Chapter 19
Mirage
T he two realms touched in more places than the humans seemed to realize. In shadows, dreams, and anything that could carry a reflection. The Fae Queen silently watched as all of Umbrae seemed to gather to cheer the joining of their princess with her Ogre-Slaying Champion, the castle’s courtyard bedecked with the royal silver fox and a yellow lion. There were even a few flags that showed a silver panther in a field of black, a combination of the two houses since the princess held a higher rank than her husband and he would be taking her name.
But while all the humans had their eyes on the new royal couple, the Queen only had eyes for her human. She had watched his return to the Mortal Realm, as he separated from the human girl and wore a hood to attend his sister’s wedding.
Then, as if the act had planted the idea in his head, her human took a ring his sister offered him and used it to marry his own true love before a single night had passed.
After they sealed this union with a kiss, the Queen looked away from the mirror in her dressing room. She felt the eyes of another creature behind her. Cats truly were a nuisance. Even the ones in the human kingdoms could simply choose to ignore any ward or glamour.
“Don’t think for a moment that I have forgotten about you.”
The faerie beast gave a delicate sniff. “And do you wish to punish me as well, my queen?”
“You would deserve it if I did,” the Fae Queen said, finally turning away from the mirror. “Bringing that human here behind my back.” Watching Tam’lin marry another girl would have been painful in any circumstance, but she had also had to watch him completely transform into someone she didn’t recognize. The green in his hazel eyes brightened as he laughed with a lightness the Queen had never seen from him. He was shrewd. Clever. Even sarcastic. Nothing like the simple and innocent thrall she thought she knew.
She hadn’t just lost him; her Tam’lin had never existed in the first place.
And the Queen had no understanding of the girl he had chosen, one who had risked everything to rescue a prince, only to throw away her chance to be a princess and a queen with both hands. A fae would never be so foolish.
And that foolish sort of love had foiled and eluded her more times than she cared to admit, causing chaos in the courts and depleting their magic in a way that made the Queen far too desperate.
The silver-tipped cat was standing on her hind legs, wearing a sapphire gown and high-heel boots that she probably thought gave her a more imposing look. It did not, but her words still cut like blades. “I will not apologize. Not when the results of Pan’dryn’s scheming could have been disastrous if the truth had come out some other way. You were being far too reckless, trying to force a prophecy you didn’t fully understand, and you should be thanking me.”
The Fae Queen scowled darkly. If she had been a younger and less experienced fae, her natural powers over the sun would have burned the insolent creature where she stood. “I am not thanking you. I am banishing you to the human realm. And since you love that human girl so much, you shall be her guardian until the end of her days. Then your children shall continue to guard her children and so on until the end of time.”
The cat didn’t blink, even though the Fae Queen’s geas would be perfectly binding. “What is a mortal lifetime to me? What are a few short dalliances and kits shared with my feral cousins? Is that truly your idea of a punishment?”
It was a practical punishment. Someone had to guard the humans after all they did to anger Pan’dryn. Someone had to guard Tam’lin. The Fae Queen might not be capable of the kind of love two humans could share, but she still loved him in her own way.
And she could not seem to get it to stop, even after he was gone.
But if the cat was complaining . . . “I could give you a harsher punishment if you prefer.”
“No . . .” the cat said softly. “But I notice you didn’t tell him.”
The Fae Queen put a defensive hand over her stomach, far too aware of what the cat must be referring to. Nothing could stop the coming of Spring. “And you shall be forbidden from telling him as well.” No one should tell him. If they did, he might risk coming back to the Fae Realm after all she had done to free him. And if he discovered the truth and still didn’t want to return, well, perhaps she wouldn’t blame him, but she would rather he continue in ignorance than allow him the chance to reject the coming Spring. “It is better that way. I can raise the child as I have raised all her sisters.”
That statement just made the cat scoff more. “You raised her sisters to be fae. And that is what they are. Scheming, preening, self-interested fae. Do you know how to raise a human?”
How dare this creature speak to her so, like the cat had read the deepest fears of her heart. The ones that she had no solutions for and no desire to dwell on any further. “That is no longer your concern. You will not be here to see it. You will attend to your duty and leave me at once.”
The Fae Queen waved her arm and dismissed the cat.
No one could stop the coming of Spring, the one prophesied to bring new growth to their magic, but her child’s human family would be protected for the rest of their mortal days.
That was truly the last thing she could do for them.