Kane smirked, trailing a shadow across the rim of the goblet he held. “My decree will not change. We will never align with the humans, and once I control their darling child of prophecy, they will do as I say.”
A knock came to the door, and Gideon stepped back, extinguishing the image. He smiled as if we had been having a very cordial conversation.
I stared at the empty space where Kane’s image had been.
Was that before the grove? Or after?
Was that moment of kindness he showed all a farce? Was I a pawn in some master strategy to control all humans?
How could I know if that was an actual memory or an illusion?
The door opened and this time the redheaded pixie flew in. “Oh, you look beautiful!”
The smile I gave felt hollow, practiced, something I would have to feign for the rest of today.
No matter how much I wanted to run, I wouldn’t. Kane might have wanted to control me, but I refused to let him.
I would take the power back, even if I wasn’t sure how.
The pixie with the lighter brown hair trailed after her. Their normally short dresses had been replaced with flowing gowns, the redheaded pixie in a ruby dress and the brown one in a sunflower-yellow one.
Gideon gave me a slight bow before slipping out of the room.
“We haven't been properly introduced,” the redheaded pixie said. “I'm Anna and this is my sister, Ella.”
The pixies hadn't come to see me again since that first initial day and I had wondered if Kane had forbidden it.
“How are you feeling?” Anna asked as she fluttered close. The two winged beauties flew around me, examining my hair and dress.
“Where's Kane?” They didn't correct me for calling him by his name and not adding “Your Majesty” or any other flourishing title.
The two pixies looked at each other and I wondered if either of them would tell me the truth.
“Has he changed his mind? Am I free to go?”
“No,” Anna said. “But don't be frightened.”
She flew very close to me. “You're going to be queen and you'll be wonderful. We've come to bring you out.”
“But I thought he…”
“He's returned.” Ella flew near the bottom of my dress and lifted the train with her tiny hands. How was she able to hold all that material and still fly?
Liora stood in the doorway, a proud smile on her face.
Anna helped her sister carry my train and all four of us left the castle.
The air was balmy, the sky splattered with stars. I followed Liora out through the eastern side of the castle down a stony path through the eastern gardens that dripped with pink and purple hyacinth.
Rustling echoed around me as creatures both seen and unseen came out of the shadows. Sometimes it was just a pair of eyes, others tall spindly-looking creatures that reminded me too much of the bogey in the pond.
I didn't know what to expect at a fae wedding. Would there be a priest guiding us on how to commit ourselves for the rest of our lives? Would we have to dance together? Would I be the only human in attendance?
Gideon’s words haunted me. I was a game to them. Liora was the only one who truly cared, or at least she pretended very well, too. How could I ignore what I learned?
Freedom.
That single word gave me the strength to hold my head high and keep walking.
