Chapter 98

A cloud of Sylphs—tiny ice-white fairies with long, silvery hair and transparent, dainty wings that oozed cooling magic—circled like a snow crown around the queen’s head.

It was the first thing Luna saw when she’d stopped shrieking—the guards slowly pulling their iron grip from her elbows.

“It’s quite alright, Luna; some Fae have that reaction when they see the Shaman.” “There are Fae who have darkness curdled like bad milk inside them.” The Queen’s low reassurance only thinly passed through the ringing in Luna’s ears, crackling like the static she’d heard in that rift.

Luna cowered, dropping to her knees again with fright, as two sturdy hands cupped around her armpits and lifted her from the plush carpeting.

“Are you alright?” Cassius, the elf king, whispered worriedly to Luna, his voice somehow managing to be loud in the quiet throne room.

No, I’m not okay! I have darkness inside me, didn’t you hear? Luna screamed internally but only managed a weak nod as she struggled to stand on unsteady feet.

She’d always known there was something wrong with her, even before she regained her memories.

Luna had thought nothing more of the voices that whispered odd thoughts in her head; how was she to know they were the murmurings of a hex spirit and that it would manifest in Arcadia?

Causing mutant creatures like the ones that had invaded Armagetton to corrupt her meadow!

“She doesn’t belong here, your Majesty!” It was Annika’s snide voice that Luna heard behind her before she was cut off gruffly. Luna was not sure she wanted to look.

“Release the maiden at once; everyone is allowed a fair hearing in Arcadia!” The Queen yelled, waving one jewelled hand at the guard, whom Luna saw holding back the eager maiden.

Yessss, let the whoremaiden speak!

That voice again!

Luna shook her head wildly, no doubt appearing mad to the Queen’s Court. The sight of the shaman’s divinity must have wrenched them from their hiding inside her.

“Thank you, my Queen.” Annika curtseyed, flicking her milk-colored Maiden garb behind her with brown hands before throwing Luna a dark sideways look.

The Queen nodded her crown of clouds sagely, prompting the Maiden to continue, much to Luna’s horror.

“Your Majesty, I was there!” Saw the way those, those vile monsters, packed around her like pixie dust on flowers!” Annika yelled passionately as Luna shook her head back and forth.

There were gasps of horrified contempt going up around them, and the Elf King had to yell.

“Quiet!” before the maiden could continue.

“She’d given some bullshit explanation when she ran to our village that time with her monsters, killing good women.” “I didn’t like it, your honor, so I went up myself to the Meadow,” Annika spat in a crisp tone as the murmurings rose again.

“Dangerous!...to the meadow? …Brave woman!” Luna heard men’s and women’s voices in the mix and scrunched up her eyes as the weight of their dislike settled in her chest. Someone had thrown a half-eaten apple at Luna’s head, but she was too tired to react.

“Sprites, your Majesty! Floating lifeless, face down in the water, and Dryads hung limply from their trees! Their homes! Even our friendly garden gnomes were absorbed by the shadowlings! Bags of bones, your Majesty, good Fae of Arcadia, food for those dark vulture birds! I say we punish her for crimes against Arcadia Fae! Annika boomed, letting out a savage cry and pumping her fist in the air before she pushed Luna to her knees.

Luna felt the guards could have been faster in hauling the angry woman from her crumpled form, but she muted her distraught.

“Contain yourself, Annika!” Queen Ilona barked, but the Maiden was beyond reason, kicking out her legs and spitting in the guards’ eyes.

“Let me go, you swine!” She screamed, her voice shrilling like jagged glass blades.

“Throw her out! Annika of Arcadia Maidens, you are henceforth banished from the Queen’s Court for disorderly conduct and contempt of power! Cassius thundered as the armored guards dragged the heaving woman out the double doors, and the Fae’s grumblings fell as quiet as still water.

“No one disrupts the Queen’s throne room!” The elf king warned, and Luna looked around at the contrite faces that did not meet her eyes. She was hit suddenly with a pang of home sickness, missing Armagetton in a way she didn’t think was possible.

So what if those dark things followed her from Armagetton? The Armagettans would never blame her the way these perfect Fae did. Luna decided then that she would find a way to get back, no matter what!

To the chicken special at Chucky Cheeze, to their house on Moose Street, and to her temperamental twin sister, Lucille

“What would you have me do with you now?” The queen sighed, although Luna thought she did not look very conflicted.

“Your Majesty, if I may?” Cassius asked, stepping down from the sundial, his bright purple eyes pinned on Luna, surprising the brown-haired girl who gawked at him wide-eyed.

“People of Arcadia!” “We all saw the way Luna of the forgotten city fought bravely, I dare say risking her neck when the likes of you cowered under oak tables in your cottages.” The elf king boomed, the rings on his fingers bouncing the orange of the sunlight leaking from the stained glass roof.

“If her Majesty pleases, I say we let Luna of Arkavis stay here, perhaps even work in the Queen’s Court!” “She has potential I’ve only seen in royal guards.” Cassius finished loudly, as mummurs swept through the crowd of Fae once more. He eyed each one intensely, daring them to voice their dissent; he would give them something to talk about.

Goosebumps traveled up Luna’s exposed arms as she shivered under the attention. She had to say it now; she had to. Luna didn’t know if she would get another chance.

“My Queen, if it’s all the same to you, I would like to go home.” “Back to Armagetton, to my people.” Luna’s mousey voice was quiet, but the crowd heard her loud and clear. Even the gentle music of the piano had faded. She heard shocked gasps of surprise, which gave her the feeling that no one had ever wanted to leave Arcadia before. She wasn’t entirely sure it was even possible.

“At ease, people of Arcadia.” Luna Arkavis stays here. Queen Ilona addressed the buzzing mass of feathers and small, shiny spikes before leaning forward on her gold throne and speaking more quietly to Luna.

“Arcadia is a sealed realm, Luna; you can’t leave even if you wanted to.” No one has before, besides the King. The Queen sighed, trailing off, her eyes fixed over Luna’s head on the double light-wood doors at the entrance.

Luna wondered if Queen Ilona was thinking about the King. She’d heard stories about them from her time in the Meadow.

The Dryads were good with Arcadia gossip; they had their pointy noses in every underwear and their webbed, moss-coated fingers in every pie. Luna imagined the pie wouldn’t have been any good after that.

“Lovers of the century!” was what the couple had been doing, making moon eyes at each other when the King helped Queen Ilona from their royal carriage during Council meetings in the town square. His dark, titan-haired head towered high above all other Fae, and country girls swooned at the sharp angled lines of his smooth, tanned face.

It had been every Fae’s dream, their love.

Until Queen Ilona had taken her in.