28. Aflora
I squeezed Kols’s hand,sensing his tension.
We both knew what Constantine’s words implied and how they might be perceived, but I felt the earth source shining down upon me. Which meant Sol could sense it, too.
His green-brown irises met mine over Claire’s head, his concern evident in his features. But one look and his lips curled at the edges.
He knew I was still me. Just a new and improved version.
An enhanced one.
More powerful.
But still an Earth Fae at heart.
I curtsied to my Elemental Fae Queen, showing my respect. “Queen Claire,” I greeted softly. A few months ago, I would have run up and begged her to take me home. But seeing her now, surrounded by her mates, I realized that they no longer represented my preferred haven.
The Midnight Fae realm was my home now, my roots having grown deep into the soil of this world and claimed it as my own.
Because of my mates.
And the dark source.
These fae needed me more, too. They required my light and life to guide them into a phase of regrowth and prosperity.
Which required me to do something destructive first.
Something I would never have considered doing just weeks ago.
But I’d learned through my trials that sometimes we must destroy to pave the way for re-creation. For life could not exist without death.
Constantine was a bad seed, his mentality so warped by wrongness that he could no longer see the light. Being a queen required tough choices, and this would be my burden to bear.
My final ascension trial.
Returning the bad seed to the earth, where it could eventually be reborn and blossom into something good.
Claire studied me, her blue irises intense and guarded as memories flashed through her eyes. I recognized the haunted gleam in her features because I often felt it myself when I thought about Elana. She’d destroyed nearly all the Spirit Fae with a plague that she’d later turned on the Earth Fae.
I’d felt that dark magic, had absorbed and dismantled it before it could reach the heart of my source. I hadn’t understood it at the time, my mind working on protective instinct alone, but now I knew that gift had come from Zakkai.
As his Quandary Blood mate, I’d been able to save my fellow Earth Fae by reconfiguring Elana’s spell and pushing it away from my kingdom.
Which meant I’d been an abomination all along, since the young age of seven.
Yet I lived in peace with my fellow Elemental Fae. And now I would share that peace with the Midnight Fae.
“I’m not a threat,” I told her softly. “It’s not how much power we have that matters; it’s how we use it.” And if anyone would understand that, it would be Claire. As an Elemental Fae with access to all five elements, she knew better than anyone what power could do to a fae.
“Being connected to two sources makes you beyond powerful,” Constantine seethed. “It makes you wicked and deceitful, and I’ll ensure that everyone sees through this charade you’ve created.” Inky wisps of energy seeped from his fingertips while he spoke, but no one else seemed to notice.
The dark source protested in my heart, telling me this wasn’t the way, begging me to fix it.
This was the magic he’d used to manipulate and control others, the wicked spell that had consumed two Elite Bloods and likely several others.
Tadmir’s obsidian gaze met mine, knowledge sprouting from his depths.
He can’t see it, but he can feel it,Zakkai explained. Just like me. Although, I can sense it more clearly through your mind.
It’s like black tendrils of smoke, I told him. Pouring out of him in waves.
This is his final stand,Zakkai whispered as the power strengthened, sending electric sparks across my psyche.
Yes.
But I wasn’t going to fight Constantine.
Enough fae had been injured and hurt by his games and antics. I wanted to blossom on a platform of regrowth and life. Not stand on the skulls of those who had wronged fae kind.
This kingdom had been ruled by death for far too long.
It was time to demonstrate what vitality and light could do.
Constantine sent his power outward on a rush of air, touching the souls of everyone nearby, even Claire. But I caught the roots before they could connect to the cores of their beings.
And I gently pulled it back, refusing to allow their spirits to be tarnished by his darkness anymore.
“Constantine Nacht,” I said, my voice carrying through the LethaForest and beyond. “You rule from a throne of destruction and hate. It’s time for a new era of re-creation and love.”
I pulled his spell into my staff while I spoke, the black ribbons easily responding to my call.
“Abominations are not who should be feared. They’re beings of love, created by fae who choose to mate outside their kingdoms to other beings of similar but different heritages. That’s something to be celebrated, not destroyed.” I looked at the Elemental Fae Monarch. “Wouldn’t you agree, Queen Claire?”
She was a Halfling, a being born of an Elemental Fae and a human. But because of her mortal half, no one seriously referred to her as an abomination—just a few used it as an insult when feeling cruel. However, was it really so different?
“I would,” she replied, her tone regal, her head high. “Love is the most powerful element of all.”
“Emotions are powerful tools,” I agreed, returning my attention to Constantine. He’d created more of that smoke, his expression impassive in his attempt not to give anything away. Because he had no idea I could see him for who he really was—a broken soul trapped in the body of a powerful Elite Blood Elder.
Destroying his shell wouldn’t fix the darkness inside him.
He needed to live. To see. To witness.
His fate appeared to me in the blink of an eye, the dark source agreeing with my decision in my next breath as I began to spin those obsidian fibers into vine-like roots near his feet.
He didn’t notice, too focused on creating more… and more… his desire to manipulate and control consuming him from the inside out and blackening his ability to decipher his destiny.
He was a being of his own creation.
Dark ire.
Obsidian flames.
Obsessive soul.
Tadmir gave a brief nod, having either seen my intent or felt it, I didn’t know. But Zakkai’s palm squeezing mine suggested the latter. Because he could see the enchantment forming now, weaving around and through Constantine’s legs as the Elder continued to exude power.
He didn’t seem to understand why it wasn’t working, his frustration beginning to mar his brow as he issued a demand through the dark source.
But the dark source no longer responded to him.
It was mine to command.
I couldn’t say when I’d ascended, but I felt it thriving through my veins, the energy calling me queen as I stood upon the ancient breeding ground of Midnight Fae power.
I’d had no idea why I’d run here all those months ago to expel the abundance of vitality swimming through my being. But I understood now. The LethaForest had called to me for a purpose, demanding I revitalize the land here in preparation for my eventual ascension.
I’d been the chosen queen all along.
Kols had been the Midnight Fae Prince meant to guide me through his trial… and then sacrifice his throne to me, the rightful royal.
An Earth Fae Queen connected to two regal Midnight Fae bloodlines, the mate of the Source Architect, and the chosen ward of a strong Warrior Blood.
This is the path we were always meant to walk, I whispered to Shade.
Yes,he agreed. It just took eight tries to get it right.
I merely smiled. I have some stubborn mates.
He snorted. Understatement.
I heard that,Zeph replied dryly.
I think we all did, Kols replied.
Our minds were connecting in a strange way, almost as though I’d crossed all our wires to ensure we could have one open link. I still had my links to each of them as well, but this new open forum… was the result of my Earth Fae magic.
I glanced at Claire in surprise, noting her smile.
Earth Fae bonds, I realized. The fourth level.
It always required a ceremony, a ritual of magic and words, but somehow Claire had urged us all along, creating a divine mating unlike any I’d ever heard of existing.
Her access to the elements had grown. I could feel that now as she lurked on the edge of the earth source, her roots stroking the energy without anchoring.
Because she respected me as the Earth Fae Queen.
And this gift of intensifying my mating to Kols, Zeph, Shade, and Zakkai was her way of demonstrating that it was indeed not about how much power we possessed, but how we used it.
Thank you, I thought, conveying the message with my eyes.
She smiled slightly and curtsied, her head bowing in deference, just as I’d done when she’d arrived.
Two queens acknowledging the rule of the other.
Respecting boundaries.
And celebrating each other’s monarchy.
Which meant she knew I wasn’t Elana, that despite my abomination status, she trusted me in a way. And from the looks of her mates, they did, too.
Constantine growled then, drawing my focus back to him, his fury a sharp spike in the air as he tried one last time to issue an enchantment. But it was already too late for him. The roots were well dug into the soil below him, the smoky embers of his earlier spells solidifying to obsidian rock around him as the trunk of a new tree sprouted upward in a series of lethal vines.
His eyes widened. “Don’t just stand there!” His shout was directed at the still-kneeling Warrior Bloods. Or maybe at the other Elders and Councilmen. “Do something!”
“We are,” Tadmir replied flatly. “We’re watching and admiring our Midnight Fae Queen’s choice of punishment.” His black orbs sparkled at me, his lips curling in faint amusement. “Which I must say is quite fitting.”
Indeed, Zakkai agreed in my mind. You’re trapping him in a tree.
I’m creating a symbol of our future,I corrected. By… wrapping a tree around him. Which would trap him for eternity, but that wasn’t the point.
His hand squeezed mine, his entertainment palpable.
I ignored the urge to smile and focused on the life growing against the earth below. “Destruction is sometimes required to renew life. But it’s how we administer that destruction, and the lessons that are born with it, that matters most,” I told Constantine softly. “You’ll forever serve as a reminder of that, as your soul will reside within the tree of your own magical creation… for eternity.”
He opened his mouth to reply, his gold irises flaring with magic, but the trunk of the tree silenced him as the dark, tendril-like vines slid over his mouth and wrapped around the back of his head.
Blissful silence fell as the life continued to sprout upward, the trunk sturdy and wide and wrapped in all the dark sins of the man beneath. I’d taken his dark magic and made it corporeal, each pulsing vein a spell I’d retracted from the Midnight Fae of this realm.
Because now that I knew what enchantment he favored for his manipulation, I could sense them all over the kingdom.
I pulled them back through my connection to the dark source.
And wrapped the power around the base, watching as it curled higher and higher until the tree was several stories in the air, its branches dusted with burning flames that would always burn as a reminder to the Midnight Fae of how far we’d come.
“A show of rebirth,” I sighed, content with the design. “A tree of retribution, meant to inspire reformation.”
A show of light came from the forest, little dots flickering in the air as hundreds of Midnight Fae approached, their wands held like torches.
Zenaida led one side.
Laki led the other.
Midnight Fae of all types followed behind them, entering the clearing of the trees, filling up as much space as the ground would allow.
They lifted the wands toward the sky.
And bowed their heads.
“Our queen has ascended,” Zen proclaimed.
“Our queen has ascended,” several repeated.
And then they began to chant an ancient hymn, the words lyrical to my ears.
It’s a song of the Midnight Fae, praising the dark source for its choice,Kols explained softly, his lips ghosting over my temple. They’re singing about you, Aflora. About our new Queen of the Midnight Fae.