Page 107 of The Princess of Nothing
Cedric arched an eyebrow, knowing in his eyes. “You were right. Getting those letters did help. They just printed it later than we wanted.”
“At the right time, coincidently, it seems.”
“You did this?” Adius looked impressed.
“I helped, but Morgana and Licia are the ones who put the nail in Xenos’s coffin.”
Cedric clasped his fingers with mine. “We can discuss this on the way. Are you ready?”
“I have to be.” I whispered.
Adius stepped aside as we headed for the door. My destiny waited, and it had come about in the most unlikely way. I wondered what my future might hold as queen.
***
We left the castleand through the large gates. Blaise had come to watch us leave with the others. His smoky-gray eyes regarded me as I footed the stirrup, climbing onto the back of my black horse. He looked like he belonged to the court, with his large, glistening blue wings which shimmered like the walls glamoured to appear as frost and crystal.
Cedric climbed onto his horse, then reached across and held my hand. I looked back. Blaise shrugged his hands deep into his pockets, shaking his head when he turned.
I touched the tiara on my head. Locks of my dark hair had been curled around the delicate silver frame with diamonds and sapphires—though beautiful, it was only temporary until we returned home.
Home.
I’d spent so long contemplating the kingdom I’d inherited to rule, yet I was alone there, save for my few friends, and Cedric. I smiled at him as the wind picked up, swirling white around us. Cedric’s smile was broader, more genuine than those of us lunas surrounding him. “Ready?” I asked, gripping the night-blue reins.
He nodded, and I looked back as we headed toward the others. Cedric’s lips always curved a little at the corners, as if he were on the edge of laughter.
Things had worked out in the end, I reminded myself. But as the darkness in my stomach growled, tearing through my soul in a moment of weakness, I was reminded of my brush with death, and how I’d been brought back. The beast inside would not be easy to tame. I’d felt it since I died, and with each passing day, it grew hungrier.
Glancing in the direction of Morgana−who was on the back of a brown horse−I closed my eyes for a moment.
Some of my people waved to the fae who’d fought beside us at the battle, and I was grateful that some of the prejudice which had divided us for so long had been bridged, but I could see in the eye-rolling and sneers on several guards that we still had a long way to go.
The obsidian towers of Lepidus Court faded into a whirl of white flurries as we rode away, leaving Blaise and his court behind, moving forward toward the unknown. My unknown. What was Magaelor like since Edgar? What was I returning to?
We galloped, the sound of hooves hitting the ice in their hundreds, followed us through the small, run-down villages. Whispers of the dead caught in the wind. Any remaining feral fae would have been chased from these buildings, by Blaise’s elite guards. They had taken to rounding them up and bringing them to the castle. To do who-knew-what.
We rode over a long, narrowing road, until we reached the battlefield. Scattered armor and pieces of weaponry greeted us, sticking out through the cover of snow that had coated any crimson.
Freshly dug mass graves were dark against the blanket of white, a stark reminder of what we’d lost. I pulled on the reins, and we all stopped. Jumping down from my horse, I thudded to my feet, and took a moment to whisper a silent prayer for the fallen. The thing inside of me−a darkness left behind by the ritual to bring me back−tugged at my thoughts, attempting to pull my attention inward, but when tears pricked my eyes, it relented.
My boots crunched over ice as I watched Adius and the other guards readied our most prestigious. We would carry them back to Magaelor for a proper burial. Their bodies, perfectly preserved, frozen in their armor, were wrapped in cloth. I could only see two from where I stood; a head guard was in one of them, another, Lady Arma, who’d insisted on fighting, leaving her young husband a widower. Edgar, however, had been buried in a traitor’s grave, unmarked, away from the rest of the dead. Still, I kept his burial place locked away in the back of my mind.
I wished we could have brought them all home, but too many were lost. None of us knew what awaited us beyond the mountains, none more so than me. “I’m queen.” I said aloud, as if it might somehow slip through my fingers again. “Queen of Magaelor.”
Cedric’s feet hit the snow. He held the reins of his white horse, looking over the wreckage which slowly was being covered with flakes. Soon enough, the only evidence of a battle would be the pain we all held, tucked away in our hearts.
Cedric’s cold fingers entwined with mine. “We made it.” He paused, teetering on the edge of words. “I must tell you something, Winter.” His golden eyes met mine, flecked with amber, contrasting the white wasteland around us. “I’m not sure I can stay once we return to Magaelor.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “You said you’d stay with me.”
“I did.”
“Then what changed?”
He gave me a knowing look and my stomach dipped.
“I’m not angry.” He said, unlinking our fingers.
