Chapter Nineteen
The Queen led her into the kitchen, and Anabelle had to pause for half a second just to take it in.
It was huge: wide counters of warm stone, wooden beams overhead, sunlight filtering in through tall windows that looked out onto endless forest. It felt less like a palace kitchen and more like the heart of a home that was constantly lived in.
There were mugs drying by the sink, a half-cut loaf of bread on the counter, crumbs unapologetically left behind.
The Queen moved through the space with easy familiarity, pulling two mugs from a cabinet and pouring coffee like this was the most ordinary conversation in the world.
She handed one to Anabelle and gestured toward the tall stools lining the island. “Sit.”
Anabelle did, wrapping both hands around the mug like it was an anchor.
The Queen leaned forward against the counter, elbows braced, posture relaxed, like someone who had done this exact thing a thousand times before. Probably has, Anabelle thought. This is her home.
Gods, this was not what she’d expected when the men said she was meeting the High Queen of all supernaturals on Earth. No throne. No intimidation. No cold detachment. Just coffee. And warmth. And a woman who looked… real.
“So…” Anabelle started, breaking the silence. “Do I call you High Queen as well?”
Kat burst out laughing.
“Oh gods, no. Please don’t.” She waved a hand dismissively.
“Didn’t the boys tell you my name? Npever mind, scratch that.
I’m forever trying to get them to stop with the formalities.
It’s like they refuse to be sensible.” Then she smiled, warm and genuine.
“My name is Katarina. But just call me Kat.”
Anabelle snorted softly and nodded, gripping her mug a little tighter. “You already know my name, but I’d rather you call me Ani. Anabelle is a mouthful.”
Kat laughed again, took a sip of her coffee, then tilted her head with interest. “Alright, Ani.”
She studied her for a moment, not like a ruler assessing a subject, but like a woman gauging how close someone was to breaking.
“So… where do I even begin?” Kat said gently. “I hear you’ve had an eventful week.” A beat. “I want to explain everything I can. Make this transition as smooth as possible. But first...what do you already know? And do you have any questions you’d like answers to?”
Ani huffed a quiet laugh that held more exhaustion than humour. “You could say that.”
She stared into her coffee for a second before looking back up. “One moment I’m walking home with groceries, and the next I’m being accosted by demons and wolves.” She shook her head. “Finding out I have powers like this is just some Marvel movie nonsense...it’s been insane. Completely insane.”
She exhaled slowly. “They told me there are five species… factions? And that they work for some council. Then they said I was a...” she swallowed hard, “...a caster. And something about protocols.” She shrugged helplessly. “Honestly? I didn’t retain much.”
Kat sighed sympathetically. “Yeah. That would do it.”
She took another sip, then set her mug down with a soft clink.
“Okay. Usually, usually, this is not how this goes. Like, at all.” Kat rubbed her temple and shook her head. “I set up a society specifically so humans who need to be introduced to our world don’t lose their minds.”
Ani’s lips twitched despite herself.
“The Society,” Kat continued. “offers a buffer. Slow introductions. Counseling. Support.” She glanced toward the living room. “The boys fucked up. They should have alerted us when they first found you and we would have sent a representative out to you.”
She straightened suddenly. “Come with me.”
Before Ani could ask where, Kat reached out and took her hand, warm, grounding, sure, and led her through a back door off the kitchen.
They stepped outside into open grass, the air cool and fresh. The forest stretched endlessly before them, sunlight dappling leaves that swayed gently in the breeze. Kat lowered herself onto the grass without hesitation and patted the spot beside her.
Ani sat too, the earth solid beneath her.
Kat looked out toward the horizon, quiet for a moment. Then she started to speak, slowly, her voice calm and grounded, like she was laying stones one by one to build something solid enough to stand on.
“There are five factions,” she said. “Fae, Demons, Shifters, Dragons, and Fallen Angels.” She paused, rolling her eyes. “Note that I said Fallen. They get really annoyed if you just call them angels.”
Anabelle huffed a quiet laugh despite herself.
Kat continued, idly plucking at blades of grass as she spoke.
“The Council is made up of five high leaders, the most powerful of the strongest families in each faction. Thousands of years ago, the first high leaders came together to cast a spell, one that prevents humans from discovering the supernatural world.”
“Typical,” Anabelle muttered.
Kat nodded. “Yeah. But unfortunately, necessary.” Her brows furrowed slightly as she stared out across the forest. “Humans as a whole, wouldn’t take it well if they knew we were living alongside beings more powerful than us. It would lead to fear. Then control. Then war.”
She sighed softly. “Anyway… I think it’s best if I tell you my story first.”
Anabelle turned toward her, attentive now.
“Three years ago,” Kat said, “I was struggling. Celeste, the little girl you saw earlier, I was raising her alone. I worked at a beat-down diner, barely scraping by. I knew I needed to do more for her. Needed to take control of my life.” She hesitated.
“And then an opportunity fell into my lap. A contract.”
Anabelle’s eyebrows shot up.
Kat didn’t look at her. “I was contracted to service five men for three months in exchange for... three million.”
“Holy fucking shit,” Anabelle blurted. “What the fuck?”
Kat grimaced but nodded. “Yeah. It wasn’t just sex, though. I helped them with tasks...work-related things. That’s how I found out about the supernatural world.” She let out a humorless laugh. “Crazy doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
She picked at the grass harder now.
“The deal was that when the contract ended, they’d erase my memory of everything supernatural. I agreed.” Her voice softened. “I was cornered. I was barely seeing my daughter. We needed more. So I stayed.”
Anabelle stayed quiet, letting her talk.
“And the longer I stayed,” Kat continued, “the more attached I became. I tried not to. Gods, I really tried. But it was inevitable.” Her jaw tightened. “Then… things changed.”
She inhaled deeply, steadying herself.
“Ani,” Kat said, finally turning to her. “I’m going to tell you something. Not to scare you, but to help you understand why there are so many protocols surrounding casters. I promise I’ll get to your situation, but you need the history first.”
“You don’t have to tell me anything personal,” Anabelle said quickly.
Kat reached out, taking Anabelle’s hands in hers and squeezing gently. “I do.”
Anabelle stilled.
“The man I thought was Celie’s father,” Kat said quietly, “was a caster.” She swallowed.
“I met him a couple of years before all of this, he... manipulated me into believing we were in a relationship. All the while, he was shoving his ether into me. He cast a very dangerous and illegal spell so I could carry a child from the Council.”
Anabelle’s breath hitched.
“Later he kidnapped me,” Kat continued, her voice steady despite the weight of the words, “in an attempt to get to Celie. It’s all very complicated, but his goal was to eradicate the spell that keeps humans unaware of the supernatural world. He wanted to rewrite it to include caster blood.”
Kat shook her head. “It wouldn’t have worked. But it’s what led us to where we are now.”
“Oh gods,” Anabelle whispered, horror written across her face. “Kat, I’m so sorry. That’s… that’s beyond fucked up.”
Kat nodded once. “It was. But it showed us something important. That there were people slipping through the cracks. Feeling overlooked. Unaccounted for.”
Anabelle hesitated, then asked, “Why wouldn’t it have worked, though? Are casters not powerful enough to join the other factions?”
Kat smirked faintly. “Ah. You caught that.”
She leaned back on her hands. “To keep it simple, Casters are children born from humans and one of the five factions. Each faction has supernatural blood, their essence. But casters?” She shook her head.
“Casters are still human. Their abilities don’t change their blood.
They’re human with access to manipulate ether. ”
She looked back at Anabelle. “Putting human blood into a spell designed to keep humans ignorant would have caused massive backlash. Possibly exposed the entire supernatural community.”
“Shit,” Anabelle muttered.
“Shit indeed,” Kat agreed, standing and brushing grass from her clothes. “Now, come on. Let’s get back to the coffee.”
She smiled gently. “You’re probably going to need it for the next part.”