Mama had barely gotten settled on the throne before a bell-like tone rang through the castle, echoing over and over again building on itself until it was almost unbearable, then faded to memory.Mama stiffened in the big silver chair, then began to glow from within, getting brighter and brighter until I had to shield my eyes.The blue-white light streamed outward and upward from within her, filling the room and coalescing into a column of luminance that shot upward like a transporter beam until it struck and passed through the ceiling.
A massive thunderclap split the air so loud it drove me to one knee and knocked Amy flat, then the column of light exploded outward, passing through me with a tingle of magic as it radiated outward from Mama, who slumped forward, head bowed.I struggled to my feet and took a step toward her, but stopped at her raised hand.I dropped back to one knee, rocked by the onslaught of light and sound, and watched as she collected herself.
After a long moment, she drew in a shuddering breath and raised her head.I heard Amy gasp beside me as we both saw something new sitting atop Mama’s brow.Where pale smooth skin had been now sat a glittering crown of ice, capped in front with a deep blue stone that swirled with dashes of white light, like a snowstorm was trapped within the fist-sized gem.Mama opened her eyes, and the warm brown color I’d known my whole life was gone, replaced by the pale blue chips of ice I’d last seen peering at me from shrunken brows in a massive canopy bed.It might have been my mother’s face that I gazed upon, but it was Mab’s eyes that looked back.
“Mama?”I asked after a few seconds.
“Yes, Robbie,” she replied.Her voice was different, too.Colder, somehow, as if the very soul of Winter now lay within her.Hell, maybe it did.“I am here.I am your mother, but I am also…more.”
“More?”Amy asked, getting to her feet.
“I am no longer merely Ygraine, daughter of Winter,” Mama said, sitting up straighter and squaring her shoulders.“My mother has given herself to the magic to purge the foreign plague from our land.With her passing we are saved, and I am now Queen.”
“Wait, what?”I asked.“You mean Granny Mab somehow, what, became one with The Force or something and wiped out the plague?”
Mama chuckled.“I mean precisely that.In times of great danger to Faerie, queens of the fae can tie their powers together to cast greater workings than they can alone.Mother and Titania worked together to vanquish the disease the humans brought into our realms, and the cost was great.”She took a deep breath.“It could not have been greater.”
“So, Granny Mab is dead?And so is Titania?”I asked, trying to wrap my head around it.
“In essence, yes.They lent their essence to the spell, blending themselves with it to reach every corner of Faerie and eradicate the disease.And it took all of themselves to do it.”
“So…you’re the Winter Queen now?”I asked.
“I am.”
“Wow, Mama…” My voice trailed off.What do you say when your mother becomes a queen?Then a thought hit me.“Am I a prince now?”
Mama laughed, and if the sound wasn’t quite as warm is it used to be, it was still her.It was still the sound of the woman who raised me.“Robbie, you have been a prince of Faerie since the moment you drew breath.But fear not, you will never be a king.Faerie is a matriarchy, so your head will never know the weight of a crown.”
“Thank goodness,” Amy said.“You could bankrupt a kingdom making a crown big enough for his giant head.”We all laughed, and for a moment, everything was okay again.
EPILOGUE
So the whole kidnapping was to bring you back to Fairyland?”I asked as we rode through the forest.
Mama rode alongside me, but it wasn’t just the three of us hustling back to where our people were looking over the Pest Control mercenaries.No, this time we were led by a quartet of faerie knights in full armor on warhorses, and more than a dozen courtiers trailed along like we were some kind of parade.Mama wasted no time in calling up every reserve member of the Royal Guard in the city to help put the castle back in order after Mab’s death.There were soldiers hustling through every corridor as we left, running to and fro alongside servants getting everything cleaned up and getting ready for a state funeral, not to mention many other private services for the dozens, if not hundreds, of faeries that died to the disease.
“Yes,” Mama replied.“Mother knew that if she cast her spell while I was away, there would be no one to carry the mantle of Winter Queen, and the realm would descend into chaos, with wild magic wreaking havoc on all the people of Winter.”
“There’s no other heir?”I asked.
“No,” Mama said.“I was an only child, as was my mother.There are no cousins, save a few very distant ones without the requisite power to channel the magic of Winter.”
“And now Nitalia is your heir?”Amy asked.
“Yes.The crown passes matrilineally, so my daughter will succeed me as Queen of Winter.”
“Who’s in charge in Summer now?Titania’s daughter?”I asked.
“Titania had no offspring.She chose one of her handmaidens to serve as the new Queen,” Mama said.“I believe you met her.Honeysuckle?”
I chuckled.“Yeah, we met her.I liked her.She didn’t seem to think much of Grandpa Oberon, though.”
“Another positive mark in her ledger,” Mama said with a sly grin.“I would not be surprised if that alone made Titania choose her to carry the name.”
“Yeah, about that…” I said, then paused, not sure how to continue.
“Yes, our names are part and parcel of our titles, Robbie.I am now Mab, Queen of Winter.Mab is eternal, even as Mab has passed on.And Honeysuckle is now Titania, even as Titania has given herself to Faerie.It is as it has ever been.Mab and Titania are enduring, no matter what should happen to those of us who bear the names.”
