I burst into Kira’s room, causing her to jump. “How long until the Queen would wake on her own if Indra had been spelling her into sleep this whole time with snoozeberry juice?”
Kira frowned. “Twenty years of it? I dunno… days, weeks?”
I nodded and ran out, marching through the empty house until I reached the outside where Trissa and Elle were talking to Jasper and pointing out something in the distance.
“Elle!” I snapped, causing all three of them to turn. “I’m going to officially arrest Indra for treason. What do I need to know?”
Her eyes widened, and all three of their mouths fell open in shock.
“You have proof?” Elle pulled her royal law textbook from her satchel and started to flip through it.
Jasper’s hand dropped on the book to keep Elle from reading anymore. “She’s the Queen. She can call treason on whomever she wants.”
Relief poured through me. “Good. Because Indra is a fucking witch. Literally. So, Jasper, I might need you to help me take her to the cages.”
Jasper raised one eyebrow in shock, and I was relieved, quite honestly. For a second, I thought he might be working with her or something crazy.
“A witch? But she looks—” Elle started.
“I know,” I growled. “Illusion.” People were milling about, and the sun was about to set. I wanted to get this over with before I lost my nerve.
“Jasper! Are you ready to help me?” I growled.
He bowed slightly. “At your command, my Queen.” There was a playfulness in his voice but also an undercurrent of respect.
Without waiting for another word, I kicked off the ground, shooting up into the air and taking off for the house that Indra now shared with the elders. I felt the wind rush at my back as Trissa, Elle, and Jasper flew behind me. Jasper kept his wings concealed often, tucked down into his coat, or maybe they were magically cloaked. I assumed it was to remind him not to use them out in public in the Earth realm. Only so many illusions to explain a flying person. But ever since he’d come back to Faerie, he’d been flying a lot more now.
We zipped through the small busy road of tall houses. People were coming home after a long day in the fields or sitting on their porch reading to their kids. Even in all the destruction lately, we held to our daily routines, and that was comforting.
When we reached the small blue house at the very end of the street, I landed hard on my heels. Rose was out front, rocking in a chair on the porch with a book in her lap.
She looked up, shocked to see me holding my sword aloft and charging up her lawn.
“My—,”
I held my finger to my lips, and the words died in her throat. Rose was just about the only one I trusted of the three of them. I’d trusted Maple too, but she was gone now…
Rose clutched her book, staring at my sword with terrified eyes as I mounted the steps to her house. I laid my hand on the knob when Jasper pushed his way in front of me.
“Let me go first,” he hissed, holding a wispy ball of green magic that lit up his palms.
Right.
I had magic, but I wasn’t a witch. I had earth magic. It was different. He threw the door wide, and a burst of red glowing power arced through the air, headed straight for his chest.
Okay, she was ready for us.
Jasper threw the green ball in his hands, and they collided in the air, causing the whole house to shake. Indra stood there, halfway out the back door with a feral grin on her lips. She’d dropped the Summer fae illusion. Her hair was now jet black, skin an ashy gray, and her ears held their telltale tilt.
At the sight of her true form, instead of anger, I felt heartbreak. I trusted her; we all did. She was like the mother to us all. She helped single-handedly rebuild Faerie after the Queen fell. This was the ultimate betrayal.
“Indra!” I shouted across the space, noticing that Aubin was nowhere to be seen. “You are under arrest for treason.” Pulling my sword, I advanced with Jasper at my side as Elle and Trissa flanked into the room as well.
Indra sneered. “I should have killed you when I had the chance,” she spat and jumped backward out of the door. Her wings snapped out, and she took for the sky.
No!
I charged forward, ready to fly after her when Trissa grabbed my arm. “Let her go. She’ll die out in the wastelands, and you can resurrect the shield after getting the Spring Tree power activation and lock her out. We can’t waste valuable time chasing after her.”
She was right. It could take days. Already, she was a blip on the skyline, and with her advanced magic, who knew what kind of illusions she could do to cover her trail.
I took a shaky breath and nodded. “Where’s Aubin? I want him questioned concerning everything he knows. I can’t have any more liars in Faerie.”
Jasper nodded and moved to turn when Rose’s blood-curdling scream rang throughout the house.
A stone sank in my stomach, and I knew right then, somehow, that Aubin was dead. Indra had known we were coming. Was her magic that powerful?
That was scary...
After racing to the backroom to find Rose huddled over Aubin’s body, I led her away. Poor thing was distraught. She told me that Indra had asked her to read outside and give her and Aubin private time to speak, and she’d obviously killed him. I wondered why Indra would spare Rose, but it was easy to see. Rose was like an innocent child. She was harmless, and it showed me that Indra had an ounce of compassion left. For whatever that was worth.
We moved Rose in with Elle’s mom for a while so that we could have her keep an eye on Rose, and then I told Trissa to prepare
