Page 1 of Finding Closure

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Several things changed after I woke Elora and she cut my connection to Faerie. The big one for me was that I started spending more time in Faerie. It wasn’t the place I feared anymore, and it was simply a place—a planet… Where I belonged.

It was fucking glorious.

While everyone was focused on the tradition to lay her to rest and what should be changed given what she’d done, my mind was somewhere else.

Somewhere probably a bit selfish.

I found floor plans, maps, and blueprints of my castle and made copies of them so I could do what I wanted with them.

And I wanted to do a lot.

Because now I could. Now I could see my future of living there and residing in Faerie.

“Agra?” Darby whispered when he found me in the dining room after second or third dinner going over everything. “What is all of this?”

“I’m plotting some renovations,” I admitted, clearing my throat nervously since I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be and I hadn’t told anyone yet.

“Yeah? What are you thinking?” he asked easily as he moved over to me. He rubbed his eyes and put back on his glassesbefore doing a double take at whatever was on my face. “I would do the same, Tams. It’s your home, but it hasn’t felt that way because of Faerie’s hold on you. Fuck, I think wanting to update your castle is the calmest, nicest reaction.”

Meaning they’d been worried I could have other ones?

I ignored that and showed him where I was at when he asked. “I can’t touch my mom and dad’s suite. I can’t. I won’t.” I cleared my throat again and hurried on. “Plus, it’s not enough room. I think I close off this hallway in the residence wing on the fourth floor and make it one huge suite. With six bedrooms.”

“Six,” he repeated. “Smart to plan ahead. Sure.”

“Yeah?” I hedged, not sure it was smart or was too much.

He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Always nice to have an extra room or two even if someone doesn’t use it. We have a lot of crap after all. Hell, the castle might not be big enough to fit us.”

I chuckled. Of course, Darby would make this easy on me.

I showed him my rough sketch of how to make it work. There were currently three suites on each side of the hallway so six total. But we didn’t each need our own sitting room and study. I thought we should keep a couple of studies there just in case we wanted to work for the day but not have to deal with people.

Yes, I was actually an introvert at heart. I knew people didn’t believe that, but all thepeopleof my meetings were the exhausting part.

Not the content or work itself.

But we would all need offices or studies to work from. I knew that.

“I think you should do a full new tour,” Darby muttered as he went through it all. “Even ask for advice on like a fairy interior designer to work with Izzy and Irma. It’s a new age of not just a Vale queen or of the light realm, but Queen of Faerie. You wantto incorporate all of that.” He smiled at me. “It gives you a fresh start but alsoFaerie.”

“I love that big brain of yours just as much as I love you, my prickly pear,” I whispered, touched down to my soul that he fully understood and saw what I needed.

He smiled and hugged me, giving me a soft kiss and asking we go back to bed because I needed the rest. He won.

I went, but my mind was racing with ideas and possibilities now.

The next morning, I brought the guys, my dad, and Izzy to Faerie to help. Irma was already there since she was in charge of everything day-to-day. There was an actual castle like… Historian? Keeper? I wasn’t sure the official royal title he had, but he was a very timid and quiet man.

But powerful. He was ancient and powerful. I could feel it and knew that was why no one fucked with him. I thanked him for joining us on such short notice.

“Now that I can live in the castle, I want to start getting things ready including some renovations for my needs,” I explained to all of them. “I’m open to suggestion—of course—and I do want to be warned if I’m about to step in something. But…” I glanced at my dad. “It’s time for a clean slate for a lot of things.

“Including this won’t just be the home of the Queen of the Light Realm. I want to incorporate some of the dark realm and the human world as well. This is a fresh start for them, not just me, but any ruler of Faerie to be free of the hold Faerie had on us. It’s also a new start of peace for the people of Faerie. I want to—I can’t touch your suite, but I have ideas.”

“I think that’s more than expected and not something that would upset anyone as long as you are careful with the history of the Vale castle, Your Highness,” the man said, but with a hesitant look.

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