Thirteen: Nia
1294 Words
Chapter Thirteen
Nia
Faerie was home.
I was a daughter of the Spring Court. Being back here should have been as natural as breathing. Except, it wasn’t. The instant I stepped through the Gate with the others, my heart started pounding against my chest. Too many things had happened since the last time that I had been here. When Emma left with Hook to try to keep Edward from being claimed by the Omen, Clark was struggling to keep power.
Other faeries had challenged him.
They kept on coming.
For two years straight, it was nothing but battles. Us constantly fighting off faeries. Then, there were faeries within our own court that were fighting us too. One night, the demons invaded, and they used Edward to take over the throne. Because Edward had been in Hell, he’d aged differently and was now a full-grown man.
He’d been able to take control of the throne. The palace, which was connected to the King, had accepted him. Clark was kicked out. So he and Ben had retreated to the woods. Tired of the constant fighting, Clark had only stayed in faerie because he knew that Emma was still there. Trapped by Edward.
Since Clark wasn’t King, I’d been kicked out of the palace. I was his second in command. When I’d become second in command, I’d lost my title as the Captain of the Queens Army. Now, I was nothing.
I’d taken refuge with Louisa.
Bradley went missing, and Adelaide was pregnant at the same time. For a whole year, we helped Adelaide with her baby. Then, when Tatiana was born, Adelaide became determined to get Bradley back. She went to Faerie and never came back.
We were left with a newborn baby that we had to take care of. We became our own, little family. In the time since then, I’d become used to the human world. Now that I was back in Faerie, I could feel the word heavy with magic. It came over me, with a kind of denseness in the air that made the hair on my body stand up.
I glanced at Louisa, who had come through with us. That was her job. Letting people in and out. She wouldn’t be coming with us on the Quest, but she would be guarding the Gate at home like she was supposed to. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had been away from her for so long.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
I reached out and grabbed her hand. “I’m worried,” I admitted.
“Oh?” there was a slight hitch in her voice as she said it. “Worried about what, Nia?”
“I’m worried that I’m going to forget you. That I’ll get cursed, or hexed, or that the magic will consume me. That I won’t be able to come back and enjoy the normal life that I have with you. I love being with you, Louisa. You’re the only place that has ever felt like home to me, you know?” I said.
Her fingers tangled with mine. “Well, none of that stuff is going to happen, Nia.”
“How do you know?” I asked. “You know what kind of place Faerie is. It’s dangerous. It destroys lives as much as it gives people happiness. People like you and me----”
“People like you and me endure,” she said, “because we know how. It just makes our love that much stronger, Nia. And we’re true love. I know it in my bones. I’ve known it since I first laid eyes on you. We’re lovers, Nia. That is a fact. In this Realm or any other, I will find you and you could find me and the stars would smile on us because what we have is beautiful. Do you understand?”
She reached out and stroked my cheek.
“Yeah, I understand,” I said, trying hard to fight back tears that were coming.
Faerie could easily give people their happy endings. It could also take them away. With everything Louisa and I had done to it, all we could do was wait and see how the Realm would respond to us.
She pressed her forehead to mine, then she kissed me. I kissed her back. I wanted to memorize the feel of her body, the taste of her lips----
There was a coughing sound nearby.
“That’s really beautiful, you two,” said Bradley, “but um, can we not delay the whole saving my mate along with my sister thing so that the two of you can make out?”
We broke apart. Louisa scowled, and I laughed.
“I should have left you in New York without your memories,” she said, “you would have given me much less of a headache.”
“Oh, come on now,” said Bradley, “you’ve missed me and you know it.”
“Oh, Bradley,” I said, “always the pain in the ass. Well, at least some things never change. It is nice to know that we have that to rely on.”
“Daddy,” said Tatiana, “be nice.”
Bradley sighed. “Alright, kiddo. But only because you’re so sweet, and I don’t want to give you a bad reputation.”
Tatiana nodded approvingly.
Louisa walked over to her niece. “You’ve got to be good for Aunt Nia, alright? Faerie is her home. She knows it better than anyone else. She was-----”
“A fierce, faerie warrior,” Tatiana finished, having heard Louisa tell stories of me for ages.
I smiled. “That’s right,” I said. I walked over to where they stood. “I’m going to keep you safe, and we’re going to get your Mommy and your other Aunt back. We’re going to make things right again. But you’ve got to be a good girl for that to happen, yeah?”
Tatiana nodded.
Then she wrapped the both of us in a hug. I saw tears stream down Louisa’s face, but she wiped them away. Then, without glancing back at us, she went through the Gate.
“And then there were six,” said Hook.
“We’re going to have to get Adelaide back first,” said Bradley.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because if we’re going to retrieve The White Rabbits watch, she’s the only one that might have a chance at making him listen,” said Bradley, “after our history, he’s not exactly fond of me. He does like her, however.”
“The Dragon is right about that one,” said Hook, “he’ll be less charming with me there too. Best to have Miss March with us.”
I frowned. “How do you have a beef with The White Rabbit?”
Hook smiled. “Oh, that’s another story for another time, lady-in-waiting.”
I scowled. “I’ve not been a lady-in-waiting for a long time.”
“No,” said Clark, “when I get my throne back from my prick of a son, she’s going to be second-in-command again.”
I smiled at him. “Damn straight. Nice to see that you’ve got spunk back suddenly, your majesty.”
“Well, I lost it. I shouldn’t have. But Faerie was made for me to rule. So, I’m going to get it back.”
Hook was quiet. “Endless, you know that isn’t the plan right?”
Clark rolled his eyes. “I know. I know the plan is to time travel back, reunite Oberon and the real Queen of Faerie, and prevent this mess from happening. But I’m still a Prince of Faerie. And I still intend to do what’s right by it, if my mother will let me.”
Hook patted him on the shoulder. “Right then----we’ve a quest to finish then.”
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