Page 100 of Crowns of Ice

“I’m so proud of you. Of both of you. My darling boy and the daughter I never had.”

Ilara squeaked, and I spun around.

My eyes widened when a female appeared along the beach, walking toward us in the moonlight. She wore a cloak, and her long silver hair hung down her back. Hair as straight as an arrow.

But her face was different. Her height altered.

My heart began pounding so hard that I feared it would beat right out of my chest.

The female stopped before us.

My affinity punched through the illusion mask she was wearing.

I stumbled back, my hand going to my chest, but the female rushed forward, stopping me from making a scene. She gave the party in the distance her back before releasing her illusion mask entirely.

Ilara gasped. “Queen Lissandra!”

My mother brought her fingers to her lips, shushing her. “My secret cannot be revealed, but I couldn’t miss tonight, not the night where the realm celebrates your union and your ascension to the throne.”

I shook my head. “How? You died on the castle wall with Father.”

Her lips curved. “I didn’t. I killed the king with my fire but not myself. I created an illusion to make it appear as if I did, but I mistphased at the last moment and have been living on the shores of Osaravee ever since. Now, I’m just a nameless fae female, living in her home territory, returned finally after many winters away.”

“What? How?” I stuttered and shook my head, my thoughts careening in my mind like a trapped bird. “But it’s beenmonths. Why didn’t you tell Nuwin and I that you were alive?”

She laid a hand on my cheek. “I’m sorry. I wouldhave told you sooner, but I needed everyone to see your grief and feel your pain. I needed everyone to truly believe me dead if I’m to live in peace. It troubled me greatly to keep this from you for so long, but I knew when enough time had passed, and my death had started to turn into a memory, that then I could tell you.”

Tears pricked my eyes, and through the bond, Ilara’s disbelief and happiness barreled toward me.

“We all thought you dead,” I whispered before pulling her into a tight hug.

I swallowed my mother’s frame, but she only laughed and hugged me tightly in return. “And it’s important that everyone continue thinking me gone. I wish to live in peace, Norivun. Away from the court. Away from Solisarium. I’ve suffered enough. Now, I just wish to live my life on the shores of Osaravee. A life I should have been granted long ago. A life thatIchose. That’s all I want, that and to see you and Nuwin happy.”

“Does Nuwin know?” I asked, nearly choking as I gripped her and breathed in her scent.

“Not yet. I wanted to tell you both first. My king and”—she reached a hand out and tugged Ilara closer to us—“my queen. How proud I am of you both. I knew the stars would align, and my vision would come true. You just needed to stay together to beat the tyrant on the throne.”

Disbelief continued to fill my soul. My mother was alive. She was well and trulyalive.

We laughed and hugged, and the aching pain that had settled inside me since my mother’s supposed death eased.

“How often can we see you?” I asked, finally releasing her.

“As often as you like. I plan to wear my illusion mask indefinitely to keep my identity concealed. When you come to visit me, if you both wear illusion masks too, no one will even know that the king and queen regularly visit an old fae female on the southern shores.”

Ilara laughed and brought a hand to her mouth. She jumped in glee before flinging her arms around my mother.

We stayed like that for I didn’t know how long. Lissandra told us about the life she was building for herself and how for the first time in hundreds of winters, she was no longer in pain. No longer suppressed. No longer caged by the king.

“And I have you to thank for that, my darling girl.” She cupped Ilara’s cheeks as the moonlight shimmered off of my mate’s angel wings. “You clever, brave, magnificent girl. The perfect female to be mated to my son.”

Ilara hugged her tightly again before letting her go. And when my mother’s illusion mask fell back into place, she wandered toward the party, toward where Nuwin was currently flirting with half a dozen females.

We watched her walk across the sand, her head high, her aura potent, her Outlets open.

And as the moon shone down on us, and Ilara gazed up at me with tears in her eyes, I knew that no matterwhat might come for us, in the end we would always have each other and our family.

And that . . .thatwould always be enough.

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