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I sighed deeply and hung my head. Even the domain needed something from me. I wanted to give, but it was starting to feel like I gave and gave with no hope of refilling myself. Even now, as I tried to pour magic into the domain so that it could repair itself, I had little to offer. This required a massive amount of arcana.
Unfortunately, I’d already dedicated that to the seed I’d planted in Beryl’s domain.
“What’s wrong?” Ostara asked.
I cracked open one eye to glare at the people watching me from the sidelines. Shame darkened my cheeks. There were so many eyes watching me fail to save our little home. They would see me and know that I couldn’t save them any more than my fae parents could.
I needed Rhoan. Why couldn’t he come here with me? Why did we have to stay separated any longer? Wasn’t what we’d been through enough? We already had enough story behind us to tell a fantastic tale. We didn’t need any more.
A pair of hands covered mine. At first, my heart soared. I thought Rhoan had made it through and come to my aid. That wasn’t who knelt before me, though. I should have known from her soft and dainty hands.
“Ostara?” Taken aback, I stared questioningly at the woman kneeling before me.
She offered a soft smile before I felt warmth pool on the backs of my hands. Her arcana greeted mine with exuberant enthusiasm. At first, I marveled at how bright her arcana felt. Then it touched the doors still locked in the back of my mind, and I felt the two magics greet each other like old friends.
It birthed a caution in me that I didn’t want right now. Ostara came to help me. I shouldn’t have felt so much hatred towards her.
“I see,” Ostara said. She pressed her lips into a thin line and cast her gaze towards the ground beneath us. “An apology is in order. You have no trust in me, and I feel as though that is truly deserved. I have no regrets for what I’ve done, as I am a selfish creature. However, I do wish I could have done better by you, not for your mother’s memory but for your own happiness.”
My breath hitched. The empty well of arcana inside me started to fill again. All it’d taken was a display of kindness. Already, tears burned my eyes. I ducked my head and pressed my crown to Ostara’s.
Others came to kneel with us. They lent their arcana to mine until we could replenish the domain’s lost power. Eyes still closed, I heard the scrape of stone as the castle pulled itself back together.
“Can I have an espresso machine?” I whispered under my breath.
The domain chuckled.
Sure, it wasn’t really top priority, and it wasn’t going to help us defeat Beryl, but it would make this place feel more like home. I missed my plants and my kitchen. I missed the café and the range of flavored syrups we kept there.
The domain whispered along my mind. It showed me all the things that it added to ease my distant longing. The kitchen had been modified so that it was now a mix of old stone hearths and modern appliances, including an espresso machine and a rack of syrups. The front foyer, where the tree holding the castle together stood, now had tall stained glass windows depicting ancient herbs, including nightsmane.
The domain brought my attention to my tower bedroom and the laboratory above it. A veil of hanging flowers now circled both rooms. In the bedroom was the biggest King size bed I’d ever laid eyes upon. It was laden with modern blankets and plushies that I’d left back home.
I laughed to myself. It wasn’t exactly a room fit to share with a man, but I doubted Rhoan would care too much if I moved the plushies to a display corner…most of the time. I had the deep urge to hug something and fall into a hundred-year nap right about now.
Instead, I stood and brushed myself off. Turning to Tal and Ostara, I asked, rather sheepishly, “Would either of you mind if I…”
Yes, I wanted to run away again. I felt a twinge of guilt for being so selfish, but both of them nodded. Ostara nodded with enthusiasm while Tal bore more of adon’t ask, don’t tellexpression. He knew where I wanted to go, and he’d somehow assumed that it was to get laid.
“I’m going to bring him back here one way or another,” I declared.
Tal’s lips twisted to the side. He looked off towards the horizon, towards the forest I’d stolen from Faust not too long ago. Faust had tried to trap me in a nightmare, but I had a way with dreams. They allowed me to steal bits and pieces of domains from other fae, the same way I’d taken back the Seelie castle.
My jaw dropped as I picked up what Tal was trying to put down. “Are you suggesting that I steal Rhoan’s new domain?”
Tal shrugged. “It is one way of ensuring that he can stand beside us in a fight. Beryl has been unusually quiet as of late.”
“You call kidnapping Pack membersquiet? She nearly started a war in Lakesedge just to keep me distracted.”
“She still has you distracted,” Ostara said as she touched my arm.
Tal nodded in agreement. “So long as we are trying to figure out how to free your lover, we’re sitting ducks. We have no plan, no defenses, nothing.”
I lifted my chin imperiously. “You make it sound like I should go to her now and end this once and for all.”
Tal threw up his hands in frustration. I knew that’s not what he wanted, but I was feeling argumentative. This wasn’t what I wanted. If they kept telling me that my decisions were wrong, then I was going to implode.
Ostara squeezed my hand. “A quick solution will help us resolve the larger tasks at hand. That way we have more time after to focus on freeing him from Faust’s prison.”
