She smiled warmly and bowed her head. “I would be honored, my Queen.”
We made our way downstairs, which the elderly Seer did with ease and reckless abandon. She could see how concerned I was and laughed it off, saying she’d prophesied her death already, and it had nothing to do with falling down the stairs, so she was going to be fine. I glanced at Kalian as we neared the main floor. Bahz was nowhere in sight, but I didn’t trust him to just leave us alone.
Kalian saw my concern, and even though he didn’t know what exactly was bothering me, he reached over and squeezed my hand, anyway. That didn’t really set me at ease, but it did help me relax just to know he was right beside me, where I could keep him safe.
We returned to the room with the large doors where we’d come for Kalian’s trial. I hesitated before them, feeling a pit in my stomach. Was it common to get stage fright before announcing yourself as Queen of the Universe? I decided it was at least rational.
Both Daath and Syrion walked behind me and put their hands on my shoulders, signaling to me that they had my back. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, nodded, and pushed open the doors.
30
Kalian
When Myrcedes suggested calling a sort of town hall with the fae, I laughed at the suggestion of getting most of the realm’s residents together in the palace. Fae, in general, didn’t like to listen to anyone unless it was self-serving or absolutely required. For that very reason, the army was almost entirely Seelie; we were more agreeable than other fae as a general rule, and our life spans were so long that they could accommodate training. Training for the fae army was a five-hundred-year endeavor just to make sure any individual who joined was broken of any tricky or disrespectful behavior.
I supposed everyone in the realm was so anxious to know what was to become of our world because when the small, purple-haired Queen pushed open the massive doors, the courtroom of the Jewel Palace was more packed with creatures than I had ever seen it before.
Where over a month ago, the council sat to take away everything I’d known for thousands of years, Serriah now stood, waiting for us. The room had clearly been buzzing with commotion and confusion, but the second everyone saw the five of us at the door, they all fell silent. I followed the Queen and Kings along with Tawney as they walked down the center of the room toward the podium. If Myrcedes was nervous, you’d never know. She held her head high and looked as confident as I’d ever seen her. I smiled just a bit to myself at seeing that.
It had been jarring at first to hear her say she was going to be Queen of the fae realm. Of course, that’s not what she’d said, but that’s what I heard. I’d been loyal to one Queen for so long, and even though I’d betrayed her, it was hard to accept that an outsider to my people would be claiming power. I’d been foolish to think that for even a moment, however, when the one in power would be Myrcedes. From the day she met me, she’d been fair in every sense of the word. She’d been exhausting herself trying to improve the Earth as long as it had been hers to rule, and the fae realm would be lucky to finally have a ruler who cared for it so much.
We made our way to the podium. Myrcedes took her place in the very center, flanked by Daath and Syrion. On the other side of the Kings stood Serriah and I, with Tawney next to me. In the very front row of the audience in the courtroom, Bahz and his soldiers stood. Each one had their arms crossed and a glare that could kill pointed straight in Myrcedes’ direction.
The two remaining council members were also at the front of the audience. Serriah had explained in the past week how the other eight of the council members had sent in letters of resignation. Apparently, rumors spread about them as quickly as they had about Minerva’s death - suicide pact, robbing the treasury and fleeing to Earth, and some had even claimed the missing council members weren’t real and were puppets of the Unseelie Queen that simply ceased to exist without their puppet-master. But mostly, everyone was just jarred to suddenly feel like the realm had no leaders.
“Hello,” Myrcedes nodded to the silent room. A wave of whispers rocked through the crowd, but none loud enough to interrupt or distract from her. They really were anxious for guidance. “Many of you don’t know me; some of you may remember me from the trial of General Kalian. Daath and Syrion announced me as their Queen.”
A slight buzz spread throughout the room amongst those who were hearing this for the first time. To most of the realm, my trial had been inconsequential. The events there really only fed into the mill of rumors surrounding Minerva’s death.
She spoke over the chatter. “I’m here to elaborate on that. My name is Myrcedes Kardia. I am the Queen of the Middle Worlds.”
The buzz suddenly broke out into a swarm of commotion. Most of them knew what that meant and knew it included the fae realm. Suddenly, a human woman was coming in to say she was the Queen of not only the world of the fae but everywhere else, as well. I watched Myrcedes closely, but she seemed calm. Surely she’d expected this reaction, and she took it in stride. I admired her for that.
Daath and Syrion seemed to tense up physically;
