Osmos reminded me of an aon-beannach, one of the few benevolent creatures mentioned in the Book of Brigid, which Father made me study. They were intelligent with natural healing powers, had horns in the middle of their foreheads, and the ability to detect evil.
I frowned. An aon-beannach would have warned Queen Pressyne of her daughter’s plans. Besides, they were horse-like creatures, and Osmos looked like any other faerie standing on two legs.
He might have been a puka, a shape-shifter that always retained some kind of animal form even when trying to look human. I shook off those thoughts. I no longer needed to classify and catalog the creatures to work out the best way to kill them. Because of the events of last night, I was now their ruler.
Osmos tilted his head to the side and gave me a kind smile. “Your Majesty?”
The tightness in my chest loosened with a relieved breath, and I turned my gaze to a bare patch of wall. An instant later, it morphed into a door.
Osmos crossed Drayce’s room pushed it open, revealing a bright chamber drenched in the morning sun. Cream-colored carpets spread across an oaken floor, and I caught glimpses of ivory furniture.
“What is that?” I asked.
Drayce slid an arm around my shoulders and cloaked me in shadows. “The castle would never allow Queen Melusina into her mother’s chamber, even after she absorbed her magic.”
Osmos dabbed the corner of his eye with a handkerchief. “It was Queen Pressyne’s last act of defiance. This suite of rooms is the seat of the monarch’s power.”
As if they were moving on their own volition, my legs swung out of bed and padded across the room. The chamber Queen Melusina had occupied was more like a dungeon with its stone walls, but this room was fit for an empress.
Drayce’s hand circled the small of my back. “Let Master Alicorn be your guide. Melusina raged about his stubborn loyalty to your grandmother. You’ll need to draw on his wisdom while we free the Living Courts.”
My mind rolled back to the four princes I saw in the pool of Ecne’s tears—my uncles. “Which do I save first?”
“Your Majesty, Queen Pressyne always felt better after a long soak.” Osmos ushered me into the room, which was illuminated by a wall of arched windows on the right that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. It was four times the size of the cottage, but unlike our home in Calafort, this room appeared to only serve two purposes.
A white, marble-topped table stood in the middle of the room on curved legs made of golden swirls. Behind it was a gilded chair with ivory upholstery that may as well have been a throne. I suppose this was where the queen wrote her private letters.
I stepped further into the room, my breaths quickening with excitement. A sofa and two armchairs sat on the left opposite the marble desk. They were made of the same ornate gold frame with ivory upholstery. Behind the desk was a matching chaise lounge I could imagine a queen using to rest after a long day of ruling.
At the far left and right of the room were two doorways and at each stood a fae female wearing dresses of the same silver fabric as Osmos.
“This is Rosalind, your companion.” Osmos swept his arm to the female on the right. She was about six feet in height with raven-black hair that flowed down her shoulders. Black-tipped wings fluttered behind her back with swirls of colors that exactly matched her pale skin tone and violet eyes.
My gaze roved down to the black belt that hung around her waist and held a sword with a violet hilt.
“Rosalind will guard your person at all times,” said Osmos.
She held her sword’s sheath and dipped into a low curtsey. “Thank you for my freedom, Your Majesty.”
When she raised her gaze, the gratitude in her eyes made my
breath catch. Right now, the only things keeping me upright were Drayce’s shadows wrapped around my body and his steady presence at my side.
Rosalind looked at me as though I came to liberate the faeries, I hadn’t even considered what they might have suffered under the reign of Queen Melusina. All I had wanted was a chance to free Father and myself.
Forcing a smile, I inclined my head. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Osmos swept his arm to the faerie on the left. “And this is Destry, the Keeper of the Royal Wardrobe.”
Destry had curling hair the color of honey and the kind of flawless beauty I expected from a faerie. Her wings consisted of milk-white structures connected by transparent membranes as thin as spider webs. She smiled, curtseyed, and didn’t speak.
“Queen Melusina cut out her tongue,” Osmos murmured. “But as we all shared a cell, I’m familiar enough with her gestures to know she wants to express gratitude for her freedom.”
Destry widened her cat-green eyes and gave me an eager nod.
My heart clenched with sympathy, and I placed a hand over my chest. “How many others did she confine?”
Drayce squeezed my shoulder. “Melusina cursed, enslaved, or imprisoned everyone in the Royal Courts who didn’t ally with her. Now that you’ve left her powerless, a lot of her former enemies will unite with you to destroy her.”
“Won’t they blame me for being her daughter?” I asked.
Drayce shook his head. “Faeries have long memories. Some suffered decades under her rule, and others suffered centuries. They owe you a great debt.”
“Your Majesty?” Osmos gestured to Destry, who opened the door to a marble chamber. “The bath is ready.”
Drayce placed his lips on my temple and told me he would meet me later to escort me to my throne room. I crossed the queen’s writing room and followed Destry into a bathing chamber about the size of our entire cottage.
The marble covering the walls and floor and ceiling was white with gray streaks the color of rain clouds. Three high steps at the end of the chamber led to a tub that
