Chapter 3 #2
There was a bit of silence after this—like nobody could directly disagree. Even I couldn’t. Honestly, I thought he was kind of right to a certain degree.
“Look.” I finally broke the silence. “I’m not looking to control anyone. I’m not looking to control this island. I want to help however I can. I want to support the island and the people on it, but I’ve never wanted to rule anything at all.”
“That’s what everyone says before they get into power.” Fen eyed me warily. “Then they get the power and everything changes.”
I held up my hands. “You don’t have many reasons to trust me on a personal level, I get that. But I’m willing to work on earning your trust. In the meantime, we’ll need to set up some sort of leadership. If that’s not me, it’s fine.”
“There are many islanders who are uneasy with Alessia taking immediate control of the island. We’re just the few brave enough to speak up. Most islanders don’t think she should sit on the throne or take the castle. We think it should be one of us—someone who was born and raised on The Isle.”
“One of us,” Silas drawled, “cannot hold the wards in place. It needs to be a Fae. Do you know any other Fae Queens who might like to apply for the position?”
“I don’t appreciate your tone,” Fen said evenly. “This is a serious matter, Silas. Just because someone shows up and is appointed our ruler doesn’t mean we have to accept it.”
“Put someone else in place, then,” Lily snapped. “See how that works out. I give it a day.”
“Please, don’t argue on my behalf,” I said quietly. “I have no desire to rule a land that doesn’t want me. I have enough to focus on when it comes to me and my powers. I don’t need the headache of being in charge.”
Silas didn’t look happy with my answer, but Ranger X looked intrigued. Fen looked like he could work with this. It was the first partial solution that seemed like it could actually work for both sides of this warring table.
“Let me ask you this,” Poppy said suddenly. “Fenlon”—she said his name like she was driving a spike into the dirt—“what needs to happen for you to put your support behind Alessia as your queen?”
Fenlon raised his eyebrows like he already knew the answer—he just couldn’t say it out loud. If he said “nothing,” that would mean he wasn’t even giving me a chance. So, he cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders.
“I’ll know it when I see it,” Fenlon said. “I will keep you posted. I don’t have an answer yet. These are unprecedented times.”
I waved a hand. “That’s fine. We all need some time.”
“In the meantime,” Fenlon said, “I will put together a list of names that I think could make a quality ruler.”
“We didn’t have a ruler before,” Silas said. “Why do we need one now?”
“Exactly.” Fenlon’s eyes sparked, as if Silas had walked right into his trap. “Why do we need a ruler now when we’ve been fine without one for centuries?”
Silas ran a hand through his hair. The breath that tore out of him was fast and vicious, like he couldn’t figure out why Fenlon was being so dense. Apparently, the whole returned-from-extinction Fae Queen reason wasn’t enough.
“If we’re going to put a ruler in the seat of that throne,” Fenlon said, “it should be agreed upon by the people being ruled. A real democracy.”
“I think you’re the only asshole who’s arguing that Alessia isn’t a good fit,” Silas said. “You’re outnumbered.”
“I’m hardly the only person who thinks she’s not a good fit.” Fenlon gestured to the people either side of him. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Most islanders are afraid of Alessia, and that’s why they’re not speaking out. We all think she’s the one bringing danger to our island.”
“How is that possible?” Silas looked truly mystified. “She saved us from the curse.”
“Maybe she is the curse,” Fenlon argued. “The Cursed Queen. Darkness trails behind her. Didn’t you notice that once she arrived on The Isle, the curse accelerated? It scorched entire sections of our island.”
“Then she broke the curse and defeated the Furies,” Silas said. “And truly set us free for the first time in years.”
“Now there’s a crimson lycanthrope on our lands,” Fen said. “Barely days later. Not to mention, Alessia obviously can’t control her powers. She struck you last night.”
There was a long pause. A prickle of something resembling anxiety started in my own chest. Was it possible he wasn’t entirely wrong? In all my efforts to help, was I actually hurting the people I wanted to support?
“She’s going to be starting formal training,” Silas said. “You need to give her a chance, just like she’s giving you a chance.”
“Who, might I ask, have you found to train a Fae Queen?” Fenlon, and a lot of others, looked skeptical at this very notion. “Nobody alive is familiar with Fae magic.”
“Seer Goddard.” Silas’s words plunked around the room like the lowest notes of the piano. They hit hard and deep, and nobody moved.
Fenlon cleared his throat. “Has the Seer agreed to this?”
“He will,” Silas said. “Trust me.”
Fenlon raised his eyebrows, like he truly didn’t believe it. Suddenly, my training sounded a lot more intimidating than exciting. This was all news to me, and judging from the reaction to Seer Goddard’s name, he wasn’t exactly a peach to work with.
“Maybe we can come to a temporary ceasefire. What if we put someone else in charge for now?” I said.
“Fen and the others can see how they like it. I have no desire to rule over a land or people who don’t want me there.
I don’t have any interest in ruling at all, as a matter of fact.
I’m going to need to focus on my training. Let someone else handle castle duty.”
Fenlon smacked his hand on the table, then pointed at me as if to say, See?
“Alessia,” Silas began, “I don’t think this is the solution.”
“It’s temporary,” I said. “Unless someone has a better idea?”
“Let’s go with it,” Fen said, before anyone else could offer dissent. “We’ll hold another meeting next week to discuss potential candidates.”
As the meeting adjourned, an uneasy silence descended on the café. Smatterings of conversations broke out in groups of two or three, generally organized by alliance. Fenlon’s people… and Silas’s people. My people.
“Keep your chin up.” Poppy gave me a hug on the way out. “Like you said, it’ll all work out how it’s meant to. They can’t keep you from a throne that is your bloodright. That’s big of you to give it up voluntarily.”
I nodded my thanks to her and hugged her back. I got similar notes of camaraderie from the rest of the gang. As Irina patted me on the shoulder, I asked her if she was free this afternoon.
“Yes,” she said. “Something I can do for you?”
“Actually, I was hoping to do something for you. Can I come by and watch Henry for a few hours so you can rest or get something done?” I asked. “I need to keep busy, and my training doesn’t start until tomorrow.”
Irina hesitated for just a second, and in that moment, a panic seized me. Maybe she didn’t trust me. After my magic had zinged into Silas last night, I’d hardly blame her. If she didn’t want me around her child because of my unpredictable magic, it would be only logical.
“Of course,” Irina said finally, trying to disguise her hesitation. “I’d love that. Maybe just an hour so I can shower and wash my hair in peace?”
“I’ll be over in a little while.” I squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”
Once everyone else was on their way out, I followed Silas out into the sunshine. He carried the dusty book under his arm and held my hand casually with the other, like we hadn’t just emerged from a tense meeting in which people had expressed severe dislike for the very fact that I existed.
“Do you mind if I take that book?” I asked Silas. “I didn’t know ancient Fae texts still existed. I’d love to read through it. See if I can learn anything about my ancestry.”
A small smile appeared on Silas’s face. He winked at me. “This old thing?” He raised the book. “It’s not an ancient Fae text. It’s something I pulled out of the storage shed at Wisteria Cottage called Spells for a Tidy Home.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“I’m not sure Fenlon can read,” Silas said darkly, with a lot of bitterness. “And I suspected he wouldn’t have the patience to care. He’s too afraid of looking stupid and ignorant to actually put in the work to not be stupid and ignorant.”
“Well, you weren’t wrong.”
“That was brave, what you did in there, Alessia. It frustrates me that you have to give up the throne, even if it’s just in name, and even if it’s just temporary,” Silas said.
“But your training begins tomorrow, and I’m sure once you master your powers, there will be no question—for Fen or anyone else—that you belong in your castle. ”
“What’s a Seer?” I asked. “And who is Seer Goddard? Why did everyone react so strangely when you said his name?”
“You’ll meet him tomorrow,” Silas said, sounding a bit uncertain. “Honestly, I don’t know him all that well, so I don’t have much in the way of insight. All I know is that he’s the person to call upon when there are no other options.”
As it turned out, holding a newborn for a little while was just what the doctor ordered.
As I stared into Henry’s little face, so peaceful in his sleep, I felt the first wave of hope that maybe I wasn’t completely cursed.
Hadn’t I helped Henry arrive earthside safely?
Hadn’t I helped spare his mother’s life? Maybe there was hope yet.
We rocked back and forth in the rocking chair, sitting on the porch of a little cottage Irina had rented near town.
She was a Forest Dweller, but with all the land that had been scorched and the birth of her baby, she’d let the islanders convince her to stay in town for both her sake and Henry’s.
They’d have much easier access to food, water, medical care, and helping hands.
The steady creak of the rocking chair and the weight of a baby in a swaddle almost lulled me to sleep. The sun hit my face as I leaned back and closed my eyes, wishing that I had more moments like this. Of doing nothing, in the best way possible.
When I heard a second creak, I opened my eyes to find a freshly showered and ruddy-faced Irina settling into the chair next to me. She held a hot cup of coffee in her hands as she smiled in my direction.
“Henry’s really taken with you,” Irina said softly. “He’s not the best sleeper, but he looks perfectly content in your arms. Have you ever thought of having one of your own?”
“A baby? I guess before, in my other life...” I wasn’t sure how much of my mainlander life I should share on the island.
It felt like it was an experience from another world.
“I was almost married once before. I figured we would eventually have children, but it’s a very good thing we didn’t. He wasn’t a nice man.”
“Silas is nice.” Irina winked at me from her perch in the chair. “I mean, he’s nice to you.”
“Is he?” I grinned back. “He’s a lot of things, but I don’t know if I’d start with the word nice.”
Irina gave a tinkling laugh. “Touché. But he’s a good man.”
“No argument there. But for now, both he and I are taking things one day at a time. Thanks, by the way, for trusting me with Henry. I know with my magic out of control… I wouldn’t have blamed you for keeping me away from him.”
“Honey.” Irina reached over, put a hand on my shoulder. “You and your powers could never hurt this babe. Your powers are good.”
“But I can’t control them.”
“Maybe on occasion they elude you, but your powers seem to flare up when you’re stressed or cornered or being attacked. Sitting here right now, as calm as a cucumber? You’re not even glowing a little.”
I laughed, grateful that someone could see a bit of levity in the situation. “Maybe I’m making progress.”
“Speaking of progress,” Irina mused, “you’ll be training with Seer Goddard?”
“That was as much news to you as it was to me. Do you know him?”
“Of him,” Irina said. “He’s ancient. He doesn’t live on The Isle. If he’s here, it’s because he was summoned here for you.”
“Yikes.”
“He’s not known for his friendliness. Just so you’re forewarned.”
“What is he known for?”
“His effectiveness.”
“Well, I could use some of that,” I said. “Should I be worried?”
“I trust Silas,” Irina said. “If he thinks this is the right path, I’d tend to agree with him. Honestly, I’m not sure there is anyone qualified to teach a Fae Queen how to wield her powers. I think you’re going to have to make the best of an impossible situation.”
“Any advice for tomorrow? I told Silas to schedule court hours at the castle. Even if I’m not going to be acting as queen, I want to learn as much about the islanders as I possibly can.”
Irina rocked in her chair, looked out at the sunny afternoon as it stretched toward evening. “Be honest. Be yourself. It’s all you can do.”
“I expected something more magical, to be honest.”
“Sometimes the best answer isn’t magic, even on an enchanted island. Here, let me grab Henry. You’ve done so much for me, and I’m sure you need to rest before your day of holding court and training with Seer Goddard.”
I handed Henry back to his mother, placing a tiny peck on the very top of his head. He transferred without waking.
As I walked down the front path of Irina’s cottage, I glanced back and saw mother and baby resting together, sparkles of sunlight hitting their skin in a way that made them look like a mirage.
Maybe Irina is right, I thought. Maybe this new, enchanted world isn’t so different from my old world. Sometimes, the most magical moments have nothing to do with spells.