Chapter 48
Chapter forty-eight
Zara
Idon’t know how long I run through the Woodlands. Maybe two hours, maybe two days. My legs burn and feel as though they might collapse beneath me, but I continue running. From the last few days. From the last several weeks. I run to erase the thoughts plaguing my mind.
The torment in Alfrie’s eyes as he fought so hard to overcome the glamour makes my very soul ache. The thought of Alix and Emlyn still at Lanray and potentially in danger might kill me. Thoughts of Leer…
He wants me dead.
He wants me out of the way. He means to take over the realm.
I trip over the massive paws of my new form, not used to running on all fours, and I topple to the ground, transforming back into my Fae body. I don’t get up. I lie in the wet soil of the forest floor and weep, pulling my knees into my chest as I sob.
Why did I leave without my friends? Without Alfrie? He told me to run. He told me Leer wants me dead and wants Masseda. I left them all behind to save myself. Like a coward. Like the selfish little princess who I thought I used to be.
Turns out I haven’t changed at all.
I’m still the spoiled royal who only thinks about herself.
I was so obsessed with getting my way, I was blind to everything unravelling around me.
I begged my father to let me stay and now he’s dead.
I risked everything and everyone because of my own insecurities.
I spit on my status and my responsibility to Masseda and now it’s a pile of ash.
I was too weak to know I was being glamoured.
To na?ve to notice I was a pawn just like in my father’s chess games.
And now it’s too late. I’ve lost everything. I’ve lost my home. I’ve lost my friends. I’ve lost Alfrie.
I sob and stare at the blue sky, tears streaming down my cheeks and into the mud. No more of this. I’ll go back for them. But I can’t do it alone.
I pick myself off the ground, with new resolve.
The rag doll Alfrie trusted me with lies face down in the dirt beside me.
I need to find the village he was searching for.
If it truly exists, there’s a chance the Gridan royals made it out alive too, or at least someone who wants to take down the Unseelie Court as much as I do.
I grab the doll and wipe the mud from its sewn face. He found it somewhere close to Masseda, and it’s as good a place as any to start. I gaze at the toy in my hand, wishing it was Alfrie’s face I was caressing instead of an old doll.
I have to believe he’ll come for me. He told me to keep running until I find the village, and that’s what I’ll do.
I’ll fall on my knees and beg for their assistance to rescue my friends if that’s what’s required of me. Perhaps it’s not appropriate for a princess to grovel. But none of that matters anymore, because I’m no longer a princess.
I’m a Queen.