Night Fae by Meg Xuemei X.
Chapter 10
The constellation of Scorpius illuminated the night sky with Antares, the red star, at its very heart. Nestling beneath the stars stood a shining, modern city in the fairyland. Lush gardens melded with an urban city. The ocean breeze wafted along the broad, clean streets, and the sound of the waves was a faint symphony.
The air, in stark contrast to California’s polluted atmosphere, was crisp, cool, and tasted of nocturnal magic. Blossoms drifted from the dark blue sky like a dream from another time and another world.
Standing beside me, my parents inhaled the air deeply and a bit greedily, their eyes widening in wonder. As soon as we left the Court of Nightmares, the knights had removed the blindfolds from their faces.
I didn’t blame my folks for their surprise. I’d pictured Rydstrom’s city as being as ancient as old earth, with moss covering the streets and buildings, since the Fae were an ancient, immortal race. It was pleasing to discover that the Night City was new and shiny, preserved by magic and not eroded by time.
“No outsider has ever been admitted into the Realm of Night and Dreams,” Dad said, his arm around Mom’s shoulders. “We have the fortune and honor of seeing the eternal city that never fades, where night never ends.”
I beamed at him. “Dad, you’re still the poet in the family.”
“There’s a good reason the Court of Nightmares borders the Night Realm,” Drake chimed in. “No one can enter this cherished city without His Majesty’s permission.”
“Thanks for reminding my parents of the nightmares, Drake,” I said. “Charming, as usual.”
Even though the Night Captain of the Guards stared at me blankly, I trusted him. He’d guarded me with his life many times.
“You’re welcome, Queen Ileana,” he said, not letting me hear his dry sarcasm.
“Drake can be sensitive sometimes, even if he tries hard not to be,” Rydstrom said, then flashed a disarming smile at my parents. “Welcome to the Realm of Night and Dreams, Lady Clement, Sir Ganon. My home is and will always be open to my mate’s parents.”
Dad stared at him with a no-comment expression, and Mom’s jaw dropped a little.
I didn’t think it was due to the Night King’s sparkling personality or the glint of affection in his dark sapphire eyes. It also wasn’t that Rydstrom had the beauty of a perfect specimen while boasting inhuman strength—my parents hadn’t seen his monstrous form, and I was glad of that for their sake. Rydstrom was the King of the Nightmares, but if Mom had seen his transformation, she’d be less willing to let me be Rydstrom’s mate. Dad, on the other hand, might cut Rydstrom some slack, because Dad was a guy.
Rydstrom had shifted back to his gorgeous humanoid form as soon as he stepped out of the Court of Nightmares. His dark jeans wrapped around his powerful legs and nice butt and his designer t-shirt showed off his muscled biceps and taut chest.
I’d heard that shifters had to tear their pants off and be naked before they could change into their animal form, or they might risk tangling their big animal head in their pants. Lucky for all the Fae kings, they didn’t have that inconvenience. They shifted to their other forms as if they were going on a picnic instead of waiting for longer than a minute like some shifters, just to get their bones in the right places. And when the kings resumed their Fae forms, their former outfits returned without a wrinkle in the fabric.
“Ileana Evelina Greene will be my queen officially, and there’ll be a grand coronation,” Rydstrom added with a confident smile for my parents’ benefit.
The Night King had declared me his mate when we battled Brigantia in the headquarters of the Silver Circle. He’d called me his queen in front of the Court of Nightmares, but my parents hadn’t had time to process everything, as things just blurred after the battle.
We hadn’t had a chance to talk about the new men—the two Fae kings—in my life.
“Mom, Dad?” I called.
My parents shifted their stares from Rydstrom to me and blinked. I knew they still had a hard time imagining the Night King and me together. I was still their little girl in their eyes, despite the fact that I was also the future queen, and Rydstrom was an immortal nearly two centuries older than them.
“This…this…” Mom said with a vulnerable gesture, then tears spilled from her eyes.
While my parents and I gathered briefly in a private office in the headquarters of the Silver Circle, waiting for Baron to stabilize enough to be teleported to the Summer Court, Mom had apologized to me again and again.
“Forgive us,” Mom had said, guilt eating her up. “We had to abandon you and left you and your siblings to fend for yourselves.”
The mage oracle had had a new vision, and Northton had arranged for my parents to disappear to set things in motion.
The world’s fate was bigger than our family’s happiness, and Northton had convinced my parents that I needed to be ready before my Turning, and they’d have to allow the Fae kings to replace them and play the crucial part.
“We wanted you to have a sheltered life more than anything,” Dad had chimed in, nostalgia clouding his eyes. My parents had felt like they were going to lose me forever. “But we can’t afford to be selfish. You aren’t just our daughter. You’re the prophesied queen who will preserve both realms and save the mortal world from destruction.”
“I understand,” I’d said wistfully. “I was never meant to live a sheltered life. I was born into violence and court politics due to my heritage, but still, you gave me twenty-one years of beautiful and normal life. Thank you. I couldn’t ask for more.”
Without my parents risking everything for me, I’d never have had a chance to feel the sun on my skin. I wouldn’t have found my mates and tasted love. I felt my parents’ unconditional love for me in my heart, yet I still couldn’t help but want reassurance.
“Did you love me?” I’d asked childishly, but for that moment I’d allowed myself to be their little girl one last time. “Was I more than a pawn, a political tool, or this wild card the Silver Circle took an interest in?”
Dad had placed his solid, warm hand on my shoulder. “You’ll always be our firstborn in our hearts, and you know your mother and I love you more than anything.”
Although I was greatly comforted, shame slammed down on me. Actions spoke louder than words. Twenty years of great care and devotion couldn’t be faked. At one time, my parents had tried to run from the Silver Circle to prevent my inevitable fate from catching up with me.
My parents gave up the life they could have had for me. They’d also endangered their own biological children. And my love for them and my siblings had become my anchor to the human world.
“It’s me who should ask for your forgiveness,” I’d said as tears burned behind my eyelids. “I failed you. I failed my siblings. I endangered all of them, and in the end, I let them take Nox.”
“Don’t you dare blame yourself, Evie,” Mom had said. For twenty years, she’d sacrificed silently, playing a supportive role to Dad and me. “You’ve taken care of them well, more than I expected. You’re in the center of the war now. Some things couldn’t be avoided. We’ll get your brother back together.”
Mom was heartbroken and scared, for one of her twins had been taken and none of us knew about his fate yet, but the evil queen would have to keep my brother safe. She’d sworn to return my brother safely as soon as I entered the Wild Hunt.
“I’ll do everything in my power to bring Nox back to you and to Asuka,” I’d said.
“Be the queen you are, daughter,” Dad had said. “Make the realms safer for everyone. Make the future better for your siblings. But first, you must survive the Wild Hunt.”
“If the prophesy said our Evie is the one who’ll save both worlds,” Mom said, putting a hand in Dad’s and the other in mine, “then she’ll come out of the hunt alive. We’ve held onto faith all these years. We’re not going to lose it now.”
“Sometimes I hate oracles,” I’d said.
What if the prophesy was wrong? Or worse, what if the oracles used their “visions” to alter events and manipulate everyone? That piece of prophecy about the rise of a new faerie queen had dictated my parents’ path for decades, and their entire lives had pivoted around it.
I hoped that I was worth it. I’d try damn hard to make sure I was worth it.
In the Realm of Night and Dreams, under the starry sky, I hugged my parents.
