Even teen evil queens need love. Right? (Or at least a handsome sword-fighting minion to do their bidding!)
***
Bad things happen when Rowen is around and the worst part is, she has no idea why until a massive family secret sends her on a fantastica...
"It isn't easy being queen, but there are some benefits. "—Rowen Keckilpenny Brown
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"That's not an answer," I grumbled.
"I got sidetracked."
"By what? I needed you!"
"Cheese?" he said sheepishly.
"Great. All it takes to distract you is a little cheese?"
"It was an aged gouda. If that helps."
Blade tapped my other shoulder.
"Hey, no poking the queen," I said.
"Sorry. I just wanted to see if you needed help to get rid of the vermin?"
Vermeil tucked himself closer under my chin, and I barely suppressed a gag. What? I love Vermeil, but the dude feasts on piles of garbage. Blade glared at Vermeil and hissed ferociously. "Oh no! Now I see why you two don't get along! Cat and rat."
I spun on Blade. "By the way, you and I are going to have a serious discussion about how you pretended to be a cat my whole life."
"Meow?" Blade said, grinning. Even though I had an entire dungeon at my disposal, he didn't seem at all worried. I shook my head. "Look, Blade and Vermeil. This fighting ends now. As long as the two of you live inside my castle, you will get along," I said, sounding so incredibly like my dads, my heart ached. And speaking of my dads, they were now sitting still, their bulgy eyes staring at me in a "is this your boyfriend and are you being safe" kind of way.
I shook my head at them. No way was I having that conversation with them in front of my subjects. Or ever. Now I was having second thoughts about whether their amphibious lifestyle might have some advantages.
For me!
"Vermeil, I don't want to mess up turning my dads back into human form. Any suggestions?
"Now that you're the queen, I think a basic Latin incantation and well-defined visualization should be fine."
"Should be?"
"Will be?"
"You're not inspiring confidence."
"Trust your powers, Rowen. You got this."
Trust my powers. Trust my powers. Despite my new mantra, my stomach turned several cartwheels, did three backflips, and then tightened into a ball as I opened the lid of the terrarium, picked one dad up in each hand, and set them on the stage floor. Closing my eyes, I imagined my dads as they were. Love for them swelled from my core, and along with the magic, it all flowed into my fingers. "Patres meos a bufones ad homines!" I encanted.
Blue electricity zapped out of my fingertips, whizzing into my dads. I held my breath as the surrounding air shimmered, kind of like it did when my hot, annoying swordsman turned into my mangy, annoying cat.
