Page 19 of Finding Closure

I did one for the power it took to wake Neldor when Faerie realized I’d been about to give up and desperate. The power that had left me wounded in a way we hadn’t known how to heal.

Then I started with the magic it would take to wake one normal, average adult fairy who was no older than fifty. Five of them. Twenty. Fifty.

A hundred.

Two hundred.

Five hundred.

A thousand.

Until the last one of the highest I’d done was half a million. And that didn’t take into account when there were nobles or powerful fairies who took more power. How draining it was toawaken the corrupt ancients who scared and threatened me. Who everyone had originally believed over me and had almost broken me mentally.

Then I had a thought and added how much power it took to heal the wing of a fairy.

“Princess, what’s going on here?” a worried female voice asked me.

I turned to see Leigh, the CEO of the fae media network. “I won’t go back. I won’t let everything backslide to me being—I won’t go back to constantly worrying everyone will eat me. I’m so tired of it, Leigh. It’s never enough.”

“I think you need to cleanse, Your Highness,” she said quietly. “You’ve been pushing and pushing. Things aren’t as bad as—”

“My dad won’t be here soon to protect me from it all,” I cut in. “And when he’s gone, I won’t have the push to keep fighting all of this in my mother’s memory. I’ll just walk away.” I wiped my eyes. “I’ll just walk away and be happy if that’s possible for someone like me.”

“You’re grieving,” she rasped.

“Don’t grieve for me, Daughter,” Lageos said gently before coming and giving me a bear hug. “Things aren’t as they were. I will show you, and then you will show the people what you have done here, okay?”

“I’m tired, Dad,” I whispered.

He leaned away and cupped my cheek. “I know. I know you are and how hard you’ve worked. Constantly. Others have seen it too. I promise you.”

“Every time I think maybe my soul can heal, they hurt it again,” I finally admitted. “I don’t want to live like that.”

“It’s different this time, shorty,” Hudson said from behind me before lifting me up in his arms. “Trust us, okay? People are on your side and fighting the stupid.”

“I’m hungry.”

“Me too. River is starving but wants to see this first.”

“Okay, whatever River wants.”

Which was clearly why he said that.

My dad teleported us to the center of a city—where, I wasn’t sure. I also wasn’t sure the point of that, barely caring and simply wanting to snuggle up to Hudson and just eat.

But then something caught my eye.

Something bright red.

A flag?

I glanced over and saw it was a bright red flag hanging from a window. I was about to ask what that meant when I saw another one. Lifting my head, I saw the whole row of apartments and townhomes along the street had red flags hanging from their windows.

“Dear gods, tell me that’s not how fairies declare war or something?” I whispered, ready to break down sobbing.

“No, apparently, it’s a new idea of how to support their redheaded future queen, Your Highness,” Morgan said as he came into view.

“I don’t…” I glanced all around and tapped Hudson’s arm so he set me on my feet. He did and turned with me as he hugged me to him.

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