Chapter 52
O ne Month Later
I lie in a grassy field, hand in hand with the love of my life.
The sky is still hazy but less than it was.
Bits of blue show through the gray like clouds slowly thinning.
A lively, earthy scent, the kind that lingers in the air when the ground first starts to warm in spring, fills my senses.
A few birds fly by, not Seelie spies, but just two creatures drifting on a breeze.
I dreamed this.
And now it’s real.
I turn my head and stare at Elias. He’s already looking at me, a contented, peaceful smile on his face.
The fearsome black armor is gone, hopefully put away for good.
Instead, he wears a simple yet elegant outfit of black pants and a violet, one that matches my dress and may be earning a few grass stains.
Oh well. A bit more color clings to his skin now, probably from how much time we spend outdoors healing the land.
We’ve found that being together—intimately or just casually—out in nature seems to have the strongest effect on the places we visit.
It’s a slow healing. It will take years.
But it’s more rewarding than I could have ever imagined.
It’s true lasting change and hope for the future.
It’s the kind of miracle I’d hoped to work when I started down the medical career path years ago.
I never made the change I’d hoped for in the human world.
But here? Every day brings a new promise, and I get to do it with those I love the most.
“Maybe we should just stay like this,” I say to Elias. “Skip the meeting and take a nap.”
He laughs. He’s done a lot more of that lately, and it’s the best sound in the world every time. “As much as I enjoy relaxing with you, I think our new allies would be displeased if we did not show up as agreed.”
I sigh. “So true.”
We’re meeting with the Courts of the Forest, Air, and Fire today, part of our ongoing attempts to work toward a better world for Seelie and Unseelie alike.
They even invited the Court of Water and some of the reclusive Court of Stone, though it remains to be seen if they will attend.
Peace is not easy. There have been many on all sides who oppose it.
But the leaders are committed to keeping their promise, and each day we make strides toward a future that’s better than what came before.
Already, the Unseelie territory is starting to heal. The Seelie report less fear among their people, though there is still uncertainty, as to be expected.
“Besides.” Elias props himself up on one elbow. “Vada and Hallam will be disappointed if we don’t return with the books the Court of Fire promised.”
Trade has started to open up. The sharing of knowledge has been even more vital than goods and services. Though the Seelie and Unseelie may have diverged long ago, there is much they have in common and a great deal more they can learn from one another.
“Or maybe Vada will be thankful that Hallam doesn’t have more books to pore over. She says he’s been spending so much time reading that he’s ever forgetting to eat, much less to spend time with her,” I say.
“Ironically, Hallam said something very similar,” Elias replies. “About Vada’s reading and the time she’s spent studying the seedlings we received a week ago.”
“Oh? We’re not causing mate trouble, are we?” I say, but I’m grinning all the while. I already know what Elias’s response will be.
“With those two?” He chuckles again. “No amount of time, no number of books, nor gardens of plants can keep them apart for too long.”
“Good.”
Elias’s ears twitch, and he gets that look that tells me he hears something I cannot. “Though…” He sits up. “If we were to be concerned about anyone’s romantic connections, perhaps it should be your brother’s?”
He looks off across the grass field.
Uh oh. I sit up and follow his line of sight right to my brother.
He stands near the edge of the grassy area—the rim of the space of land that has healed from our little visit here with—with Katiya.
She adds a little yellow flower to his hair before leaning in close to brush her hip against his.
Her pink tail is wrapped around one of his legs, her arm thrown over his shoulders.
Something far more than casual friendliness simmers in the air between them.
I groan at the sight. It’s not that I don’t like Katiya or the idea of them together, but—
“Doesn’t he have a mutual affection for the coven liaison, Selena?” Elias asks.
“Yes,” I bite out. “Or at least, I thought he did.” When we’d last spoken about it. Like, yesterday.
Selena has been hard at work attempting to make big, sweeping changes within the human covens of the gifted.
It’s expected that she’ll be named headmistress of the southern coven soon, especially with Madeline’s sudden retirement.
When Matt hasn’t been here in Faery with me, he’s been helping Selena, and the two have grown even closer.
Not that they’ve had a ton of time for romance, or so Matt says.
But he seemed as in love with her as ever.
In addition to reforming many of the archaic and exclusionary practices within the covens, they hope to find a way to use the potion we brewed to heal Matt to help others in the human world.
We already have a few doses ready to go.
Figuring out how to do that discretely so that normal humans don’t start asking a ton of questions and wandering around every forest in the world just hoping to stumble into Faery is another matter.
One outside my pay grade, as it were. My focus is on healing Faery, and that’s enough, for now.
“Matt,” I call out to him.
He turns, not seeming the least bit ashamed but face flushed pink all the same, and waves back before he and Katiya start toward us.
Elias pulls his sister aside to discuss last-minute reminders for the meeting we’ll all be shifting to soon, and I draw Matt down onto the grass next to me.
He’s still smiling like a goofy, love-struck idiot.
“I thought you were with Selena?” I whisper.
His gaze darts away, and he rubs the back of his neck. “Well, sort of.”
“Sort of?” I have to hold myself back from grabbing his shirt and shaking him.
“Don’t get me wrong. I care about her, but she’s really focused on work right now with everything going on in the covens, and not looking for anything too serious.
And Katiya is just so—” He lifts his hands and sighs.
“You know I’ve always had a thing for cat girls,” he says, looking at me sideways with a half-apologetic look.
I rub my forehead. “And they know about each other?”
“Katiya says she doesn’t mind sharing.”
“Matt,” I lean toward him, “I swear to God, if you create an international incident—”
“Calm down, Aims.” He raises his hands in surrender. “It’s fine.”
“Fine?” I snap.
“Nothing serious has happened, and anyway, Selena knows. Sort of. She encouraged me to live my life, and I finally am. I went my whole life without a real girlfriend or any hopes of one, and now I have two amazing women interested in me? Don’t ask me to give that up, Aims. Not yet.
” He lies down in the grass, closes his eyes, and spreads his arms wide.
“Just let me bask in it for a little longer, okay?”
“Fine.” I sigh. He does have a point, and I don’t want to ruin all his fun. “Just make sure it doesn’t cause a problem, okay?”
He turns his head toward me and opens his eyes. “Promise.” Then he grins. “Maybe I can have an Earth girlfriend and a Faery girlfriend.”
I groan again and cover my hands with my face. “That sounds like a disaster.”
“Not if they’re okay with it,” he argues.
“Just…make sure you’re all on the same page, okay?”
The wrath of a woman scorned is not something we need on our hands right now.
“Deal. You know I wouldn’t want to hurt either of them. Oh.” He sits up abruptly. “I forgot to tell you earlier. I talked to Mom just before I returned, and she and Dad want to come visit Faery after their trip.”
“What?” I nearly choke on air.
“Yeah, after their cruise. They said they’d like to see where we are living in the Unseelie territory,” he says, like it’s no big deal.
Which, I guess it’s not, not really, but the idea of my parents in Faery is still a wild one. They are gifted. It could work. And I guess if we were living on Earth, they’d want to visit and see our new city, apartment, and whatever.
I shake my head, trying to wrap my head around it all. That’s going to be interesting.
Hi, Mom and Dad. Here’s my mate, the Unseelie King, and his whole city built into a gorge.
We’re still living there for now, but there are plans to expand and build above-ground now that it should be safe.
“Don’t worry.” Matt pats my shoulder. “You’ve got a few months until then.”
True. Mom and Dad managed to book passage on a three-month partial world cruise.
It’s the vacation they always dreamed about, and they’ve certainly earned some rest and relaxation after years of caregiving, grief, and everything else they’ve endured.
With Matt and me both happy, healthy, and doing our own things, they can finally take some time for themselves.
The coven agreeing to cover the cost is an added bonus, too.
“It’s almost time,” Elias calls out.
Right. And this meeting is happening now. I can worry about introducing my parents to Elias and his people later.
Together, the four of us shift to an open pavilion of white marble at the edge of the Court of the Forest. It was built on the site of the last battle between the courts, a memorial to the Seelie and Unseelie alike who died before peace could be declared.
It’s a somber place but also a fitting spot to meet and work toward a better future, one where we cannot escape reminders of the past we are trying to rebuild from.
When we arrive, many Seelie are already there.
Among their number are the kings and queens who agreed to this pact: Riven and Lia, Sigurd and Wren, Lysandir and Mira. There even appear to be two representatives from the Court of Water, though not their queen or princess. Not yet. But it’s a step in the right direction.
The most startling thing, the one that brings a smile to my face? They’re mingling. While the attendees wear the colors of their court, they aren’t grouped together in separate clusters. Rather, they paint a tapestry of blue, green, and red. And now we’ll add our purple to that.
“The future looks bright,” I remark, giving Elias’s hand a little squeeze.
He beams down at me. “With you at my side, all my dreams are coming true.”
I return his smile, my heart bursting with love. “Mine too.”
Hand-in-hand, our siblings at our sides, we join the others. Faery is safe, healing, and with a little luck, it’ll be more than just our dreams forge into a reality.