Page 4 of Silent Secrets

Happily ever after can only come once.

Easy, it will not be, love never is.

Guaranteed success only with the four,

Betrayed, she thinks she is; they would never.

Trust is proven; the five are the future.

The crown and the throne they will take as theirs.

Once more, prosperity will rule the land.

Love and unity, the Fae will be one.

“That is the prophecy that was spoken of in my memory, but in order to understand it, you will need to know more about our people.”

Our people?I try to think back and recall that she’d called us Fae. I haven’t had time to process that, and I don’t understand what it means. Fairies? Elves? I mean, she does have pointed ears.

“I can see your mind working. The Fae were the first people, and we are from here in Sorlphi. I cannot say for sure exactly when the goddess created us, but it was millennia upon millennia ago.

“Eventually, our numbers grew too large, and we were running out of space. It was then that the goddess showed our queen the portals to the other realms—eight besides our own. So our people set out to these new realms, bringing their magic with them. Only the magic didn’t react the same in these new realms. The Fae began to adapt and change, becoming something new in each realm.

“You will eventually need to learn about each realm, but that isn’t important right now. L’Airid is the mortal realm where you were raised. The Fae that relocated to L’Airid lost all of their magic—including their long lifespans, which is why we refer to it as the mortal realm. Because we were the first people, you will often hear the realms referred to as the Fae Realms.”

Grace pauses, eyes locking with mine. “I still have much to tell you, but I do not wish to keep you frozen throughout it. I will allow you freedom of movement if you agree to let me finish. If you do not, I will just freeze you again.”

I try to nod, but obviously, that doesn’t work. Grace waits another moment before nodding and pulling a pouch from her belt, pouring its contents onto the table. There are a handful of rocks and gems, some of which seem familiar to me, but I couldn’t tell you the name of them, along with some herbs.

Grace picks up a stone that is a combination of yellows, reds, and oranges as well as a few herbs, squeezing them in her hand as she speaks in that unknown yet familiar language. After a few seconds, I’m able to move again and sigh in relief as my shoulders drop.

“Can you not do that again?”

Grace raises her eyebrows. “As long as you behave, I won’t have to.”

“Behave?” I bite out, cutting off the rest of my response when she makes a face. I hold up my hands in surrender. I’m pissed and I have so many questions, but not having my ability to move and speak isn’t an experience I wish to repeat. “Of course, please continue.”

Even though I’m seething on the inside, being frozen makes me very uncomfortable. Not being in control of my body and its movements? It’s a great fear of mine and I’ve had many nightmares where that is exactly what happens. So for now, I’ll play along.

“Good. Now, where was I?” Grace taps a finger on her chin. “Oh, yes. Sorlphi used to be ruled by one queen who held the power of all four elements. The goddess blessed the first queen and the subsequent queens were her descendants, so they also had access to all four elements as well. They ruled over the Fae for many millennia, both before and after our people left for the new realms.”

Grace pauses and I wait for her to continue, but she seems to have become lost in her thoughts. “You said one queen used to rule?”

Grace shakes her head as if to pull herself from her thoughts as she frowns. “Someone assassinated the last Fae queen shortly after she took the throne upon her mother’s death. She was an only child and had yet to have any children of her own. This left Sorlphi without a ruler, and our people panicked.

“The Fae are, and have always been, separated into four minor courts: Autumn, Spring, Summer, and Winter Fae. Our elemental magic originates with the minor court from which we are born.”

“Elemental magic?” I don’t realize that I’ve spoken aloud until Grace glares at me. She kind of scares me and I don’t think it’s just because she seems to be some kind of sorcerer. But I also have even more questions. She keeps mentioning the four elements, so is this what she means by elemental magic? And what can be done with that magic?

Like I said, so many questions.

I grimace, pushing the questions down before gesturing for her to continue. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”

“Upon the death of our last Fae Queen, the leaders of the minor courts formed the two major courts that currently rule Sorlphi: the Seelie and the Unseelie. The Seelie Court is comprised of the Spring and Summer minor courts, and the Unseelie is the Autumn and Winter courts. They married their eldest children to one another so that their children would then have the magic of each minor court and have access to two elemental powers. They then passed a law that the minor courts could no longer marry or breed outside of their own courts. This ensured that the rulers would be the only Fae to wield more than one element. They assumed it was a Fae of mixed blood who assassinated the Fae Queen in a bid to take over the throne and said that the law was to prevent this from happening again.”

All I can do is blink as I try to take in all the information she’s given me. It’s so much at once, and I don’t understand why she’s telling me all of this. If she wanted to confuse me by overloading me with information, she’s accomplished that.

“I understand that this is a lot of information,” Grace says, as if she can read my mind. When she reaches for my hand, I yank it out of her reach. I’m sure that she wants to reassure me with her touch, but all it will do is set me further on edge. I don’t know her from Adam, and I don’t trust her touch.

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