The Queen growled, thrusting her palms outward, and a blast of light rocked the riverbank. The dark creatures hissed and fell backward, ceasing their advance. Next, the Queen bent down and started to claw at the dirt with her fingers until she reached damp soil.
What the…
I saw it then, golden light emanating off her skin as she nourished her deep connection to the earth. It seemed to thrum through the Queen’s body as she called on the earth’s magic. It zipped up her arms in blue and green arcs of electricity, and I felt the envy burn through Indra. She wanted that much power.
Slowly, the protection dome rose from the earth, shaking the small patch of Faerie just as the blackness and smoke started to creep forward from the woods. She was sealing it all off, saving what little part she could.
Indra just watched in fascination as the Queen pulled on her power and erected a dome over the last little bit of Faerie she could. When she was done, she panted and tried to stand, swaying on her feet. “I’m getting weaker…” she mused and wiped her hands on her dress before turning to face Indra.
“That should hold until we can—” The Queen’s words died in her throat as Indra threw a spell at her chest. It crashed into her, a ball of red magic, and splashed over her breasts. She doubled over, clutching her stomach, and Indra did a quick look around to make sure no one saw before catching the Queen in midair.
Anger like I’d never felt before thrummed through my veins, and I wanted to rip this paste off my eyes and go find Indra right now and kill her, but I needed to see more.
As the Queen lay there gasping like a fish, she muttered one thing.
“Why?”
Indra felt a pang of remorse. Her memories were not as accessible as Liam’s, so I didn’t know the extent of their friendship. But they must have been close for it to hurt Indra even a tiny bit because otherwise, she was cold as ice inside.
“You’re too powerful.” Indra pulled a bottle from her pocket and brought it to the Queen’s lips. “And I can’t have that.” She upended the potion into the Queen’s mouth, and I gasped as the Queen went completely limp, into a deep sleep.
Then, a huge fake wail rocked Indra’s chest, and she screamed for help, the sheer bad acting of it all made my stomach turn.
Screw this, I couldn’t watch anymore.
I thought of my mother, wanting to be done with this memory, and felt myself pulled forward in the timeline.
Indra stood over my mother,her fingers at my mom’s temples. Just seeing my mother again like this, close-up, smelling her hair through Indra, seeing her downturned lips, it was a punch to the gut of my fresh grief. But that grief was quickly replaced with rage as I realized what she was doing to my mom.
“Your sister has fallen into a deep sleep. The land weakened her. And the child is your daughter.”
My mother frowned. “Mine?” Her voice was dreamy.
Indra nodded. “Oh, yes. All yours.”
Indra’s gaze flicked up, and I saw a line of people waiting outside to meet with her. Mara, Trissa, they were all waiting to meet with the new high elder of Summer, the one the Queen appointed in charge.
And she was going to brainwash every single one of them.
I didn’t needto stay any longer. I’d seen enough at this point. Standing in the room, I washed off the paste and then rinsed my face, watching as my hands shook in the mirror.
The Queen was a badass. She hadn’t fallen after building the dome or losing the crystals. She fell because Indra spelled her. She’d said she was weakened, but I had no reason to believe that the loss of the crystals was what actually made her weak.
Stepping forward, I wrenched open my door and grabbed my special sword off the wall, hanging it at my hip.
I burst into Kira’s room, causing her to jump. “How long until the Queen would wake on her own if Indra had been spelling her into sleep this whole time with snoozeberry juice?”
Kira frowned. “Twenty years of it? I dunno… days, weeks?”
I nodded and ran out, marching through the empty house until I reached the outside where Trissa and Elle were talking to Jasper and pointing out something in the distance.
“Elle!” I snapped, causing all three of them to turn. “I’m going to officially arrest Indra for treason. What do I need to know?”
Her eyes widened, and all three of their mouths fell open in shock.
“You have proof?” Elle pulled her royal law textbook from her satchel and started to flip through it.
Jasper’s hand dropped on the book to keep Elle from reading anymore. “She’s the Queen. She can call treason on whomever she wants.”
