Chapter 107
Ivy
Ifelt the weight of all their stares fall on me as Nyx lowered her arms. Cupped between her hands was a ball of soft, silver light. It almost looked like a witch light, only made of nothing but what appeared like starlight.
Nyx looked at me again, the softness in her stare bringing more tears to my eyes. “Your choice, my Daughter.”
My choice. It felt like a lifetime ago when I got to choose something for myself. When I got to fight for something that was for me.
“The realms aren’t mine to rule anymore,” I said, looking away from Nyx and into the crowd of creatures.
The stench of battle still hung heavy in the air, tension coiling around every creature gathered.
And yet they listened. They didn’t speak.
“Faery is no longer mine and has returned to their High Queen.”
Soft gasps filled the air as someone pushed their way to the front of the crowd. The pointed ears and ethereal, wicked beauty gave them away immediately.
“We have no High Queen. Their line died over three millennia ago. Would you abandon the Fae for what he did?” the female asked.
She had blood running down her face from a long cut across her forehead, hair like pink cotton candy.
I didn’t even need to wonder who she was—the Lady of the Spring Court.
She looked like a spring harvest come to life, with her soft curves and the antlers curling from her temples.
One of her arms was made entirely of vines that wound together to shape the muscles and bone of her arm and hand.
Slowly, I shook my head. “That’s not at all what I intend to do,” I replied, meeting her deep green eyes.
“I gave the High Palace a chance to choose its new Queen. There might not be an entire bloodline left for Queen Titania, but there are still whispers of her power out there. It’ll be up to your realm—and you—to find that Queen.
But I’ll always have a connection to your world. ”
Understanding sparked in the Lady’s eyes as she stepped back and brought her fist to her heart. “Thank you, Queen Ivy.”
My fingers trembled, my hold on the skull tightening as I turned to Xerxes. “A new Prima is going to be born soon,” I told him. “Your world will survive the thrax and every other threat that comes for it. The land will continue to belong to the Primals, and only a Primal will rule it.”
Through the bond, I felt warmth from him, a heat I could only consider to be love.
Understanding. Admiration. Feeling him through our bond for the first time felt surreal; his thoughts were a whirlwind of shock and happiness, pride and sadness for the world he would be leaving behind.
And yet he had no regrets, especially now knowing it would be protected. That his people were safe.
“You stole my power from me, wife,” Damon said, stepping forward. “I’m not King of Elysian anymore.”
I shook my head. “No,” I confirmed, bowing my head. “The throne and crown of Elysian aren’t yours anymore. The fields are no longer yours to rule.”
“Who will take it, though?” one of the other Elysian demons asked. “If not him, who?”
“That is for the fields to decide,” I said, turning to the group Damon called his cousins. I remembered them from the island—their faces etched into my mind because of their rescue. “The magic will find another creature worthy of becoming ruler over Elysian. It was time for Damon to retire anyway.”
When I glanced back at my mate, a smile curved his lips. Through the bond, I caught his gratefulness. His relief that he would not be forced to return.
“That means you are no longer the Queen of Elysian,” he said, folding his arms over his chest.
I shrugged. “I can live with that.”
“But will you be our Queen?” Elara Blackwood asked, stepping forward from the crowd, Vanya and Blythe not far behind her. The sight of my friend brought tears to my eyes, the relief of seeing her alive—okay—flooding me.
But before I could answer, another figure stepped forward.
A face I didn’t recognise, but one with great power.
“It sounds as though you aren’t,” he said, holding his hands lightly in front of him as his icy eyes flickered from my face down to the skull in my hands.
“You sound as though you are about to say goodbye.”
My heart pounded as I looked to the Goddess, but her eyes were already on me.
Your choice, she whispered into my ears, bowing her head.
A breath fell from my lips, not shaky but strong as I turned back to my creatures. “I am,” I said, looking around the crowd. Shock filtered through my bonds, my mates unable to hide their emotions. “You don’t need a Queen.”
There was an explosion of activity from the creatures of Avalon; the shifters transformed from their beasts to regular forms to shout their thoughts, vampires hissed about the betrayal, witches and mages shared looks of shock.
When I held up my hand, all shouting ceased. “I was told that I would become a catalyst of change,” I said, voice carrying through the heavy air. “That through me, a new era would be born. And for so long, I thought that would mean me doing exactly what the other Queens before me did—rule.”
I took in their obvious betrayal, their fear.
It made the decision harder, and yet when I allowed myself to check in with my mates, I felt their understanding—their strength.
“But you don’t need another Queen to rule over you.
Not in the ways of old. Not when our world is so different.
The Council has been your true leader for so long now that I know stepping into Greer’s shoes would make me irrelevant.
A figurehead that does nothing but make choices you could be making. ”
“Half the council is either dead or traitors,” Elara pointed out as she crossed her arms. “How do you suggest we carry on with that?”
“By charging those who have betrayed our people and electing new members to join the council. But I’m not going anywhere.
I just won’t be your Queen,” I said, looking around.
“The power that belongs to the Daughter of Nyx will forever be mine until another is born to take my place. I will always be the Daughter of Nyx, that will always be my title to hold. But as Queen, I can say easily that I am not necessary to you anymore. Not when there will always be someone to overthrow me. Not when there will always be someone to question my ability to rule. I am not capable of ruling. I never was. And just because I have this power shouldn’t mean I’m automatically qualified to lead you—especially not after this. ”
The silence was almost deafening, but my words…they felt right. And the longer they thought about it, I could read the understanding in their eyes, feel it through my magic.
“This—and Nyx’s power—requires a guardian,” I finished, looking down at the skull. “But not a Queen.”
The air shifted with the deep, ancient power of Nyx, and the light exploded in her hands. It raced over the ground, settling deep into the earth below us. “Your Guardian has spoken,” she said, stepping away from me. “The power is yours to decide now. I trust you, my children.”
A bolt of lightning struck the stone at Nyx’s feet, illuminating the air with a charge of electricity and magic. I shielded my face from the explosion, though I knew she was gone before the creatures around me gasped.
When I lowered my hand, I was stuck staring at the dark spot where she’d stood, and for the first time since being dragged into all of this, I was a little more grateful for her.
And maybe, that was exactly what the creatures around me needed to hear. Elara had a look in her eyes that gave me hope, and the male beside her appeared to be lost in thought—like he was considering the weight of Nyx’s new expectations, and the future it could hold for Avalon—for everyone.
“I won’t disappear,” I stated, drawing their attention back to me, “but I won’t stand in the way, either.
Creatures, it is up to you to lead. I will always watch over you—guard our world like I was always meant to—and I will always be tied to you.
To all of you. This is your world to rebuild, too. Our world.”
It didn’t seem so daunting anymore. Being Queen had never felt like the right path for me; I wasn’t a born leader with the strength to make hard choices, despite the expectations to do so.
I’d always been a guardian, a protector—a shield for those who were not strong enough to fight for themselves.
And the creatures of Nyx were capable of fighting for their world.
They’d shown me just that—showed Nyx why this was the right choice.
They could govern themselves. Just like the Underworld would find its next ruler, a new Prima would be born in the Old World, and the Fae would finally see the rise of their High Queen.
And I would be their protector, the Guardian of Nyx.