Page 11 of Fates of Monsters

“It’s the first time I’ve seen genuine emotion from her,” Lorenzo jokes, but there is a seriousness to it. He didn’t enjoy seeing her cry, and hearing Emerson might have been gone broke him too.

“We barely got out, and it was pure luck,” I explain.

Emerson links his arms around my waist, pulling me onto his lap. “I’ve explained everything, Doe. Even if he is confused because he doesn’t remember like I do.”

The power of no god, no spell, can withstand the swords or crowns. The sword’s words echo in me. If the crown broke the spell on Emerson, then I wonder if my sword can break the spell on Lorenzo, too. “Lorenzo, give me the sword. Please.”

He looks at Emerson and then back at me. “Do as she says. She’s your queen.” Emerson’s command is near enough a bark, and I shiver.

Lorenzo sighs like we are both insane and grabs my sword, wincing. “It doesn’t want anyone to hold it but you. It hurts to even touch it.” Lorenzo is quick about dropping it on the bed next to me and stepping away.

Posy rolls her eyes at me. “I carried it here, and it didn’t hurt me.”

“Maybe that has more to do with the blood in our veins, Posy. We are children of goddesses, and this sword was made to be wielded by the gods alone,” I explain to them all, picking up the heavy sword and feeling the power flow through me. I look at Lorenzo. “Put your hand out, please.”

He clearly doesn’t trust me, but he does trust Emerson. I press the tip of my sword into his hand, cutting a line down his palm. He barely shows there’s any pain, but he pauses. It seems like forever as all of just watch him. He just stands there, completely silent before his eyes widen slightly. He looks at Posy first, something unspoken between them before he playfully grins at me, rubbing his palm. “Hello, little faeling. It’s about damn time you’re our queen.”

Relief floods through me. He remembers who I am. Lorenzo scoops me out of Emerson’s arms, and Emerson growls as Lorenzo wraps me in a tight hug. I hug him back just as tight. “I’m sorry I forgot.”

“It was my fault. I made the deal, and I just wanted to save you all,” I mutter. “But that’s in the past. What, or who, is coming for us is far worse.”

Posy looks at me as Lorenzo puts me down. “We know. I’ve seen him destroy two cities now. Goldway is gone, nothing but ruins and dead souls. You need to explain to me why you didn’t want me going to my mother to break the curse on them with Paxton.”

I’m shocked silent. Goldway is gone? There were millions living in that city, and they had defenses… they can’t just be gone. No. Emerson looks right at Posy. “Explain what happened to Goldway.”

She looks at Lorenzo, who answers. “After we thought you were dead, our people demanded we had to make a plan. Many of the fae here had people they loved in Goldway, and I knew that we needed every fighter we could get, and we had to help who we could. I made a plan with the inner court, and we went with a big team to Goldway to save as many as we could. We focused on children and females first, and sent patrols into the city with Zurine’s help. We were there half a day before he came.”

“He knew, or must have heard, that we were there,” Posy continues on. “He came off the coast with the boats, and I knew he was going to do what he did in Junepit City. We got everyone we could to the portals, and even as he destroyed the city, people were still flooding through the mirrors. We saved maybe two thousand, but most were children and females.”

“Not fighters, per se,” Lorenzo corrects. “Goldway thought they could keep up their defense, but they could not. They had evacuated a good portion of the city into the wastelands, and we will go for them next. I don’t know how long people are going to survive out there with no food. We barely got out with our own lives, and yet the city fell, and there was nothing we could do to stop his power.”

I touch the blade. I know the guilt of what Louie has done with my power is going to haunt me forever. All I can do now is stop him for the future. “It’s my fault. That power, it comes from me. He took it from me, and he’s using it to kill millions. He will just keep killing until there’s nothing left unless I can stop him now with this sword.”

“We are at war.” Emerson rises to my side. “He’s going to come here next. We are the last big city in this world, beside the witches.” He looks at Lorenzo. “The witches are your family, and we need their army to side with us. Your fiancée is close to the queen. Could you get them to come here? Side with us? If we fight from here, perhaps with two dominant races, we could beat him.”

“I could go to them and demand an audience with the queen,” Lorenzo agrees, his eyes drifting to Posy. “Though, my fiancée might not be entirely happy with the news I have for her.”

“Perhaps keep that to yourself for now,” Emerson suggests. “War is the threat we must be focused on. We all need to survive, and it’s not like you’ve taken your mate yet. Your scents are not blended. No one will be able to tell.”

“I don’t know why you’re bothering to tell her at all. I don’t want you or care,” Posy snaps.

Lorenzo groans. “Can I speak to another one of your personalities, Posy? Number twenty-five, if possible; she is the nice one.”

Posy only snarls at him, the sound more animal than mortal. He must know she makes the portals now, and she isn’t all mortal. If he knows the truth about her, I doubt he would be pissing her off when she can throw him out the window, or he just doesn’t care if she does. I step between them when the air in the room seems to shimmer with magic. “How is Nerelyth?”

The tension dies along with the magic, and the look in Posy’s eyes makes my heart hurt. She doesn’t answer my question, and I know why. “Do you want me to take you to her? Maybe you can… get through to her. It’s dangerous for us to send any healers in there. She doesn’t hurt me, but she won’t speak or reply to me.”

Emerson touches my hip, wrapping his hand around me. “There’s something we must do first before it is safe here. You’ve been attacked before, and I won’t take that chance.”

My shoulders drop a little. I want to see Nerelyth, but Emerson is right. “Also, we are both covered in mud from the battle. We should clean up.”

Posy crosses her arms. “Nerelyth might appreciate the shower… like the rest of us.”

I glare at her as Emerson leads me from the room, Lorenzo and Posy staying behind. He looks back at his brother. “Call the court. Everyone must attend.” After I open the door, Emerson leans down to my ear. “Come, my queen. We must show the court that they have a new fae queen, and if anyone touches a single hair on your head, they are dead.”

“So romantic with your death threats,” I mutter, knowing he is serious, and he would murder anyone who even thought about hurting me. “I don’t want them scared of me.”

His tone is unapologetic. “I do.”

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