17

IVY

I brISTLED from the interaction with Hawk but watched almost painfully as he stalked towards the other deck—the one at the front of the ship and as far away from us as possible.

Jackass , I thought, crossing my arms. I really did want to admire the crossing. At some point during the night, we’d passed what was known as the Old World, which Maeve had explained to be the original homeland of the supes. Some kind of war had broken out, and they’d been forced to leave, despite everything Nyx had done to protect the people and the land.

If I turned back, I could just make out the hazy outline of land that might have belonged to another realm.

“That would be the Seelie Court,” Adrian said, moving to stand beside me. “Summer, Winter, Spring, Autumn. The Courts of seasonal change.”

“Or something along those lines. They have their own crappy names, but we just call them by that.” Rowan appeared at my other side and offered me a wicked smile. “You look beautiful this morning, love.”

I furrowed my brows. “Who are you and what have you done with my Rowan?” I asked sceptically.

“That Rowan decided he was done hiding,” he replied, “and is ready to fucking fight.”

Before I could utter a response to that declaration, the kids started talking rapidly about tentacles and tails. I had to tear myself away from both mages, who were making my stomach do all kinds of flips.

It was probably a good thing Thea had remained below deck. Her motion sickness would have been an entirely different beast out here. Despite being somewhat calm, there was still a gentle rock to the boat that became more noticeable while above deck.

A shiver rolled over my skin. My magic rose as if to meet the feeling, igniting across my skin. Instinctively, I stepped away from the children as violet light danced across my arms. “What’s going on?”

Elias was there first, entering my vision. “Nothing is wrong, Angel. You’re fine.”

“This only happens when—” I cut myself off and try to control my breathing. “Elias.”

From the other side of the deck, Captain Vale clapped his hands together, the sound a booming echo. “You are not in danger, my Queen. You are simply returning home. Your magic recognises the crossing as the place where it was born. It is excited to be back, is all.”

Another shiver rolled down my spine as I turned to him. “What do you mean?”

“Has no one told you the story of the first Queen of Nyx?” he asked.

I vaguely recalled Queen Greer mentioning it when I’d asked about the bonds and why they were so important for me to have. “I know a little about the mate side of it. She had lovers and they became the anchors of her magic.”

“It is more than that.” Captain Vale approached our group slowly, his eyes glinting with excitement.

Get ready for a show, Adrian warned. And to hear this story about a thousand more times while you’re here. The First Queen is legendary.

I glanced to my left and met my mage’s eye. I wouldn’t tell him how intrigued I was. I’d only heard of her in relation to her mates. Not about her as a Queen, and it had me curious.

Vale widened his stance and clapped his hands. “Queen Pandora—”

“Wait.” I held up my hand and glanced between Captain Vale and my mates, who had now gathered the children to keep them from running around. “Pandora, like the box?”

The captain cocked his head. “What box? There is no box in this story.”

I sighed, but it was Eloise who replied. “She means like the Greek myth. In the story, Pandora opens a box and releases all the bad crap into the world or something.”

I pressed my lips together. Before, I might have called her out on her use of ‘crap’ but if I had to be honest, I was saying a whole lot worse at her age, and that was more age-appropriate than shit —which is what I would have used in her place.

At least she knew the answer , I decided.

The captain, however, shrugged. “I know of no such myth,” he replied. “I talk only of the First Queen of Nyx and how she came to be.”

“Okay,” I replied, motioning for Eloise to not argue with the three-hundred-year-old male. “So, what’s the story then?”

Captain Vale grinned and raised his arms. A glitter-like substance fell from his fingertips and swirled through the air until it formed what looked like a picture. The image didn’t move like the enchanted glass below deck, but it depicted four people; what looked like a woman in the centre wearing a crown, surrounded by three tall, imposing men.

A wave of familiarity rushed through me, and my magic lifted the hairs of my arms, like it was reaching towards the four people created by dust. A lightness filled my chest, a peacefulness I wasn’t used to.

“Thousands of years ago, there was Pandora. She came from the human villages, back when we were more intermingled with the mortals,” Captain Vale explained. The image changed to reveal something new; this time, it was a young girl, maybe no older than Eloise. “The child was found by Nyx, showing great courage and bravery. The Goddess had been wandering the lands, looking for a way to solve the dangerous magic threatening to tear apart the world she’d created.”

“The Old World,” Adrian said, crossing his arms. “The original home of our people. Nyx’s Domain.”

“Cursed by the Gods she refused to stand with.” The Fae male chuckled and swiped a hand through the glitter to change the picture back to the first Queen and her men. “It is not certain how Pandora came across her consorts. That was how they were known, before the next Queen turned them into Knights and her Court. But for Pandora, they were Consorts, borrowed from each corner of Nyx’s Domain: a dragon from the lands the girl had grown up in, a Fae Prince cursed to end the line of his people, and a Prince of the Underworld with no claim or title and only love for his Queen.”

As Vale introduced each person, the image changed to represent each of them. “Dragon?” I questioned. “Since when are there dragons?”

“I want to see a dragon!” Ginny exclaimed, clapping her hands.

My brows shot up at her response, but Rowan rested a hand atop her hair and shook his head. “Dragons have long since been extinct. Since the war that brought us here.”

“They sacrificed themselves so the witches of Valhaven, Blackwood, Rosenthal, Everhart, and Windermere could create Avalon as a safe haven, rather than disrupt the human world with magic,” Maeve added. “From them also came the first mages.”

“I believe I was telling the Queen a story,” Captain Vale interjected. “Yes. There were once dragons. Hordes of them. They were Queen Pandora’s greatest ally when she reigned. And her successor also found friendship with them. But alas, it did not last.”

Again, the image shifted, though this time it showed Pandora standing alone by what looked like a set of cliffs with her hair blowing behind her. She wore no crown, and she stood alone. “Queen Pandora was human when she met the Goddess. It is on the beaches of the Old World where she first came in contact with the Rift—also known now as the crossing.”

My magic rose at the familiarity. It knew what he spoke of. Remembered it. There was a strangeness in knowing that my magic was older than almost everything here, that the creature in my chest had existed for thousands of years. That it lived within me, real and thriving. And it enjoyed hearing of the past.

“It was here, Queen Pandora first received her magic. Power granted to her from Nyx to use in the protection of Her Realms. And it was here she was crowned Queen.”

Swallowing hard, I glanced up and met the eye of the captain. “But the power was too much. She started deteriorating.”

He nodded sadly, and the image changed to show her three lovers. “Asael of the Underworld, Zyran of the Dragon Hoards, and Eryx of the Fair Folk noticed the changes. They were first her guides, helping her find her way. And they were to train her in the ways of the magic she inherited from each Realm.”

Queen Pandora returned to her men as the glitter shifted. “The magic ate away at her mind. Her body. And her soul. Her lovers could not understand why. And so, they begged Nyx for help. A human girl was never supposed to hold so much power in her body. Nyx asked if they loved her enough to sacrifice themselves for her. And they told Nyx they did. They would do anything to protect the human girl they loved so much. And so, Nyx tied their lives to Pandora’s, extending the human life to one of immortality in the process.”

My heart clenched at the story. For Pandora and her mates. For their absolute love for her, their desire to protect her above all else. It was devastatingly romantic, yet somewhat horrifying.

I pressed my lips together as I glanced around the circle at my own mates. To Elias, my shifter; to Maeve, my vampire; to Adrian, my mage; and even to Rowan, who I knew deep down belonged to me, even if the bond hadn’t shown itself to us yet.

I couldn’t help but think of Ry, too. The Fae boy who stole my heart first. Who claimed to be staying away—for me. To protect me. But why? Each time I thought of him, I was left with more questions than answers. I reached for him, and almost immediately retreated from his bond. The bond that had glowed so brightly during his late-night dream-walk, yet now sat limp inside my chest.

I sucked in a breath and released it slowly to keep my panic hidden from everyone else.

At some point, the Captain ended his story by motioning how close we were to the port city outside the palace, forcing us to fall apart from our circle. As much as the story stuck to me, there was something about it that twisted the magic in my chest. Maybe it was the sacrifice of the lovers, or maybe it was revisiting his bond again. But I could n’t hold back my unease as I made my way to the edge of the ship. I rested my hands on the railing and looked out of the ocean towards the shimmering land of Faery.

I almost didn’t recognise the presence of the person next to me, but I shivered all the same. “You’ll be glad to know I’ve been called back sooner,” Hawk muttered, resting his forearms near mine. “I’ll fly away in ten. ”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked carefully.

The half-Fae male glanced up through his dark lashes. “Wouldn’t want you to miss me, Princess. And anyway, because of your rank, I need to defer to you. Make sure you don’t need me anymore.”

It should have been a relief to see him off, but I hesitated. There was still a part of me that wanted him. It felt like a betrayal, and so I shoved it down as far as it would go.

“You can go,” I said, unable to look at him as I buried the longing deep. “If you really need to. I trust my team to get us to the palace.”

For a long moment, he just stood there, leaning against the banister. His dark eyes roamed the length of my body, and it felt like an eternity before they lifted to meet mine again. But then he pushed off, and without another word, his wings unfurled from his back. Hawk spared me a glance before pushing off the deck and sweeping into the sky.

I closed my eyes, and hoped without him, I wouldn’t feel so torn anymore.