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Connor and I crept in from the west, came to a stop behind a copse of trees while Claudia waited in the grass, looking perfectly serene in her gown. Petra and Theo were on the other side of the park, and members of the CPD’s SWAT team surrounded it.
The earth was vibrating harder now, an unnerving sensation since the leaves above us didn’t so much as rustle.
“You can feel that, right?” I whispered.
“Yeah. I don’t like it.”
Magic flashed, and the fairies appeared in their single-file formation over the ley line, Ruadan in front.
He walked forward, confident and calm, and looked over his queen. “You are well.”
“No thanks to you.” Claudia let her gaze dance along the fairies behind him, then back to Ruadan. “You sought to dethrone me. Your betrayal, Ruadan, was keenly felt.”
“I have proven—have I not?—that it was necessary. We have done what was required of us, what was necessary to bring back our kingdom. To place our kingdom here, in this world, where it should be.”
“And you have succeeded... in part,” she said, the phrase perfectly calibrated not to compliment. His face didn’t register it.
“Ouch,” Connor murmured beside me.
“Seriously,” I agreed.
“I did not think this much was possible,” Claudia said. “And so I was wrong. But I believe there are... improvements to be made in the process.”
“And you would show us how to correct them? To fully repair our world?”
“That would depend on what you have to offer.”
“Your kingdom,” he said. “And our fealty.” He took a step forward. “We would rule together, as in old times. As queen and king.”
She closed the distance between them, lifted her hand to his face. He leaned into her, and I saw that same desire in his eyes, recognized it for what it was now. Not for love, but for power.
“There would be power between us,” she said. “Such as the world has never seen. My magic is ancient and wise. Yours is young and vigorous. Together, they would be... unprecedented.”
“She’s going to betray us,” Connor said, but I put a hand on his arm to keep him from running forward.
“I don’t think so.” I thought of Claudia at the reception, the arrogance and confidence, the seeming refusal to acknowledge Ruadan as anything other than her companion. “I don’t think she really wants to share power.”
“Then let us begin,” he said, and offered his hand to her. She placed her hand atop his.
Power began to ripple through the park again, in slow undulations that were different from the frenzied vibrations Ruadan had managed.
“Yes,” Ruadan said as light began to glow between her hands. “Yes.”
But in the gap between the buildings, we could see the grass that had been Lake Shore Drive. And once again, as Claudia began to reverse the magic he’d wrought, well-lit concrete took its place.
Ruadan saw it, too, and stared back at her, looking confused.
“If you’re going to attempt to depose your queen,” Claudia said, her voice darker and rougher, “you should be more careful. The fae have never needed a king before, and they do not need one now.”
Ruadan screamed, and his magic faltered as fairies stared at their powerful queen and the man who would depose her, uncertain what to do.
“No!” Ruadan screamed, holding a hand behind him, pointing at those who looked more than willing to run. “You will stay and we will finish what we have wrought.”
“We will finish it together,” Claudia said, and grabbed Ruadan’s wrist.
Ruadan might not have been as ancient as Claudia, but he was still capable and skilled. The burning fury in his eyes said he knew that he’d been beaten, but he wasn’t going down without a fight.
