Isera strides out, wearing a beautifully tailored dress, and walks up to the edge of the platform. Her glossy black hair ripples down her back, and her silver and blue eyes sparkle in the glow from the faelight gems. She looks the way she always does. Calm and in control. As if nothing in this world can faze her.
Next to me, Orion draws in a sharp breath.
We all pretend not to hear it.
“This is the beginning of a new era,” Isera calls across the throne room, her voice pulsing with steady authority. “Normally, a member of the royal family or a high priestess would crown the next Seelie Queen. But we have no priestesses and no royal family. All we have is a blank page. A beginning. So by necessity, I will take this first step alone. But after that, I will need you all to help me take the next step. Only together can we rebuild the Seelie Court to its former glory.”
A massive cheer rises from the crowd in response.
Isera holds up an elegant golden crown.
Pride swells inside me as I watch her move the crown towards her and then place it on her own head.
“Long live the Seelie Queen!” I call.
“Long live the Seelie Queen!” the entire room echoes.
Cheers and whoops pulse through the crowd as everyone celebrates the restoration of our royal line. I watch with a wide smile on my face as Isera stands there before the throne, looking like a true queen as she ushers in a new age for the Seelie Court. Lavendera truly couldn’t have picked a better person for the job.
“Tomorrow, our work begins,” Isera calls across the sea of cheering fae. “But today, we celebrate.” Spreading her arms, she motions towards the tables full of drinks and food that line the walls. “Enjoy!”
Another cheer echoes between the shimmering walls. Then excited chatter and laughter break out again as the crowd moves towards the refreshments or towards the ballroom farther down the hall.
Isera remains standing on the dais until everyone has turned their attention elsewhere. Then she quickly strides down from it and approaches us instead.
“Nice speech,” Galen says as she reaches us.
Now that there is no longer an entire throne room watching her, she lets her royal mask slip and graces us all with an eye roll. “I felt ridiculous.”
“You were magnificent,” Orion immediately replies.
A jolt goes through her body, and her gaze darts to him. She opens her mouth, but no words make it out.
“You have always been a queen.” His intense eyes are fixed on her as if she is the only person in the room. “I’m glad everyone else finally sees that too.”
She looks back at him, a mess of emotions flitting across her beautiful face. Then she swallows and shakes her head. “Don’t…”
“Why not?” A flicker of pain appears briefly in his eyes before he manages to hide it behind a teasing smile instead. “Now that I finally have my eye back, there should no longer be any reason for you to feel embarrassed to be seen next to me. So why not let me show you?—”
“What?” She jerks back, staring at him in shock. “What are you talking about? Your eye? What does your eye have to do with this?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Everyone knows.” Shame flashes across his face, and he swallows. “I could barely look at myself in the mirror when that gaping hole was staring back at me. So I can only imagine the disgust you must have felt when?—”
“You,” she growls.
Grabbing him by the arm, she pulls him with her as she starts stalking away. But then she comes to an abrupt halt after only a few steps when she seems to remember that we’re inside a crowded throne room. All around us, people are chatting and laughing while they eat the food they grabbed from the side tables.
Isera casts an alarmed glance at them all before looking back at us. Apparently deciding that she would rather haveusoverhear this conversation than the strangers in here, she just swings Orion around so that he is facing her instead while remaining there a few steps away from our group.
We all discreetly turn a little so that it’s not so obvious that we’re all still looking at them. And when Isera speaks again, we can still hear every word.
“If you think that I, or anyone else for that matter, thought you were any less attractive when you were missing an eye, you are the most delusional person I’ve ever met.” Releasing his arm, she instead raises her hand and points it at his face in frustration. “Have you ever even looked at yourself in a mirror? That,” she stabs her hand in the direction of his face again, “should not evenbe biologically possible. A face that is this breathtakingly beautiful defies all natural laws. Eye or no eye.”
Orion blinks at her, looking completely stunned.
“And it’s not just your face.” Shaking her head as if in disbelief, she blows out a frustrated breath. “It’s everything about you. Your body, your voice, the way you speak, how you carry yourself, the way you move through the world, the effortless power you exude. Everything about you is so damn…distractingthat I can barely concentrate when you’re in the room.”
“But then… why?” He stares at her, his eyes wide.
