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“Seems like it wasn’t only my papa who wanted you dead,” Holly said, staring at her mama’s unmoving form. She wasn’t sure exactly what she had done to her mama—she just pleaded with her magic to do something, and it had. As she watched, she saw her mama’s chest rise and fall slightly.
“Glad you don’t want me dead,” Claire joked weakly as their mates reached them. Strong arms yanked Claire out of Holly’s grasp before Kallan and Kieran had her on her feet, Synora’s hands running over her body, trying to find the injury.
Both Desmond and Kallan hissed when they got a glimpse of the blade in her mama’s hand.
“What is it?” Holly asked, her body trembling with delayed shock. Kieran tugged her closer, supporting her weight as Luca attempted to sandwich her with his dragon’s head from the other side.
“A death blade,” Desmond hissed. “Unnatural magic.”
“It’s supposed to kill a person’s soul as well as their body,” Kallan chimed in, stepping in front of Holly as Kieran and Everett pulled Holly and Claire backward at their words.
Holly caught Claire’s gaze, and they rolled their eyes simultaneously before smiling. Overprotective mates. It wasn’t like they were going to go near it.
Desmond caught their rolled eyes and wagged his finger at them. “We’re allowed to be overprotective. It would be helpful if you both stopped trying to die. I’m too young to have gray hair!” He threw his hands up in the air in his typical dramatic fashion.
Holly let out a watery chuckle and turned her face into Kieran’s chest. “Is it over? Please tell me it’s over.”
“It’s never over.” Kieran stroked her hair. “But this part? It’s over.”
* * *
“Well, that was fun,”Bethany said, looking out at the clean-up happening on the battlefield. They had been banned from helping, so the three of them sat on one of the nearby boulders. “Let’s not do that again.”
“Agreed,” Claire said.
“I’ll second that,” Holly said from Claire’s other side.
Luca and Malcolm rested in their dragon forms behind the women. It was the only way the others would leave them to help clean up and transfer the prisoners. Especially after that nasty death knife was discovered.
Once her mama had regained consciousness, the hysterics were done. She just made one request—to be executed with her husband.
Holly’s heart had dropped at those words. Her mama had known exactly what her papa had been doing, and worse, was a willing participant in it. She hadn’t even looked at Holly as the others led her away, and when Holly had retreated to the rocks, Bethany and Claire had followed.
“So, what happens now?” Claire asked, swinging her legs in front of her.
“Everyone’s calling you queen,” Bethany said bluntly. “Are you going to take the crown?”
“I’m already a queen,” Claire said, referencing her reign of the Elves and Fae.
“They’re calling you Queen of the Realm,” Holly said gently.
“Why would people want a blind queen?” Claire said softly, sounding uncharacteristically insecure. “What if I’m not very good at it? I’ve barely been Queen of the Elves and Fae for a few weeks, and I’ve already led them into two battles.”
“But won the war,” Bethany said plainly. “And I think the Realm could use a queen like you.”
“Like me?” Claire’s voice had a tinge of surprise in it, although it sounded like some of her confidence was returning. Claire had grown so much in the last year that it was easy to forget just how new this was to her. But Holly was always happy to remind her, because that’s what friends did. They held you up when you were down or insecure.
“Yes.” Holly laid her head on Claire’s shoulder. “A kind, good queen, who’s fair and loves her people and worries she won’t be enough. That’s exactly the type of queen we need in a Realm that’s been too focused on power for too long.”
“You could be queen?” Claire directed at Holly. Holly smiled, thinking of how her papa had made that same offer to her earlier.
“No,” Holly said. “That’s not my role. I’ll be your Ambassador, your adviser, and more importantly, your friend.”
“Everything that she said.” Bethany waved her hand. “I’m not good at the flowery language stuff, but it has to be you, Claire. We’ll help. We get to rebuild how we want to. How it should be.”
“A Realm where kindness and empathy are more valued than power and purity,” Holly said absentmindedly as the sun started to disappear in the horizon. “It’ll be a lot of work. We have a lot of trust to rebuild.”
“But we can do it.” Claire sounded surer of herself. “We’ll make sure every voice is heard. No more ‘us against them.’ Just the Unitam Realm.”
“Sounds perfect. Let’s do it!” Bethany clapped her hands, and they all laughed.
“Let’s do it. I guess I’ll be queen,” Claire said.
“Long live the Queen,” Holly said softly.
“Long live the Realm,” Claire corrected.
