As the magic soared from me, gaining momentum, I grew more intent in my focus. Color burst out over the lands, like The Isle was a canvas being painted with strokes of light and hope and energy. This island was finally being restored to its former glory, returning a lively sheen to a land that had grown dull and forlorn.
The screeches of the Furies grew louder and more furious in direct proportion to my growing power. They shielded their eyes, as if my magic was painful to witness, as if the sheer presence of it drove them away from this court.
Megaera coiled backward on her sky serpent. She leapt from his back, landing on the bridge next to me even as the floorboards trembled beneath our feet. Her hands were outstretched, thick black magic oozing from her like a cloud as she marched toward me.
I closed my eyes, pressed the dagger deeper into the wood. I connected not only on a surface level with these lands, but to its very core. I breathed in unison with the salty air that meant the island was once again under the protection of its queen. I listened to the whispers of my enchanted waters. I moved to the heartbeat of every creature to roam these lands.
As Megaera clasped her hands around my throat, I knew this was it. My last chance.
My eyes flashed open. Millie and Silas were on the ground, unconscious from this swarm of black magicenshrouding Megaera. Her sky serpent had taken them out. Silas was already so weak it hadn’t taken much.
“You will die,” Megaera spat. “Now.”
I didn’t see Megaera, even as I watched her approach. I was too busy focusing on my connection to Fae magic. I expelled every inch of power within myself to save my people. I painted the island in safety and prosperity. I infused the islanders with my magic, offering them hope and stability and pieces of my power.
I felt the weight of my duties as Fae Queen settling onto my shoulders, but instead of a burden, the knowledge draped over me with a sense of lightness and purpose, an unfathomable sort of love that knew no bounds.
“Your hate has no place on my lands.” My words were raspy. Megaera’s hands tightened on my throat, her magic trying to break me from the outside. If only she understood the strength I had from within, she would flee. “You and your sisters will kneel before my throne.”
With that, I thrust the dagger at Megaera. The wooden floorboards began to crumble around us as I plunged my blade into her shoulder. The bridge split in two, leaving a yawning chasm between the two sides.
Megaera fell into the water below. Silas, Millie, and Atlas’s bodies were on the East side of the bridge as it separated further. I was on the West.
The river, seconds ago a serene and peaceful trickle, now hissed and bubbled and smoked—hot as lava as itswallowed the Fury whole. Her sky serpent was next, pulled downward as if by a swirling vacuum beneath us.
Her sisters and their terrible serpents fled with bloodcurdling cries, but they didn’t get far. One splash, then another. Both serpents and sisters crashed into the boiling river below. They did not resurface.
As the rest of the bridge began to collapse, I looked over toward Millie and Silas and Atlas. The boiling waters below us settled back to a cool stream, a pleasant flow with no signs it had just ingested the Furies and their monsters.
Then the water rippled again, but this time it was a graceful parting—as if a set of unseen hands were pulling two curtains of water back to reveal a treasure beneath. Slowly, an alabaster dome appeared with a spire on top. This spire was inlaid with cerulean diamonds that matched my dagger and my crown.
The four of us fell from the bridge as it splintered into pieces. We didn’t fall far; we fell only to the bone-white platform that had started to rise from the water. Smooth marble rested beneath our feet, so white it appeared crafted from seashells and clouds.
We continued to rise, higher and higher, as more of the structure revealed itself. Eventually, the bridge was a distant memory. In its place had appeared a castle.
There was athunkas the structure slid its way home, like the final piece of a puzzle fitting perfectly into place.Where before a rickety wooden bridge had spanned the gap between the two halves of the island, now the lands were linked by a dazzling castle.
The castle stood in all its pristine whiteness overlooking the northernmost tip of the island. The water rerouted around it, creating a moat with one white bridge looping to the right side of the island, another to the left.
When I looked behind me, there waited a throne white as clouds. The top fanned out in a seashell shape, its edges inlaid with those cerulean gems I was coming to recognize as the symbol of The Isle.Mysymbol.
A symbol that had been there all along, my whole life, but only now made sense.
I took a step forward and let my hand brush against the smooth railing of the balcony, feeling a tremor at the impact. A word appeared in my mind and resonated with me.
Home.
I had found my way home.
With tears in my eyes, I turned to Silas. He had slumped against the front of the throne. Now that the Furies and their beasts were gone, it was as if the rest of his energy had left him. He only allowed himself to collapse when he was certain everyone around him was safe.
I knelt before my mate, before my throne, and I summoned the ancient Fae magic that could fix him. I could feel the healing powers reverberating through my veins.I felt carbonated, bubbly and zipping with a sense of purpose and energy. As if my whole life, a most precious resource had been withheld from me: magic.
Now that it had clicked into place, I couldn’t get enough of it. I basked in the thrum of belonging. I reveled in the enchanting lilt of Fae powers. I settled into a role I’d always wanted, a role that would allow me to help others, just not in the way I’d imagined.
This time, I did not need a potion from the Mixologist. I did not need instructions or confidence. I had everything I needed within me, and I drew from that ancient source as my fingertips sparked with energy and my palms glowed a silvery white light.
The magic I funneled to heal Silas did not come from me, but instead from the island I was meant to serve and protect. It originated from the salt air brushing across my skin. From the pollen dancing in the air. From the belief of the islanders in their long-lost queen.
