The Seelie Queen

Chapter 7

“Good Afternoon, lovely one. I’m very glad to see that you’re getting along with Rhett.” Zahra said as Rhett pulled out the chair for me and pushed it in, before sitting down next to me. I wondered about Rhett and Zahra’s relationship. Not in a romantic way, but in a trusting way. She had raised him as her son, and she trusted him enough to have him around for meetings and to escort us last night into the castle, but when it came time for her to talk about the Fairy magic being in my necklace, she had him leave. I wasn’t sure if Naya counted since she had the mind of a three-year-old, but also it was nearly impossible to keep secrets from Seer’s so there was no point trying either. So it seemed like there was a small number of people that knew about the necklace, and Rhett wasn’t one of those people. It made me wonder if there was some reason she didn’t trust the boy she raised, or if she was just being cautious. All in all, it was my necklace now, and I would become the next Queen when Zahra stepped down. I would have to be more cautious of everyone now, and only disclose secrets to those I could trust. I never knew it was so hard to be a Queen until now. Queen Aislyn was wonderful, more powerful than anyone, and she was always so happy and trusting. Then again, I don’t think there was anyone alive that could hurt her at this point, so I doubted very many people, if any, tried to go against her trust. But this realm, the realm that I was raised to believe was filled with dancing and laughing, was really much more darker and cruel than I had ever imagined. Much more than I could ever have guessed.

“Yes, he’s been very nice, and so was the girl named Bree. Thank you for your hospitality.” I said to her formally, bowing my head at her.

She laughed, a high laugh that made me widen my eyes at her as a fairy stepped forward and started to serve us drinks and food. I took a sip from my glass of fresh milk while she settled down. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just so very refreshing having someone so new to the realm. You’re a princess, lovely one, soon-to-be queen. You don’t need to bow to anyone, not Rhett, not I, not even Ronald. You and I are the most powerful women in the Seelie court, we don’t bow to anyone.” She said with a smile.

I nodded at her, taking everything in. “My apologies, Queen Zahra. Everything is so new to me. Back home, Even Prince Sage, who is the heir because boys inherit and Kings are more important, will give a little bow to his parents.” I said to her.

“Yes, that is true. The human realm is more towards males, and hyphening them up to be more important than women, though in my opinion even in the human realm women are more important. What does a man do, at the end of the day? He comes home and complains about his day to his wife, who has been taking care of everything around the house and the children. She will still have a bath drawn and dinner prepared, on top of everything she’s done all day. But she does not complain, she simply massages her husband’s shoulders and listens to him complain, then proceeds to advise on how he should handle the situation he’s stuck on. What would those men do, I wonder, if the women all left? They would flail around like children themselves, unable to take care of themselves, their households, or their children.” She said with a chuckle. “Well, that’s how it used to be, and might still be in some places. Though I have to admit that the world has gotten much better, since Aislyn became queen. She really changed a lot of things, in the world, righting many wrongs and opened up many eyes. I can only hope that they continue to keep evolving.” She finished, lifting her drink to her mouth and taking a sip.

I copied her, taking another sip of the fresh milk. It was sweet, and I soon realized that everything I had eaten or drank since I came here had been more sweetened than usual. As much as it would have bothered humans, it didn’t upset my stomach or my teeth in the least. I was quickly getting used to my fairy side, at a rate that was alarming me. More and more I was finding myself remembering my past, the dance, and the boy. I shoved it back down again, smiling softly at Zahra as she took a bite of her sweet bread. I waited until she swallowed before asking her the question I had been burning to know the answer two. “What is a Seelie Court?” I asked her.

She stared at me with wide eyes, before looking at Rhett. He nodded at her, and she frowned, before tapping her hand against her forehead. “Your mother really did tell you nothing, it seems. We have been at odds for a long time, but I still expected her to have said...something.” She said with a sigh.

“No, unfortunately, mother has never talked to me about the Fairy realm, and I must admit I never asked her either. I never imagined anything like this to happen.” I said, spreading my arms wide and shrugging. Truth be told, mother seemed to tiptoe around the conversations of the fairies and whenever someone mentioned it she would pause and look at me with wide eyes, as if thinking I would cry or break, before answering the person who originally spoke.

“That is understandable, given everything.” She said with a sigh. I frowned, confused, looking at Rhett. He also seemed confused but Zahra continued to speak. “It started with the splitting of the fairies. I explained to you that some of the fairies from the beginning were on Wren’s side, because she took care of them when I was living with Ronald. They understood I was of royal blood so when I returned that I was in charge, but many of them didn’t like it. They grumbled about it, and Wren was conniving. She was a good sport in public, but very good with words to get the fairies to see her side even as she was trying to pretend she was understanding. There started the rumors that the very first queen of the fairies was just a fairy as well, and if she could start as the first fairy, why couldn’t they start a new queen? Did the blood really count as royal blood just because we originated from the first fairy? It wasn’t like our blood was tinged gold or silver, we still bled the same red as all the others. Even still, Everyone was used to the original ways, and I had taken charge to make the realm and keep everyone safe. It was like they were hesitant, but giving me a chance to prove I was worthy of being the queen I was automatically made into, because of my bloodline. Even still, Wren would speak, her whispered words, and those who were most loyal to her, would spread bad rumors. It took a worse turn when Naya first saw the vision of her future husband and children’s deaths. It was a very public vision, and the sight of a grown woman screaming and thrashing on the ground, sobbing like a baby, was enough to ignite many disconcerted rumors. The next future queen was to be this woman that was behaving like a baby? What if she snapped when important meetings were happening, what if something bad happened and she was too busy giggling and dancing in the fields, lost in her childlike seer state? It was discerning, and I didn’t have another child that wasn’t a seer to hand the title of Heir too. Even after Naya recovered and we tried to hide how much more she was lost than before the vision, the fairies were unhappy for the future. Plus, Wren had a daughter that was turning into a beautiful and smart woman, even though she was just as conniving as her mother, and they started to wonder if maybe it was time to make a change in the royal tier, to a blood that wasn’t...cursed.” She said with a pause, a frown on her face.

“Of course, royal blood was always tinged with Seers, and they will always run through our bloodline. It wasn’t ever supposed to be seen as a curse, but the way she behaved and the way they were horrified of the future, the word ‘Cursed’ Was a whispered word that flew through all of the fairies on Wren’s side, and even some on mine as well. Then I had locked all the extra magic in the fairy realm into the sphere to protect myself and Naya, but that did nothing but enrage Wren and her followers. They watched and waited, gathering silently, and when the wars of the dragons and werewolves happened, they used it to try and get us to kill all the species besides the humans and fairies. I said no, and it was enough to finally do what they've been wanting to do all along. They branched the fairies into another court. So, from then on, Wren became the queen of the Unseelie court, and I became queen of the Seelie court. They left, and created a kingdom on the other end of the great forest. It was a darker kingdom, made with dark fairy magic that they had found when they left, searching through the realm. Their dark magic is frightening, and I was glad that I...didn’t have the Sphere anymore.” She said, hesitantly, not daring to say where the sphere was and what the magic was kept in. Even if it wasn’t for Rhett being there, there were a bunch of other fairies surrounding us, and I realized with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that any one of them could be a spy, and Zahra would never know.

It was sad, knowing she’d always have to be wary of what she said, and who she said it near, and soon I would be the Seelie Queen, and I would need the same caution. “How did they get ahold of dark magic, if you used light magic to create the Fairy realm?” I asked her.

She seemed relieved to see I was changing the subject from the Sphere, and a glint of admiration flooded her eyes as she realized I was smart enough to understand the unspoken obvious, that anyone could be a spy and to keep the secret for only us to talk about. “Because, when Zahra made the realm on light magic, so much of it was used, that the dark magic was created to make a balance. There can’t be light without dark, and the realm was made with light magic, but the dark magic had to find a way to break through, to create a balance. Rumors have it that there is a giant dark purple fountain in the court of the Seelies, buried underground in a chamber that they had built their dark and twisted castle over. Queen Wren was the one to find the fountain, and she had cut long gashes into her arms, bathing in the fountain and letting the dark magic infuse with her body. She bathed her daughter and her son in it as well, cutting them on their arms to allow the magic into them. The dark magic, as strong as it is, is still not as strong as the light magic. So they still can’t use it to get out of the realm. It’s why they’re still wanting the Sphere of light magic, to release the bond of magic and gather it into themselves, so they can become the most powerful.” Rhett answered for her, his head down and a frown.

I gasped, disturbed by this information, and Zahra nodded at him. “With both the light and the dark magic, they’d be strong enough to do anything they wanted. Break the binding bond on the realm where the fairies could come and go again, teleport the humans into the realm to destroy the other species, anything they wanted. They’d be stronger than Queen Aislyn, I suspect, as well. Light and dark, they are very powerful magics, older and more ancient than all of time. The fairies came first after all, and the witches were made from us.” She said.

“Really? I never knew that. Honestly, I never knew of any of the origins of the species.” I said, curious. I took a bite out of my food, realizing it had been sitting in front of me for a while now as I listened raptly to the new information.

“Yes, well it's not a difficult story. It started with Fairies, humans, dragons, and vampires. Vampires were immortal, but they couldn’t produce more. Fairies die in a longer life span, they live to be two hundred years old instead of one hundred. Half breeds like your mother and brother will most likely not live much longer than one hundred, but you, I suspect, will live to be two hundred. You have so much fairy blood in you, I can feel it. Anyway, The vampires and the dragons never had problems, they kept away from each other, though the dragons and the fairies always hated each other. It had to do with how shiny and sparkly the fairies were with their magic, and the dragons wanting to hoard and collect them, like they do all shiny objects. As for the fairies and the vampires didn’t hate each other, but they didn’t exactly get along either. The fairies loved the humans, always have, and the idea that the vampires were feasting on them and controlling them, turning them for their own fun, it wasn’t what they wanted. So the fairies created witches as a form to protect the humans. They assumed the witch trait would carry on for all humans to give them magic to protect themselves, but for some reason, it didn’t spread to all humans. The witches dabbled with it, trying to understand why all of them didn’t become witches, and over time they accidentally made werewolves and shifters in all of their experiments. So thus the different species were born, and they spread out and created their kingdoms. Then the different wars started, and the tension was worse than ever. I believe it’s slowly fizzing away though, ever since Queen Aislyn raced through the world with her group of assassins and changed everything. The treaty with the Dragons, Shifters, and Werewolves was binding, and they are slowly changing things.” She said with a smile.

“What about us? Why can’t the fairies make a treaty as well? Then all that’s left is the vampires, right?” I asked her, taking a sip of my milk.

She sighed, folding her hands over her lap. I watched as she dismissed the other fairies for a short while, and smiled softly at me. “Because, lovely one, I am not the most confident, and I am struggling to breathe. Every day Queen Wren gets more of my fairies to her side, the seduction of the dark magic is too strong for them. I am losing numbers, and I can’t sign a treaty by myself. We would need the approval of all of the fairies, and unfortunately, I don’t speak for all of them. Think about the horrors of us signing a treaty for the fairies, but then the Unseelie manages to break it somehow? Everything will fall apart. We need to link the fairies back together again somehow. I understand the balance, the light and the dark is needed now, and it always will be. But there is still nothing above the two courts to link them together, and that is the kind of supreme power that would be needed to sign the treaty.” She said.

I nodded at her, understanding. “So, in other words, the only way the fairies could sign the treaty would be if the two courts were under a higher supreme. The only way one could be of the higher supreme, would be a fairy that was able to live with the light and the dark magic and rule over the light magic, the Seelie court, and the dark magic, the Unseelie court, in unison. Correct?” I asked her.

She nodded, frowning into her cup. “Yes, you’re right, Jaelyn. But the idea of a fairy controlling both the light and the dark magic, in unison? It’s never been done before. Plus, many have tried. In a sense, all of the fairies started as light magic, before they bathed in the dark magic. The dark was too enticing for them, and they let it overtake them. It can’t be done, I’m afraid.” She said. I nodded at her, accepting her words on the surface, even as I chewed on the bread in front of me. There had to be some way, right? I couldn’t accept that this was all they could do. The idea of all of the kingdoms united was Queen Aislyn’s dream, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I wanted it to. There had to be a way, right?