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If only being queen meant I was all-powerful. In theory, I was. And people feared me. But I still had a council that liked to tell me that every decision I made was stupid and I should only listen to them.
As if.
I spent the day dealing with them. They were furious that I dared to bring humans back into their lands. I told them to shove their conceited dicks up their asses. They were not impressed and determined those human men were a risk and they were already seeing those effects in my attitude.
I reminded them why I was queen, leaving them shaking in their little mini throne chairs as I strolled out of the room and got ready for Laikynn’s trial. That meant hours of being scrubbed and prodded as I was groomed to perfection. The servants made sure not a single piece of my hair was out of place and wouldn’t move out of line for the rest of the night. Then they stuffed me into a black dress with golden designs. It was a little puffier than I liked, and a slit went up the side so I showed off so much leg that if I moved just right, I’d give them a more intimate view of me.
Everyone was gathered in the ballroom, wanting to see the finale to Laikynn’s existence. He had become a common nightmare among the fae, too many people having lost loved ones when he fought his way out of Faerie, wanting to exact his revenge on everyone who had so much as looked at him sideways throughout the years.
My men were already standing around my throne chair, expressions blank, unmoving. They looked absolutely stunning in their suits, dressed in black silk shirts, black slacks, and a black and gold blazer to match my colors. The fae only had to see my colors all over them to know the humans were mine. Their hair had been trimmed and styled to match them individually, each one of them had been freshly shaven, a shame really since I loved it when they got a little scruffy.
I eyed the bracelets around their wrists and clenched my teeth.
Should I start biting to find who did this? Berry brushed against me briefly.
I settled my hand on his head in a subtle admonishmentto behave as we reached the throne.
I pretended to inspect my men, the fae accepting nothing less than cold calculation from me. As I did so, I touched each bracelet and deactivated them. The change was instant, but minute. They were smart enough to keep up the charade. There was only the slight movement in Jason’s shoulders. The strain in Waylon’s expression relaxed a little. Foster remained unchanged. I only received an acknowledgment in his eyes. They knew the game they tossed themselves into and they were playing it masterfully.
I was more than impressed. I was in awe. But I couldn’t let them know that. I was also part of the game and had to keep up my own part. I turned to face Faerie’s people. There was no doubt about that. No matter who the queen was at any given time in the fae history, the people always belonged to only Faerie. The queen was expected to work and speak and decide on behalf of Faerie. And if a queen dared not, she made it well known.
That was the real position that I was in. I was a puppet to Faerie herself. The shackles were still there even if I no longer belonged to whichever fae managed to get their grubby hands on me at the time.
This had always been far worse.
“Bring him out,” I said in a low voice as I settled into my chair, crossing my legs and making sure to keep my expression cold. Berry stretched out at my side as a warning against anyone who dared to approach me. The double doors banged open and guards frog-marched a trussed up Laikynn. Anger flicked through his eyes before he got his reaction under control and his cocky side came out.
They dumped him at the stairs that led up to the platform where I sat. They stepped back, spears pointed and ready to skewer him if he tried anything. The bindings around his wrists flared, and he winced, reminded why he should not be trying to use magic. Those bindings would sever his hands if he pushed it too far.
“Don’t you look cozy,” he said with biting words, his disdain for me clear.
“And don’t you look pathetic,” I replied and got up. Everyone in the room held their breath, practically eating up what they saw as entertainment to end their day.
Each step I took was slow and measured, the golden swirls in the black dress shimmering, giving them an impression of moving. Laikynn didn’t look away, as entranced as everyone else with how regal I looked. My magic filled the space. Every heartbeat in the room reverberated through my chest. Every intake of breath filled my lungs.
We were back in Faerie. Where I was strongest. And I saw the very moment Laikynn figured that out. He was weak here. Nothing. And he was going to be punished for the slaughter he’d done, for the lives he had needlessly taken.
“Laikynn Lighteria, you have committed treason to the highest degree. You dared to put Faerie at risk. You dared to wipe the existence of not just the humans, but all fae too.” That caused a small buzz in the air as the fae whispered in shock. “There is only one ending here and that is with your head gone. You no longer hold on to your right as a fae. You are not even worthy of being a human. You are nothing but the mud the slags like to roll around in. As is your right, do you have anything to say before your punishment?”
“You’ve sold yourself to Faerie long ago and you don’t even know it. If anyone is to be disappointed, then it’s me. You used to be better than this, but now you are nothing but Faerie’s mouth.”
Magic flared through me. Not my own but hers. Her fury, her need for retribution. It hummed through my veins. His fate was sealed. I grabbed the sword from the nearby guard, whirled around and flung my arm out. The sword had no resistance as it sliced through his neck. Faerie didn’t like messes, so her magic cut the blood flow, cauterizing the wound to prevent the blood from pumping out and all over the white marble.
Laikynn’s head flew and one of the guards caught it. His body stayed still for a moment, his limbs twitching until he finally fell over.
The threat had finally been neutralized.
All that magic within flew back out of me, disappearing somewhere in the room. I stared down at a man I once considered the closest to family I could find in Faerie, numbness enveloping me as I closed down.
A giggle echoed through the room. It was dark, eerie, full of a darkness that had touched every fae in existence at one point. The fae shuffled to the side, knowing exactly what that sound meant.
If it were something we could escape, we’d do it.
Another giggle, high pitched.
The crowd moved as a little girl, no more than nine years old slipped forward. She wore a cute golden summer dress that fluffed around her knees. Her golden Mary Janes echoed against the marble, each clank more of a warning drum to each of us.
“Well, I have not felt so satiated in so long,” she said. She licked her lips as she looked down at the body, eyes hungry for more bloodshed. “You have done me well, Joslyn. I have chosen well in you.”
Her gaze flickered to my men behind me. Not wanting her attention on them for too long, I shifted enough to gain her attention. “Your compliment has been received.”
She hummed, the sound melodic, and I could feel everyone in the room falling under her spell. Including my men. They stepped forward, prepared to give her the world if she chose to ask. I remained untouched, but only because she wanted me to see it all happen and know I was powerless to stop her.
Foster reached her first. He scooped her up, holding her close, his eyes blank. He wasn’t home. I clenched my teeth, fisting my hands at my side to hide the fury that boiled in my blood. She knew exactly who they were to me. This was nothing but a reminder to me of who she was and what I was.
Putting me back in my place. As always. As if I could ever fucking forget.
Still, the murder burned in my eyes. On this, I could not bow down.
Jason moved to her side and began playing with her big black curls as she blinked those fake big round hazel eyes at me. It was a sick joke. She chose parts of the guys and created the form before me, into what I never had a chance to have with them.
A child. A perfect blend of them and me. Pain pulsed through my heart. I lifted my chin and gave her a cold smile.
“Your prank goes too far, milady.”
“Does it?” she asked as she cupped Waylon’s face squeezing his cheeks as she had him look at her. His smile was empty and goofy at the same time, the spell practically an aphrodisiac, in a way. If she commanded, they’d be all too happy to provide it. “You have brought me some delicious looking human males. I thought they were a tribute to me.”
Her taunt was meant to make me admit that I had messed up. I knew her game.
“They are here for me.”
She waited for more, tried to coax the words out of me. I bit my tongue and stubbornly kept my lips pressed firmly together. I would not admit that I had messed up, never to her. I’d seen what she’d do to people who have failed.
“You know what, child,” she said with a smile. “You have brought me back the betrayer. You have prevented him from destroying the realms.”
I saved her life.
“For that, you shall be rewarded.” She hummed again, looking around thoughtfully, then at my men with a smirk.
“Shall I return them back to where they belong, as they should be before they entered my lands? I can reward that to you.”
I glanced at my men, at the vacancy that left a cold hand clenching around my lungs. I picked apart her words, finding all the loopholes. She knew that was what I wanted most. Them back in the human realm, safe from the fae.
“What shall it be, my little Joslyn? Shall we break their hearts again without you?”
My gaze snapped to her, hating the curl of her lips, the way her blue eyes twinkled, knowing she had once again won. I was right where she wanted me.
“You are giving me a reward, anything that I want?”
“Yes, anything you ask of me.” She glanced at my men again. She knew there was only one answer here. Their safe return to the human realm.
“You will return them back to the exact moment before they left. Same time, same day. They will remain as they were before they came here. Is that what you are offering me?”
“Yes, that is what I offer you.”
I bit my lip. They’d be back there as they should be. The magic in the air thickened, feeling the favor Faerie had opened and its desperation to complete that favor. It was astronomical. Huge. Something never offered before. I could feel it in the way all the fae dared to not breathe, not wanting to miss a single moment of our exchange.
“Then, yes, I want that.” I glanced at the guys again, preparing myself to say goodbye to them. Again, the chasm ripped open by the given favor pulsed, as if telling me something. I weighed it on my tongue, felt it against my body and realized something.
It wasn’t enough.
Her favor to me was not enough to make up for what I had just done. I didn’t just save her, I saved all the humans too. I should be able to ask for more.
It clicked then.
What this opportunity meant for me. What choice stood before me, waiting to be grabbed.
“Me too,” I whispered.
Faerie froze before her eyes narrowed.
In a steadier, harder voice, with more confidence than I felt, I repeated myself. “Me too. I want to return with them as I am now. No aging the years that I have lived here. To be with them as I should have had always before I was taken here.”
“You dare to ask me for such a favor. You think I can break the laws for you.”
“I know you can.” I stared her down, unwilling to step back. The open favor kept me and the guys safe since they were part of the fulfillment. “You are Faerie, you break your own rules every single day. You meddle. If you want something, you can have it. You can return me to the human realm as I am, without aging those years lived here. Feel it, Faerie. Feel the void that the magic demands to have fulfilled after you promised me a reward. This will fill it. I want to be human once more, living back in the human realm with all three of my human men: Jason, Waylon, and Foster. We want nothing to do with the fae and the fae will leave us alone.”
Her mouth clanked shut when she realized I’d outplayed her. She opened the favor between us. It was her fault that she never considered how massive it would have been. She only thought of herself, never about all the humans I had saved. How I also saved Earth. That’s a massive debt that would give me the universe. And I was going to fucking ask for it. For the impossible.
I no longer wanted to be Joslyn Naevana. I wanted to be Josie Evans once again and this was my chance to have it all back. Or die trying by the thunder that lit up her eyes.
Faerie tilted her head and released a massive scream that threatened to burst my eardrums. She jumped out of Foster’s arms and stalked toward me, ready to release her revenge. But the favor stood between us as the strongest shield. She smashed into it. Smacked against it. Shoved all her anger against it.
Nothing worked. Not even Faerie could go against this law. It was beyond her, something all the magic did on its own to help find balance in a dangerous world.
When she realized this, she tried to go after the guys, but realized since they were part of the debt returned, she couldn’t touch them. There was only one answer she could give and that was a yes.
It took her a while to figure that out as she railed against her own magic. It demanded a debt to be paid. She refused to pay it. It was a losing battle as the magic soaked up whatever she threw at it until she had nothing left. Her hair was wild, her eyes wide and unfocused. She growled.
“Watch yourself, Joslyn. You are nothing. You were nothing. And you will always be nothing.”
I smiled at her coldly. “From you, I shall take that as a compliment.”
She screeched as the debt forced itself to be paid. The air whipped around. Berry growled, sounding distant. I heard the guys screaming before my own joined them. It was as if everything in me were torn apart into nothingness.
Then everything went black and I was scared what I was going to wake up to—if I woke up.
