Chapter 43 #2
“That will take a bit more time. To get through to people, to break their beliefs will take years, but it can be done. And it will start before I give up my reign. Timekeepers will be going to the same schools as the Clockfolk, and marriage among our peoples will be legalized. They’re working on a proposal as we speak.
” The Red Queen sipped her drink. “Not a lot of people are happy about it, though. Powerful people.”
Which made sense. A lot still believed we were somehow superior to Timekeepers.
What a ridiculous idea.
“I’ve also been working on a public travel system for quite some time now.
Something I’ve been passionate about. I will be donating my belongings to gather the budget to see it brought to life before my time ends.
” The Red Queen’s smile was proud just now.
“Easy travel between courts will break barriers people didn’t even know existed until today. ”
“That’s actually very helpful.” To be able to travel to anywhere we wanted, whenever we wanted—above the ground? Jinx would have loved the idea. She’d have loved to see everything, all our realm had to offer.
To be honest, so would I.
“So, you will just…resign,” I said.
The question had been spinning in my head since that morning six days ago when she’d woken up and had taken the White Queen in her arms, had cried and cried in front of all of us, then had ordered the soldiers to go get help, and had told us that she would be stepping down from her role as queen.
I still had trouble imagining it.
A queen stepping down from the crown?
“I already have. The councils of the courts have received my letters. They have yet to reply, and I’m sure they’ll take a few days, but in the meantime, I will be moving out of the palace today and going to my parents’ estate in my court.”
“Or you could just stay,” I said before I could help myself because a realm without a single queen?
“I won’t,” the Red Queen said, and her smile was affectionate this time.
“This place has been my prison for so long, but even so, I don’t deserve to live here.
I will still be present for all hearings, and I will help the councils in electing the new queens in the coming month—but I will do so without a crown. ”
I could have sworn she sounded ashamed for a split second, but she recovered quickly, sipped her tea and nodded.
“Good times are coming. Better times.” She said it like she was as certain of that as she was of the sky being blue.
I sipped my tea in silence, a little relieved, a lot thankful. This realm definitely needed better times after all it had been through. The edges especially.
“And the Turning Trials?” Silas asked.
“They’ll continue but not like before. I’ve included this in my letter to the councils. We will need to come up with new games—real games.”
“The kind where the worst thing that happens is you lose and go home embarrassed,” I said. “Not lose your memories.”
“Exactly,” said the Red Queen.
“No clockbeasts or timewraiths or memory extractions…right?”
“And no more barely-adults being the only group allowed to play,” Silas said.
The queen half nodded, half shook her head. “There will be adjustments. A lot of details—but, yes, pretty much.”
“Good,” Silas and I said at the same time.
“It’s a lot of work, though. A lot of new things,” the Red Queen said, setting her cup down on the table as she turned toward us with all her body. “I’m told the two of you, as well as the Diamond, the Heart and the Club boy will be attending the School of Magic in Neverwhen, yes?”
Blood on my cheeks. The pressure rose so fast inside my chest I thought I might choke on thin air.
Because, yes, that was correct. Russ had gone home, but he was coming back here once he ‘settled things with his parents,’ he said.
And March and I had decided to stay in Neverwhen together, at least for the first year of our magic studies.
I knew it was the right call—I knew it with all my heart.
I wasn’t going anywhere that wasn’t here—just something I felt in my whole being.
The problem was, I hadn’t told my parents yet. I’d sent them letters, and they were going to arrive later today to meet with me. They thought they’d be coming to pick me up.
Instead, I would be telling them that I was staying behind.
And I had no idea how they’d react.
“Yes,” Silas said with a nod. He would be staying in Neverwhen, too—and so would Reggie, at least until he was all healed and able to decide what to do next.
Kohen and his team were taking care of him, and they were confident he’d be back on his feet in a month or so—fully himself.
The game had really done a number on him, had pushed the real Reggie so far back he’d almost disappeared.
He hadn’t, though. And that’s all that mattered.
Kohen had made all necessary arrangements for all five of us together with Master Talik, with the blessing of the Red Queen.
He’d arranged quarters for all of us in the student residences near Neverwhen’s School of Magic.
Silas would study Timekeeper and Spade magic both—the first student in the school’s history to be enrolled in two disciplines, apparently.
The rest of us would stick to our own—to begin with, at least.
“I was thinking,” the Red Queen said. “By the time you finish your studies, the new trials will be in their final stages of development, if everything goes right. If you do decide to stay in Neverwhen permanently, perhaps you might consider working there yourselves. I’m sure your teacher would very much like that idea.
Just to make sure things run as they should, that’s all. ”
My mouth opened and closed and opened and closed.
Silas was no better when our eyes locked. Wide and a little bloodshot, our skin a little pale now, too.
Yes, I wanted to say. Wanted to shout it at the top of my lungs.
Wanted to jump to my feet and hug the Red Queen—because that was it!
Since I’d decided to stay here with March, I’d missed something. I thought it was home and Jinx and my friends and my old life. I thought it was my house and my room and the lake and the woods.
But it wasn’t.
It was purpose. A reason to look forward to the future—other than being with March, getting to know him in detail the way I had three different times. A purpose to get me going every single day, to give meaning to all the efforts I wanted to put into every moment of my life.
I had a craving for it—for living. I had a hunger, but I also needed a purpose to guide me.
I always had—a plan, a result, the sore muscles at the end of a sparring session with Father, the taste of the lake on my tongue after a swim, the feeling of completion after studying and completing exams at school… the Turning Trials.
And the Red Queen had just given me the biggest purpose of all.
Tears in my eyes. Happy tears, but I didn’t let them fall. Now was not the time.
If only March were here. He’d gone to meet with his mother and sister two days ago, and he would be coming back later today.
I missed him so much it felt like I had a hole in my gut—but the hole just became smaller.
Because I knew March well enough to know that he would love the idea of working in the Labyrinth, in whichever way we could, as much as I did.
If I could help in any way, make sure that the new Hands five years from now had only the best experience of their lives in the Turning Trials, I would give it my bestest best. Every day, every moment.
Silas reached out his hand and grabbed mine over my lap, squeezed it.
He was grinning ear to ear, too, which I’d missed.
He was very different now from the person he used to be when we first met, which was only natural.
But even so, I missed this. I missed his easy smile and the sparkle in his eyes.
“Maybe that’s not such a bad idea.” He winked at me. “What do you say, Brave Ora?”
“Maybe,” I breathed, smiling so big it hurt.
The queen was smiling, too. “Thank you for coming to see me, both of you.”
“Of course,” I said, squeezing Silas’s hand one last time before he let go.
“I had my doubts that you’d show up—and I would have understood,” the Red Queen said, taking her cup for one last sip of her tea. “I would like to see all the others as well. Hopefully soon. You were all so…” She paused, pressed her lips together as she took a moment to think.
I held on tightly to my cup when she looked at Silas.
“You walked into the Turning Trials barely a boy, on your own, and risked everything for a mission nobody before you dared to even attempt.” A deep nod, and the queen brought her hand to her heart.
“That curse you cast was one of the best magics I’ve ever witnessed.
You have talent, boy. Don’t waste it. You have a big heart.
Don’t ever allow the world to shrink it. ”
Silas’s jaw tightened. He looked down at his tea but said nothing—and I thought it was because he feared his voice would crack if he tried.
“And you, Ora.” The gears in my stomach went wild. Her dark eyes found mine, and the warmth in them was so unexpected it nearly undid me. “You were actually the first Hand I was supposed to erase. Did you know that?”
I swallowed hard, shook my head.
“Oh, yes. I had my hands on your mind, and I was ready to do it at the order of my sister. I was going to extract everything, put all your memories into a heartlock—but then I felt it.” Her smile.
“The love you carried in you was breathtaking—for your sister, for the Hands—especially for the Heart boy. It was everywhere inside you, woven through every memory, every moment, so deeply I couldn’t find a single thread in you that exists without that feeling. ”
My eyes burned and burned, but the tears remained unshed. I was smiling now, too.