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“They don’t think it's weird?” I offered.
Malika shook her head quickly.
“No! They think it's awesome. They said you have to have a BIG big heart to love more than one person, and they said you have to have a BIGGER heart for yourself!”
“For myself?” I inquired.
“Mhm! The caretakers said in order for you to love, you gotta love yourself a lot more!” Malika announced and patted her hand on her chest. “If you love the person you are becoming, then it’s easier to love others. Since Willow has lots of boyfriends, that has to mean you love yourself THIS much!”
She outstretched her arms wide to emphasize her point.
“That’s what inspires us because we want to love ourselves too!”
I really wasn’t expecting that, and neither was everyone standing there in wait. Our expressions reflected our shock at Malika’s acquired wisdom.
“Thanks to Willow and Milo, and everyone who helped protect me, I’m going to learn to love myself a lot! That way, when I’m older, I can love a lot of people and make them happy,” she revealed. “If more people were happy, the better the world would be, so I’ll work extra hard, and then I’ll come back and spread the love to everyone!”
“That’s a wonderful goal, Princess Malika.” The words of praise came from Whitney, who was now behind Malika. She swiftly spun around and grinned at the woman in question.
“Whitney! Milo ruined my hair!” she ratted on the dark Fae as she pointed back in our direction.
“Did he now?” Whitney noted and glared at Milo specifically, who began to whistle while hugging me even tiger as if I was his saving grace. “I bet he was trying to be lovey-dovey with Willow.”
“He was!” Malika laughed and reached for Whitney’s hand. “Do we have time to fix it?”
“Sure,” Whitney assured her and glanced at the guards. “Make your way to the lagoon. The preparations for departure are set. We’re awaiting the Queen’s command.”
“Yes, Ma’am!” they replied and began to walk in an orderly fashion down the path that would take us to the chosen lagoon that would take them back to their kingdom in Faerie.
“I’m gonna fix Malika’s hair,” Whitney announced to us. “Meet us at the lagoon for departure.” She said the second part specifically to Milo, who bobbed his head.
“Alright.”
The moment they were out of sight, Milo released me just to spin me around and pull me against him once more.
“Why do you feel like a nervous wreck inside?” he whispered against my lips and proceeded to kiss me like every movement could steal away all this anxiety that was trying to cripple me when I had to be on my A game.
I honestly should have been completely confident in myself with the revelation that Roberto was alive. I’d unexpectedly saved him thanks to the Blood Rose, my magic, and the fact that he was half fae, which should have been more than enough to prove that I had our Goddess on our side as we approached what felt like the finale to all this madness.
We’d taken out the pawns, the knights, and gatekeepers desperate to keep us from taking down the Vile Queen. This felt like the final step needed to reveal her identity and free Aurelia from the false accusations placed upon her.
But would we make it in time?
That was why I was an anxious mess. Amos, Malachite, and Milo worried we’d not be able to bring Malika back and head to Faerie to Amos’s kingdom to do the procedure to reveal the magic fingerprints on the blade Felicia had while delving into my mind and Amos’s to see the identity of the Vile Queen from fifteen years ago.
With Neo’s assistance.
Maybe I was just overwhelmed because anything could happen now and I didn’t want to fuck anything up. We’d been through chaos these last four months, and I wished for it to end here this year.
For the New Year to invite a new era where the Forbidden Pack could truly make a stance against anyone else who dared mess with us.
Taking down the Vile Queen and clearing Aurelia’s name would push the news out faster than we could possibly track, and that was the power we needed to push ourselves to the top. The stance would be a bold one and give us time to finally have a break from all the madness so we could bond together as a pack.
I desperately wanted this to be over, so every step had to count for the better.
To secure my future with my Forbidden Pack.
“Talking to me, my Queen?”Milo groaned against my lips as he clearly stopped himself from trying to smother my lips with his. I personally loved how affectionate Milo could be even though we hadn’t had much time to be with one another.
