Page 54 of Dreams and Dragon Wings (Clean Fairytales for Adults #2)

Benevolence

I continue to fall through the earth, deep into the darkest of places. Far beyond where any light can touch. Far beyond the reach of my fairy godmothers. Far beyond even my queen.

No one can help me here.

The shadows consume me. And yet still I fall.

The stone and dirt I pass turn to smooth, dark glass. An endless tunnel of mirrors. In their surfaces, I stare back at a face that isn’t mine: the face of my uncle.

Or is it me?

Am I Malice?

“Naei!” I shout, refusing to believe it. “Naei!”

Laughter echoes all around, shivering off the glass walls, taunting.

Even in death, my uncle mocks me, just as I always knew he would.

Curling my hands into fists, I lash out, punching the walls, shattering them.

Naei, naei, naei, naei!

But still my uncle laughs.

Still I see his image reflected in thousands of glass shards that rain down over me.

“Stop!”

I punch the walls until my skin cracks.

“I’m not you!”

Until my knuckles bleed.

“I’ll never be you!”

A flash of white light envelops me, blinding me, burning away the darkness of the seemingly endless tunnel.

When it fades, I blink in wonder as I find myself standing at the entrance of a wondrous glade composed of naught but beauty.

A crystalline waterfall spills into a nearby pond, sending rainbows glittering in the mist. Weeping willows droop along the shoreline, trailing their long branches across the rippling surface of the water.

Laughter rings forth like melodious bells from people I can’t see. Their voices sound far away. Elsewhere.

The sound of their distant joy lures an ache to my chest. I long to join them.

But I know I can’t.

The only person I see is the vague silhouette of a man sitting at the pool’s edge. He seems to be composed of light—more a flicker of heat than anything else. A quiet melody lilts from his direction, as if he is humming to himself, despite the fact that he is a man without any true form.

I know without being told that he has no body because he is a creature of Spirit rather than one of Earth like me. That he has simply made himself visible enough to me now so that I know he is here.

So that I know he has been waiting for me.

My heart catches in my throat as I cautiously approach, striding with bare feet across the lush, velvety grass that leads right to the water’s edge. I stare at the shimmering fish swimming through the pool rather than at the man himself.

His quiet humming stops.

? Sit with me? ?

I obey without thinking, settling at his side.

The moment I do, his arm wraps around my shoulders and pulls me in close for the embrace I didn’t know I needed.

But I do.

His familiar warmth floods through me. His familiar touch holds me steady.

In silence, I sit beside my oldest friend, aside from Aurelia and my godmothers, and just soak up his strength as the tears I have fought against for so long finally fall.

? He never blamed you, you know. Nor did I. ?

Those words steal the very air from my lungs. The sight of the pond blurs further as more tears mist my vision.

? We are both so very proud of you, Benevolence. Proud of the man you have become. ?

I don’t need to ask to know who it is we are speaking of.

It can only be my father.

? He loved you then. He loves you still. That is why he sacrificed himself. ?

Bowing my head, I tremble, trying to not sob like a little boy as the Aether answers the question that has troubled my heart for the past twelve years. I fail miserably.

But I know here, at least, I can cry to my heart’s content without fear of judgment.

My father still loves me. Despite my mistakes. Despite my foolhardiness.

That must mean he is here. That I will see him soon.

The thought is a bittersweet one.

“Is it over then?” I ask, my voice little more than a whisper.

The Aether’s hold on me tightens.

? It is. ?

“The curse is truly broken?”

? It is. ?

My heart swells at the confirmation of what I already suspected when I first awoke from my nightmare prison. Aurelia was the key all along.

Curses are meant to be broken, Velda has always been fond of saying.

And our love finally broke ours.

I sit in silence for a time, basking in this knowledge until the memory of my uncle’s laughter mocking me in the tunnel of glass bubbles to the forefront of my thoughts.

I have to ask: “Is Malice truly dead?”

? Yes. A piece of him lingered on inside you—a fragment he never meant to place when the original curse was laid. But that is the trouble when one gives into evil. They lose themselves along the way. ?

After a beat of silence, the Aether finishes, ? When he died, the piece awoke and tried to corrupt your heart. But the fragment is there no longer. ?

A hint of sorrow accompanies those words.

I sense that even after all Malice did—even after all he no doubt still wished to do—the Aether mourns him.

Because there was always some small hope my uncle might repent of his dark ways and come back to the light.

And now that hope is gone, buried with him within the Vale.

Thoughts of the Vale draw my thoughts back to my queen.

Quieter still, I ask, “Is Aurelia somewhere safe?”

? She is. ?

My eyes flutter closed as I soak in this news. Aurelia is somewhere safe. She is probably with my aunties. They can take care of one another. My queen will be all right, even though I have ultimately failed her here at the very end.

? Have you? ?

I open my eyes and stare straight ahead, confusion drawing my eyebrows together. “Well, I’m dead, aren’t I?”

? Are you? ?

I turn my head to shoot the man composed of light still sitting at my side a bewildered look, but he’s no longer there.

Well, he is there. The Aether is always there.

But he’s no longer trying to appear to be something he’s not for my sake.

My attention turns back to the pond, to the glittering waterfall, to the sound of laughter trickling forth on the warm breeze.

“But isn’t this the Eternal Springs?”

? Is it? ?

I sigh at the Aether’s latest evasive answer.

The wind shivers through the willow branches, as if to show that my God is chuckling at me.

“Where am I, then?” I finally think to ask.

? Look, ? the Aether bids me. Again, the breeze stirs, sending the waters of the pond rippling. ? See for yourself. ?

Cautiously, I lean forward and peek over the rim of the pond’s edge and—

I blink against the golden light of day spilling across my face, dappling my vision with colored spots. Warm water drifts around me, soaking into the linen undershirt and trousers I wear.

An equally warm weight rests atop my chest and presses into my side—a weight that thrums with body heat and a steady heartbeat. A weight that smells like summer and roses.

Aurelia .

Together, my queen and I float effortlessly atop the surface of a great, prismatic lake, as if we are a pair of otters lazing in the sun. Naei. It is no mere lake upon which we float.

It is the Living Waters.

“He is awake!” Brisa cries, and suddenly my vision is filled with three fae all at once as Aurelia lifts her head from my chest to gaze up at me, and Brisa and Glorana flit into view.

“ Na’theryn ,” my Jewel whispers, her hand cupping my cheek. “You slept so long we were beginning to worry.”

“He just needed his beauty sleep,” Brisa teases.

Glorana amends, “Technically speaking, we all needed the rest.”

I stare in wonder at Aurelia as my thoughts try to untangle themselves.

I’m not dead. I’m alive .

But how long have I been asleep, then?

What about Malice’s army? The Aerie? Are my people fighting without me?

I try to sit up, but soon find myself groaning as soreness twinges through my torso.

Brisa makes a face and blasts a weave of Air at me, forcing me to my back again. “Oh, no you don’t. That uncle of yours crushed your rib cage, and we don’t want you moving until you’re completely better.” Adopting a loftier tone, she adds, “By decree of the Therya’kai .”

Biting her bottom lip, Aurelia clearly fights not to chuckle.

Sighing, I try to relax despite the swirl of my confused thoughts. “I see I am outnumbered,” I concede.

Since I cannot rise and fret about battle plans, I instead focus on how lovely my queen looks in this moment—radiant, with pink roses woven through her damp locks to match the gown floating around her form.

Her cheeks warm as I continue to stare at her, trying to drink her all in. To commit her to my memory once more.

But when I innocently ask, “Has my drakira turned into a mermaid?” she laughs again. That bright sound I have always loved. “No, but truly,” I add, still trying to make sense of everything. “I thought you couldn’t swim?”

“I can’t,” she confirms, reassuring me that I have not gone mad. “We are resting on the raft Glorana made us.”

Matter-of-factly, my green-clad auntie corrects, “It is a giant leaf , dear.”

“And I am keeping it afloat, of course,” Brisa yawns, descending on fluttering wings to claim a perch on my right shoulder.

Glorana, however, remains hovering in the air before me.

Belatedly, I look around for Velda. When I don’t see her, I frown. We are always a matched set, my godmothers and I.

Where could she possibly have gone?

“She is at the Aerie,” Aurelia explains within my thoughts, “helping oversee the drafting of a new peace treaty between our peoples. My father is with her. It should be ready for us to review and sign soon.”

My frown remains as I search my queen’s face. “And what about the army? The fighting?”

“We were able to disperse most of Malice’s forces before they could ever reach the Aerie.”

Brisa makes an annoyed tch . “It’s rude to carry on a conversation without us, you know,” she chides directly in my ear.

I try to shoot her a look , but speak aloud anyway when next I ask, “Is there nothing left for me to do then?”

I try to keep my tone light, but the faint sting in my chest remains. Have I truly been rendered useless during my time spent healing?

Everything has simply been… resolved.

Handled in my absence.