Picking up my speed, I caught Winnie and proceeded to tickle her until she couldn’t breathe. Which is what big sisters are for. Afterwards we both lay in the grass staring up at the cloudy sky. There was a smogginess to it, typical of the city, but that didn’t bother me.
“Can you see a crow?” Winnie asked, pointing toward a fluffy white cloud. It had wisps spanning off of it, which did look a lot like wings.
“I see it,” I said. “And look, there’s a boat.”
Winnie followed my pointed finger, and her little face was so peaceful as she stared up, snuggled in next to me. Rhett, her fox familiar, scampered across then and lay by her side. Then a heavy warmth and strong burst of energy dropped beside me.
Finn.
Hey, friend.
He nuzzled into my side, and then his mind went soft and fuzzy, like he was on the verge of sleep.
“We go on the boat tomorrow, Ari. I can’t wait.”
Winnie was coming to the summer festival; it was her second time, but her first time as a true queen heir. Rhett had appeared for her just before her fifth birthday, in October. She now wore similar teeth marks to me on her hand, the moment of their bonding.
“I can’t wait either.” I turned to my side, facing her. “It’s going to be so much fun, you’ll be able to play with the other little heirs, and see all the festivals. Lots of food. Lots of fun. Plus you can wear your costume.”
Winnie was going as a mermaid; she had her fake tail and long red wig. The movie was her current obsession.
“I hope I meet a bear friend like yours,” she said, her little hand snaking out to hold mine. “I like Kade. He’s very nice.”
I froze then, my hand tightly gripping her tiny fingers. “What do you mean? How do you know King Kade?”
With all the innocence of youth, she giggled. “Last time he came for your training session, he took a break outside and Rhett fell into the duck pond. I went in after him and almost drowned. He saved me and told me to call him Kade. Said he was your friend. He smelled like a bear but I liked him very much.”
Damn Kade, even winning over my sister. And saving her from drowning and not even telling me! “You need to call him ‘Your Majesty’ or ‘King Kade,’ Win,” I said as gently as I could. “You know how important protocol is.”
She was silent then, just for a moment, before she burst out with, “I hate protocol, it’s yucky.”
I tried to hide my laughter behind a cough, before I pulled her in for another hug. You and me both, kid, you and me both. Protocol would probably be the death of me.
At least ten thousand wolf shifters made the trip each year to the Island. They came from the three boroughs, and also many from around the world. Calista had warned me there would be even more this year, with a new queen and all. Most of them had already landed and were setting up. There would be tents, motor homes, and all of the rental houses packed full of shifters. The Island’s normal residents were aware of the summer festival; they thought it was a longstanding popular music festival with super exclusive tickets. None of them minded though, they usually left and rented out their homes to make money. Any stray humans that caught sight of any weird goings on would be compelled by a magic born to forget.
Nerves had me all tangled inside, for more than one reason. First summer festival as queen and the fae were probably trying to figure out how to kill us en masse. And here we were gathering together to make it easier. Hopefully the Summer Court’s Prince Caspien was managing to keep his army strong. Violet had recently used the flower to let him know that we had a solid plan for fixing the mecca and that it would happen tonight. He’d been thrilled and passed on the news that they’d managed to retrieve his people’s object of power, which was helping a bit, but that circumstances were still dire.
So much rested on this ritual tonight under the full moon. We were placing so much faith in Sir Baladar and his theory, so much faith in mine and Kade’s abilities to manipulate the mecca. I knew I couldn’t fail – I wouldn’t fail my people. But I would be lying if I said that I was supremely confident about our success.
Being queen … no one told me how hard it actually was. How many ways my time and attention would be scattered. Not only did I have to make decisions that affected all of my people, I had to anticipate things going wrong and make sure they never happened. Easy, right?
I was making my people proud in one way, a way I wished was not part of my life. Word of my taking a mate had gotten around and shifters everywhere were rejoicing. I had exhaustingly gone over the many possible candidates with Calista and narrowed my choice down to three men. They would all be flying out for the festival. Over the next month they would stay in the city so I could take turns getting to know them. I should be excited, I should be thrilled, but I wasn’t. I was depressed. It felt like I was living a lie. One of the men, a very handsome and successful dominant from London had called me on the phone last night. He was polite and had a good sense of humor, making me laugh several times, but … there were no growly undertones to his voice to clench my belly and send the butterflies fluttering. He wasn’t Kade. I shook my head to clear those thoughts when a knock came at my personal door.
“Come in!” My costume seamstresses were right on time. They peeked their heads into my sitting room before wheeling in a large cart with a huge dress lying on top. It was covered in white silk so I couldn’t see the details. They had been over two times in the past week for fittings, but Jenny, the stocky golden-haired one, and Christy, the strawberry blonde, would never let me see the complete finished product. The pair were fun and lively, and we’d become friends in the past few visits, but no amount of friendship or cajoling had convinced them to show me the dress in any of the fittings. They’d even gone as far as to blindfold me.
They couldn’t hold out any longer though. Today was the day.
“Oh, come on, girls. It’s the day of the summer festival. Let me see it!” I pointed to the white silk.
Jenny shook her finger. “Not yet, Your Majesty. Let us put it on you and then you can look.”
I groaned but obliged. Not only did they make me wait until they put it on, but I also had to wait for my full hair and makeup to be done. “Come on, it’s been an hour. Let me see,” I begged as my makeup artist sprinkled some glitter in my hair. It wasn’t the summer festival if you weren’t covered in glitter.
“Okay, Your Highness, you can look now.”