The queen laughed. “Oh, Racine. No one will kill me. I have you.” She smiled. The yellow magic had dissipated, but it let me know one thing. The queen, in part, was a sorceress.
It was clear her vision was clouded by love. My mother looked defeated, like she knew she wouldn’t be able to talk sense into her.
“This is getting intense. Should I go forward? To the dark times?” Eva asked. I could tell she wanted to see, but also wanted to protect me.
“Yes. I can handle it,” I told her, my eyes glued to my beautiful, strong warrior mother. I needed to know more. To know everything.
The room fast-forwarded then, and when Eva stopped there was a weeping figure huddled on the ground. Two female attendants tried to pull her up but she wailed. My mother ran in then.
“I came as soon as I could? What happened?” My mother was breathless.
An attendant stepped forward and lowered her voice. “Thomas … he died.”
My mother’s face fell and I saw actual sadness there. I don’t know how many years had passed since the last scene, but it was clear she had come to love the humans. “How did he die? Was he murdered?”
The queen stopped her wailing then and looked at my mother; her white hair limp, she looked absolutely devastated. “No. It was a simple ailment. I could have healed him had he been with me, but he was back there, in the frail human world, visiting his family. I didn’t go with him because I had the druids to contend with. It’s all my fault!” she screamed. “We barely had any time together. No children. Nothing!”
My mother fell to her knees before the queen. “I … don’t know what to say. My heart bleeds for you. But the fact is, the humans are weak. Their lives are a blink compared to ours. Simple diseases ravage their world and attack their fragile bodies. There is nothing you could have done. They don’t have the magic we do.”
The queen stilled then, as if something my mother said had shook her. “Dragons,” she whispered.
My mother looked confused and motioned to the two attendants. “Why don’t you bring the queen a nice strong drink…”
The queen was staring at nothing, but she looked in awe. “Dragon magic could have healed him.”
My mother grabbed the queen by the armpits and hauled her up firmly. “But it didn’t, and we can’t have dragons flying around Earth, so you need to just let it go.”
The queen reached up tenderly and cupped my mother’s face. “Oh, Racine, you’ve never known love. Not like what I had. When you have it, you’ll do anything in your power to keep it. Trust me.” She straightened her back and let her hands fall away from my mother, marching over to the far wall, where the weapons were kept. She pulled free a shining sword and brandished it before her, holding it firmly in the air.
“I will not let it go,” the queen declared with a shaky voice, and the room crackled with unseen power. “I will do better by Thomas’ people. I will protect them all from befalling his fate. He died too young.”
My mother sighed, looking defeated, and walked over to the wall, pulling her sword out as well and touching it to the queen’s. “I’m with you until the end. Now what would you have us do?”
The queen grinned. “We will create a race of protectors for humanity in Thomas’ name. We will call them the skyborn.”
My mother looked resigned. “The high council of druids will kill you for this. I can’t protect you from them all.”
The queen lowered her sword. “I just don’t care anymore.”
Then they walked out of the room together, leaving Eva, Danny, and I to stare at the empty room in shock.
“Holy shit,” Danny exclaimed next to me. “That was heavy.”
Before I could reply, Eva pulled us back to the bus. The nausea hit me and I was swirling up, down and around, before slamming into my body.
As soon as I felt the solid floor beneath my feet, I opened my eyes. We three just sat there in complete silence for a moment, staring at the copper ball and all of the secrets it held.
“Well?” Sophie asked, and I finally looked up to face them all.
I nodded. “My mom was the queen of Faery’s right-hand woman.”
“Holy shit.” Sophie was appraising me with newfound respect. “My God, I’ll bet she’s looking down on your fighting skills with such disappointment,” she joked.
I gave a fake laugh, and then Nadine coaxed Sophie into telling stories she knew of the battle druid. It gave me time to gather my thoughts.
‘What did you see?’ Logan’s soft voice prodded lovingly in my head.
I rubbed my temples. ‘A queen on the edge of despair, blinded by love and grief. My mother throwing all caution to the wind out of loyalty. It was … crazy and sad to see her again. To know she lived this whole other life and never told me.’
Tears welled in my eyes but I brushed them away. To hear her laugh again… it was worth it, even if it brought immense pain with it.
‘She clearly loved you beyond all others. She lied to hide you, and keep you safe. Keep you out of the dangers of this life.’
‘I know.’ Still, it was unsettling. All those times I asked her about normal stuff like the weather and math … I should have asked her what it felt like to create the skyborn by the queen’s side.
‘I can’t believe Marcus fell in love with the queen’s battle druid. I should have listened to him when he said she was different.’ Just as I couldn’t forget my mother lying to me, Logan couldn’t let his past with Marcus go.
I stood; Logan opened his arms and I stepped into them, pinning him against the back of the seat with my hips. “If I’m not allowed to dwell on the past, then neither are you.”
He smiled softly and leaned forward to kiss me, brushing lightly against my lips. When we pulled away, I looked into his eyes without saying a word. This moment, it was hard to explain to anyone else. Having a mate was this completeness I’d never felt in life.
The bus slowed and then pulled to a stop in front of a small house. “This is it,” Isaac stated.
“I’m going!” Sophie shouted, and pushed her way to the front.
“Me too!” Keegan declared.
“More skyborn? Me three!” Nadine declared excitedly.
I put out a hand to stop them all, stepping into the aisle before them. “You guys, we don’t know for sure what these addresses are!”
Sophie stuck out her bottom lip into a pout. “But if there’s more skyborn … you have to let us help!” She put her hands into prayer pose. “Pleeeeaaase.”
Sophie begging was something I could get used to.
I rolled my eyes. “Logan and I will go to the door. You guys can wait on the lawn, and I’ll call you forward if I need your help.”
Sophie frowned. “Fine,” she said, with a two-year-old’s gusto.
The sound of cocking guns and sliding clips pulled my attention to the back, where Dominic stood with Hemlock at his feet. “If there’s trouble, I’m ready.” He winked.
Good to know. I nodded.
“My mom handed me this book over five years ago, so these people could be gone by now … or they could be just regular humans she knew.”
“Or not…” Sophie added, and I felt a smile creep onto my face.