Page 83 of The Maleficent Faerie
“Gladly I take your place, sister.” Dawn leans over and presses her lips to Aura’s rosy ones.
I hold my breath.
Seconds tick by.
No movement. No response.
“Fuck.” A shattered whisper from my tightening throat. Tears sting my eyes.
Dawn rises, smoothing her riding frock. She faces me, nods grimly. “It’s you, then.”
“What?” I rasp.
“I love her more than any of them, and my kiss didn’t work. It’s you. You love her best. Or did you know that already?”
“It can’t be me. How could it, after so short an acquaintance—”
“Stop making that excuse.” Dawn’s eyes spark. “Sometimes, in a time of crisis, you come to know a person more intimately than you could from years of placid existence. You’re the one who can wake her, Majesty. Whether you do it or not is up to you.”
I’m about to reply when a searing pulse of energy strikes my body, an invisible concussive wave. It hits Dawn, too—I see her sway on her feet.
“What was that?” She stares, eyes wide.
Alarm convulses my heart, and I turn, racing down the steps of Aura’s tower. I ask each servant and guard I pass if they felt the disturbance—every single one of them did, human or Fae.
Something has happened. Something widespread, something terrible.
I run to the parapet above the palace gates, raise my staff, and call my ravens. They come to me in a great flock, drawn from the forests, the fields, the palace aerie, the watchtowers.
“Go with all speed,” I tell them. “Find out what has happened.” And I send out a burst of Void magic to hasten them on their way. For once, my magic works as intended. Perhaps it is settling into place again.
Or perhaps—
Perhaps I already know what has happened. But I don’t want to believe it. My soul rages against it.
I stand on the parapet, my robes tossed by the wind, my wings pinned to my back.
One by one, my knights arrive. Fitzell, newly returned from the border, is first to come to my side. Her brown, freckled face is tense with concern. Then I spot Kyan, wheeling high above the topmost tower of Kartiya, surveying the distance. Ember perches on the tower’s peak, his bat-wings outlined against the sky.
Andras moves in on my left, with Vandel beyond him. A few more gather as well, silently waiting with me for news.
A few hours pass, and during that time, my wounds begin to close. Slowly they seal, and the skin regrows over raw muscle, leaving faint scars to mark the edges of each wound.
My face is tingling as well, alive with a strange crawling sensation. I remove my mask and turn to Fitzell, a question in my eyes.
“My Lord,” she says quietly, confirming my unspoken question with a nod. Her smile says she is happy to see me healed, but her furrowed brow echoes my own fears about what that healing could mean.
At last my favorite raven, Roanna, glides down from the heights and lands on my right arm. Her tiny claws graze my new skin gently, almost a caress.
Ember and Kyan swoop down to us, eager for the news the raven brings.
This time, when Roanna locks eyes with me, there is reluctance in her glossy black gaze. She doesn’t want to communicate this message. But she has no choice—our minds are already synchronizing.
I see it as she did—the explosion of the protective barrier around Midunnel. The barrier I created bursting into fragments, dissolving into nothing. I witness the resurgence of the Edge, encroaching even farther into this realm, swallowing border towns and farms, blotting out Ru Gallamet entirely.
Thank the goddess I brought the servants and Szazen to Kartiya with me, but my Spindle and Wheel are gone. They took years to construct, and they required materials so rare I’m not sure I can replace them.
It’s over. And with my equipment gone, I will not be able to try Aura’s blood again after her birthday passes.
