Chapter Twelve

"WE'VE GOT A LOT TO catch you up on," Jesiah stated.

He sat me down at an expansive table in the middle of the palace library, which made my university library look like a broom closet. All I could see for miles were shelves stocked with books, all the way up to the glass dome ceiling.

Please tell me I don't have to read all of these.

I glanced at Rune, who stood beside me in his Fae form with an amused smirk, and I sent him a silent plea for help. He only grinned wider and turned to watch Jesiah reappear with his arms loaded with books. Rune bit his lip to fight off a laugh, and his fox ears twitched in delight. I glared at him. The jerk was enjoying this torture.

Jesiah placed the books in front of me with a loud thud, and he beamed with pride as he placed a hand on top of the behemoth stack. "I know you have a photographic memory, so this should be a breeze for you. Light reading material."

"Right," I mumbled, plucking a book from the top entitled Royal Policies Volume 1 . I fanned through the pages, noting the itty-bitty font. "Light reading."

"Well, I wouldn't want to distract you from your studies," Rune started, a smirk still plastered on his lips. "So I'll just take my leave now and—"

"Hold it right there, Fox Boy," Jesiah quipped. He moved around the table and forced Rune into the chair next to mine, pulling a tome out from the dusty stack. "While you know the ins and outs of this world, you still have to learn the duties and policies that come with being a ruler. So here's your reading assignment, too."

Rune's face fell as he stared down at the book, and my head fell back in a cackle. He glared at me, and I pointed an accusing finger at him. "Payback's a bitch."

Rune sighed and flipped open the cover to the first page. He scanned the first few lines before his eyes glazed over with boredom, and he dropped his head into his clawed hands. "I already want to stab my eyes out with a spoon."

"Now, now," Jesiah started, patting Rune's back teasingly. "Don't do that. How would you read volumes two and three without your eyes?"

Rune glanced suggestively at me. "Maybe if I had something to motivate me …"

My cheeks burned, which served to bring a teasing smile back to Rune's lips.

Jesiah rolled his eyes. "Will I need to separate you two?"

Rune smirked and gave me a once-over as he pulled his book onto his lap. "We'll see."

I giggled at Rune's poor attempt to get out of this misery before turning to Jesiah, who had returned to my side.

"Bria, you'll have a lot to read up on from policies to history to technical books explaining our abilities. We'll also put those abilities into practice as you read about them, building your skills and improving your arsenal of power."

I flicked the cover of the book in front of me then met Jesiah's dark eyes. "May I ask a question first?"

"Of course. Always."

"When we first arrived here, Imani mentioned that our island used to be submerged and that Water Fae lived under the water. Why don't we anymore?"

Jesiah perched on the edge of the table, taking on a somber look. "Water Fae have changed a great deal in the past few centuries, Bria. You'll notice that as you learn our history. We're only a fraction of what we once were in terms of numbers, powers, and knowledge."

"Why? What happened?"

"Love happened."

I cocked a brow. "Love?"

Jesiah nodded slowly. "Long ago, when Water Fae still resided within the ocean, things were different. All Water Fae could breathe in the water. We had unimaginable powers, and most had blue hair. Water Fae became curious about the world outside of the sea, though, and some brave, curious souls crept onto land to see what was out there. That was when Water Fae learned they could live and breathe outside of the water. We could go back and forth. So we did.

"Water Fae began making trips to land, discovering new Fae, new ways of life, new love. Some Water Fae chose to stay on land, and they slowly forgot their abilities. Water Fae and Land Fae fell in love, which, as you now know, didn't help with reproducing. Our numbers began to dwindle, and after so much time on land where abilities were no longer being used, our powers started to change. One of the abilities that was lost for almost everyone was the ability to literally become water. You see, before, we could do so much more than just control water. We were water. Can you take a guess as to who the last Water Fae was to have that ability? I'll give you a hint. Those who could do that—literally become one with water—had blue hair."

I sucked in a sharp gasp. "My mom?"

He nodded with a warm smile.

As amazed as I was to hear that my mom was able to harness the full potential of what we were as Water Fae, it also confused me. "Why am I getting blue hair then? I haven't become water. Not that I recall anyway."

Jesiah scratched his stubbly chin and studied me thoughtfully. "Maybe you did and just didn't realize. It's hard to say since it's a power that none of us understand, being that we don't have it. Think on it this evening. Maybe you'll remember a time you did."

No amount of thinking on it would change anything. I was pretty sure I'd know if I was suddenly a blob of water. That would be pretty hard to miss.

If only my mom were here to ask.

Shaking off the melancholy thought, I asked with a smile, "So my mom was a badass?"

"She was," Jesiah said with a chuckle. "Your mother was born to a long line of powerful Water Fae who retained the majority of our powers, but even with that lineage, Alesta was on a whole other level. She was what Water Fae once were. It was hoped that she and Khal would marry and conceive an offspring that would harness those same lost powers, and hopefully, help to restore the Water Kingdom to what it once was."

I swallowed hard and picked at the pages of the book in front of me. "Ahh, right. They had an arranged marriage. All to breed me."

I remembered how sick that had made me when Dallas first told me, but after seeing that photo album from the nursery, it didn't unnerve me like it once did. It was clear from those pictures and my mother's letter that they truly loved not only me, but also each other.

"Arranged marriages are common, as you now know," Jesiah reminded me, giving me a pointed look. "You yourself had one pre-arranged, because we needed to rebuild our Kingdom with powerful leadership and heirs. As much as it pains me to say it, Dax is a powerful Water Fae. Not as powerful as Alesta or Khal—or you—but not many of us are anymore."

"Please don't even bring up heirs right now," I groaned, shifting uncomfortably in my seat and avoiding Rune's eyes. I was not having the marriage and baby talk with him right now, especially with Jesiah around.

Finding Jesiah's brown eyes again, I said, "So Water Fae changed. Powers were lost and our numbers of those with powers dwindled. Why did our whole Kingdom move above water?"

"That," Jesiah began slowly, "was actually a fairly recent change in the grand scheme of things. It was done a little more than a century ago when Alesta and Khal ruled. They began to notice that some Water Fae were having difficulty breathing under water. Shortness of breath. Labored breathing. Some even found that they couldn't breathe at all, and therefore, couldn't come home. Then one day, something … disturbing and traumatizing happened."

"What?" I asked, leaning forward. "What happened?"

He watched me cautiously like he was weighing whether or not to tell me. Finally, he explained, "The Kingdom was still deep in the ocean at this point, and Alesta had a hand maiden who was also a dear friend to her. Nessa. Nessa was pregnant, and even though it wasn't protocol, she wanted Alesta there for the birth as a friend. When the baby was born, it was quickly realized that he couldn't breathe under water, and he … he didn't make it. He drowned."

My stomach coiled with nausea, and my hand flew to my mouth in an effort to keep the shock from leaving my lips. I fought against the image trying to surface in my head, but it came despite my efforts. The image of a newborn trying to take his first breath, let out his first cry …

Rune's hand suddenly covered my free one on the tabletop. My tear-filled eyes found his, and he squeezed my hand tightly. There were no words that could wipe away the ache building in my chest or chase away the foul images flooding my mind, but he was here with me all the same, offering a warm hand to hold onto until the pain went away.

Clearing my throat, and taking a few breaths, I asked, "That's when the Kingdom moved above water?"

Jesiah nodded. "Alesta refused to risk anything like that happening again, so Sand Crab Fae lifted the entire Kingdom from the seafloor to form the new land mass that is Morardia as we know it. Doing so saved lives and let Water Fae who couldn't breathe beneath the water come home. But it also produced more problems. We were meant to exist in the water day in and day out. Not doing that made our powers grow even weaker. And then, of course, issues arose shortly after with Land Fae."

"I remember those days," Rune said. He looked out the window toward the distant mainland of the Land Fae territory. "King Zair, Elias's father, had already been growing frustrated with Water Fae traveling to our lands because as Land and Water Fae bred, it also meant fewer Land Fae were born. Then when Morardia appeared above water, he took it as a threat against Land Fae. He thought it was only a matter of time before Water Fae tried to move to our territory and take it over. Some already had, creating small communities within ours."

"Thus began the war," Jesiah commented quietly.

Silence gathered like a heavy snow piling over us. The three of us didn't speak any more, instead returning to the tasks before us. Rune slumped over his book, Jesiah browsed nearby shelves for more tomes to add to the pile, and I opened my own copy of Royal Policies Volume 1 .

I didn't make it past the first sentence before my mind returned to all I'd just learned. I wondered what things had been like back when all Water Fae knew how to tap into their full potential. I envisioned life under the waves and what that must've been like.

The Kingdom from long ago sounded far different than the one we lived in now, and part of me briefly wondered if I could really return it to the way it once was.