20

Things were a blur for a bit. I was in shock.

We went back through the portal to Faerie. Morgan and I did with my detail and got Stefanie to my castle, the medical bay. Dad stayed to help the fairies who protected that portal. They were fine when he brought them through to Faerie.

Wires got crossed and someone thought I was injured, so Calarel appeared. I only pointed to Stefanie and begged her to help.

The next thing I knew, more royal healers were arriving and a few asked for permission to consult other healers, one in particular was a specialist of wings. I agreed and they were located, brought right in.

"I'm very sorry, Your Highness, but her wing is—Commander Stefanie will never fly again," the specialist told me after they finished their exam. "The extent of her magic being damaged might not be that bad, but that was a death shot taken at you. The commander did her duty and protected you and she will never regret that."

I let out a scream of pain that rattled the whole castle. Almost instantly, a portal opened and Neldor was there looking panicked. Then I was in his arms and we fell to the floor together. I heard people filling him in as he comforted me.

"It was all of our mistake, baby doll," he whispered. "I should have told you to put back on your protections too. We all could have. Ara was the one who gave you the magazine. We were all—we all needed some damn fun and normal. It's no one's fault but his. It's his fault , Tams. Please, don't shatter from this and let him win. Stefanie wouldn't want that."

That worked. Hearing that made me shut down my anguish and I nodded that I heard him. Anguish and guilt weren't going to solve anything.

Rage was much, much better.

Rage and revenge.

"Is she healed as much as she can be?" I asked of the healers as I stood.

"For now, yes," Calarel answered. "The rest will take time. Breaking her shield and magic at that level cracked her magical core, rivers—all of it. It will take time for her to recover. But I promise you that she's not in any danger. It's simply time and then we can assess what her magical level is."

"We need answers, Your Highness," Morgan said quietly. "Others will need…"

I nodded and looked at my dad. "I found out more. I just did." I swallowed loudly and glanced at Stefanie. "I still don't have all the answers to have stopped this." Then I frowned. "Why now?"

"Let's take this to the conference room," my dad muttered. "Commanders and Neldor only."

Everyone seemed to accept that for the moment and he put up a barrier once we were all gathered.

"Why won't you tell us what happened, Morgan?" someone demanded of him.

"Because he's protecting me," I snapped. "So just shut the fuck up and listen instead of trying to pull rank." I let out a slow breath and scrubbed my hand over my head before looking at Dad. "And I'm sorry, but you were wrong and Mom knew." I nodded when he couldn't hide his shock. "That's what the magic was at Artemis."

"Wait, wait , just back the fuck up," Lageos seethed. "Meira would never have kept that from me!"

"She did because—let's just back up," I sighed, realizing I had to be the adult here. I looked away from him and focused on Morgan who was near a breakdown from what I could tell. "After the man who attacked me before tried to let demons into Faerie, I took a chance and followed his magic to find him.

"I wasn't stupid and teleported all around. I didn't stay long. It was quick." I swallowed loudly. "But I felt that zing of my magic that others speak of. We are related." I gave people a moment to let that sink in… And they needed it. "And he has my mother's eyes."

"Meira didn't have a living relative, Tamsin," Iolas argued.

"That's what I said and that's why we didn't report it," Lageos agreed. "I thought maybe one of my siblings had a child too and I didn't know. Or… I don't think I would have forgotten that, but maybe they did while fading? I don't know, but our glamour is stronger than yours. It would be a way—"

"Thinking there was another Vale alive would be the best way to fuck with your head," Onas muttered. "It's smart, and this person has proven to be smart. But you were smart and didn't try for them again after that?"

"No," Lageos said firmly.

"Yes," I confessed, sighing when my dad looked like he would pound me. "Just to—I got upset with myself that I wasted my one chance to teleport to him and I did. He—he didn't block me, but it's like—it's kind of like the wall between Faerie and me. I can't reach him. I can't open a portal to him either. But I know why that is now."

"He's a Vale," Iolas muttered, swearing under his breath.

I held up a hand to my dad and the others. "One of the last times you snuck to Earth to be cute with Mom years before the war even, she sensed a relative. That was it. All of her years alive or even going to Earth and it was the first time. She wrote—and you can read it—that the magic felt benign. It meant no harm and wasn't icky.

"She thought—as I snarked before—that maybe Grandma's brother had a bastard or something. And like so what? Why bug the guy if he was living quietly on Earth and drag him into crap? Clearly, he wasn't a threat to her if she hadn't caught even a trace of him for all of those years. So leave him be and out of the drama of being a Vale. Those were her thoughts."

He let out a slow breath. "That is absolutely your mother's kind, stupid heart." He sighed when I couldn't hide my shock. "Your mother was far from perfect, Tamsin. I know—we've both made mistakes. This was hers. Clearly, he's not passive . We had been to Earth a lot and obviously he was hiding from her! We should have at least investigated this!"

"Agreed," Iolas muttered, double shocking me. "What about this magic at Artemis?"

I explained to all of them about the item I'd found after going for the reward I could get from the Power Playoffs and what I found. "I didn't know it was Mom's magic then. I just knew it shouldn't be there." I swallowed loudly and met my dad's gaze. "Mom hid it there specifically because she had a vision of me at Artemis."

He opened his mouth but then closed it. "She never told me that. It was never the plan to have you there or out in front of supe society. That would have been too risky."

Yes, yes it would have. Clearly, she didn't understand that it was in connection with her outlier vision, and I wasn't going to judge her for that. Not at all this time.

"It's just a quick line about something must have changed or I needed more help than you could give—she wasn't upset, but she saw me there and knew it would be safe." I waited until he nodded before looking at Iolas. "But she said you would be able to explain to me why it was needed and I should talk to you before reading her explanation of how to use it."

He glanced around and swallowed loudly.

"Most of us know the answer," Onas said quietly. "It's the same with the Donovans."

"Royal family secrets," I muttered, bobbing my head and glancing at Neldor… Except he wouldn't look at me.

"When did you learn this?" he asked, steam about coming out of his ears.

"Thanks, Nel," I whispered. "I don't feel like shit enough because I didn't read my mom's journal faster or figure out how to unlock it or any of the other million ways this is my fault."

His face instantly lost his anger. "I'm not angry with you. I'm just angry , Tams. I'm hurt you didn't tell me when I was trustworthy before."

"Thursday," Morgan and Talila said together, Morgan nodding for Talila to go ahead. "You were distracted in class. You kept dropping things and we thought…" She glanced at Neldor. "Something new happened."

I nodded. "Thursday after training I had breakfast with my unicorns and read some more. That was when I learned about it."

"I'm sorry," Neldor whispered. "Shit, yeah, okay, I'm a jackass."

"Yeah, you are because even if it was a couple of weeks we've got a lot of shit, Nel. I mean pick anything of the crazy going on."

He nodded and I felt a bit better.

But then I wanted answers, glancing between Onas and Iolas.

It was Taeral who answered though. "Royal magic cancels out. There are magics you cannot use on each other. It's to keep from being overthrown by each other and causing instability. That's the theory."

"Wait, wait , I have about a billion issues and flaws with that especially since this asshole just used magic that would have killed me," I drawled.

"We don't know it would have," Taeral sighed. "It was magic to kill, but against another Vale, it might have only been enough to incapacitate you."

"It's true," Iolas agreed. "But there is a way for the queen, the ordained queen, to get around that if…" He shared a look with Onas.

"Saving Faerie," Onas sighed.

"Oh well, that's fucking vague," I grumbled.

"Yes, but it's meant—Elora used to say it was allowed if the queen didn't strike first. So I was to protect Faerie—acting as the shield as you have said yourself."

"Meaning we can't be the aggressor world domination stuff," I grumbled. "Okay, now back to my other issue." I gestured between Neldor and myself. "I get it, we have like a hundred generations since we have a real ancestor, but we do. I've used a lot of magic to beat him up and—"

"Yes, you're way too far apart on any family tree that it counts for anything," Iolas muttered. "Which was why everyone constantly suggested on both sides to just take out the queen." He rolled his eyes to say it was stupid.

"And the gods warned my mother not to," I said, deciding to let that out of the bag, Lageos backing me up.

"Our queen was told the same," Taeral confirmed. "I'm glad she listened." He snorted. "Until she completely lost herself and tried to kill us all."

Yeah, just that. But we had to focus right then.

"So you're saying that Mom put some sort of magic into that thing that can disable us canceling each other out?" I asked Iolas, thinking how weird that sounded.

"It would make sense why he didn't go right for trying to take you out at Artemis but wanted Meira's magic in the vault," Lageos muttered.

Yeah, but it seemed so… Hinky?

"A bit convenient," Neldor grumbled after Iolas confirmed it.

I gave him a look that we were on the same page there.

"Convenient?" one of the dark commanders drawled. "Your mother cared so much about you and protecting you that she built some sort of magical item I've never even heard about, and I'm old enough to be an elder, because of a vision and worry to be fair over a probably distant and bastard Vale she didn't want to bother.

"The bastard probably lost his mind when Faerie was closed for so long and he couldn't cleanse and turned to demons. Which—how did he even know Queen Meira put something at Artemis? You said you couldn't sense the magic until you were in that vault. So he wouldn't either and—"

"That might be the flawed assumption," I hedged. "I could probably have sensed it now that I had my wings. So say he came to check me out after I was on supe TV maybe not knowing about me or—whatever. Yeah, lost his mind not being able to cleanse in Faerie. Sensed it and wanted it."

"It doesn't fucking matter!" Lageos roared looking wild and too all over the place. "How do we use it and kill the threat to you? That's all I need to know, Tamsin. All we need to do. Enough of this back and forth. We kill the cockroach before anyone else gets hurt. We should have already, but there was so much else that… I thought…"

"I know, me too, Dad," I whispered, worried about him. "I will read the next section of what Mom wrote and unlock it. We'll figure this out."

"And you won't go alone," he said firmly. "No! No, Tamsin!"

I sighed when everyone else agreed. "Fine, Dad and I will handle him." I shot Neldor an annoyed look. "Both the last royals to take on a crazy fucking Vale older than us is the stupidest idea ever. Like ever . We get the facts, figure this out, and hear some answers from the guards he knocked out and then Dad and I go hunting."

"Fine, yes, and you need some serious fueling up," he agreed.

"Yeah, but also fast because I drained him a bit with that barrier. He's not going to stay quiet now that he tried to attack."

I was glad when everyone seemed to agree with me.

I stayed with Stefanie while the others handled what they needed to. They kept checking in. Food was set up and brought in from Earth in a buffet for us against the far wall. I didn't want to eat, but I knew I needed to.

And if there was ever a time I wasn't going to be a pain in the ass and do what I needed to… It was right then.

The fairies who had been guarding the portal woke and were confused. They had no idea—never even sensed anyone. They just went down.

No one blamed them. No one. They were grunts to protect against humans stumbling upon the portals or supes. Not a crazed member of the royal family.

"We need to figure out some type of warning," I told Neldor after he was filled in. "If they could feel what we did through the portals to Faerie—we need to do better. There has to be some way to shut it down or—something."

"Yeah, that's a good idea, Tams," he agreed, leaning over and kissing my hair but also so he could whisper in my ear. "I need you to be checked by Calarel. Please?"

I heard the worry in his voice and nodded, glancing up at him. "What happened?"

"We're at fifty thousand awakened and we're guessing we've not even checked in a quarter." He nodded when I sighed.

Getting more awake was great. I wasn't knocking that. Having more power was even better.

I had no control or… Well, I had control. I had punched the gas. But there was no—everything was too chaotic.

He got back to it and I probably should have as well, but someone had to be there for Stefanie. She had no family left really. She did have a few and they were clean nobles, but she wasn't close with them since she was so much older and hadn't gone the path of taking charge of her family's area. She'd served in the Dark Guardians against her father's sexist wishes.

I never had the heart to ask her if she learned he was clean or one of the bad elders. I wasn't sure she wanted to know either since he died in the war.

I think she wanted to believe he was one of the good ones even if a sexist fool who didn't have enough faith in his daughter. From what I knew, he died because he joined in the fight even as an elder and died honorably.

Though I always had a problem thinking of people who died in war as dying honorably. Or at least the wars in Faerie. They all seemed so pointless.

But they weren't to the people who had fought them and they didn't commit war crimes, so that was honorable.

All of it spun around in my mind as I ate, watched over her, and checked in with the healers when they did their thing. I also read my mother's journal, specifically the part on how to use the magical box thing.

It was after midnight when I glanced over to check on her and saw she was staring at me.

"How bad?" she whispered. "Please, just tell me."

"They say you'll never fly again," I answered. "Beyond that, we don't know until you heal. You broke your magical everything, so it will be a while until we know the full extent."

She closed her eyes but not before I saw the tears. They leaked out as she tried to be brave against the pain.

I reached out and moved my hand against hers, letting her make the choice. She grabbed onto it with all she had and even pulled on it, so I dropped the journal and sat on the bed with her. I couldn't hug her since she was propped up on her side but mostly her stomach so her wings could be out so the healers could have access to them.

"I'm sorry, Stefanie," I rasped as I kissed her hair and held her as best as I could. "I'm so fucking sorry. I didn't—I'm sorry."

"We were both—all of us. We just needed some fun," she forgave.

"There's more to this," I confessed.

"I saw his eyes. He's a Vale."

I sighed and kissed her hair again before telling her everything I knew.

She was quiet for several minutes and I thought she had drifted back to sleep, but then she reached up and wiped her eyes.

"If things were calm and we were post-emergency—even if everyone was awake or settled, I would be upset that you kept this from those of us you trust and it led to this. But I could have told you to put your barrier back up, Tamsin. Any of us could have reminded you. We were—the chances and timing—"

"How did he know?" I gasped.

She sighed. "That's easy enough. All the planning we've been doing and people talking. If he's of the royal family, he can easily cloak around the grunts. But we were all a bit lax because we knew there was a rogue ancient working with demons."

"How are you comforting me when I'm the reason you're like this?" I asked.

"No, I'm like this because I made a vow and my honor was kept," she whispered. "Don't take that from me, Tamsin." She looked up at me with tears flowing out of her eyes. "Not when I've lost my ability to fly and have nothing left. Don't take that from me."

I worried when she broke down crying, sending a pulse of magic that I hoped the healers would feel. Sure enough, two came jogging into the room.

"She's too low on the tank of energy," one of the healers immediately told me, explaining her crying.

"Can I give her some?" I checked, glad when he nodded, so I gave Stefanie the amount the healer said I could. "She'll need to start eating?" After they confirmed that, I told them to go ahead.

My magic reached more than the healers, and I saw several captains and lieutenants who had trained directly under her standing off to the side. I went to my bag and pulled out one of my credit cards, going right for Kerym since I recognized him.

"I know it's midnight here, but it's earlier in Vegas and that potato place is there and she loves that," I told him, giving him my card. "Find her apple pie. Good stuff, not store-bought. That place in LA—I forgot. Rafe will know. He hit it up with Darby. Then switch to real Japanese food. It's like noon or one there.

"She loves omurice, the omelet over rice thing. And she likes soba way more than ramen. Get her fresh soba from little hole-in-the-wall places. Oh, the mochi over fruit. I forgot what it's called. She loves that stuff. Whatever else the healers say she needs, but get her food she'll want to eat. Donuts. All the donuts."

He took the card and moved his hand over mine. "We'll handle it, Your Highness. We've got her."

I turned to go back to her and found all of the dark fairy commanders standing there with tears in their eyes as well.

"The wing specialist will be back in the morning to check on her and talk to her directly, but he said—the wing can't regrow," Onas muttered. "The bottom was amputated off."

I nodded, knowing it, having seen it myself.

After the healers finished with Stefanie, Talila and I helped her shower, careful of her wings that still had to be out. I completely understood why she demanded it even if it seemed too much or silly right then. Feeling the dried blood that wiping down couldn't fully get kept you in the moment of your injury or how it happened.

And she couldn't handle that right then.

Her eyes flashed shock when we helped her sit again and there were loaded potatoes and apple pie for her. She didn't ask and just dug in as I sprayed leave-in conditioner in her hair and scrunched it with a towel before carefully brushing it out.

"Tell me how to help," I begged her. "This is—I was broken too young to know how to help and not make it all about me. Just tell me what to do, Stefanie."

"I don't know the answer, Your Highness," she admitted. She gestured to her food with her fork. "This was helpful. People caring and bringing my favorites was—"

"That was all the princess," Onas snitched. "She already ordered people to go get a list for you before we could even. We'll add what we know of fae food after the list she asked to be brought from Earth."

"I already asked my aunt to make that dish you love," one of the other commanders told her.

"I suspect Irma will have a spread for you in the morning as well," Taeral added.

Right then Kerym came with the next round from Japan.

I just hoped Stefanie seeing how many cared for her was enough to help her make it through this.