by Olivia Hart
There was no one who could say anything more than Embrys had. He was right. Amra had been love, and I knew now why her light had never faded while she’d been here. That was the difference between the two realms. The Dark Realm valued strength, and the Court of Light was supposed to value love.
How had we forgotten something that simple? And how had the Realm of Light strayed so far?
Chapter 29
Seraphina
Pain still tore through me. That man was everywhere. Out of the corner of my eye, he was always there, but when I turned, he was gone. I couldn’t look into the mirror anymore. The Sister would be waiting. She would reach through and tear into me without ever setting foot in this world.
Whispers of his voice came to me. Remember me, Sera. Remember your daughter.
Over and over, that voice begged me. I didn’t know who he was. I had no daughter. It was madness. Lightning flew from my body striking a table and setting it ablaze.
I clutched at the remnants of the pendant that had given me power. It was destroyed. The power from the dead would no longer feed me, but I had become stronger than anyone in the history of the Fae.
Stronger than Aurora had ever been. Stronger than the Dark Queen. Maybe even stronger than dragons. One week of the dead’s power had flowed into me. Nothing could stop me now. Nothing.
My door opened, and I stared at the soldier. “Why didn’t you knock?” I snarled.
“I did, Lady. Four times. I was sent here to tell you that the Dark Queen has called her troops to her. She is declaring war on you. Not the Realm of Light. Just you. And she says that anyone who wishes sanctuary is welcome in the Dark Realm.”
Another strike of lightning set the only remaining table on fire. “Give the new coward steward a message. Send a changeling to her. Give it the other obsidian dagger and tell it to assassinate her.”
The soldier looked at the fire, and then back at me. “Yes, Lady.” He quickly turned and left the room as smoke rose into the air. I glanced at the burning furniture, and I felt a bit of concern for just a moment. I was in a stone room, and there was nothing near the furniture. There was no danger.
I began pacing again and glanced down at my dress. It was covered in blood. My blood. When had that happened?
Then I remembered. It had been the night that the Dark Queen had attacked. How long ago had that been? Three days? Four? It didn’t matter.
I needed to find a way to make the voices go away. I closed my eyes, and dark brown eyes filled my mind. More pain filled my body, starting in my chest and radiating throughout. Tears began to fall as something inside me broke just a little more.
Why was my power not healing the wound? Why couldn’t I keep from feeling this pain?
And why did it beg me to remember someone that I’d never met?
Chapter 30
Rose
Kral and I stood to the side with our hands over our ears. My unexpected guest stood beside me, her package in her hand. Tara stepped up to the massive bronze megaphone that Kral had commissioned and placed on the parade ground. Three hundred soldiers stood in front of her on the cobblestones.
Tara took a deep breath and yelled, “Jump,” into the megaphone. I felt a compulsion to jump, but I wasn’t forced to move. I looked at Kral who shook his head.
Two of the soldiers had jumped, but the rest of them had simply stood there. “It had been a long shot,” I said. “Worth trying, but sometimes things just don’t work out.”
Tara approached us and said, “There’s too many that heard. My power wasn’t concentrated enough. I don’t know what you expected, though. Even if it had worked, what would I command them to do?”
I chewed my lip. She was right. I should have talked to her before getting this commissioned. “I thought we could figure something out. Maybe we could use them if we started losing. More tools are almost always better, right?”
“Not if they’re a waste,” she said. “Anyway, it’s not going to work. I’m older than most of the other sirens that have come out of hiding, so they won’t be able to do any better.”
I turned to our guest who grinned. “Nice to see you again, Tara. Been a hot minute.”
“Astriel, how in the hell did anyone convince you to come back to the Dark Realm?”
“Bastian said he needed me to run an errand for him, and you know I can’t stop myself from helping that man.”
Astriel turned to me and handed me the small package which I quickly unwrapped. These were perfect.
“Kral, these are sunglasses. Do you think you can recreate something similar?”
He held the pair of LightBans that I gave him. They were in the aviator style, built of aluminum with the LightBan logo etched onto the side.
He put them on, and though they were much too small for his head, the frames bent to fit him.
“It’s so dark,” he said in wonder. “We could do this with smokey quartz. It would take time though.”
“Do you have enough time?” I asked.
“Yes, I think so. We have twelve days until we leave, and there are hundreds of elves waiting. Yes, I think that we will be able to get them made in time.” He took the sunglasses off and awkwardly closed them.
“This is a genius idea, Lady. You will be known as the Queen of Invention.”
I chuckled, and Astriel grinned. She said, “You mean the Queen of Patent Infringement.”
“I like the sound of that,” I said to Astriel, and Tara and Kral looked at us with confused expressions.
Turning back to Kral, I said, “Get everyone started on those. Remember that the glasses need to block the light from the Court of Light’s people and environment. If you need to test it, get with Cara. She should be able to replicate it.”
Kral bowed and turned to leave. My GSS followed behind Astriel, Tara, and me. Their eyes watched everywhere and everything, so I was able to focus on my two friends.
“Are you two going to come with us to the Court of Light?” I asked.
Both of them shook their heads. “We’re no use to you there. We’ll only be mouths to feed, and I doubt that you would like it if we drained any of your troops.”
I nodded. “That’s true.”
“I’m moving back to the Dark Realm, though,” Astriel said. “It’d be nice to be around more people like me. I’m tired of hiding, and if you’re no longer murdering succubi on sight, I’ll stick around.”
“Nope. No one is murdered on sight just because of what they are. Not anymore. We’re going to let the Dark Realm be what it was meant to be. A place where hunters can hunt, and the prey must protect themselves. I say that from the point of view of the prey.”
Tara raised her eyebrow at that. “How can you consider yourself prey? You’re the strongest fairy in the Dark Realm.”
“I’m just as susceptible to a siren as the next fairy. An incubus could cause all kinds of havoc in my dreams. But sirens and vampires and incubi are all valuable. I would hope that you wouldn’t kill your prey if that wasn’t necessary. Especially if you weren’t worried about being hunted down afterward.”
“No, I probably wouldn’t kill anyone if I didn’t have to,” Tara said. “Maybe that really is the best way to do things.”
“It worked for me in the Mortal Realm,” Astriel said. “I never killed my prey, and they kept coming back for more.”
Tara frowned. “It seems like that’s the obvious answer now that you say it. Why isn’t that the way that it’s always been?”
“It’s because the predators learned it was safer for themselves if they killed their prey. Now, we’re going to put pressure on the prey to protect themselves as best they can and for the predators to leave them alive. There won’t be any retribution from the Courts.”
“It will help everyone to become stronger, and that’s what the Dark Realm rewards.”
Astriel nodded, and Tara seemed to soften a little as a smile crossed her face. It was strange to see Sebastian’s oldest friend even remotely soft. Ev
ery ounce of compassion had been squeezed out of her in the last thousand years of struggle that she’d gone through. It was hard for a siren to survive that long.
“Maybe I’ll stick around in the Dark Court if that’s the way things are going to be now.”
“I’m sure that Sebastian will be happy to hear that. He’s mentioned that he wished that he could see you more often.”
Tara smiled just a little wider. “It would be nice to have friends again. The world gets pretty cold when you can’t let anyone in.”
I smiled back. “There are friends for you here, Tara. I’m sure that Embrys would love to cuddle up with you.”
That wiped the smile off her face. “I may be willing to spend some time in the Dark Court, but the last thing I want is to spend any time with something that could snuff me out with just a thought.”
“I think he’ll grow on you, but I know what you mean. He was terrifying for a long time. When I could understand him, it was a lot better, but even now, he scares me sometimes when he gets intense.”
I sighed as we approached the Dark Tower. “This is my stop. I need to see to the supply chain plans, and then I need to get with the trolls to see if they’re going to come with us to the battle.”
“Thank you for inviting me, Rose,” Astriel said.
“And me,” Tara said in agreement. “And please let Bastian know that I may have been wrong about his decision to be a love-sick puppy.”
I grinned at her. “Will do.” My wings lifted me into the air, and they waved.
Chapter 31
Rose
Tomorrow, we were going to march to the Court of Light. Seraphina had pulled her troops into the walls to prepare to defend. She knew we wouldn’t burn the cities in an effort to draw her out. Even if we were the kind of monsters who would kill the innocent to force her out of her defenses, we all knew that she’d let them die. It would do no good.
This would all come down to a single battle, and that battle would decide the fate of the world. If we won, we would set things right. I would kill Seraphina, and I would stop the battle.
If she won, then she would kill me, and the world would die. There was no one to bond to either Throne, and she would never give them up even to save the world. There were no more second chances. Either she died or I died. Mother against daughter. Dark against Light.
I ran my hand over my stomach and couldn’t help but worry for the child that was slowly growing inside me. It wasn’t just me that Seraphina would kill, but also the baby I bore. I couldn’t turn away from the fight, though. If the Dark Realm’s army failed, and it certainly would without me, then there would be no place for me to hide in any world.
She would find me, and there would be no army to help me fight her.
“Are you ready for your last day of Court for a while?” Sebastian asked.
I shrugged. I was in no mood to worry about such minor disputes as would be brought to my judgment. That didn’t change my duty. It was the appointed day, and everything was prepared for tomorrow.
“Fine. I’ll get dressed,” I said as I pushed the sheet off me.
“Please don’t wear a dress,” he said, and I gave him an odd look.
“You always want me to dress up for Court. What’s different about today?”
He gave me a sly grin, but he didn’t say anything. Something was up, but I didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t my birthday. What could it be that had him acting oddly?
“Fine. I’ll wear my traveling clothes.” I wanted to figure out what it was that he had planned, but it could have been anything. I just needed to go along with it.
When I’d gotten my clothes on and brushed my hair, Sebastian took my hand, and we walked down the hall. Embrys walked out of Amra’s old room and began to follow us. He’d taken up residence there, and the door stayed open so that he could come and go as he pleased.
He didn’t say anything, but his tail seemed to twitch oddly. I didn’t know what that meant. When we were outside the Throne Room, I realized that something was definitely going on because no one was standing outside the doors. There was normally a long line already formed when we arrived on Court days. Today, only the GSS stood outside the door, and most of them had grins on their faces.
“What’s going on?” I asked in a serious whisper.
Sebastian gave me that same grin. “You’ll find out in just a moment.”
I snarled, but when Sebastian went to open the door, I followed him. The GSS filled in behind me, going to their positions around the room. Suddenly, the other door opened, and a stream of people poured into the Throne Room carrying all manners of things.
Led by Tara and Astriel, two teams carried tables already covered in decorations and cakes. On the first table, there was a white seven-tiered cake that looked far too similar to a wedding cake.
When I saw the cake on the second table, I grinned at Sebastian, but then I was even more confused. The cake was made of diapers. They were throwing me a freaking baby shower.
Nothing like the disposable diaper cakes from back home, these were cloth diapers that had been intricately designed. Tara and Astriel were laughing and giggling as they almost ran to me.
“Welcome to your baby shower, Rose,” Astriel said. “Bet you weren’t expecting one.”
I grinned back at her, but then I looked at Sebastian. “Do you even know what a baby shower is?”
“Of course, I do,” he said confidently. He hesitated for a moment and then cracked a smile before saying, “Well, I do now. Astriel told me all about them yesterday. Just so you know, I’m not going anywhere even though husbands don’t go to them.”
“I wouldn’t dream of kicking you out,” I said with a grin.
Tara said, “I hope you like it. We had to do a lot of shopping yesterday to get everything from the Mortal Realm. It’s a strange place these days, and I’m glad that Astriel is familiar with it.”
“You were part of this?” I asked her.
“Baby showers have been a celebration for a very very long time, Rose. I spent plenty of time in the Mortal Realm before Bastian’s mother had me brought to the Dark Realm. They’re different now, but a new mother deserves a celebration regardless of what else is happening around her.”
I looked around at the people who were already starting to nibble on the random assortment of snack foods and saw something I hadn’t ever expected to see. A bag of potato chips. Then another. There were pretzels too. What in the world?
“Did… Did you bring Mortal Realm food?”
Astriel grinned. “We brought Mortal Realm everything. Everything you know is from the Mortal Realm. You’re the only Queen in history who was raised as a human, and you seem to be doing a pretty good job so far. We thought that you might want to do the same thing with your kid. Who knows? Maybe that’s what’s been missing in all the Fae nobility all this time. Just a little humanity.”
“Well, you’re going to have to excuse me while I stuff my face. You’re amazing, but that bag of Doritos has haunted my dreams for weeks now.” Both Tara and Astriel giggled, but they didn’t stop me. Sebastian followed behind me as I approached the table with snacks laid out as if they were exotic food. Individual chips had been placed on trays daintily. Behind the tray, a bag with a label on it sat.
“I hope you don’t mind if I completely ignore the fact that I’m the Queen for about an hour,” I said to Sebastian.
I heard him chuckle, but I didn’t turn around as I began to fill a plate directly from the bags. I was going to eat at least some of everything. They even had Snickers. Astriel was a godsend. How had she known?
When the plate could hold absolutely nothing else, I walked away from the party and sat down on a chair. Sebastian sat down next to me and looked bothered by the food on the plate.
“What is all of that?” he asked. “It looks disgusting.”
I handed him a Dorito. “That’s a chip. It’s covered in fake cheese and fake flavoring. I think it’s made from corn or s
omething. Doesn’t really matter. Eat it.”
“How can it be fake? I see it. Is it an illusion?” I didn’t respond, so he put the chip to his mouth, and I couldn’t help but grin as he bit down. The crunching sensation bothered him. He put the second half in his mouth, and as he bit down again, he winced. “Hey! Is it supposed to stab me?”
“Yep. Bloody gums are the sacrifice to the chip god.”
“You have a god for these?” he asked, eyes opening wide.
I shook my head as I shoved three pretzels into my mouth. God, this was it. Heaven. Salty, crunchy heaven.
“What is this stuff?” he asked looking at his fingers.
“Fake cheese, and no, we don’t actually have a god of chips. Did you like it?”
Embrys found us and began to walk in our direction. “No, I don’t think so. It’s strange. There’s nothing in the Immortal Realm like these.”
I handed him a snickers bar, and he tried to put it in his mouth, wrapper and all. I almost dropped my plate as I stopped him. “No, Tinkerbell. You take the wrapper off first.”
I showed him how to tear the package open, and when he took a bite of the candy bar, his eyes lit up. “This is good. This is really good.”
I nodded, focusing on my own snacks again. There were chocolate chip cookies to eat. I could already feel my stomach getting full, but I wasn’t going to let these go to waste. This was a very rare occasion indeed.
Embrys settled down beside me, and I ignored him. Sebastian just watched me, and I was okay with that. This plate of extremely unhealthy food was all that really mattered to me, and I doubted that it had anything to do with the fact that I was pregnant.
When I was finished with the plate of snacks, I finally looked up with a smile. Servants were carrying around trays of real food now, and I blinked when I saw what they carried.
Were those… Were those freaking burgers?
I jumped up and ran to the nearest servant. Yes, that was a cheeseburger. Round bun and everything. I looked at Astriel who smiled and winked at me. I owed her for this. I picked up two of them, completely ignoring the plates they were on. A burger was not meant to be eaten on fancy plates.