Page 179 of Bride of the Fae Prince

Amelia steps forward, holding her child close. King Ilbert tries to pull her back, but she pushes his hand away. “Please, Your Majesty, we mean no insult by coming. It is only that with the expansion of the fae borders, we have lost many.”

Stella knows this better than any of them, and if it was me on that throne, I likely would be offended. But she doesn’t take insult. She softens, her gaze warming at the little boy her sister carries.

“I will do what I can to restore the borders,” Stella announces, only the slightest hint of emotion in her voice. “It will take time, and it may not be safe for humans immediately. But you have my word that I will begin the process.”

And so, Stella dismissed the party, only to request a temporary recess a few moments later.

“You’re High Queen,” I remind her. “You don’t make requests. You order.”

She looks at me, eyes bright, her hands shaking just a smidge. “I forget sometimes.”

I continue hearing her subjects’ requests while she sneaks off to have a few private moments with her beloved sister before they are parted once more.

The High Queen

It takes tremendous effortto keep my composure together as I hurry down the hallway after my sister. My hands won’t stop shaking. I didn’t believe I would ever see her again!

Once, I traversed these hallways in fear. Now, the only thing I fear is that things will be different between my sister and I after all that has happened.

I round a corner, and there she is. Walking with King Ilbert, her son on her hip, as my guards escort them out of the palace. My throat tightens with emotion, but my voice doesn’t waver as I call out: “Stop!”

Amelia’s head whips back to me.

She’s not the same girl I left behind in Aursailles. She’s older. Matured. Her form isn’t twiglike like when she was eighteen. Her face has changed too, the glow of youth replaced by a sense of gravity and responsibility.

But her eyes still shine with warmth and heart, and if anything, she is only more beautiful.

Those eyes light with hope when I break into a run. She shoves her son to King Ilbert’s chest, and he takes the child as she bursts into a full sprint.

We collide in an explosion of tears and laughter. The lilac scent of her curls takes me back to the home we once shared. Our embrace is almost violent in its force, and I wouldn’t have it any other way as I press kisses to her forehead, her cheek, her hair.

“I never thought I’d see you again!” I cry.

“I cried formonthsafter you left!” she replies, wiping more tears off her cheek. “And then word came that the High King had been dethroned—you wouldn’t believe the conflicting reports we heard! Some said the High King had stepped off his throne. Others claimed Prince Trenian murdered him in cold blood to take it. But then the reports began converging on something I didn’t believe could bepossible. I didn’t truly believe it until I walked into that throne room!”

“I still have my days of disbelief myself,” I say, laughing.

Her cheeks, pink as a raspberry, stretch wide as her enthusiasm takes over. “You haven’t aged a day since I last saw you! I wish we brought Ilbert’s portrait painter with us so he could have captured Father’s face when he walked into that throne room!” Her words dissolve into giggles. Amelia hasn’t changed nearly as much as I believed. “He wasshockedto see how magnificent you are!”

The praise makes me uncomfortable, but I would be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed making Father squirm just a little bit. “Well, look at you! Look at yourson!”

“Isn’t he the most perfect thing you’ve ever seen?” she says, grinning back at the boy sleeping contentedly in Ilbert’s arms. “And you’re expecting your own!”

My hand falls to my stomach as warmth fills me. I open my mouth to reply, but Amelia keeps prattling on.

“I doubt you’ve heard, so I’ll tell you now! But Yvonne—you know how she was betrothed to that horrible man? Well, it was literally during their wedding banquet, after he’d made himself unbelievably drunk, that he just dropped dead! They say it washeart problems, but I think she might have killed him. Which, if she did, I applaud!”

“What?” I say, the only thing I can say in my shock.

“And then she ran off with one of his knights! A dashingly handsome one, apparently. No one has seen them since! It was the scandal of the century! As for Vivienne, she married that old king and had his heir before he died. She’s somehow made herself regent until her son comes of age. Can you believe it? As far as I know, Jacquelle is doing just fine in her marriage. Who knew she and I would be the only normal ones of the five of us?”

“Who knew, indeed,” I say. “I wish them all the best. Please tell them hello for me, if you see them.”

King Ilbert quietly approaches until he stands behind Amelia. There is fondness in the gaze he turns upon her, and respect in the one he turns upon me. “We will tell them.”

Amelia and I look at each other once more. She blinks hard to keep the tears at bay, and I chew my lip to do the same.

“This won’t be the last time we see each other,” I say. “I cannot allow you to come and go from Faerieland whenever you please, but I will find a way for us to see each other.Regularly.”

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