Chapter 3 #2
“Then I’ll deal with her myself!”
The last words were bellowed by an unfamiliar male voice. The door was locked, but that was no matter: Everyone said Lorelei’s skill at creating portals was truly remarkable for her age. She certainly couldn’t wait long enough to knock before her grand entrance!
She appeared in a shower of lovely silver sparkles an instant later, beaming with anticipation, before a tall, dark-haired and -bearded human man with eyes the same bright shade of blue as hers.
Those almost-familiar eyes widened in recognition as he saw her …
and then his face contorted into something ugly and unfamiliar as he lifted his gaze to look past her.
“I’ll just take care of the matter now, shall I?
And then we’ll see about your precious magical contract! ”
Lorelei barely heard her mother’s wordless shout behind her as her father’s big, hard fingers closed around her throat and squeezed.
The next few moments were a nightmare of shock and pain and confusion. Alarms shrieked through the air, her mother’s ancient green magic lashed past her, and as Lorelei’s gaze blurred and then went black, every clawed and sharp-toothed guard in the court descended around them.
When she finally came to herself once more, she was lying cradled on her mother’s lap with her mother’s handmaidens gathered around them, every fae and dryad and hag murmuring unhappily over her.
“Mama?” Lorelei croaked.
Her throat hurt too much to say any more, but the single word was enough. Her mother’s face tipped forward, her fathomless green eyes burning with intensity. “Shhh, my darling. Rest your voice until you’ve recovered.”
“That man—!” Her mother’s oldest and dearest handmaiden muttered the words as she smeared cooling salve across Lorelei’s bruises. “I swear, if we were allowed to lay claws on him, I would wring his neck, and then—!”
“We are not.” Her mother’s voice was colder than Lorelei had ever heard it. “Rest assured, he will never be allowed to forget this moment. But I count myself to blame, as well. I have indulged myself for far too long.”
As she looked back down at Lorelei, her body stiffened, soft comfort hardening into unyielding determination.
“It’s become too easy for him to forget the promises he made when we signed our marriage contract.
I was selfish, keeping you here so long to myself.
I cannot indulge in that luxury any longer. ”
Wait. Panic began to beat against Lorelei’s throbbing throat. She couldn’t mean …
“We’ll wait until you’ve fully recovered,” said her mother, “but then it will be time, my love, to finally take your place where you belong, in the mortal realm. No one in Balravia will ever again be allowed to forget that you are the rightful heir to your father’s throne.”
“But—!” The word was an anguished croak as Lorelei suddenly struggled in her mother’s arms.
They tightened firmly around her. “The goddess Sylvana Herself, mother of the trees and flowers, guided me to this point, my child. This is what must happen—what always had to happen, if the fae were to have any chance of survival in the decades and centuries ahead. Balravia must have you upon its throne to fight for our people’s future in the mortal realm.
She saw that truth and shared it with me. ”
The Queen of Efaelen’s voice was steady, but for the first time that Lorelei could remember, her green eyes shone with tears.
“I’ll send my best guards with you to ensure that you will never be harmed by that man again.
And remember: you are worth a thousand of him and his grasping nephews.
You stand for all of us from now on. You even stand for Sylvana Herself!
With Her blessing, you will claim your place and your throne with your head held high, and you will never apologize for who you are, no matter what any mortal fools may say. ”
Lorelei was too desperate to care about the pain as she scraped the frantic question through her throat. “Won’t you come, too?”
“Oh, my darling.” Her mother shook her head in a slow, heavy movement of defeat. “I am bound by that contract, too … and I had to make my own sacrifices for this great chance. The mortal realm has not allowed my presence since the moment of your birth.”
Everything hurt. Everything was wrong. “I don’t want to go anywhere,” Lorelei whispered.
“I’m afraid,” said her mother, “it is time for you to learn that, as queens, we do what we must, not what we would prefer.”
Lorelei burst into tears and buried her face in her mother’s soft chest, surrounded by the fierce care of her mother’s attendants, in the last safe display of anguish she would be granted for many perilous years to come …
And came awake, panting, back on her own sofa, a grown woman with her mother’s reminder still ringing in her ears:
“We do what we must, not what we would prefer.”
Opening her eyes, Lorelei gazed sightlessly up at the green covering of ivy she’d built for this moment of privacy and accepted the unpalatable truth.
She was, as her mother had promised, a queen. She was blessed by the goddess Sylvana with a divine mission, for the sake of everyone and everything she loved.
So she would have to set aside all of her misfiring instincts and kill the Golden Beacon without a moment of hesitation if she failed in this challenge.