Page 130 of Fae Reckoning

“Oh,”Midnight Blue said, canting her head to one side. “I guess that’s okay.”

Zafi peeked out from behind her crossed arms. “I guess I, uh, kinda misinterpreted things.”

Midnight Blue whirled around. “Yeah, you did. We’d never kick you out.” Her little shoulders softened. “We missed you, Zaf.”

Next Zafi disappeared behind a pile of sniffling, laughing parvnits—or MISOs.

One on the outside of their huddle had shocking violet hair.

“Kamilah?” I said hesitantly.

She turned with a wave of violet. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for helping me swipe that icepick. I never got to use it, but it was the thought that counted.”

Kamilah winked. “You got it. You already paid me back and then some.”

“Yeah well, we’re allies, aren’t we?”

“Always,” came Zafi’s muffled voice. “You’re never gonna get rid of me, El.”

“Hey,” Midnight Blue protested. “You belong with us in the Nerotti Forest.”

Zafi peeked out from around them. “Maybe. Nothing says I can’t be here and there.”

Midnight Bluetskedsternly. “We’ll see about that.”

Then Zafi’s little face disappeared behind the affection of her own again, her acorn hat wobbling perilously.

If the MISO’s greatest problem was beingtoowanted, I was counting it as another win. The day was piling up with them.

I dropped a kiss to Saffron’s head before resting my cheek on the soft scales of his crest. Tension slipped from me like I was a deflating cushion.

“Come on, best friend,” Pru said, her hand patting my leg. “Elowyn needs some sleep before she has to be queen.”

Without complaint, I allowed her to lead me to Rush, and I didn’t protest either when he scooped me up into his arms, took me to bed, shrugged us out of our clothes and weapons, and curled his body around mine like I was the most precious gift of all our many blessings.

40.THERE’S ALWAYS GOOD WITH THE BAD, WE’RE FOREVER

ELOWYN

As the days passed, so did the signs of battle. Gradually, the palace was restored to such fullness that it was as if the destruction and chaos had never happened—as if the evil, imposter queen had never existed at all.

It was a far greater challenge to erase the evidence of her tyranny from her supposed subjects. The Mirror World’s most skilled healers worked tirelessly to repair her victims’ bodies, and thanks to the superior healing of the fae, many whom I’d assumed lost to us were recovering. But the memories of every horrid thing she’d done hung heavily around us as a whole, like a mantle we couldn’t quite shrug. It was like a noose around my neck that, while loose, was still there, a constant threat I yearned to forget.

The shadow was finally gone, yet she continued to cast a pall that stretched out long in front of us as if the sun were at our backs.

“Give it time,” Xeno’s voice called out, and I turned to find him approaching me in the gardens.

“How’d you know to find me here?”

I’d left Saffron with Hiroshi, who spoiled the dragonling, while Rush and his brothers performed a final sweep of the dungeons to make sure we hadn’t missed anybody. As quickly as had been possible, we’d freed every creature and person, including the humans. We’d had to carve a tunnel into the bowels of the palace to get the dragons out, but fae with relevant powers were quick to volunteer for the task.

The dragons had at first refused the aid of our healers, but in the end Einar and I’d convinced them. Their injuries had been so grave that many would require prolonged treatment, and some would forever carry scars.

“You forget how well I know you,” Xeno said as he sidled up beside me, his gaze sweeping my body, probably noting that I was tired despite sleeping. Every new step I took in filling the role of queen, I discovered more traces of Talisa, more signs of her atrocities. Disgust had been a constant lately; nausea clogged my throat.

“In Nightguard, you always loved watching the dragons,” Xeno said.

---