I nodded. “We don’t have much time, but I wanted to offer my deepest condolences for the loss of Dalia. She was a treasure, and I will never forget her help in getting Violet back.”
The prince bowed his head solemnly. “Thank you. We have had no time to grieve, but she was an honored warrior and will be deeply missed.” He shook off his sadness and then got to business. “The winter fae attacked us in the night, sent assassins to try to take out our highest commanders. We killed all but one. That one we questioned thoroughly. He admitted under magical duress that the Winter Court wants to eliminate the Summer Court completely from this land, and they also want to commandeer the Earth-side mecca.” His eloquent manner of speaking was a little more rushed than usual.
My gut churned with anxiety. “We’ve had nothing happen here for weeks. What’s the wait? When should we expect this attack?” The image wavered then, almost disappearing, but Violet thrust her hands forward and it held.
The prince’s drawn features came into clear focus again. “We’re holding them at the edge of the winter woods, but if they really wanted to, they could overthrow us. We think they’re waiting as a part of their strategy. Aligning wi—” The image flickered again, before blanking out. This time Violet couldn’t hold it.
My eyes bugged out, mouth open. “Violet!”
She looked pained, throwing spells and powders at the image as the water swirled in a funnel. Finally, she sat back. “It’s gone.”
“Can you make another one?” I urged. I needed to know what he was going to say. Aligning with whom? Fall Court? Or something more sinister. The Dark Fae Lord?
Violet stared at the water, resigned. “Ari, that was fae magic. It took me weeks to teach myself and I had to try to match up time, which is different in our two worlds.” I knew she was internally punishing herself. She wasn’t used to failing at magic.
I sighed and straightened. “It’s okay.” I patted her shoulder, careful to touch only the cloth and not her skin. “I got enough. We have time before they attack. Now let’s get to Manhattan and learn everything we can about the fae.” Those recently unsealed fae books were waiting for us, information that had been hidden away by the former council. There had to be something within those pages which could help us.
Blaine and Monica fell into step with me; they would be on guard duty for the rest of the day. There was a convoy of SUVs at my disposal here, just as there had been in Manhattan. A bear drove us to the Staten Island vortex disc and waited for us to enter past the guards in that secure building.
As I had the last few times, I waited for some sign of the Red Queen — her voice in the mecca energy, a vision of her, anything to let me know she was still there, still trapped in the swirling purple world. Since I had learned she was my birth mother, I found myself thinking of her more often.
So far there had been nothing.
And even though she had not been much of a mother … who was I kidding? She had been no mother at all, but she had protected me against the Winter Court. Against my father. It was worth something.
“Your Majesty…”
The mecca guards dropped to their knees as I appeared on the disc in Manhattan. There were three wolves and three bears. We were forcing all of them to work together. It was the only way to push aside previous prejudices and accept the new alliance. In truth, it had gone much smoother than I ever would have expected. It seemed the shifters had wanted change long before I was crowned. It’s just that no one had listened. It certainly helped that Kade and I were bonded mates and engaged. I was now queen of the bears as well as the wolves.
There were still a few resisters, which was to be expected. But they were slowly getting weeded out — many leaving on their own. The greatest resistance had been from some of my oldest wolves. And honoring my promise to be a fair and just queen, I allowed them to live in segregation in the Bronx borough. They still recognized me as their ruler and would ultimately follow my command, but had asked to not be forced to mingle in their daily lives with the bears.
I could respect their choice and so I granted it. Bronx was the only borough without much of a bear presence, so it was the logical choice. As long as they did as I asked, I would not fault them for being resistant to change. I also expected that eventually they would come around. They just needed some time.
Kade’s people seemed much more open; only a few had fled from our rule. There had even been a dozen or so bear-wolf bonded pairings to emerge after we started to mingle the two worlds together. Shifters could no longer deny the proof that bear and wolf belonged together.
Violet, Blaine, and Monica followed me out of the vortex building and onto the sidewalk.
“I’ll meet you all at the mansion,” Violet said. “I want to get a head start.”
I just nodded, and she popped out of existence, her favorite way to travel. I enjoyed the short walk to the royal estate, having missed my borough. It did feel like home being here, but also like things had changed. I wasn’t really sure where I fit anymore.
Guards bowed as I walked into the royal grounds; doors were held open for me, shifters lowering themselves as I passed. I hadn’t ever really enjoyed the subservient nature our rulers demanded from their people, but I could only try to change one thing at a time.
Monica and Blaine stayed right behind me, one of either side, and I saw the way their keen eyes took in the room. It gave me comfort to have them at my side.
The moment I stepped into the room filled with magic books, Violet jumped on me. “I think I found something.”
I chuckled. “Well, that was fast. You’ve only been here for like ten minutes.”
She didn’t smile or join me in laughter, she just gave me that serious look she wore most of the time now. Those hard eyes. “I had an idea of where to start looking, and luckily it provided some important information.”
Crossing the room, I peered over Violet’s shoulder, looking down at the book she held.
“You can read this now, right?” she asked.
I nodded, leaning even closer. “Yep, this is the language of my people. Apparently.”
Blaine gave a snort from behind us. Yeah, it was another one of my changes — I could now read the fae language.
Scanning the page, my stomach dropped. I read aloud: “Forged in revenge, of evil and bone, the Dark Fae Lord rose to be one of the first fae demons.” Great. As if I didn’t have enough to worry about with the winter queen, aka evil-grandmother, who was hell-bent on ruling the Earth-side mecca, now I had to worry about an honest-to-God demon. The summer king had mentioned him of course, but information was limited.
“Okay…” I started pacing. “I want to know everything about this fae demon. Where does he live? What does he eat? How the hell do I kill him?”
Kade was going to flip when he heard about this.