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“It’s Chels.”
He stiffened as if I had insulted everything he stood for. His fingers drew through his black hair, causing it to tangle in a distracting way. “I recognize this is all foreign to you. But I hope someday you shall understand who you truly are.”
I held in a bitter laugh. What did Nellie and Mina think happened to me? Did they care I was gone? Oh god, my family. I was supposed to take my twelve-year-old sister swimming this morning. What had Nellie and Mina told them? My parents knew about faeries, but what could they do now that Dagda had brought me through the portal? Nothing.
“You don’t know anything about me.”
His shoulders fell and his chair screeched across the floor as he rose to his feet. “I invited you here to explain that as word about your arrival spreads, the people will expect to hear from their queen. That means the ceremony I’d hoped to postpone until you were more… ready… must be moved up. To tomorrow. I shall give Roisin the necessary information.”
He stalked away from me toward the double doors and yanked them open. “Finish your meal. Then I suggest you take the rest of the day to prepare.”
Chapter 9
Thealcovebehindthethrone room, where I waited, had a mirror, a cushioned bench, and a small table with chairs. The door between the two rooms was cracked, revealing the space beyond filled with people. Faeries, I reminded myself. Most of them were probably hundreds of years older than me. A small hum of voices sounded through the ajar door, watched over by a palace guard. Dagda, I’d been told, already sat on his throne. Keelin no doubt lingered somewhere nearby.
Roisin bustled around me, fussing over my hair, my clothes. I shifted within the folds of my gown, eliciting a soft rustle. It was exquisite. Every piece of Morrigan’s wardrobe that I’d worn over my past two days, since I came to the Otherworld, was exquisite.
Two days. That meant it would be Wednesday back home. Nellie and I had movie nights on Wednesdays. Our taste was horribly different. She usually chose some sort of spy or intrigue movie, and I tended to choose a time period or romance. Movie night was magic at our house. A night when walls came down, and we put aside grudges for an evening of fun and relaxation. Sometimes Mina even joined us.
I glanced at Roisin. As queen, was I allowed to be close to people in that way?
“Tell me why I am doing this again?” I asked Roisin as she rearranged my pinned hair around the crown she had settled on my head.
“Because I threatened to inform the king how you awoke screaming the other night if you declined.”
I wasn’t sure why it mattered so much that she didn’t tell Dagda. But the idea of how he would look at me, after he found out how damaged I was, had made me cave under Roisin’s threat. Not to mention, my sisters living inside me were going to destroy his kingdom. Destroy everything.
And yet, I was seriously starting to rethink my generosity.
It was his fault I was here. Not that I wouldn’t have eventually agreed to come to the Otherworld, anyway. It was the only way to save my own life.
“There are secrets I could tell against you too,” I muttered to Roisin.
Her hands glided over my gown, brushing out the folds of silken taffeta. The sleeves of the dress came off my shoulders and flowed around my upper arms, hiding the disc, but allowing the bottom of my faerie guardian to peek through.
“It would be the height of insult if you refused to speak to your subjects,” she said, “and considering how the past Morrigan left without a word, you do not want them to believe that you do not care for them. That you abandoned them.”
Something twinged in my chest and I stared at the door along the far wall, the one that led into the hall and to my room. “Perhaps theyshouldbelieve that.”
She paused, giving me a heated look. “If you refuse to do it for yourself, then at least do it for the king.”
I arched an eyebrow. “How would this help him?”
Her gaze traveled to where the guard stood, a sheepish look crossing her face. “Just know that any expression of confidence from you today can only help him in strengthening his own rule.”
I stared into Roisin’s defiant eyes. She’d hate me in three weeks. They’d all hate me. Maybe helping Dagda reinforce his rule was one small thing I could do to help bolster the kingdom before—before I failed miserably and my sisters ravaged the Otherworld.
Roisin adjusted my hair once more. “You are ready, your majesty.”
The ceremony wasn’t so much a solemn affair as a giant meet and greet. First, I’d present myself to the court, then endure relentless mingling and small talk. Then we’d move out of the throne room and over to the balcony where the people gathered in the courtyard below to hear the speech Dagda had so kindly decided I should give.
I shut my eyes. It was too much, too soon. “What if…” I took a breath, my heart pounding faster. “What if I get overwhelmed? What if they take over? What if I can’t…”
Roisin stepped into my line of vision. “Look at me.” I locked onto her fierce gaze. “You are Queen Morrigan of the faeries. That is your court out there, and in a moment, they will bow before you. Act like a queen and they will treat you like the queen. And if that fails, think about horse shit.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Trust me, if you feel overwhelmed, that is the thing to do.” Roisin shrugged. “It is hard to feel inferior to anyone while picturing them covered in the waste of a horse’s back end.”
