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Monster folk did not like Cari. Every single former monster who came to join us knew she had been controlling them while they had been vicious monsters. They remembered her voice and the commands she had given them. If it weren’t for us, they would have killed her. And if it weren’t for Jasmine’s forgiveness, I might have let them.
Cari stayed with Jasmine, in her tent. She feared going out because any time now, someone could get mad enough to make her pay for all her crimes.
I did not reply to her rude welcome. Instead, I walked over to the other side of Jasmine’s bed and got on my knees to take her hand.
“No change?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Cari replied. “I try to reach her, but she is lost.”
“You should try harder,” I told her. “The only reason you get to stay here is because you have mind magic. If you cannot help in any way, it would make you useless.”
There were other mind magickers among the monster folk, but they all struggled with the same problem. After years of not needing or using their magic, their powers worked oddly. Sometimes, they could do things no other fae could, and other times, they had trouble even using the tiniest amount of magic to do the simplest things. Thus, Cari was still the strongest mind magicker at camp. And mind magic was the only way we could think to reach Jasmine.
“Even if I cared about staying here, you don’t get to decide if I do, Kieran,” she said. “You don’t rule this place.”
She never used my title. She most likely thought it would disturb me, but oddly, I found it freeing to be rid of the responsibility of being the Prince of Dark.
And she was right. I did not rule this place.
Although some of the former monsters were Unseelie, they did not care about that differentiation. They considered themselves monster folk and only thought of Jasmine as their ruler.
I did not resent it. Jasmine had saved them from the darkness that the queen had inflicted upon them. She was smart, courageous, and compassionate.
She would make a wonderful leader to them, once she woke up.
“You’re right, I don’t rule this place,” I said. “But the monster folk hate you. The only reason you are still here is because you might be able to help. I suggest you try harder.”
Cari’s eyes flickered with anger, but she did not say anything. I squeezed Jasmine’s hand, wishing she would react.
She did not.
“You don’t think I try?” Cari said. “I hate seeing her like this.”
I agreed, but I did not want to tell her that.
“She will wake up,” I replied.
Cari remained silent. Anger flared in me. Jasmine would wake up. If Cari didn’t believe that, she had no right to be by her side.
A gentle breeze warned me of the tent door being lifted. I turned around to see who it was and was surprised that it was one of the guards standing outside.
It wasn’t Collin though. It was the other guard, with the tight brows and brown hair. I could not remember his name.
“Someone is here to see you,” he said. “She said she needs to see anyone from your group, but your friends went out to hunt, I think.”
“Who is she?” I asked.
Perhaps it was Fiona.
It wasn’t likely that Fiona had found a way to escape, but hope did not flourish only on probability.
“She didn’t give a name,” the man replied. “But she is waiting by the horses.”
I did not offer Cari a farewell as I left her alone in the tent with the burly soldier and got outside.
The smells of spring welcomed me on the other side.
A week ago, I had feared the coming of spring. Spring meant war. Depriving us of the advantages of cold acclimation and the superior capacity to maneuver on frozen ground, the warming weather would have given the Seelie Queen an opening to strike.
