Chapter Thirty-Eight

Salome

As Gwenn and I headed back toward the castle, the air suddenly became colder. The once starry sky had grown cloudy in a matter of seconds. The stench of sulfur burned my nose. All at once, a loud roar sounded from above, followed by severe gusts of wind.

Stone began to fall from one of the towers.

“Look out!” Gwenn shoved me aside, tugging me beneath one of the small bridges along the bank of the stream. She covered my body with her own, shielding my head.

All around us, I heard screams and rock falling. I buried my face against Gwenn’s shoulder, waiting for it to stop.

Soon it did. Patches of fog rolled in, followed by deathly silence.

“What was that?” I whispered.

“A dark entity.” Gwenn slowly climbed off of me, her gaze locked with mine. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, thank you.”

We both slid from beneath the bridge to find a pile of rubble and the top of one of the towers completely missing. Gwenn cursed under her breath.

“What’s wrong?”

“That tower was where your friend was imprisoned. Grisselle sprung her, which means she’s free and could come back after you.”

A shiver crawled over my body. Would Kadie make another attempt on my life? Or did Grisselle have some other use for her? Either way, this just proved that Winter would use any means necessary to destroy us. We needed to fight back—we needed a plan to reclaim Faerie and to right all the wrongs…

When daylight came, Nevin and I sat on a bench in the garden, watching the falls. There were still bits of stone lying about the courtyard, but most of the bigger stuff had been moved. Luckily there hadn’t been any serious injuries. A few people had gotten some scrapes and bruises trying to get out of the way of falling rock, but it could’ve been much worse. I was relieved to know Etienne had made his escape—that he was far from the Winter Queen’s wrath.

“Your Highness.” Lord Ballock rushed toward us. “The prisoner has escaped.”

“I know. Some of us were up late last night and heard the beast attack. Obviously you weren’t one of them. A search party has already been formed and is working the borders.”

“Your Highness, one of the parties has already checked in, they haven’t been able to find any trace of the human—although Lady Antellan swore she felt someone use one of the portals early this morning.” He gave me an accusatory glance.

“Are you sure?” Nevin asked.

“Yes. Should we see if we can pick up a trace of the human?”

No,” I said. “It isn’t necessary. We’ve got more pressing matters to worry about.”

Nevin glanced at me. “She’s right, we’ve got magical borders to rebuild so we don’t have any more attacks like we did last night. And we have an army to train.”

His mouth turned down in a frown. “But the human made an attempt on the queen’s life.”

“Lord Gareth and myself are well aware of that. Our queen’s safety is of utmost importance; however, the best way to protect her now is to keep her guarded and to reinforce our borders.”

“Very well. But I don’t think the council will approve of this measure.” He stormed away.

“That went well,” I said, waving my hand in the air.

Nevin’s eyes went wide. “Where did you get this from?” He pointed at my newest Faerie tattoo.

“It happened last night when Etienne was here.”

“That’s impossible. You’ve now been marked by three of the four kingdoms.” His eyes widened as he investigated my markings.

“Do you know what this means?”

“No, but I’ll have our archivist check into it. I haven’t seen this since…”

“Since what?”

He glanced at Gareth, who stood watching us. “Nothing, I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but let’s just say there’s more to you than I think any of us ever knew.”

“Gareth? What isn’t he telling me?”

Gareth met my eye over his shoulder then turned away. “I can’t say for sure. But he’s right, this is big.”

“Please don’t keep secrets.” My teeth grazed my bottom lip.

“I won’t. As soon as I find answers, I promise to tell you.”

I wouldn’t be much of a queen if I didn’t live up to what I’d asked him to do. Well, here went nothing. Time to tell them everything I knew, too.

“Okay, there’s something you should both know,” I said. “I didn’t want to say anything, but I feel that the more information we withhold from one another, the less likely we are to defeat Grisselle.”

“What do you mean?” Nevin asked.

“Before Gareth came back injured, I had something strange happen to me.” I chewed my bottom lip, hoping I didn’t sound crazy. “A door appeared in the hallway and I was led into a hidden room. Inside there were these things called Memory Boxes, and there was this voice, talking to me.”

Nevin’s eyes widened. “You were granted access to the Room of the Past? Before you were crowned queen?”

“Yes. But here’s the thing: there were specific things this room or whatever wanted me to know. For one, the Memory Box I saw showed the funeral procession of Genissa—and her body wasn’t in the casket.”

“It had to have been. We saw it with our own eyes,” Gareth said.

“Did you really? Or is it possible that someone was able to manipulate a glamour and make you think you saw it? Because I watched the vision play through several times and each time, the body disappeared right when it reached the bend in the road. And that’s not all, there was more information on the Blade of the Four Kingdoms.”

“What do you know of the blade?” Nevin stared at me.

“Gareth didn’t tell you?”

“I might’ve forgotten that detail when we got here.”

“The sword kind of appeared to me.” I paused. “It’s hidden in my room right now.”

He ran a hand through his hair, watching me closely. “You’re full of all kinds of surprises, aren’t you?”

“Maybe, but the thing I wanted to tell you is that this voice, it spoke a lot of riddles…and I think they might be some type of premonition or something. I mean, it predicted Kadie hurting me…”

“It what?” Gareth moved closer.

I took a deep breath. “The voice said: ‘Beware of the girl who calls herself friend’.”

Nevin cursed. “What else did it say?”

I shook my head. “More than I totally remember. Something about seeking the Matron of Faerie. The voice said the archivist holds the key. The warden holds the map. And the sister…I can’t remember that part.”

“The sister holds the doorway open,” Nevin finished. “That part’s from a legend. But the rest… What else did the voice say?”

“It said the other is made of darkness. Do you know what this means?”

Nevin’s jaw clenched. “Parts of it perhaps, but this sounds like something we’ll need to sit down and put our heads together for. The sooner the better.”

“You promise to tell me if you figure something out, right?”

“Yes,” Nevin said.

I hoped he would, because the sooner I could figure out my purpose in Faerie, the better. Grandma might have some answers, but I wasn’t sure when I’d see her again. Maybe I could convince Nevin to let me go back for a brief visit…But I didn’t hold my breath for that to happen. Sunshine warmed my skin as I closed my eyes, letting Summer wrap around me.

“Maybe we stand a chance against Grisselle now. With Etienne back in the picture, we might be able to take her down, if the three of us use our power,” Nevin said from beside me.

“I think we stand more than a chance.” I smiled, opening my eyes. “I think we might win.”

He chuckled. “Come with me. It’s time we strengthen the magic around our borders today.”

“Would you like me to ready the horses?” Gareth asked from beside me.

“Yes. And have Gwenn go get a few more guards to accompany us.” Nevin reached for my hand and placed it on his arm as we walked to the stables.

So much had changed, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it yet. A few weeks ago, I was just some human girl who happened to have a Fae boyfriend. Now I was a powerful queen, readying myself for war.

Once the horses were saddled, we mounted them. Nevin slid into the saddle behind me, and we galloped from the safety of the palace walls. We traveled along the borders, where Nevin showed me how to set a magical shield. As one we cupped our hands together, prayed to the Goddess of Summer, and let the magic flow through our fingers.

We spent the entire day building up our barriers. When we finished, a green-blue glow swirled in the air around Summer. The breeze seemed warmer, the sky brighter, and the flowers more fragrant.

Nevin guided our horse beneath a willow tree. He helped me from the saddle, then turned to me. “Thank you for helping our kingdom. I know this isn’t the life you wanted. But I hope you’ll grow to love Summer, like you loved the human world.”

“I already adore Summer. Everything we’re doing, we’re doing for them and for Faerie. I touched his shoulder. “We will defeat Grisselle, together.”

He leaned forward to give me a hug. Beneath the willow, we could pretend just for a moment that we didn’t have a worry in the world.

When he pulled back, my eyes shifted to Gareth, who stood on the hill.

“I love you,” I said through the link.

“I know. But the kingdom needs you.”

With a sad smile, I fought the tears that threatened to spill out. “I understand now why you stayed here all those years, trying to run the kingdom while Nevin was gone. Summer means too much to both of us to not do the right thing.”

Darach’s ghost appeared on the hill next to Gareth, unbeknownst to him. Soon, I would need to tell Nevin about him. I meant what I’d said earlier. We couldn’t keep secrets from each other anymore. Not if we wanted to defeat Winter.

I watched them both. They were my strength, and I knew they’d be with me through everything. I might be Nevin’s queen now, but I was also theirs. No matter what happened, I knew I could trust them with my life.

But I also knew Gareth would be an obstacle for me. I wasn’t sure how great I’d be able to pretend that he meant nothing to me when we were in public. This was the part that would suck—keeping our love hidden. Not being able to go on dates or romantic walks or spend time dancing. Nope. Everything we said or did would have to be behind closed doors—another secret.

“Let’s go home now,” Nevin said.

As we made our way back, Gareth came up next to me, his gaze focused ahead of us so that anyone watching wouldn’t notice that his attention was on me.

“Our armies should be ready soon, and with Etienne’s information, we might be able to make this quick, with minimal casualties.”

“There’s nothing to figure out,” I teased. “We’re gonna defeat Winter, and then we’ll all live happily ever after.”

He chuckled. “Has anyone ever told you that you read way too many fairytales?”

“I don’t need to read them anymore—I’m living one.”

For now, things were calm, but I knew in the months to come we’d have to face our nightmares. We’d have to face Winter, Grisselle, and Kadie too. But now I was ready for it. Spring, Summer, and Autumn had marked me. But so had Winter. I was stronger for it. I belonged to Faerie now—and it belonged to me.