The Queen was running down the small lane from the farmer’s land and toward the river. She stopped when she reached the river’s edge and looked into the water as it slowly turned from blue to black. The darkness was coming. I was inside Indra’s body, chasing the Queen, and I looked over her shoulder into the water. A fierce expression shone in the Queen’s eyes, and then I saw my reflection. Indra’s reflection since I was her.
Holy mother…
Indra. Even though she was a darker-skinned woman, there was a paleness to her skin, a tilt to her ears, a tattoo on her neck of a harpy. She was a dark witch…
A snapping twig brought both of their attention to the other side of the river.
An army of dark creatures stood there, ready to take on our small village. All that was left. Fae ran screaming and shrank back away from the waters, hiding in their houses. I recognized the house I lived in with my mother but not the old woman who slipped inside behind the doors. It made me wonder what happened to her…
The ground shook, and the Queen cast a look over her shoulder at Indra.
“Where’s my sister?!” the Queen growled at her, thick disgust in her voice.
Whoa…
Indra pointed to the blue door. “She’s gone after the crystals. Your daughter is safe inside with Trissa.”
My sister? Your daughter? I’d been taken to a time when this was common knowledge, and it punched me in the gut.
Arrows sailed through the air then, snapping on the rocks at the Queen’s feet.
Where were the warriors? Where was her backup?
I knew the answer, and it made me sick.
They were all dead.
The Queen growled, thrusting her palms outward, and a blast of light rocked the riverbank. The dark creatures hissed and fell backward, ceasing their advance. Next, the Queen bent down and started to claw at the dirt with her fingers until she reached damp soil.
What the…
I saw it then, golden light emanating off her skin as she nourished her deep connection to the earth. It seemed to thrum through the Queen’s body as she called on the earth’s magic. It zipped up her arms in blue and green arcs of electricity, and I felt the envy burn through Indra. She wanted that much power.
Slowly, the protection dome rose from the earth, shaking the small patch of Faerie just as the blackness and smoke started to creep forward from the woods. She was sealing it all off, saving what little part she could.
Indra just watched in fascination as the Queen pulled on her power and erected a dome over the last little bit of Faerie she could. When she was done, she panted and tried to stand, swaying on her feet. “I’m getting weaker…” she mused and wiped her hands on her dress before turning to face Indra.
“That should hold until we can—” The Queen’s words died in her throat as Indra threw a spell at her chest. It crashed into her, a ball of red magic, and splashed over her breasts. She doubled over, clutching her stomach, and Indra did a quick look around to make sure no one saw before catching the Queen in midair.
Anger like I’d never felt before thrummed through my veins, and I wanted to rip this paste off my eyes and go find Indra right now and kill her, but I needed to see more.
As the Queen lay there gasping like a fish, she muttered one thing.
“Why?”
Indra felt a pang of remorse. Her memories were not as accessible as Liam’s, so I didn’t know the extent of their friendship. But they must have been close for it to hurt Indra even a tiny bit because otherwise, she was cold as ice inside.
“You’re too powerful.” Indra pulled a bottle from her pocket and brought it to the Queen’s lips. “And I can’t have that.” She upended the potion into the Queen’s mouth, and I gasped as the Queen went completely limp, into a deep sleep.
Then, a huge fake wail rocked Indra’s chest, and she screamed for help, the sheer bad acting of it all made my stomach turn.
Screw this, I couldn’t watch anymore.
I thought of my mother, wanting to be done with this memory, and felt myself pulled forward in the timeline.
Indra stood over my mother, her fingers at my mom’s temples. Just seeing my mother again like this, close-up, smelling her hair through Indra, seeing her downturned lips, it was a punch to the gut of my fresh grief. But that grief was quickly replaced with rage as I realized what she was doing to my mom.
“Your sister has fallen into a deep sleep. The land weakened her. And the child is your daughter.”
My mother frowned. “Mine?” Her voice was dreamy.
Indra nodded. “Oh, yes. All yours.”
Indra’s gaze flicked up, and I saw a line of people waiting outside to meet with her. Mara, Trissa, they were all waiting to meet with the new high elder of Summer, the one the Queen appointed in charge.
And she was going to brainwash every single one of them.
I didn’t need to stay any longer. I’d seen enough at this point. Standing in the room, I washed off the paste and then rinsed my face, watching as my hands shook in the mirror.
The Queen was a badass. She hadn’t fallen after building the dome or losing the crystals. She fell because Indra spelled her. She’d said she was weakened, but I had no reason to believe that the loss of the crystals was what actually made her weak.
Stepping forward, I wrenched open my door and grabbed my special sword off the wall, hanging it at my
