Once again, I awaken to find myself a spectacle for the Fae to behold. The only difference this time is that they all look at me with poorly disguised disdain, wrinkling their noses and trading whispers that cannot be anything more than malicious.
They are the Day Palace fae.
Before me, on a raised section of the floor, are four fae that have their gazes angled down and towards me.
I recognise Azade, with his cunning eyes and serpentine smile. He is seated beside Haidah, and the contrast in the appearance of their skins makes him look like a relic. His gaze is a mocking one, like he knows something that I do not.
The other two fae are not people that I recall, most likely because I have never seen them before, or taken notice of them. But these ones have their lips tightly pressed together, and eyes wide. Almost like they are . . . scared? The language of their bodies is stiff, unlike their more relaxed comrades. They do not look as young as Haidah, or old as Azade. With the way the man's hand clutches that of the woman, they might be a married couple.
'Do you know why you are here, you useless mortal?' Haidah asks, cutting cleanly through my thoughts.
I rise to my feet, eyes fixed on the one person I’ve grown to greatly dislike over time. My ferocious gaze seems to take Haidah by surprise, but it is soon covered up by a lopsided grin.
'I have done nothing wrong,' I reply.
Haidah tuts, like a mother reprimanding a child. 'But you have done something wrong, human. You have been a nuisance since the moment I met you.'
'Why? Because I'm human? Or because of Seryn?'
Haidah brings her hands together in mock appreciation. Even as she does so, there is a hint of bitterness and jealousy in her gaze. 'Look at you, calling a king by his first name.'
I only blink in response, offering no words to the woman. The mention of Seryn has suddenly reminded me of my important objective.
'Let me go. Do not waste any more time here simply because of your bruised ego,' I say after a long pause.
'Why? So that you can go running to your precious king?'
Time is running out. There is no time to babble about trivial matters while Seryn could be . . . No. I won’t allow myself to think of such. He has to still be alive, but I can’t tempt fate. I have an inkling that if these people know just how important it is that I see Seryn, they will not let me leave. I have to change my approach.
'Look, I'm a worthless human.' My insides churn at the statement, but this is no time for pride. 'So just . . . let me go and continue living my worthless life.'
Haidah isn't buying the statement. Her eyebrows flatten against her head. She brings a hand under her chin in thought. 'How far are you willing to go to return to your doomed king?'
I do not hesitate. 'Anything. Just let me go. Please.'
Haidah gives a satisfied smile, but her eyes are cunning, and I know that it only means that I’ll have to do something that I’ll most definitely regret. But regret is worth it if I can get to Seryn on time.
'Fine.' Haidah reclines in her seat, crossing her legs and pointing one in my direction. 'Lick my foot like the worthless human you are, and I will let you return to your king.'
'Who will not be king for much longer,' Azade adds, raspy voice vibrating with something proud and sinister. His following cackle is like that of an old, dying parrot.
I clench my fist, swallowing back the wave of anger pushing violent words to her mouth. Maybe I’ll just bite Haidah's big toe off when I’m done.
No, that will not help matters. I nod, not necessarily in agreement with the order given, but rather in acceptance of the fact that it’s what I have to do in order to have a chance at seeing Seryn again.
The intensity of my resolve is surprising, but I’m glad that I no longer have to tell myself lies about what I feel. A weight has left my shoulders, and briefly, I wonder how I managed pushing away something so liberating.
Love may not be so terrible after all.
'Having second thoughts, mortal?' Haidah asks, a soft lilt to her voice.
My movement towards her is the only response given. When I get to Haidah's legs, the heat of more than a dozen gazes run up my spine. But the public humiliation will be nothing compared to the catastrophe that will be my heart if I lose Seryn. If I can’t be by his side once again.
I lower my head, irritated by the satisfied look in Haidah's eyes. I press my lips to Haidah's foot, then run my tongue as slowly as I can over the sole, making sure to leave as much saliva as possible. Since she wanted a lick, then she’ll get the sloppiest, most disgusting one ever.
Haidah recoils, pulling her foot away from me. Her mouth is twisted with disgust.
Satisfied, I move away, ready to pick up the muddy ends of my skirts and run out of the place.
That is, until a deafening crack of thunder sends everyone into a state of disarray. Haidah looks up, listening as more rumbles follow.
When the sounds end, Haidah rises to her feet, and Azade follows suit, grinning obscenely wider than before. Haidah sighs, although it’s a relaxed one.
'Did you hear that?' she asks me. 'That is the sound we have all been waiting for.' She grins, stepping down from the platform where her seat is.
I am at a loss for words, but my emotions run wild on the inside. I hope with every fibre of my being that my thoughts are wrong. I don’t want to be right.
'That was the sound of a monarch dying, human. And now that he is gone at last, the Day Palace can finally have the power that has been withheld from us for so long,' Azade says and laughs. Haidah joins in too, before reaching out and grabbing me by the throat with lightning quick speed.
'Now,' she begins, 'let us go pay him a long overdue visit.'
Wind starts to swell around us, twisting and twisting. It gets very high, blocking out all light and all, until I can see no more.
But a little ember of hope remains in my heart, and will not die out until I see Seryn for myself.
***
The hazy wind clears when we land on the Night Palace grounds.
The Night Palace has been completely destroyed with stone and walls shattered beyond repair. If Seryn was inside as the palace came crashing down, it would be a miracle for him to come out alive.
Haidah throws me forward. 'Go, find your dead king. And when you do, bring his crown for me.'
I don’t let her finish before I dash into the rubble, muttering comforting words to myself lest I lose my mind right there and then. I jump and force my way through pieces of what the palace used to be, eyes welling up with tears begging to be shed.
'Seryn, where are you?' I whisper. Please, come out.
Then, as though in response to my quiet request, something catches the infant rays of bright sunlight. Something silver.
A crown.
My breath hooks in my throat as I run to the site, pulling apart stones with a strength I never knew I had, hoping and hoping and doing nothing else but hoping. Stones cut into my palms and one of my nails nearly separates from its nail bed, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to stop to think about anything else, because every second I waste is a second that Seryn could be fighting for his life.
A small cry lifts from my lips when I push aside a stone, revealing his pale face.
His eyes are closed, and his chest doesn’t move. I bite my lip. 'No.' I push out other restricting pieces of the broken palace to reveal the rest of his body, and pull him away from the part of the wall that was pinning him to the ground with a harsh, strained grunt.
'Seryn, please open your eyes, I'm here.' I pull his head to my chest and wrap my now bloody, dirty arms around his body. 'I should have not listened to you, I should have waited, even if the whole castle came down on my head.' I press my bloodied hand to his chest, right where the skin is dark. Above his heart.
Tears pour out of my eyes, watery stars that shoot down my cheeks and fall on Seryn's neck, before trailing down his chest. I hold him to me, offering his cold body my warmth, running a hand gently over him. His beautiful face, without any form of expression at all, looks so familiar and so strange to me. Maybe because there is a finality this time.
Nothing happens. Not even a single twitch of a finger. I draw in a shaky breath. ‘No. Please no.’
I know what it means when a person no longer breathes, when their skin turns cold and their lips go pale. I’d seen it when my mother died. When Father was struck down by the plague.
I am too late.
Sobs wreck my lungs as I huddle over Seryn. It’s hard for me to breathe. The pain in my heart is too great. Too great.
'Seryn . . . Seryn, I . . . love you. I’m so sorry that I was a coward. I’m so sorry that I left. Seryn!' I wail, unashamedly. The world should know my pain. My chest shatters with every sob.
'What a heartbreaking scene,' Haidah cuts in lazily, walking to where Seryn's crown is and picking it off the ground. 'The dead king and his pathetic mortal.' There is a strange look in her eyes. It almost looks . . . sad.
My eyes burn as I look at Haidah, but my body remains pressed to Seryn's.
Haidah steps back, eyes slightly widening in what looks to be surprise. Footsteps approach from behind, and I follow Haidah’s gaze, turning to look behind me just as a hand comes to rest on each of my shoulders.
Miyali and Thorne. Miyali’s expression is solemn, and his grip on my shoulder tightens just slightly, enough to convey the silent message that I’m not alone. Thorne does the same, her eyes full of rage as she looks at Haidah and her councilmen.
Haidah, seeming to not notice the hateful stares coming her way, puts on the crown with a dragged out moan. 'At last!' Power bursts out of the crown, running down the length of her body and engulfing her in a blinding radiance.
The light pierces my eyes. I raise an arm to block out the light.
Haidah laughs, basking in her victory. The power she now possesses lifts her off her feet, and as she levitates, the councilmen watch her with awe.
Thorne shifts at my side, barely holding in her anger. She looks so strained that she may just combust from all the internal pressure. Miyali on the other hand, is as still as a statue as he looks at Haidah.
'This is true power. This is what it means to be all mighty and powerful.' Haidah reaches into the sky, and the area is suddenly filled with an unnatural kind of light. It gets too bright, and the heat picks up several degrees. 'All of Ssenkrad now belongs to the Day Palace! Behold our supremacy.'
As she speaks, the gathered fae fall to their knees. Azade, who still stands, says, 'All hail, Queen Haidah of Ssenkrad!'
In unison, the kneeling fae chant, 'All hail Queen Haidah of Ssenkrad.' The chanting continues, filling the air.
I look back down at Seryn, then gasps.
His skin is no longer pale, but has now regained some of its colour, and steadily grows warmer to the touch. A light blush covers his cheeks, and the paleness of his lips breaks apart as the usual beautiful pink hue of his lips returns.
'Seryn . . . ?' I say softly, waiting for more signs of his awakening. When his chest rises and falls, I almost cry out with joy, but something rips me away from him and back into the rubble.
The jagged end of a stone stabs into my already injured shoulder as I fall on it. A scream leaves my throat. Ignoring the first wound was hard enough, but a new one is too much to bear.
'Insolent mortal,' says Haidah, dropping her hand. She leaves her place in the air to finally touch the ground once again. Her eyes glow with so much undiluted power. She gestures to her guards, then points at us. ‘Seize them! They will be fitting examples of what happens to people who do not respect their Queen.’
Miyali rushes to my side, closely followed by Thorne, who unsteathes a blade and points it at the oncoming Day Palace guards, stalling their approach, while Miyali lifts me off the jagged stone.
Blood pours out of my wound, and every movement is torture. Moans escape my lips, and I grit my teeth. When Miyali sees the other injury from the arrow, a worried frown mars his features.
'Your wounds,' he starts, ‘they are serious.’
But my pain takes up a lower space in my mind. I look up at Miyali, and smile weakly. I gesture to Seryn's position. 'He is still alive,' I say softly.
Miyali's eyes widen as my words sink in. He turns to where Seryn lays . . .
. . . but he isn't there anymore.
Instead, he has somehow made his way to Haidah. He’s still bare-chested, as he had been before I left, muscles rippling in the harsh sunlight. He towers over Haidah, who despite the power she now wields, can’t conceal her expression of surprise and fear.
How he manages to stand so close to the walking funace is a mystery, but if he is bothered by it, there is no sign of such.
I’m so relieved that my blood loss soon becomes the last thing on my mind. Miyali is doing all he can to stop the bleeding, but since he can’t perform magic that can heal me, and Thorne is occupied fighting the enemy guards from the Day Palace, there is little that can be done.
Haidah's voice wavers as she speaks, her eyes wide in disbelief. 'I-it cannot be.' She takes a step back, but her foot twists awkwardly, and she loses her balance. But before she can fall, Seryn's arm darts out, and he grabs her by the neck, pulling her in.
He leans in . . . and presses a kiss against her cheek.
Next, he steps away, and looks at her without a single word.
Haidah's look of surprise falls away to reveal anger. 'You cannot be alive, I killed you!' She throws out an arm, summoning magic.
A grave silence falls over the place, as nothing happens. She tries again, and again, and again . . .
. . . but nothing happens.
She plucks the crown off her head, inspects it, and puts it back on her golden hair. 'I have the crown. This should not be happening.' She looks up at Seryn, rage filling her eyes. 'What have you done?'
'The crown has recognised where it truly belongs. Did you forget that the blood of every monarch flows through that crown? And that as long as a monarch lives, the crown may never give its power to another who is neither king or queen?' Seryn finally responds, voice light with a quality that I never noticed. It’s tinged with playfulness, and seems to inflame Haidah even further.
'Azade!' She calls out, and the man steps forward and also tries to summon his magic, but fails. He looks up at Haidah in surprise.
The fae gathered around them erupt into speculative murmurs. And even a few conjure a little spell as though to make sure that their own magic still works.
'It is useless,' Seryn says, and picks the crown out of Haidah's hair in her moment of distraction. 'I believe this belongs to me.'
All is still for a moment, and then Haidah lets out a shrill cry. 'No!' She lunges, stepping sideways to dodge Seryn, and heads for me instead.
Miyali, acting quick, moves to intercept Haidah's crazed approach. He brings his heavy arm around Haidah's neck, effectively stopping her. He squeezes her neck, and she claws at his arm, trying and failing to escape. When she realises that it is futile to try to break free, she stops moving.
'Keep moving, and I will not hesitate to permanently cut off your air supply,' Miyali says, voice cold. So cold that it is almost unrecognisable. Like it belongs to someone else.
Haidah stills, wild expression melting away. Seryn moves closer to Miyali and nods, a silent message. Miyali removes his arm around Haidah's neck, and the woman, finally seeing that she is no longer in charge, drops to her knees, no, is forced to her knees by an unseen force. The muscles in her body strain as she tries to resist, but all to no avail.
Azade and the other council members follow suit.
I look at Seryn for the longest moment, taking in every detail as my energy ebbs away. When his eyes find mine, my breath catches in her throat. The bridge of my nose and cheek is wet with tears of joy,
'You have all brought disgrace to your kind. The only reason I did not banish you before was because I feared for the future of Ssenkrad once I was gone. But now, I need not worry about that any longer. You, Haidah, herald of the evil brought upon myself and members of my palace, are hereby sentenced to a century of exile. And this time, you will be stripped of your magic, forced to roam the human lands as a magicless fae.' Seryn then turns to Azade. 'As for you, Azade, you are sentenced to a century in your palace dungeons.'
Azade glowers, hate filling his eyes since he seems to also be unable to speak.
Finally, Seryn turns to the other two council members, but before he speaks, he releases his hold over their mouths. A soft glow appears on their lips and fades. The woman speaks quickly, with a shaking voice. 'Please, Your Majesty, spare my husband and I. We were forced against our will to agree with their plans.'
Seryn cocks his head, and then looks to her husband, who nods feverently. That was likely why they looked odd. They were being manipulated. With a sigh, he nods. 'Very well, you will receive no punishment, but I will be watching, and if you take my mercy for foolishness, you will not like the consequences.'
He dismisses them, and walks over to me. Weakly, I raise a hand to his face as he kneels by my side. My consciousness is fading fast, but I’ll be okay. I’m content. He’s alive. I saved him. I smile at him even as my vision darkens.
He also cups my face, and a tear escapes his eye and runs down his cheek. ‘You saved me.' His eyes fall on my wounds, and his face becomes even more pained. He leans down, and presses a kiss against her warm forehead as her eyes close. 'My heart will remember, and my mind will never forget.'
After.
With the King of Ssenkrad restored by the blood of a kindred heart, the kingdom is finally out of treacherous hands. The mortal girl becomes a queen, bound to the king by love, and a shared heart.
The Knight continues to serve her master, and the halfling cook finally returns home after years away in order to reclaim the throne that was so unfairly snatched from him.
This story will forever live in the hearts of many. The tale of a mortal girl's discovery of the freeing power of love, and the freedom of a king who was once cursed with a heart so dark and hollow.
. . .
But is it really the end?