Chapter 33 Lily
THIRTY-THREE
LILY
As Keane followed his men, Dahlia watched me, a faint knowing smile on her lips. “I doubted whether even seven suitors would be enough to show you the way of your heart.” She took my arm and drew me toward her. “We haven’t much time. Riala means to be crowned queen before the night is over.”
I quickened my steps, hurrying after her into a maze of tunnels I hadn’t ventured into before. They were dark, but Dahlia held a flickering torch in front of, casting a faint glowing light over the packed earth floor, the stone walls, and the spiders that scuttled quickly from our intrusion.
She led us into a cramped tunnel, and I stooped a little to walk down it. The air was stale and musty, and the stone walls crumbled in parts. I brushed my fingers along one, and dust fell to the floor under my touch. As we walked deeper in, the air grew damper and the smell of mold became stronger.
“Where are we?” But familiarity seized hold of me. I’d followed Dahlia down tunnels like this once, just before Rose left to marry Raith.
“Somewhere long forgotten.” She stopped and touched a seemingly random spot on the wall.
I stepped back at the sudden grating of metal and stone, my heart pounding at the unexpected sound. I’d lived in this castle my whole life and until recently had no idea this tunnel even existed.
“Are you sure Father didn’t know about this?” I asked.
Dahlia glanced at me with a touch of sadness in her eyes. “If he did, I very much doubt he knew it held the things I never wanted him to find, the things your mother left to me for safekeeping. Like the wedding gown I passed to Rose.”
At the mention of my mother, a shiver passed up my spine, and I calmed a flicker of excitement in my chest. I ducked under the entrance to the hidden tunnel and followed Dahlia as she inserted a wrought iron key into a wooden door.
The door creaked as she pushed it open and we stepped forward.
Dahlia quickly moved about inside, lighting torches on the wall, until I could see the room full of treasures—and some things that looked distinctly not like treasures as they lay discarded and covered in cobwebs on dusty shelves.
The old silver sword inlaid with the star ruby and a bow etched with silver runes were exactly where they’d been the last time I was in the room, but Dahlia reached for the cobweb covered box that had a faint glow to it.
“Your mother left this for you,” she said.
A spider ran across the box, and I withheld my shudder.
Of course the secret treasure meant for me would be covered in cobwebs and things that crept about on eight legs.
I couldn’t just have one of the already gleaming things on the shelves.
Still, I trusted Mother and her prophecies, and she’d meant for me to have this.
My heart tightened as Dahlia passed me the box, and I swept my hand across it to clear the sticky webs before blowing leftover dust from the top.
Nerves and anticipation fizzed in my stomach, and I looked at Dahlia, meeting her level gaze.
“Fellina knew what to leave for each of you,” she said. “She saw it in the fortune runes.” Then she squeezed my elbow in comfort, and I drew strength from her touch. “Don’t doubt the magic. Your mother had the gift of prophecy. She saw each of your paths and she prepared well for your futures.”
I straightened, standing taller at her words. Since opening the door of possibility to my own magic, I had complete faith in Mother’s and in her wisdom. She had been a powerful fae mage.
And I was her daughter.
I swallowed a whisper of fear at the enormity of confronting my future before carefully pushing the lid up.
A gasp forced its way from my throat even before I’d fully recognized what Mother had left for me.
Her crown nestled in a bed of ice blue silk, an intricately crafted, delicate piece that looked as though it had been created entirely from frost. It shined like snow in the sun, sparkling as snowflakes seemed to dance through the icy design, and I shifted my hold on the box to touch it, my fingertips grazing across the points and crystalline tips.
“It’s amazing.” I’d never seen something so beautiful, and my breath seemed trapped in my chest the longer I looked at it. I had no memory of my mother wearing this crown, but she’d died when I was so young, I barely remembered her at all.
“This is Fellina’s gift to you,” Dahlia said, her own gaze focused on the crown as if she could see all the memories of my mother that it held. “It has the ability to protect against magic.”
Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them back. Mother was protecting me, even from her grave.
Aware of the seriousness and significance of the occasion, even in the most unlikely of spaces, I lifted the crown carefully from the box and secured it on top of my head, effectively crowning myself Queen of Talador.
The position had been mine from the exact moment of Father’s death, my birthright making it so whether I’d wanted it or not. I’d tried to delay it as long as possible, telling myself I wasn’t ready, making excuses for why I couldn’t wear the crown, but no longer.
As Mother’s crown settled on my head, a wave of calm and acceptance washed through my whole body, and my entire life and purpose clarified on one single point. Like my mother, I was both queen and mage.
I was the Fae Queen of Talador—and I was ready to take back my kingdom.