Page 50 of The Iron Fae
"Sometimes it's maddening," he adds.
"But mostly, we're just thankful for all these years we were still able to spend together. We've waited for you, Briar." The queen holds both my hands in hers. "We only have a short minute together but I couldn't move on without getting to meet our child. I've mourned for many years never getting the chance to watch you grow or hold you and rock you to sleep. There were so many motherly moments I've missed out on but it's all worth it to know that it's kept you safe."
Safe. I'm not safe. My half-sister wishes me dead, she's killed innocents on her hunt to end my life, to protect her throne. But I suppose in some ways... what she did... it got me here. I'm alive. I've found my home. I've found my people. Is thatenough?
"Cordelia," I start, "holds the crown. She's terrorizing the people, killing their babies, killing innocent Shadow Fae that find themselves in her court after wandering in from the human world. I've got to stop her. I've got to make a claim for the throne."
King Rihst looks down at his feet. He wrings his hands together without speaking.
“You do us proud to seek justice as you do,” Queen Amelia speaks softly, her eyes sparkling with her smile. "Cordelia was born with trickery. She was bred by her mother to one day take the crown and make their bloodline royal. But..." She looks up to her husband. "She was once a little girl who loved her dad. And despite it all, he loved her too. This is a hard topic for him. Understandably."
"She's technically blood. But if I don't end her, she'll end me."
"I know." He sits gingerly down next to me on the bench. "What happens in your world now is out of our control. It's past our time and we have no say. I know this. So I won't try to sway you in any sort of direction. I found my death at her hands and I still can't bring myself to hate her. For you, though, it's different."
Folding my hands into my lap, I fiddle with my thumbs and pick at my fingernails. King Rihst may have love for Cordelia in his heart, but I do not. We may share a father but that’s where the similarities end.
“Tell me about your life.” My mother sits up straighter, her tone full of curiosity and more certainly a sense of hope.
“Well, I was working…in the human world, as a teacher’s assist before I stumbled into The Shadow Court—”
“A teacher!” The king exclaims. “What a wonderful profession!”
I haven’t the heart to correct him. I was only a teacher’s aide. Would they even know the difference?
“I mean it’s a lot different than being a king or queen,” I laugh nervously. “But I ran into Lincoln and he—”
“A boy.” My mother gasps, holding her chest and sending an excited look toward my father.
“A man. Who is like a hundred years older than me… but that isn’t the point.” It’s hard to stifle my laugh. “Lincoln helped me figure out who I was.”
“He sounds lovely.”
“Are you seeing him?” My father’s brows pinch together.
“No, not exactly—”
“Rihst,” Amelia swats at him. “Don’t judge the boy you’ve never met.”
I bite my lip to hide my growing smile. A thousand questions sit heavy on my tongue, that I can’t bide any longer.
"What... What sort of powers will I have?" I blurt in the small lull in conversation.
My mother scoops my hand into hers, her skin like velvet. She interlaces our fingers and gives my hand a small squeeze. "Well, you'll grow stronger, become faster, your senses will be more developed and more able to focus. You'll have the royal bloodline to thank for most of your abilities to will things into existence. To touch minds to some extent."
"Like a seer?"
Like Lincoln?I want to ask but don't.
"Seers have the ability to see into one's future and one's past. They know all that was and is to come. So, unfortunately, not like a seer. And it won't work on any Fae that has had practice in guarding their minds. But it will work on lesser Fae, other creatures that are unguarded, and most certainly on humans."
I can't imagine having that sort of control. What would I even do with it? Why would I truly want to use it? Power in the human world only corrupts. Will it ruin me too when I become Fae?
"Will it hurt?"
"Would I hurt you?" she says in a hushed tone.
Truthfully, I can't answer that. I don't know her. I know of her. I have a small idea of what she was like and now that sheis,I know that she'll only be around for a short period of time.
