Page 36 of The White Stag
“Yes, but I was the one who sent you to the mortal realm in the first place.”
“Look, every kid in my situation comes up with scenarios about how they ended up there. I never came up with this one. I haven’t had much time to stew on it, but I’m not mad at you. Your plan would have worked, but Alastair’s stupid father sent him to the same place you sent me. Seriously, how dumb is he?”
Estrella threw back her head and laughed.
“I adore you. You’re definitely my child. Despite everything we’ve learned in the Fae and mortal realms, Seelie royalty still think they are keeping their blood pure by not marrying the poor folk. His parents are second or third cousins, and they thinkI’mthe gross one for marrying my chef.”
“Ew. Where is my dad, anyway?”
“Right here hiding because we thought you were angry. Get over here, Fox.”
A massive man with pointy ears and a big, bushy blue beard crowded onto the screen. He just had this look on his face, like he was easygoing and had a good sense of humor.
“Hi, baby girl! You look just like your mum did when she was your age, but you have my chin.”
“I can’t tell because—”
“Because of the beard, right? Your mum loves it, so I’m never shaving it off.”
I pulled a strand of my long hair.
“It looks like my hair is going blue too.”
“That doesn’t mean it has to stay that way,” my mom said. “I can’t even remember what Tucker’s original hair color is. He changes it every time he gets in a mood. My favorite was when he did it in rainbow colors. He could do yours.”
“No, I got the blue from my dad, so I think I’m going to keep it. However, since it’s an option, I wouldn’t mind mixing some purple in it. It’s always been my favorite color.”
“Tucker can do that and make it look fabulous. I have to ask how you are feeling. We stopped using iron in our prisons, and it’s considered a huge crime to poison someone with it here. Cut down with fillers, it renders a Fae mortal. Pure iron is fatal to a Fae. A Fae can be saved if an iron bullet hits a non-fatal body part if it’s removed in time, but now bullets have been changed too. They scatter in the body, making it almost impossible to get all of it out in time.”
Was she telling me this because she knew I wanted to stay? If I was coming back home, so I didn’t get shot with those kinds of bullets, then my monsters and Tucker were coming with me.
“You seem like you’re feeling a little better than we last heard,” my father said.
I looked at their faces on the computer screen. They didn’t look like they were playing me or trying to scare me into coming home. Instead, they looked like two concerned parents who wanted to know how I felt.
“It’s better. I passed out and slept through the worst of it. I was really weak when I woke up, but we lay in the sun, and I felt better. I’m a little achy, itchy, and my teeth hurt, but it’s manageable. My ears aren’t bothering me at all, and I haven’t noticed them going pointy.”
“The ears are the last to come in. That part is painless, and it happens when you get your magic. You’re getting hit with Fae puberty and iron detox simultaneously, but you look like you’re being so strong through this.”
“Everyone thinks how this is happening is weird and that those Hag drinks didn’t get me super drunk. Is this genetic, or am I just strange?”
“It’s not genetic, and it’s not strange either, even if it’s not something we’ve seen before. It’s probably a good thing. I think your guards have explained how your magic and how strong you are come from the stars. Every time something seems unusual in Fae history, it’s the stars. And my girl, the night you were born, there was a lunar eclipseanda rare meteor shower.
“I did a home water birth with a midwife with you. There was an entire crowd of people outside the palace waiting for you to be born so I could present you like Rafiki did with Simba. We already knew the eclipse and meteor shower were happening, but you were born the exact moment the moon was blacked out, and the meteor shower hit. So it was kind of a big deal to every Fae in this kingdom.”
“It really was,” my father said. “We were just happy to have a healthy baby girl, but all the busybodies were in overdrive trying to figure out what it meant. There was no way to figure that out until you got your magic. That’s happening right now, and it’s not weird. It just means you’re going to be a strong Fae when it’s over.”
I hated bringing this up, especially since this call was going so well. I wanted to talk to them more and learn more about them. They were just so down-to-earth andnormalfor royalty. But they had just given me every reason to stay, even if I just wanted to be average and blend in with everyone else.
“If I’m going to be a powerful Fae, could I stay here until Alastair is dead? I have some things I need to get off my chest for closure.”
My mother’s posture immediately straightened, and I saw the Unseelie queen sitting in front of me. I justknewshe was about to tell me no.
“How about a compromise? Brock and Nora are going to be furious when they find out Alastair died. Their first instinct will be war, which none of us want. Your story is how we avoid that. None of us know what happened in that house with Alastair, nor would we assume to tell your story for you.
“We need you alive and completely uninjured to pull this off. I can’t risk you getting hurt to tell Alastair what you think of him, but I can and do want you to tell Brock to his face in front of his entire court his son used iron and Sin Eater’s tea on a fucking child. Get messy and get angry. Brock was the one who raised Alastair to think all of this was okay, and he was the one who banished Alastair to the mortal realm, knowing once you crossed, I couldn’t bring you back until your magic awakened.
“I can’t risk you being treated by the healers and unable to travel when we bring Brock his son’s body because Ineedyou to help me stop a war. I hate that I can’t give you Alastair, but Icangive you his father. He’s one of those narcissists who needs an audience for everything. All of his sycophants will be there thinking he’s going to make a declaration of war. Every last one of them is terrible to women, but they are huge on not hurting children. They probably would have made excuses for Alastair for using that tea and those pills on an adult Fae woman, but they give a shit when that Fae woman is a child.”
