Page 2 of Queens Will Play

I hope this finds you well. And I hope you won’t mind if I show up on your doorstep again. There’s no good way to say this, so I’ll just come out with it. Fraale left me. Apparently, while Zeus could take Fraale out of the succubus, he couldn’t take the succubus out of Fraale. We tried to make it work, but we’ve both had issues.

Apparently, I’m no longer cut out for a farmer’s life. I haven’t been the most positive husband I could be. I tried, but we haven’t been happy for several months now.

Last month I came home from selling goods in the market and I walked in on her. She was fucking our neighbor. After he left, she broke down and admitted she’s slept with every man within a twenty-mile radius. She can’t get the itch out of her blood.

I guess being a succubus for so long changed her. It became her identity. Last week, she appealed to Zeus. I went with her because, regardless of how much it hurt me, we have too strong of a history to throw each other away.

Fraale begged him to change her back. He was in an unusually good mood, so he agreed. He asked me if I wanted to return to my former state as well. I thought long and hard. I’ll never love again. Not like I loved Fraale. And as an incubus, I can once again travel between the worlds at will, into the Ionyc Sea. I can’t do that as the Fae heritage I was born with. So, I took him up on his offer. We sold the farm, and I said goodbye to her this morning. We agreed it’s best we separate and move on with our lives.

I don’t blame Fraale. She tried. But after so many years, I guess you truly can’t go home again. We can never be the people we were before we ran afoul of the gods. The war with Shadow Wing also changed us. Anyway, if you’ll have me, I’m returning over Earthside. It turns out that the home you built, was the only real home I’ve ever known.

See you soon. –Rozurial

Menolly folded the letter and slid it back into the envelope. “So, Roz is returning.”

“Sometimes, the Hags of Fate roll the dice for you,” I said. “I wondered if they could make it work. It seemed such a distant possibility. I guess, they had to give it a chance. Roz is right, though. Sometimes you run so far and so fast that the trail of breadcrumbs vanishes and you’re lost in the woods.” I thought for a moment. “How long until he gets here?”

“I’m not sure,” Menolly said. “All he said was that he’s on the way. The letter arrived today, but it’s dated a week ago.”

“Where’s he going to stay?” I asked. Then it hit me. The studio on the land still stood. “The apartment we built for him and Vanzir is still unoccupied.”

“It might need a little work. It’s been empty for over a year. But Roz could put in some elbow work. He always pulled his weight in helping around the land,” Delilah said. “He can help with the yard while he’s here, and the gardens. He might as well make use of the farming experience he’s gathered.”

I headed over to the counter to cut another slice of cake. Hanna had made a raspberry chocolate torte. After a moment, I asked, “Do you ever feel like things are too quiet?”

“What do you mean?” Menolly asked.

I turned. “Take the past few months, I’ve felt like we’re living in an uneasy peace that’s teetering on a seesaw. A couple of weeks ago, I started having nightmares. I’ve been dreaming about Shadow Wing, and the battle. You know, reliving everything that went down. I know that it’s all over and done, but every time I wake up, I feel like there’s something else out there. That someone is lurking…waiting. Like the quiet before the storm.”

Delilah nodded. “I know that feeling, because I’ve had it as well. Especially when I’m in my panther form. And it started about three weeks ago.”

“I wake up from those nightmares feeling like someone’s out there, riding the Ionyc Sea, ready to spring into our world.” I hadn’t mentioned this to anybody.

At first, I thought it was simply a bout of PTSD from those desperate moments at the end, when all seemed lost and all hope had faded. I knew that all three of us dreamed about the battle against Shadow Wing, and of those we lost along the way. It had become one more thing to bind us together.

Menolly frowned, looking spooked. “I’ve been having similar dreams, when I walk through the world in my sleep. I’ll find myself in a field of mist, with hidden things lurking in the shadows watch as I pass by. And I know they’re waiting for me to step off the path, or to reach a clearing where I’m easy prey.”

“Make that three of us,” Delilah said. “I’ve had several dreams that I’m running through a jungle, and the vines in the trees start turning into constrictors. I can’t get away. Also, Chamiya has been waking up in the middle of the night, screaming. At first, I thought it was just night terrors but now, I don’t know.”

“Does she tell you what she’s been dreaming?” I asked.

Delilah shrugged. “She insists something’s hiding in the closet. Of course, Shade and I check, but we can’t find anything. And I don’t know if this is related, but I’ve been seeing shadows of the dead far more. The ghosts are as visible as some living stranger walking by.”

She turned to me. “Remember when we were caught in the war in Elqaneve? Remember the buildings falling around us in clouds of dust?”

I nodded. That was another memory that refused to stay in the past. “Yeah. I remember the smell of burning flesh,” I said, staring at my cake. “I remember the screams.”

“I’ve been seeing buildings fall in my dreams. I thought maybe I had developed some fear about the big one—the Cascadia quake all the seismologists say is overdue. But now that you mention it, there’s a feeling of dread accompanying the dreams, rather than memory. An anxiety of things to come.”

We sat there silent until Smoky peeked through the doorway. “The food’s ready,” he said. He caught my eye. “Are we holding the ritual after dinner?”

Standing, I nodded. “Down at Birchwater Pond, storm or not.”

He held his arm out, and I slid into his embrace. His other arm had been severed during the war, but the dragons had fashioned a holographic prosthesis that had substance, and it changed into his wing when he transformed, helping him balance. The disability had hit his ego hard, but compared to some of our losses, at least it had been fixable.

As we filed out of the kitchen, a ripple shivered down my spine. I glanced over my shoulder, and—out of the corner of my eye—I saw Chase standing there, watching us. I froze. It couldn’t be. Surely Delilah would have said something if he was still hanging around. But he caught my gaze and smiled. I swallowed my shock, nodded at him, and turned to follow the others outside.

So, introductions are in order. Some of you know me; others—not so much. I’m Camille D’Artigo. My sisters and I are half-human, half Fae. One day some years back, we showed up Earthside after a bad run-in with my former supervisor. By we, I mean Delilah—a two-faced werecat, Menolly—a vampire for almost twenty years, and me—a witch who can’t always control her powers. And now I’m queen of the Keraastar Knights, and one of the Fae Queens in the Triple Court.