I nodded, knowing how badly it hurt him. “You won’t be able to be Queen after that. Ever. No matter how bad it gets, you’ll never be able to sit on the throne.”
“I understand, but I can’t do it. I can’t be in charge of that many people. I’m still just beginning to understand the Immortal Realm. I can’t be the ruler of half of it.” The decision was made. A decision that didn’t make me feel any better.
Sebastian gave me a fake smile. “Then we’ll be free to live out our immortal lives in this village.”
Somehow, I knew that this decision was going to make him even more miserable than going to Court would make me.
But the decision was made.
Chapter 30
Sebastian
Tomorrow I was leaving for the Court of Light. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming. I must have done something wrong. Maybe I should have kept her running, never letting her settle down or find happiness. She had to be Queen. It was what she’d been made for.
Yet, if I’d kept her from the village, she’d never have become strong enough to take the throne. She’d never have learned just how strong and how incredible she was. No, I could think of nothing that would have changed this result. If we’d stayed with Astriel, she’d have fallen in love with people there. It was who she was.
A Queen who loved the people that would serve her and whom the people would love in return.
I looked at her. Wearing a simple linen dress with her long brown hair in a braided crown, she held a bowl of hunter’s chili. She was beautiful. And I was about to do a terrible thing. A thing that she may never forgive me for doing.
I put my hand on her thigh, and she looked at me with a smile. “So, tell me about this Court of Light. I tried to talk to Andryn about it since he lived there for a while, but he didn’t want to talk about it.”
“It’s a palace made of gold and white marble. Everything shines there, and the people shine as well. Just a touch of a glow. Their wings are made of pure light, bright and shining.”
“The palace is set on the top of a mountain to be closer to the sun, and a crystal-clear river runs around it. Everything about it is beautiful. Some of the Fae theorize that humans developed the idea of heaven from visits to the Court of Light.”
“It sounds kind of intense. Like, maybe it’d be nice to visit, but it probably isn’t all that fun to live in. How does anyone sleep when it’s always so bright?”
I grinned. “A question I’ve had for many years. I assume it involves excessive amounts of wine since that’s the only way I could imagine being there for more than an hour at a time.”
“That sounds terrible. What about the Dark Court? Is it just pitch black all the time? Because that’s what I imagine. Do you know how many times I would stub my toes if there was no light?”
“There’s light, Rose. We’re not the same as the Court of Light. Many of the Dark Fae live in the light, and we’re very welcoming of differences.”
I stretched my legs as we sat on the log. “The major differences between the Court of Light and the Dark Court don’t really have anything to do with how much light we enjoy. The split is two-fold. One, we care very little for bloodlines. Nobility is based on strength, not on who your grandparents were. Two, we don’t put very much emphasis on the past. We care about the now.”
“But the Queen of the Dark Court has to have both dark and light bloodlines, doesn’t she?”
I nodded. “That is the one position where bloodlines matter because she must be respected by both Courts in case the Queen of the Light dies and she must rule both Courts as Seraphina has been doing.”
“How is the Court of Light different?” I moved my hand higher on her thigh, and she smiled a little sheepishly at me. She was still more than a little embarrassed about our nightly enjoyment of each other.
“Bloodlines are the only thing that matters for the Court of Light. If you’re born of high nobles, you will be a high noble whether you are the strongest or most deserving of the spot or not.”
“Strange. I wonder why it’s like that, but that’s a question for another day.” She stood up and carried her bowl to the stack of dirty dishes that someone was in charge of cleaning. The job was changed every night, and not long ago, even I’d had to wash the dishes.
“Let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very tiring day,” she said with a half-hearted smile.
Yes, it was going to be a very tiring day for both of us. But it would be for different reasons.
I followed Rose to our hut and felt the people that we passed watching us. They knew what we were going to do. Some sided with me and others sided with Rose on what was the right decision for her, but all of them had kept their opinions to themselves. It was not their place to tell a Queen what she should do as they would never have to make that decision.
I walked into the hut after Rose, and she immediately closed the door, sliding the latch into place to lock it. Her hands slid under my shirt, pressing against my chest. Her touch was the purest magic I’d ever known, pushing my doubts and fears away as her fingers brushed against my skin.
“I need you,” she whispered. “If everything goes wrong tomorrow, at least give me one more
