Page 95 of Royal Lies

"He's not here, and he can't be here ifyoudon't find a way to bring him back. That book could help.Wecan bringeveryoneback, all that we lost, with a spell. Butyouhave to make it Evie, please." Akasuki pleaded, her white hair fading to a blond wave as her once glowing red eyes withered into a deep blue tone against her alabaster skin.

She was right, the lands were dying, or it had been before we had given our own magic to help replenish the lands. But it was too much; we couldn't do this alone. As much as I hated to admit it, Lucarious and that witch were taking far too long to reincarnate. We won't last long if all the land does is take fromus. In the Fae Realm, nothing is free, not even the green or frozen tundra we live in. Not the humid air or fresh breeze we breathe in. In this realm, a realm made by our founding beasts, the creatures of legends, only the lines of the royal family can sustain it.

I don't know the specifics or how diluted the blood would need to be for it to no longer be able to contribute to giving back to the lands. All I know is that the royal family's blood which was magically infused with the power of great creatures, the Sphinx, Mermaid, Chimera, and Dragon, is the only thing that can sustain the magic of the Fae Realm.

Long ago these four creatures gifted magic to the fae. Four fae in particular were chosen. It was their lineage that would then contain the magic of these great creatures who have now gone extinct due to hunting, old age, etc. I am ashamed to know that my ancestors have done such a dishonorable thing against such great creatures. Nevertheless, the past can not be changed.

The magic in these four lineages' bloodlines would then be siphoned off bit by bit depending on the number of how much of the royal family there was. Or so Everetta had told me. I'm not sure of the specifics. It was far more complicated than siphoning I’m sure, but in simple terms, as Everetta, had told me that was it. The land siphoned from the lines of the royal family. Which was why they always had to sit on the throne or be alive. Without them, the land would start to rot.

As time passed the Sphinx linked together with the Phoenix line, a branch of the Chimera and Dragon. Their princess married the tyrant king and he quickly changed the court's name to Phoenix instead of Sphinx. As for the Wolves, my court. My father had done the same to ensure that his lands would not rot. Since his blood was too diluted to rule the Mermaid Court on his own, he married the Princess of the Mermaids. To be quite honest it was more of a forced arranged marriage. After he had plundered their ocean and froze it over. The Mermaids were too weak to fight back against someone who also had the backing of the Griffin Queen.

As to how I could rule the court, Everetta told me it had something to do with the half of my soul she gave me. How it translated to blood I will never know. When I had asked her about it Everetta refused to tell me more.

This was also why Everetta was so strong. All I know is that she had the bloodline of all the ancient creatures Sphinx, Mermaid, Chimera, and Dragon. She doesn't like nor does she allow anyone to dig out the origins of her genes. I assume it wasjust a perfect match of her biological parent's genetics. As to why the names Sphinx, Mermaid, and Dragon are not in her name well it was because the former Queen of the Griffins.

The queen had decided to name her after the current courts instead of what they used to be, so Phoenix was in place of Sphinx. As to why I do not know. In the Fae Realm the longer your name the greater the power you had, because it took immeasurable magic to give a name to a child. So the fae without magic would go to the churches and have the priests, who had magic, to name their child.

The Chimera lineage turned into the Griffin because not many fae had the same amount of magic as a Chimera was supposed to have. To not taint the name of a Chimera with the disgrace of their lack of power they changed it to Griffin. The details of how the magic in their blood still worked confused me but Everetta said I wouldn't understand so she never explained more to me. I never felt the need to dig further for there are some things in this realm that youdo notneed to find out.

As for the Dragons, they never changed, they were the sole court that never altered monarchies throughout the years.

"He's gone? No- No- NO- NO-NO!" Everetta cried as tears streamed down her face as she gripped onto the side of her head. Pulling, tugging, yanking against her strands of honey. Her eyes glowed gold in her rage.

"Wecanbring him back!" I bellowed as I tried to calm her. Tried to stop her from harming herself, from pulling out more of her beautiful curls. She was lucky I still had enough magic to regrow her strands.

"Everetta please calm yourself!?” I struggled to retrain her as she stared back at me, her golden eyes glistening with tears as she no doubt replayed those disastrous events in the Garden.

"I killed him, Eli.Ikilled him." She cried in mourning as she sagged into my arms, tears racking her body. I held her close trying to soothe her.

"That's enough Evie! You can sit here for another eight sun cycles or we canfinda way to bring him back. Pull your-damn-self together. The land will rot, Eli and I have been straining ourselves to keep this land alive. We've even had to ask the remaining fae to pitch in. Evie, our blood isnotenoughanymore. Eli's blood is not enough. We've had to give back magic from the damn source Evie! Soon enough blood sacrifices will be needed." Akasuki started pulling Everetta away from my arms as she gripped Everetta's wrists in her hands.

"Listen to me, I know you're grieving. I know what Fly- whathisdeath means to you. But you have to understand, my blood, the citizen's blood, isnotenough. They don't carry as much of the ancient magic as Eli's or yours. We need to find a way to sustain the land and reincarnate those we've lost. Doyouunderstand, Evie!" Akasuki continued, not a question but a demand as she stared back at the glowing golden eyes of Everetta. Then a slow nod shook Everetta's head as her hands waved over the book.

"A reincarnation spell?" Everetta muttered so quietly I could barely hear it. It was as if she wasn't sure what she was saying either.

"It requires dark magic or Phoenix blood. But that won't save the land." She began quietly at first as her hand slowly moved across the pages. Then quicker, her hands glided across the page as her glow slowly returned to her. She'd always loved magic. For a brief moment as I glanced across to Akasuki catching her fading red eyes I smiled. Hope was finally back.

Maybe it was the idea that Flynn might be able to return that spewed her on, or perhaps the news of the realm dying. I was sure it was the former rather than the ladder.

"Magic, blood, death, and the land of the old, the creature of the ancients. I can create a spell. I could- I could do it." Everetta nodded as a glint of a smile crossed her lips.

"I could bringthemback." She gasped out relief coating her shimmering tears. A smile trembled against her lips.

And so it went. We spent days coming up with a solution and by we I mean I handled the court matters as Everetta and Akasuki searched for a solution.

Two sun cycles had passed when the door to my office at the time slammed open as a radiating Everetta smirked back at me. Though it was lacking the glow of her past self she was alive again. Thank lords.

“?I found it. A way we could save the lands and everyone." So she claimed. I was pretty sure the only fae she aimed for that spell to truly work on was my younger brother.

She explained how we needed to die, the magic release from our deaths combined should be enough to last the lands until we returned. The reincarnation spell we use to reincarnate ourselves after we die would resurrect us. It would have been a problem to cast the spell seeing as it required a sacrifice. However, since we need to die to get reincarnated and give magic back to the lands it was no issue. A loophole of sorts.

There was, however, no current spell for reincarnating at a specific time. Since Everetta wanted to reincarnate after her mother came back and I wanted to be able to ascend to the throne once more there was no choice but to reincarnate at a certain period after our parents had reincarnated. There was also the matter of whatever other nonsense Everetta was spouting about the magic. How our magic needed to also go into the land and not just be released into the air or go in some other newborn fae. As well as a spell that would make our bodies the exact same way they were now. Then also have our memoriesintact as we reincarnate. Everetta needed to use her ability to form a new spell with her gift of light magic.

The only issue wasshe needed to diefirstand use some of that magic as she died to cast the spell. For, her ability came at a cost, it required a large amount of magic to create, which she used to have a massive amount of magic. Our bodies took in the magic in the lands as well as gave it back.

Now since the lands were so depleted it only took. The lands never gave back anymore. I believe Everetta once described it as a sort of recycling cycle? I'm not quite sure of the mechanism behind it but basically, Everetta needs to cast the magic on her last breath, as her magic fades from her body infusing with that of the lands, to form a new spell. Which meant I had to watch her die. If the last two decades weren’t hard enough I had to physically see her close her eyes as she left this world. I couldn’t go through that again. So I did what I needed to do. I found the one fae who’s lands had detached from the Fae Realm and made a bargain with him. Alexander Chamaeleonidae Corvus Aquetos Dragon, the ruler of the Dragon Court otherwise known as Dracool.

Chapter 29

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