
Desmond started listing reasons why that would be a bad idea but Claire just locked eyes with Holly. She placed a hand on Desmond’s arm and he stopped talking. “They’re coming,” Claire said simply. If Holly was feeling that they needed to be with them then Claire wouldn’t stop them. But she would do everything in her power to protect them.
28
The magic of the portal washed over Claire as she stepped from the Academy’s administrative building into the stone walls of the Dragon Mountains. Everett and Malcolm had gone first with Desmond following behind her friends. Even though there were different ways to get to the Fae lands, the consensus had been to go back and use Roderick’s secret portal to get to another hidden portal that the Fae and Dragons used often before the war. The portal sat on the edge of the shared boundary lines and would minimize travel time.
Andy and Helene had chosen to stay behind and start recruiting the contacts they knew over to their side. When they had talked about that over dinner, Claire realized suddenly that she had a ‘side.’ That it was going to come down to the Council and whoever they could convince to stand with them. Andy had duplicated the journal that Claire had found and had kept the original to show as proof. The other copy was tucked back into Claire’s satchel next to her mother’s letter.
Puck rubbed his cheek against hers and Claire realized she had stopped in the middle of the portal. She quickly stepped aside as Holly came through behind her. Footsteps down the hallway announced the arrival of Roderick and Mara.
Roderick arched an eyebrow at the group, looking to Malcolm.
“They are all coming with us to the Fae,” Malcolm said.
Roderick looked like he wanted to protest as the rest of Claire’s friends filled the tunnel but Malcolm shook his head at him, his expression firm.
“At least let me send a few warriors with you,” Roderick said, his gold eyes assessing the group and the grim expressions on most of their faces.
Holly stepped up. “Thank you for the offer, Clan Leader, but too many more people, especially additional warriors, could be seen as an aggressive move. It needs to be this group here.”
Roderick didn’t look happy but nodded his head. Mara looped her arm through his and patted his hand.
“Well you aren’t going tonight,” Mara said. “You can leave in the morning. Tonight, you will rest and eat.” She looked at Roderick. “It’s probably best if they don’t eat in the Great Hall with us. The fewer eyes that see them the less of a chance the Council hears of it.”
Roderick nodded. “We’ll have food sent up to your rooms.”
“Come with me,” Mara said. “I’ll get you settled in.”
Mara led them to an empty family suite not far from the secret portal. They didn’t run into anyone on their way and Claire’s chest eased a bit as they entered the room. It was a massive living room with three tunnels branching off with multiple doors down each tunnel.
“I need to talk to my parents,” Malcolm murmured into Claire’s ear.
She nodded. He probably wanted to fill them in on everything they learned about Andy. “I’ll be here,” she murmured back, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.
“You better be, little treasure. I’ll hunt you down if you aren’t.”
