“But why would Andre be there?”
“Why would he not? My father has passed. The kingdom needs ruling. Who would not want our castles and lands? Andre has served my father long, and he’s been in a position to see much of court life close, perhaps too close…In a way I can understand why he’d want the kingdom for himself after all these years of supervising so much. But it’s not right, and he should know. In his heart, he’s not a bad man. He’s always been honorable. Maybe this was too much for him. Too enticing. Too much to throw away, throw to a young girl. Now it seems he’s teamed up with Taramon.”
“Do you really think that’s what the flag means?”
“It must mean something…Do you have thoughts on it?”
I shook my head.
“Perhaps we should team up with Cantillion, after all, and risk it,” Lyria said and sat up, leaning on an elbow. “He does have powers beyond anything most human soldiers can even imagine. What do you think?”
“I couldn’t possibly say anything to that, Lyria. You’re the queen, and you know him and the fae…”
“We can wait here for a few days and see if any allies show up. That was the original plan, to go to Galandea and wait for our allies. Perhaps they’re still coming. But if they aren’t, I don’t know what. We have no more options left. No-one to turn to. Who else do we have for possible allies anymore? What else is there to do? We must flee all kingdoms and the lands of the fae. There is nowhere to go but hide like rabbits.”
We fell silent again.
“But Milla,” she then said in a more upbeat voice. “Don’t you think that’s just unearthly beautiful?”
“What?” I said, turning to smile at her. “Oh, the sunset?”
“It’s so heartbreakingly beautiful, it would almost be all right if this was the last moment of all time, and it all ended here, the entire world, and time, with us sitting here, watching the sun slowly go to sleep.”
I held my breath before I dared say anything. “What do you mean? I don’t know why you’d say that, Lyria. Why would it be the end of all time?”
“No…” She pulled a sharper breath and reached to grab my hand, to knead it, frowning. “Of course it’s not. But if time had to ever stop and stay like this forever, still and glassy like this, like a frozen-through lake, like this…this would be the perfect moment for that.”
“Um, I don’t know why you’d say that,” I said with a laugh, trying to cut the edge of her words. They stung deep, and stirred something in me I didn’t want to address.
“Milla?” The seriousness of her voice made me return her look again.
“What?”
She clearly hesitated. “Nothing,” she muttered. “Oh, look at us. This is so frustrating. Only a few hundred yards away, he’s gloating and celebrating in our castle. He could be drinking up the wine and eating all the food, sitting in my chair in the garden salon, the great ballroom…Agh!” Lyria over-dramatically pushed air through her teeth, to underline its unbelievable madness to me.
“He’s got no right,” I echoed back. “First, your castle, then this.”
“Yes, indeed. The castle proper, three days ago, and already he’s here. The man has no patience. What a greedy goat. By the skies, he’s going to get whipped, once we storm the castle with Cantillion…”
“You think we should do it? Do you think Cantillion will go through with it? Can we trust him to?”
“There’s only one thing he’s been hoping for, forever. To have the human armies backing him up against the fae queen. He wants the throne of the underworld, it’s his obsession, he doesn’t care if he lives or dies, he’s going for it. You know…fae…ah, they’re like that. Anyway, yes, as long as he believes we have the power to help him with that, you can bet he’ll go through with this plan and fight on our side. He’s been negotiating with my father for years…” She trailed off, staring at the sunset.
“Lyria. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right,” she said but wouldn’t look at me.
“I’m sure your father would have been incredibly proud of you.”
She crossed her arms in her lap in a way that made her shoulders slouch.
“You will get your throne back. Somehow, you’ll get it back.”
“If I ever lost it…Taramon has only manned the buildings for three days. That doesn’t translate to overtaking the kingdom, in many people’s eyes. I used to have support…I’m pretty sure many of our neighboring kingdoms still think I deserve to have my kingdom back. See, I can’t decide what to think, what to feel. I can’t decide if we should invite the leader of the dark fae armies to our yard! Or perhaps go to live with the mice in the prairie…But maybe we could still find allies, who think I deserve my castles back?”
“Of course many still would think that. And you do. But Lyria, a thought…Do you want them?”
“What! Milla!…How is that even a question,” Lyria exclaimed, with an unsure cough for a laugh. But that made her glance at me, and I noted the teared-up eyes, before she turned away again.
“It’s always a question, a very simple question. You always have to always ask that, over and over at every turn. Do you want it? My mother always said that to me. Do…you…want that? Otherwise you’ll live a life that runs by other people’s rules. Life has a way of taking you prisoner, and before you know it, you’re doing things you think you’re supposed to be. I could have been a wizard and made a lot of money, and maybe had a little fame, even, but then I would have had to live a stressful, unanchored life that I didn’t really want. A lot of people would, but not me. So you have to always ask, is it something you want? Just because everyone thinks it’s something fantastic, you have to ask yourself, do you think so…That’s all.”
Lyria looked the way she always did when she perhaps disagreed with something but didn’t want to say it out loud and didn’t want to argue. She was a court-raised woman, brought up to eventually be a queen, a diplomat.
She touched my arm and opened her mouth to say something, but thought again. Then she just leaned in and rested her head on my shoulder. I carefully put an arm around her. Just then, we heard something move in the bushes. Lyria reacted violently, swirling in my arms, swiftly freeing herself and jumping to her feet.
The massive forms were easy to recognize, and the faint scent of magic…Fae. We’d been so focused on the sunset and on each other to not even keep an eye on the surroundings.
When I turned to look behind us, I spotted more soldiers in full fae battle armor, some of them sporting red capes or silver helmets, most carrying long, silver-tipped battle spears that reached above their heads, and all of them with stern, observant faces. Some were running, finding their spots along the lines. Then only one remained, a tall male in a monstrous, beastly-grinning helmet, and dressed in crimson from head to toe.
He took off his helmet and tucked it under his arm, becoming a fae man, with the monster-head becoming a shell of silver against his hip — a battle helmet meant to frighten the enemy, that’s what it was.