Page 41 of Finding Closure

“Smart dragon,” I sighed. “Yeah, there’s twelve layers for the twelve moons and blah, blah—it’s all bullshit. They get to watch the heir slowly take off her clothes and stand there for several minutes for their eyes and there’s nothing she can do about it.” I glanced at Neldor. “I thought you knew all of this.”

“No, I didn’t—I’ve never seen it, Tams,” he bit out.

“Well, yeah, but—sorry.”

“No, I am. I’m furious that you have to go through this—that our mothers did. So much was fucked up and I had no damn clue.” He scrubbed his hand over his face and looked beat up. “I knew the coronation was excessively long. Like graduation ceremony long and boring but…” He shook his head.

“Shael’s been reviewing the text and promised that she’s going to read at her lighting-fast speed and make it not so painful. We’ll tear into it later and trim it all down.”

“Let’s finish here and go see our new suite,” Lucca said, changing the topic and trying to help our mood. “I wanna see my new room and get the path to sneak into bed with you.”

“Of course you do. You better bring cream puffs if you do,” I teased, giving him a grateful look as I tried on the last layers.

“You can eat in your sleep now, cream puff?” he threw right back.

“It wouldn’t remotely be the weirdest thing I do if I did,” I drawled. I sighed once I had all the layers on. At least they were super light so they weren’t weighing me down. A few of them were just a vest or sash—not a full-body anything. “This train is ridiculous. All someone has to do to assassinate me is trip me.”

“Please don’t joke about that,” Darby said firmly.

I saw they all agreed and apologized, reminding them how many people voted for me to become queen and the changes we made to our security already.

“You look beautiful, shorty,” Hudson whispered as he stole a quick kiss. “I’m a bit shocked how understated it all… It’s on purpose.”

I nodded. “The ancients would all wear their best and shine like peacocks while they humble and then basically strip the heir and get her wet and kneeling for them. After, there’s the two weeks of time off where I meditate before I take over my role.”

“And what did the ancients do during that time?” Julian asked, getting there was more to this.

“Undermine the new queen,” I chuckled darkly. “They went all around behind her back and made declarations about her new government before she could, making promises in her name and more. My mother said she was completely blindsided because she was kept in a bubble during those two weeks to focus on the gods and her new role.

“She came out and all of these laws were already set, and she was held to so much it was disgusting. And she would have tocall the ancients liars which they didn’t do before me. Plus, what would have happened if she had? The ancients would have done what? Just let it go?”

“No, they would have said the gods didn’t bless her right or the power had gone to her head, so they needed to guide her more and basically take over,” Neldor seethed before his wings popped out he was so upset. He turned away from us and took several long breaths. “I’m sorry, baby doll. I’m sorry you ever had to be subjected to them and we didn’t listen to you right away.”

I swallowed loudly, realizing that I needed to hear that more and from more people. I’d really suffered a lot because of the ancients but not remotely as much as my mother or other family—Neldor’s family.

Which was why I decided to tell Faerie. I kept pushing for more transparency but then not being honest when I found things out because… I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t want to seem petty?

Maybe it was time to be a bit petty.

At least for my mom.

11

And I decided to bring receipts.

Lots of them.

Namely, Ancient Simimar’s journals that we had secured after his arrest. And journals from other ancients—light and dark.

I spent the next week with two trusted teams scouring everything for what I was looking for. I trained, went to class, ate, cleansed, and worked on this.

So I was more than ready for the interview that was being broadcast live all over Faerie.

“Why do this?” Essie, the journalist from the Faerie network, asked me to start. “You’ve been an advocate for moving forward and not looking back, so many of us wonder why you are doing this?”

“Because it’s fair,” I answered honestly. “I felt petty harping on this or embarrassing families because they had corrupt people in them when it involved my family and Neldor’s. But when the shoe was on the other foot and my grandmother did something horrible—assuming that man really was my uncle—I was transparent about it.

“I was ready to shame her and out her evil deed because it was fair, but I wasn’t going to shame others to defend her and the reasons that led to what she did. People constantly think mymother should have done more and I agreed with them, but now learning how Faerie screwed her, I think she’s insane to have given her life for so many who hurt her.”

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