Page 44 of Dark Master's Redemption

“Could we court those Dark Summer Fae as alliances?” I ask now, my mind churning like Quinn’s at this news, though I don’t quite know what to do with it yet.

“I think what you need to ask yourself,” Alleno says as he stares at me with intention, “is what will you do with those alliances once you have them? Because those who might be your supporters will ask. Since your father has made it impossible for you ever to sit the Summer Fae throne now, as laws state it must always be sat by a pure-blood Summer Fae monarch, of which you are not, you must consider other options for a possible rebellion against him. Because I believe a rebellion could still happen. The question is: to what end?”

I stew now as I consider Alleno’s question. He’s right: there are ancient Summer Fae laws making it impossible for me to sit the throne now—laws laid down and codified long before my father ever came into the picture. Now that my secret’s out, there’s no way I would ever be able to sit on that throne.

“Unless there isn’t a throne anymore to sit,” I say, as an aha moment takes me.

Alleno nods at my sudden revelation. The way he smiles, so clever and glad I’ve finally gotten here in my train of thought, has me thinking he was considering this option all along.

Like Quinn, Alleno has an agile mind and is often ten steps ahead of me with everything. Case in point, how he was able to keep his relationship with Devina and their operations saving Dark Fae secret from me all these years, in addition to the fact that he is a Dark Fae himself, hiding in plain sight amongst the Darkwatch.

“Vampires have a Council that rules them,” Alleno says now as his emerald eyes glitter in the twilight. “So why couldn’t we?”

“A Council that permits Dark Summer Fae to be a part of it.” My heart sears in my chest as I glance at him. “With elected members from all echelons of Summer Fae life, not just the nobility.”

“Permitting Dark Summer Fae to live freely amongst our brighter kin once more,” Alleno says with a sadder smile. “Rather than hide what we are on pain of death, or escape to safety… forever sundered from our beloved family and friends.”

I grip Alleno’s shoulder, as I realize now everything he’s had to do over the past centuries to hide what he is. As I do, the saddest smile claims him, as he stares at me in the night, and we finally get each other.

Though we’ve been family and comrades for years, him acting as my Darkwatch Shadow for most of that time, I feel like we finally understand each other as the twilight settles all around us. It’s like a veil that has always existed between us is lifted away.

And I see my true brother-in-arms, at last.

“Good to see you, cousin,” I say then, feeling something in my heart expand so bright at this new intimacy shared between Alleno and me.

“It’s good to be seen,” he says as I see him swallow. Alleno’s not a Fae who cries; but I see his eyes brighten with unshed tears now as he grips my shoulder hard. As he nods, I feel a breath of relief flow through Alleno, at last. He’s been in hiding so long, being so very careful to not out what he truly is, all this while.

It makes me angry now that he’s had to hide his entire life from other Summer Fae ever finding out who he really is. As something beautiful and terrible blazes inside me, my bright aura sweeps out in the night, shimmering through with searing, vivid rainbows.

But those rainbows are tinged with Quinn’s righteous fire now, and Ariana’s beautiful dark colors as I blaze. As my heart roars for the injustice Alleno and others like him have had to face, I know his suggestion is right.

It’s time for a regime change amongst the Summer Fae. But not just any regime change—a full restructuring of our way of life, and how we govern our Lineage and society.

Because the old model of monarchy is falling; not just here in the Twilight Realm, but in the human world as well. Kings and Queens just don’t work anymore, because it leaves most of any society woefully unrepresented.

It’s time to change that.

As I know now that I’m the one to make it happen.

18

REUNION

After Lucca leaves, I dress, then check on the sleeping Quinn before heading downstairs. I don’t sense my parents anywhere in the house; they eat dinner after sunset, so I decide to head outside for a while.

I watch as our horse master Benvolio walks a new pair of yearlings up our white gravel drive, towards the barn. The hunting hounds greet them, swarming the horses and baying as the new duo shy away. With a soft word and what I see now is a gentle wave of magic, Ben has all the hounds sitting quietly, a respectful distance away now rather than frightening the horses anymore.

The russet hounds are excited as I step to them, and old Ben gives me a nod. He’s never been a man of many words; I wonder now if he was Darkwatch with all his quiet sobriety. Perhaps someone my father recruited long ago into his and my mother’s Dark Fae saving operations, Ben continues through a break in the trees with the yearlings, to exercise them at a paddock there.

I laugh as the eager hounds yip and bark, bouncing all over me now. It’s been so long since I saw them, as I crouch down now, petting a few. They lick me avidly; and something in me calms now to be home.

As I cuddle the hounds, I glance around with fresh eyes, marveling at how serene my parent’s farm is. Birds twitter in the oaks and cypress trees, our olive groves and wine grapes just visible as they roll across the Florentine hillsides, and the cooling summer evening breathes all around. It’s beautiful; everything about it makes my heart sing as chickens peck at my boots now, bullying the hounds away so they can ruck up the dirt and get bugs for dinner.

The scent of wisteria envelops me from a pair of ancient vines that grow beside the manor, cascading over the house. I glance at the protective golden Faeanic sigils inscribed on the front steps, then the wide veranda and over the entire manor, and ease floods me. Because this warding is not just to keep enemies away, but also to make the farm thrive.

Along with everyone who lives here.

I feel the ward’s effect pour all through me, now that my magic is finally open and I can sense its true effect. It’s then that I feel a presence approach from the horse barn. I know without turning it’s my father; I give the dogs one last scratch and rise, facing him.

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