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I found myself having hope. Which scared me more than any threat from the Paragon.

“It’s…complicated,” I explained.

“You can tell me, you know,” she added. “I know you were the one taking care of me all those years at home, Jade. I never knew exactly how much you did for me, but I know now. I do. And I never actually thanked you for all you did.”

“You don’t need to thank me.”

“I do, Jade. Because you didn’t ask for this.”

I suddenly felt the urge to throw up. No, I didn’t ask for this. Not a damn thing. But I wasn’t going to let Tessa take a beating from our father. I wasn’t going to let her starve.

I wasn’t going to let anyone who supported me get hurt.

Malachi, Adeline, Tessa. They were all my family now.

I may have gone through the deepest pits of darkness over the last few months, but I found myself with more to lose than ever before.

“I think…I think if things were different, I might actually be happy here,” I admitted.Shit. Did I really just say that to her?

Tessa looked at me, eyes glazed over. “Me too,” she added, which surprised me more than anything.

Footsteps crunched on the forest floor behind us. I tensed immediately, grabbing Tessa’s arm. Adeline said this place was sacred, practically special just for her. Who else would be coming here?

“Look what we have here,” a small group of fae, maybe five, approached from the brush. “Our queen and her baby sister. How sweet.”

“Leave us alone,” I demanded.

The fae in front, a young male by the looks of it, stopped dead in his tracks with a dramatic wave of his hands to stop the fae that walked behind him.

“Watch out,” he teased. “Our queen is giving us an order. It wouldn’t be polite to disobey.”

Tessa tried to whisper something in my ear but I quickly shushed her.

“Stand up and get behind me,” I whispered.

She did as I ordered, and the two of us stood up against the group of fae.

“What are you doing here?” I asked them, trying to make my voice as strong as possible. “What do you want?”

The leader of the group looked around and scanned the men behind him. Something about the way they looked at each other made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “We hear you have power, human,” he started. “We want to see it.”

“What?” I instinctively reached back and gripped Tessa. I wasn’t letting these bastards touch her.

The fae stepped forward. There were now just a few feet between us. “I said I want to see your power, human. Unless, of course, it’s all fake.”

“Fake? Why would I lie about having power? How would…that’s ridiculous.”

The fae took another step forward. I debated calling out for help, but there would be nobody around here. Everyone was inside the castle. “I don’t care what it is,” he said. “I just want to see it. Prove to us that you’re special. You are our queen, after all.”

“I don’t have to prove anything to you. Alarms began shouting at me in my mind. This was bad. This was trouble.

Tessa tensed behind me. I couldn’t back up anymore without pushing her into the lagoon.

“You’re notafraid, are you?” the fae asked, taking yet another step forward.

Yes, I was afraid. Not for myself, but for Tessa.

She was brand new to this world, thrown in against her will just like I had been. She didn’t need this trouble. She didn’t ask for it.