Elle leaned into me. “What do we do about the crystals? We have no army.”
I swallowed hard. “We build our own army. Fuck Liam.”
I stepped forward and pointed to three tall and lean looking farmers. “You three, grab a bow and arrows and man the river. If anything crosses it, kill it.”
They blanched but nodded before leaving. Our protection dome was down, and the dark creatures of the forest would use that to their full advantage, I had no doubt.
“You five!” I pointed at another group of fae who looked like they might be decent warriors. “You need to train with Trissa or Elle and learn to shoot a gun, understand?”
One of them gasped. “A gun? That’s an Earth weapon.”
I nodded. “And they will use them against us. We must fight in kind.”
With some reluctance, they agreed and walked over to Elle who started to pull the gun off her hip and explain how it worked to them. The elders just watched me silently as I barked orders and put the entire village to work. I kept sneaking glances at Indra, daring her to disagree with me or try to take charge, but she kept silent.
Trissa popped up beside me. “What do you need of me?” She bowed her head slightly.
“Fetch Jasper.” I hadn’t seen the warlock since we got back from the Winter Court lands. “We’re going to war.”
My heart hammered in my chest as I fought to process everything. We had one crystal.
Fucking one.
Liam murdered my mom and took his army with him when he left, and it was up to me to get the eleven crystals back before Faerie fell for good or the dark creatures from the woods picked us off, one by one.
When I called Rose over, she approached me hesitantly. “I need you to prepare Maple’s celebration of life. I might not be able to attend but—”
Her eyes brimmed with tears. “I understand, and I would be honored.”
She left, and I was about to call over someone else when Jasper spoke from behind me.
“You rang?” Jasper appeared with Trissa at his side.
Relief washed over me. “You didn’t leave.”
He tipped his head. “I am loyal to you, Princess.”
I rolled my eyes. “And our deal.”
He grinned. “And our deal. I hear there is a nice, unused castle in the Fall Court. Maybe I’ll make that my lands to lord over.”
Figured. “Yeah, well, we need to get the crystals back first.”
Jasper rubbed the snake tattoo on his forehead. “Yes, Liam left with his brothers and the army.” Then, he winced. “He took the Sword of Night, too.”
Yeah… he did.
The one thing that would help us control his dad. It panged my heart for a minute that he took his brothers… Would they be safe out there on Earth? He didn’t trust me with his family? His dad had already kidnapped one of them… But it wasn’t my problem. I never said his brothers or the army had to go. I only told him that he had to go. He was a liar and a two-faced scum bag, and if I saw him out in the real world, trying to take my crystals, I’d kill him.
Chapter 2
I wanted to leave right then and start tracking the crystals, but the village was in shock over having a living royal… two for that matter. Word spread, and then they were calling for a coronation ceremony. Elle took a book from the elder library on royal protocols and read the entire thing, cover to cover, in an hour.
I wanted to go out there and fight, get these crystals back or, at least, track them before they were hidden, but my people wanted leadership, and the elders were making me nervous. Aubin and Indra were whispering off on the sidelines. I wasn’t sure what they were plotting, but it couldn’t be good.
Kira curled my hair while Elle set a wreath of flowers around each of my wrists.
“So, they’re not crowning me Queen, right?” Nerves churned in my gut. The real Queen was sleeping. I was just a princess and didn’t even know I was one until recently.
Elle held open her book, peering down at it. “In a moment of the current reigning Queen being indisposed, the princess can be crowned Acting Queen until the original monarch can carry out her duties.”
Acting what?
She must have seen the confusion cross my face.
“You’re a temp Queen. Just until the real one wakes up.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding. Okay. Temp Queen. I could do that.
There was a knock on my front door, and Trissa opened it. She had been stationed at my door in full battle gear as if she expected the entire village to come after me now that it was public knowledge I was a royal.
It was Jasper.
“Come in!” I yelled over to him, and Trissa reluctantly let him pass.
The warlock crossed the room and looked around at my living room, his gaze lingering on a scratch in the coffee table.
“As your royal warlock advisor,” he drawled, “I came to give you some advice.”
“Advice on getting the crystals back?” I perked up.
He chuckled, clasping his hands, “No. Advice on keeping up appearances.” He waved around my modest childhood home.
“What do you mean?” I gave him a glare.
Taking a deep breath, he motioned again to the space around him. “Although this place is… charming, it’s not fit for a princess. You should have the elders move out of the Tree of Life home, and you should take up residence there with your guards.”
Kira, Elle, and I all dropped our jaws.
“You want her to kick the elders out of their home?” Kira snort-laughed.
Was he trying to get me killed?
Jasper looked at Kira like she was a speck on his shoe. “First of
