Page 60 of Lightning Strikes

Over the gem encrusted throne sits the largest of them all.

The splitting image of Queen Katarina is Angela… Now that the glamour is off… shit, even before it. I can’t believe I never put two and two together… They look exactly the same, especially now that her hair, eyes, and wings match her mother’s.

Angela is staring down at her feet, wringing her hands together and shaking her head. She runs her fingers through her pale purple hair and cries harder. “Why did they never tell me? Why did they disappear? Were they ever really taken or did they just leave me?”

She turns away from my parents as she wipes her face with her hands and sighs. “What can you tell me about my parents? Why would they abandon this realm for centuries? I don’t get it, they talked so poorly about the fae. How they abandoned us all on Earth and told me to hide my powers… Is this why? She just gave up on an entire realm then just left me because that’s what she does?”

My mother frowns and tilts her head to the side. “Your mother loved ruling the realm… They were traveling around Earth with the human monarchs for several months when we lost communication. We searched for as long as we could before we had to shut down the portals. Without the true heir, the realm hemorrhages power through the portals into other realms. We couldn’t keep up.

“We searched, begged the high and low fae that lived around Earth to come home… It takes dozens of high fae to keep the realm running, the portals closed, and rifts and other realms from coming here to take over…”

She wraps her arm around Angela’s and pulls her down the hall to a sitting room. “Let me get you something to eat and drink. I’ll be right back.” She rushes from the room and I step up to my father and clap a hand on his shoulder.

“So… I did good then?”

He turns to glare at me and sighs. “We’ll talk to you later. Go entertain your healer friend before he breaks something.”

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