The shockwave of light spread throughout the land, causing the leaves on the trees to rustle. People were knocked backward a little. Water in the healing pool rippled. Everything moved as if Faerie had come alive or woken from a long sleep.
Then it happened.
Green.
Everything turned green and pink and purple and blue. Grass sprang up as far as the eye could see, blanketing everything, and flowers bloomed on nearly every plant or tree. The trunks of the trees, once dry and ashy, grew thick dewy moss the color of a vibrant green highlighter.
I choked back tears as my motherland was restored before my very eyes.
When it was done, the Queen released our hands and faced her people.
Fae came out of the woods from every angle, and they all fell to their knees, most of them openly weeping. Birds flitted in and out of the area as rabbits bound through the lands. Even the Mermaid had popped up from the healing waters with a teary expression.
“Lily.” The Queen turned to me and placed her hands on my shoulders. “I know you don’t know me well… at all. But I hope this can be a new beginning. A start of a… strong friendship between us.” Her voice cracked, and I could feel the emotions running off of her.
Opening my arms, I pulled her into a hug. “I’d like that. A lot,” I told her as my throat tightened.
For a second, she didn’t hug me. I think she was shocked, but then her arms tightened around me and it felt so, so good. It was one of those all-encompassing mom hugs, and I knew everything was going to be okay.
Thunderous applause rose up throughout the woods, and we separated, both smiling. The Queen then pointed to Liam. “You are the Winter King’s eldest son?” She beckoned him forward, and the applause quickly turned to stone-cold silence. Liam looked exactly like him… But surely she remembered him as the one who carried her to the healing pool?
Oh no. I should tell her that he’s my soulmate. That he’s my Liam—
“I guess I should take my men to go live in Winter…” Liam hedged, standing before her nervously.
She scowled. “You will do nothing of the sort. I’d like you to be on my advisory council, and I’d like to thank you for saving my life.”
She bowed deeply to him, and relief flooded through me.
The Queen was different from my mother. She didn’t have the same prejudices. She saw Liam for what he did and not who he was. Yes, he was a halfling, the son of a sick man, but he’d saved her life, and that was all that mattered.
“I’d be honored,” he told her, bowing back.
The Queen then grabbed Liam’s hand and mine and raised them into the air. “I think this calls for a feast!”
The cheers were deafening as they echoed throughout the forest. The farmers had come in from the outskirts; the border guards, everyone was here. Faerie was whole again, and we weren’t ever going to let it fall apart. Not for as long as I lived.
The Queen released our hands and then started to greet everyone, stopping to shake all of their hands.
I turned to Liam. “So, I’ve been thinking. I don’t think it’s right if I move into the treehouse with you.”
His face fell. “Oh… okay. I understa—”
“Not unless we’re engaged. I mean, you can’t give a man everything or he’ll never put a rock on it.” I extended my ring finger and wagged it in his face.
A full-toothed grin swept across his face as he laughed. “The term is ‘put a ring on it.’”
Whatever, stupid Earth terminology.
He bent down and then stood, grabbing my hand. Something cold touched my ring finger, and I looked down to see a small, dirty pebble held against my finger.
“There, I put a rock on it.” He winked.
Laughter peeled out of me as Liam wrapped his arms around me and spun me in a circle.
Our story wasn’t perfect. Hell, it was downright tragic in some parts. But the ending, oh, the ending was going to be happily ever after.
Epilogue
Three years later.
I married Liam two years ago under the Tree of Life with only a handful of my closest friends in attendance. Then, we had a reception with the entire village and partied for three days. It felt like that tree and those crystals had brought us together, and we wanted to honor that.
Liam’s father was still imprisoned. Guards brought him three meals a day and the Queen had ordered plumbing with shower and a toilet to be added to his cell, which I thought was a mercy, considering all of the heartache he’d caused. Cain and a few of the little ones still visited him. They were too young to understand the bigger picture, and Liam didn’t discourage it.
The Queen had also created a portal from the tree in Wyoming where Mara was laid to rest, connecting it to the treehouse Liam and I lived in. We visited his mother twice a week for yummy homemade lasagna and casserole dinners. Tonight, we were going there to celebrate Elle and Cam’s engagement. His mother begged to host the party in her Wyoming house. I think she liked having all of us over.
I skipped along the bridge and onto the path that led to our small treehouse, waving at fae as I passed. The fae from Earth that I’d invited to rejoin Faerie had come, and after a few scuffles for power, they pledged their loyalty to the Queen. Not me. The real Queen. She’d taken her power back at my request and was training me to take over one day. Some of the fae had spread out in search of their own land. Some Winter fae wanted to live in Winter. Every inch of Faerie had been restored to its former glory. But most of them chose to stay here
