Chapter 21

Lochlan’s hazy eyes darted around the room before landing on Brea, a mix of anger and drunken desperation on his face.

“What?” She only breathed the word.

“Were you in love with my brother?” he slurred. “I heard you talking to Finn about loving so much it killed you to lose them.” He leaned close, sneering in a very Lochlan-like way. “You didn’t lose him, Lady Brea, you ran.”

“Loch.” Finn appeared behind Brea, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Stop this nonsense.”

“I used to love him too, Brea,” he went on, stumbling back as if he couldn’t control his own steps. “Griff is a master manipulator. He makes you believe you’re part of his family before stabbing you in the back. Don’t waste your breath missing him.”

Anger burned through her, but it didn’t latch onto her magic, not the way fear seemed to be able to. As she looked at the pathetic excuse for Lochlan, she wasn’t afraid.

He was wrong. She didn’t love Griff. But maybe he wasn’t so different from his brother. They both had a cruel streak a mile wide. “I don’t have to answer to you.” She tried to push past him, but he grabbed her arm.

“Loch,” Finn snapped. “Let her go.”

“Not until I know why.”

“Why what?” Her voice shook with rage. “Why I let him kiss me? Why I sought him out in the dead of night to crawl into his bed?” She narrowed her eyes. “Because I enjoyed it. Do I need more reason than that?”

His grip tightened. “Griff could have killed you.”

As she studied his slack expression, she realized why he was so upset. Alona. Whether he was in love with her or not, she didn’t know, but Lochlan knew the truth of why his queen wanted Brea. He’d lied to her just like his brother before him. And something about whatever knowledge he possessed made him intensely protective of her.

Finn put a hand on Lochlan’s arm. “Stop this.”

“Don’t you see it, Finn? Brea Robinson is the reason Alona was taken.” The queen had said the same thing, but she didn’t understand it.

“Why? How are we connected?” What did a fae princess and a half-human girl have in common?

Lochlan released her, turning with a huff. He paced back toward them, his face a storm cloud of emotions. “Griff knew. He knew!”

“Knew what?”

“What our parents died for.” He wobbled where he stood before leaning against a bookshelf to stay upright. “He knew kidnapping Queen Faolan’s daughter would force the truth into the light. He tried to take you both as proof, but you ran away before he could come back with Alona.”

“I still don’t understand!” The words exploded out of her. She was tired, so tired, of all the half-truths and semi-lies.

Lochlan turned on her, his jaw clenched. “Alona is like my sister. You… you’re nothing.”

Tears built in her eyes at his words. “If I’m nothing, why did you go to such lengths to save my life?”

“I had orders.” He ran a hand through his hair, tugging wildly at the ends as his breathing grew more erratic. “I can’t… control…” He buried his face in his hands as his entire body shook.

“Brea,” Finn yelled. “He’s losing control of his magic. Get out of—” That was the last word she heard before light encompassed the room, knocking the breath from her lungs as she slammed back into a bookshelf, pain exploding from her shoulder as blackness crept across her vision. Again.

###

Just another day in the fae world, another time waking up in a strange place after being knocked out.

A groan reverberated from Brea’s throat as she flexed her limbs, making sure everything still worked. When she finally opened her eyes, she found a tall broad-shouldered woman with cherry red hair and kind eyes staring down at her.

“Amazonian,” she whispered.

“What?” A concerned look flashed across the woman’s face.

“Nothing.” Brea shut her eyes as pain throbbed in her temple.

“How are you feeling, dear?” Her voice was like a quiet symphony.

“Are you a healer?” She cracked one eye open. “Because if you are, I could totally do with some drugs right now.”

“Ah yes, Lochlan did tell me of your strange human speak.”

“Lochlan?” Her eyes shot open. “Is he okay?” The last she remembered he’d lost control of his magic.

“Yes, he sat beside your bed with Finn most of the night. He can’t forgive himself for hurting you.”

“It wasn’t his fault. His magic… I saw it take control of him. He couldn’t stop it.”

“I know that, dear, and so do you. But Lochlan is a stubborn man who likes to believe everything bad is his fault.”

“Where is he?” She tried to sit up. “I want to speak with him.”

“He left with Finn at daybreak to follow a lead in the search for Alona. In truth, I wanted to be by myself when I met you.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Tierney. I am the queen consort of Eldur.”

“You mean—”

Tierney nodded with a smile. “I am Queen Faolan’s wife.”

Brea already felt more comfortable in this woman’s presence than the queen. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Darling, I have longed to meet you since I first heard of your existence.”

“Why? No one will give me any answers.”

She brushed hair away from Brea’s forehead. “Oh dear, I have quite the story to spin. My wife would have us wait for the right time, but you have waited long enough. And frankly, Faolan could use something good right now.”

“Good?”

“You, Brea. You are good.”

For the first time since learning the truth of her aunt in Eldur, Brea believed someone was finally going to be honest with her. “Why am I here?”

“Because, Brea Robinson, you were born in the fae realm.”

Brea’s heart stopped as her mind tried to grasp that piece of information. “That’s impossible. My mom—”

“Is not your mother. You’re a changeling, Brea.”

“A what-ling?”

“When you were born, your fae mother wanted to protect you. But your father was of the royal line of Fargelsi. That kingdom believed you belonged to them and tried to make it so. They needed an heir after your father died and his sister took the throne. They sent many people to abduct you, but the kingdoms of Eldur and Iskalt protected you. Together, they decided you weren’t safe in the fae world.”

“Wait, so you’re saying I’m not half-fae?”

“No, Brea, this is your world completely. You mother sent her greatest friends to exchange you with a human child. It angered Fargelsi, but they did not know of your whereabouts, and you were safe.”

“Then why am I here if I was safe? Why did Lochlan and Griff come for me?”

“Because Queen Regan grows in power, and it was time to bring you home before you gain full use of your magic when you come of age. With Griffin on Regan’s side, it was only a matter of time before she found you.”

“Home?” Brea’s gasp made Rowena come running from across the room, but Tierney waved her away. Brea recalled the bits of information she’d learned before. Princess Alona had no magic. Was she the human girl? Regan tried to keep Brea in Fargelsi through marriage, thus securing the throne.

And Queen Faolan… her rambling… the way she’d stared at Brea as if trying to see something that wasn’t there.

“Queen Faolan is my mother.” The words felt right, somehow, as if a piece of herself fit into place as soon as she said them. “I belong here, in Eldur,” she whispered to herself. For the first time in her life, someone was saying she had a place in the world.

The Robinsons in Ohio with their drinking and cruel words didn’t define her. She didn’t come from them. They were Alona’s parents.

Tears flowed freely down her face as she looked at the only woman brave enough to tell her. Lochlan had known, she was sure of it. Yet, she couldn’t muster up the anger for him.

Not when she wanted this truth so badly.

“Can I…” She sucked in a breath. “Can I see her?”

Tierney’s shining eyes met hers, and she nodded. “She will be vexed I told you, but you aren’t the only one who needs something to hold onto, Brea. Just… be patient with her. Recovering one daughter does not lessen the pain of losing another.”

Tierney gestured to Rowena to help Brea from the bed. Her feet hit the stone floor and she no longer felt strange about wandering the palace in a sleeping gown. Rowena helped her into the hall, but Brea shrugged off her hand and started running, having no idea where she needed to go.

Tierney caught up to her, grabbing her hand and running to match Brea’s speed. She led her through the labyrinth of half-covered walkways and courtyards. They stopped outside a set of high wooden double doors.

“The throne room,” Tierney whispered, gesturing to the guards to open the doors. “She will be alone at this time of day while she waits to receive her people.”

The doors opened, revealing a long white carpet meandering through sandstone pillars wrapped in pale pink silks.

Queen Faolan relaxed on a gilded golden throne with purple cushions to keep her in comfort. She leaned her head back, closing her eyes, a troubled expression on her face.

Tierney prodded Brea forward.

Brea’s bare feet hit the carpet, leaving indented footprints behind her as if marking this day, showing that she was there.

Her breath rattled in her lungs, drowning out the pounding of her heart. The pain in her shoulder and head seemed to fade into the background as Brea searched the woman before her for the similarities she’d never found in her mother.

“Your eyes,” she’d said. Did they blaze yellow with her magic? Was that a family trait?

Full fae. It made sense now. Why her Aunt Regan wanted her. Why they were attacked on the road.

Lochlan’s disdain.

One day, she hoped to help him find the woman who’d been like his sister.

She stopped at the bottom of a set of stairs leading to the throne, and only one word came out. “Mom?” She cleared her throat, realizing that must be a human word. “Mother.”

Queen’s Faolan’s eyes snapped open, settling on Brea with an intensity that should have scared her. She flicked them to her wife who stood watching with tears streaming down her face. Brea glanced back over her shoulder before facing her mom again.

“Is it true?”

Her mother covered her mouth with her hand.

Brea stepped closer. “Please, tell me it’s true.”

The queen, unable to speak, nodded as her eyes glassed over. Brea had longed to go back to the human realm since the moment Griff pulled her through a portal, but as she stood looking at the woman who put her there, who subjected her to a life of being named crazy and insane, she didn’t know what she wanted.

“Do you have any idea what my life has been like?” She stumbled back, her emotions breaking free in a cascade of tears. “H-how…”

Her mom scrambled from her throne and ran down the steps, crushing Brea into her arms. “My dear.” She wiped tears from Brea’s face and looked into her eyes. “It was far better than letting the Fargelsians get their hands on you.”

“And what of Alona? You ripped her from the Robinsons.”

“She has had a good life here. I promise you.”

Until they forced her into the servant class. But Brea didn’t have the energy to argue the morals of exchanging a fae child for a human one.

“Mother.” She buried her face in her mom’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me last night?”

“I don’t know. My heart is broken, child. Alona is missing, and to think of everything you’ve been through.” She rested her chin on Brea’s head. “It’s over now for you. You’re safe here. This is your home.”

The truth in her mother’s words didn’t hit her until right then. This information broke her open, letting loose a million questions she feared to ask. But she could rest now because she was safe.

Tierney joined them, wrapping both her wife and new daughter in her long arms.

“They’ll bring her back,” Brea whispered. “Lochlan and Finn will find Alona.”

They had to.

Brea finally found a place she was meant to be, a mother—two of them!—and people she cared about—even douchey Loch. But none of them were whole without their missing princess.

Brea’s mom cancelled the morning sessions in the throne room and spent hours eating a way-too-large breakfast with Brea and Tierney. They smiled and laughed, but a tension ran beneath every action, a sadness.

By the time Brea finally made it back to her rooms, Rowena awaited her, chastisement in her eyes at the sight of Brea still in her sleeping gown.

After changing into a loose-fitting dress—much better than what they’d made her wear in Fargelsi—Brea returned to the courtyard with the fountain statue of naked men.

Sunlight glared off shining stones, sending light back into the atmosphere. The fountain water sparkled where it rippled. She doubted the fae had similar traditions to the humans where they made wishes in fountains, but there was always a time to start.

Thinking of the look on Rowena’s face when Brea asked for a small coin, she laughed. The servant couldn’t understand what she’d need with money, but she’d brought her one anyway.

Brea flipped the silver coin over in her palm, feeling the smooth surface against her palm. Everything she’d ever dreamed of and more had suddenly come true. She had a family who cared about her, despite the fact they didn’t know her. A palace surrounding her that no human girl dreaming of princesses could even imagine.

And best of all… no one doubted her. She’d spent her life seeing things others said couldn’t possibly exist. The Clarkson Institute was a part of her past now.

But there was one thing this world still needed, one thing that kept her from the happiness she should feel.

Lowering herself to the short stone wall surrounding the fountain, she bent over and ran her hand along the surface, watching the disturbance the action caused. That’s what Brea had always been. A disturbance.

But maybe that was okay. Her life wasn’t normal by any means, and she didn’t want it to be.

She brought the coin to her lips, pressing a kiss to it as she held the wish in her mind and heart. After a beat of hesitation, she lifted her hand and tossed the coin into the glimmering water, watching it sink down to the depths of the fountain.

A smile spread across her lips. “That wish was for you, Myles.”

She patted the stone and stood, unable to stop the laugh bubbling past her lips. Because she knew without a shadow of a doubt now. Myles was alive.

“I’m going to see you again one day.”

Brea Robinson wasn’t a murderer. She hadn’t killed her best friend. And he’d forgive her for everything else, just like she’d finally forgiven herself.

Guilt was a human emotion, one with no purpose.

And Brea wasn’t human, not even a little.

She was no longer a lie.

She was fae, and she was home.

~~~