by Rinna Ford
“Will you be okay?” she asked.
“I think so,” I told her as I turned to face her. “I’ll have my aunt and my grandfather to help me with my magic. Plus I’m hoping I’ll get to meet my father who is the king there.” Her eyebrows raised up again.
“Your dad is the king a magical world? So you’re like, a fairy princess?”
Her smile started small, then got bigger and bigger. Then she started laughing like she just got the best joke ever. I joined in and we were both laughing hysterically.
“Apparently. That’s why I can do things like control the weather with my emotions,” I told while still laughing. “Mom thinks I’ll be even more powerful than he is.”
We both calmed down as she pulled me into a hug. Then she pulled away suddenly as if she had a thought.
“Wait, didn’t you say your dad abused your mom?” I huffed out a short laugh because I knew Tessa would love this story. I pulled her back toward the couch and fill her in on my mom’s love triangle.
“My mom is married to Stellan, the king’s brother. Stellan was abusive in more ways than you could imagine, and my mom had a brief affair with Stellan’s brother, Aidric, the King of Aurelia. They conceived me. My mom was afraid of her husband finding out so she faked her death and gave birth to me at her sister’s cottage. Once I was born, they bound my magic and Mom brought me to Earth.”
Tessa’s jaw dropped. “Wow,” she said. “That’s some story.”
“I know!” I said. Tessa looked at me like she realized something, then turned toward the window. The sun was shining again with not a cloud in sight, and I wasn’t crying anymore.
“This is all too much,” she said with a chuckle.
“Believe me, I know.” She reached over and gave me another hug.
“When are you leaving?” she asked softly.
“Wednesday afternoon.”
“That’s soon.”
“It is,” I sighed. “But I’m in danger the longer I’m here on Earth. And I need to find Brogan. He still doesn’t know about the baby.”
She pulled back so she could look at me, questions in her eyes. “How are you going to find Brogan? I thought he disappeared.”
I smiled again.
“Believe it or not, it turns out he’s Aurelian too. He has to be for my magic to be all messed up. When two Aurelians conceive a baby together, the mother becomes more in tune with nature, like making plants grow with her touch and animals flocking to her. Plus, my mom sensed him, and that’s why she tried to keep him away from me.”
“Huh.” She looked down at the floor. “It’s almost too much to believe. But I do believe you, Alya. I just hate it.”
“Me too.”
Mom and I stayed the night in my apartment. We ordered pizza for dinner and finished packing. Mom gave Tessa money for the remainder of my rent and told her to do whatever she wanted with my furniture. Tessa didn’t want to take my mom’s money, but she really didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t afford the apartment on her own.
The next morning, Tessa skipped her first class to help us pack up the jeep. Saying goodbye to my best friend was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. Especially knowing that I’d probably never see her again. We hugged for a long time, before she pried herself away from me and gently pushed me into the jeep. It was raining again, and it would rain all the way back to Savannah. In fact it was still raining on Wednesday when we were ready to open the portal to Aurelia. We sold my jeep the day before, all of our boxes were moved into the storage unit, and a couple of guys with a giant truck came and got all of the furniture, all while the rain steadily poured. There was nothing left for us to do, but go.
We walked into the flower garden in the backyard, each of us with only a backpack filled with things we didn’t want to leave behind. Mom took my right hand in her left, then held her right palm parallel to the ground. She closed her eyes. After a few seconds, something that looked like a long, oval-shaped mirror appeared in front of her hand. She opened her eyes, then glanced at me. She took a deep breath in and out and gave me a weak smile.
“Are you ready to go home, daughter?” she asked me.
I put my left hand over my little baby bump and nodded, unable to speak. She walked through the portal, pulling me behind her into nothingness.
Epilogue
Brogan
“What are you doing, brother?” I heard from the open back door. I turned around in the empty living room to see my brother, Blas standing in the doorway by the kitchen.
I stayed away from her for months, telling myself it was for the best. But then this afternoon, I felt an urge like none other. I had to see her, even if it was from a distance. It was as if she was calling to me.
I couldn’t use the phone I had on Earth to check on her because first of all, it didn’t work in Aurelia. Different realms and all. And second, Blas smashed the phone with a hammer because he thought it was “unhealthy” for me to keep looking at the pictures I had saved in it, and was afraid that I would try to use it one day to contact her. When I found out what he did, I effectively smashed his face in with my fists.
I mourned the loss of her all over again after that.
When I felt the pull this morning, I made a portal in my office that opened into a clearing behind her mother’s small home. I watched the house for several minutes before approaching, only to look through a window and see that the house was completely empty. I went to the back door and turned the knob. It was locked, but human locks were easy to get through. I walked from room to room, not seeing even a speck of dust. How was this possible?
My brother walked closer to me and looked around the room. “Rather small, isn’t it?” he asked, looking a little put out.
“Yes, but it was meant to be that way. They didn’t need a lot of space for just two people.”
“What are you doing here Brogan?” he asked again with a serious expression.
“I just needed to see her.”
He and our sister Bria had been my constant companions since I came home months ago. They had both been watching me since then to make sure I didn’t do something foolish, like come back to Earth. I thought I had gotten by them, but apparently Blas still had his eye on me.
“It looks like she isn’t here,” he stated. “We should go. Father and Mother are expecting us for dinner.” Always duty with my brother, even when he couldn’t stand to be around our parents. That’s why he made a better politician than me. I had to be dragged to do anything with them.
I looked around one more time, before nodding. I should not have come. She was better off without me. She could live her normal, human life and be happy. Being with me would only bring her death before her time.
I should not have come.
With that thought I walked toward the back door, locking it behind us. Blas was already in the backyard looking at the flower garden with a curious expression.
“I have only ever seen gardens like this back home,” he said.
I looked around. He was right. The flowers were big and colorful, growing as tall as my brother and myself. Alya and her mother both had a love for plants, so it made sense that they would have a beautiful garden. But this was unusual for humans to be able to do. I stood and looked around some more and leaned down to touch the bloom of white dahlia.
“Let’s go, Brogan.” I looked up. He had already opened a portal. He stepped through as I stood upright. I let go of the flower that reminded me so much of my beautiful Alya and followed my brother back home.
Acknowledgments
First, I’d like to thank my biggest supporters, my husband, my children, and my mom. They cheered me on from the beginning, and have been wonderful about the long days and late nights that go with being an Indie author. I wouldn’t have had the motivation to write this if it weren’t for them.
Next, I’d like to thank my Beta readers, Shannon, Marisa, Kayla, Nickie, and Teresa. Thank you for offering to help when you had no idea who I was, o
r if my book would be something worth reading. Your feedback definitely made this book better.
Thank you to my friends, the ones that have been there for years and the ones I’ve just met in the author/reader community. Jenée Robinson, Ellabee Andrews, Kel Carpenter, Shannon Lunham, and Madison Ryan. A big thank you for always being there to answer questions and offering advice. I really would have been lost without your help. Also, thank you to Francesca Vance for being patient with me while we worked on the cover design.
About the Author
Rinna Ford is a Southern girl that lives in the Midwest USA. She lives with her amazingly sexy husband, two adorable daughters, lazy dog, and skittish cat. She loves music, sushi, Game of Thrones, and getting packages in the mail (much to her husband’s dismay). Rinna Ford is the the pen name the author uses to write the stories that float around in her head. Queen of the Fireflies is her debut novel.
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