"I was just telling Eve, thank Coronomus you were here when it happened!" Prince Desmond sat at the head of his dining table, a plate of half eaten roasted vegetables steaming on his plate. Fae wine was sloshing in his goblet as he waved his hands around animatedly. "We are so grateful to have you!"
"I'm happy I was here to help," Andorra smiled around a mouthful of food. Despite the attack, the joys of Sunnandæg continued to flow around the Summer Court. Included in Prince Desmond's own home.
"We're still so thankful. Rushing everyone indoors went very well. Great forethought on your end to send Eve."
Eve rolled her eyes. "Dad, relax with the compliments. You're going to spill your wine." She raised an eyebrow, but deep down, she was just relieved her family was safe. Glad her father had been home, getting dinner ready rather than being out and about.
Desmond set his wine down. "What do you say we start the gift giving? We've had enough excitement for the day, and Sunnandæg is almost over. Let's move this party."
Andorra had nearly forgotten this part of Sunnandæg. The tradition of gift giving reminded her a lot of Christmas, and she had spent a good deal of time trying to pick out gifts for Eve and her family. Even Callum, since Andorra knew he would be celebrating with them.
Although celebrating was a very loose way of describing what Callum was doing as he sat at the table stewing and glowering at Andorra for the way she pulled rank and forced him to stay behind. He had already reamed Andorra out the moment she returned, but he wasn't over it yet.
"Yes!" Desmond's wife declared. She set her fork down on her own plate. "I'll get the presents ready. You kids wash up first."
The warmth Andorra felt in her chest at those words had her hands shaking, just slightly. Homesickness hit her hard still. It should be her sharing how grateful she was for Desmond taking her in, treating her like family. And getting to do this, like the summer fae she was, felt right.
She was just Andy here.
Andorra followed Eve into the bathroom to wash her hands, and then she sat down on the couch by the open window, the warm summer breeze blowing through the room. Despite ruining her beautiful gown, no one had blinked an eye when she returned. She tucked her bare feet under her legs, playing with the raw hem of her dress as Desmond sat down, holding a multitude of gifts in his arms before setting them down.
Cher sat next to Eve, squeezing her daughter's hand affectionately. Eve smiled back at her mother, a rare moment for Andorra to witness. A moment she longed to have with her own mother, but Andorra swallowed the feeling.
Desmond handed out gifts slowly, watching as the gift receiver opened them up. Andorra found herself aching as Eve opened up a handknit sweater from her mother. A trinket from her father. Magic tickled Andorra's nose as Cher opened up a gift that housed a tiny cage with an even tinier bird inside. It chirped and sung, and when Cher opened the cage door, the bird flew out and swooped around them in circles.
Andorra was delighted as the bird left vines crawling up the living room walls in its wake.
Cher pressed her hands to her chest, tears sparking in her eyes. "Eve honey, you didn't have to get me this!"
"I figured she would help you with your garden this year. You're always joking about that green thumb." Both of them shared a smile together, Cher wrapping her arms around her daughter tightly. The bird settled by the window sill, singing into the breeze.
A present found itself on Andorra's lap. She blinked up at Desmond curiously. "Open it," he nudged. "It's from all of us."
The wrapping was rough in texture, clearly made from homemade paper. She tore it off carefully, unsure of what the present could be, but excited to find out anyway. She stared at the back of a picture frame, excitement swelling as she slowly turned it around.
It was a picture of her parents. Different from the other one she had seen, this one was just of the two of them smiling together. She ran her finger of the glass, tears gathering in her own eyes as she blinked down at them.
Her father had the familiar bowl cut, his straight blonde hair falling into his eyes as he smiled at the camera. It was a smile that looked genuine, and almost as if the person with the camera had caught him mid laugh. He had his arm wrapped around his wife, and Andorra moved her finger over to touch her mother's smile. They both looked so kind and gentle.
She hugged the frame to her chest. "This is... wow. Thank you. So much, thank you."
"I heard you met them." Desmond looked over at Eve to confirm what his daughter had said was true. "I'm sure they were ecstatic to meet you."
Andorra rubbed at her eyes, willing the tears to stay put. "It was an honor to meet them. I feel so lucky, even though it was for a moment. I know that the longer they spend in Moribund, the more memories they forget, but they were still them. They knew who I was, and who you were. I just wish they were here."
Cher reached over to put her hand on Andorra's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "It'll never get easier. Death is something that lives with us. But you're making them proud, Andorra. And it's okay to miss them."
Andorra hugged the frame harder, willing her parents to appear in the living room. If they were here, also celebrating, it would have been magical. But she had a new family now. A family that also loved her in their own way.
The rest of the gift giving went quickly. Andorra gave Callum his gift, watching with delight as he tore back the wrapping and held his gift, a rare smile stretching across his face. Eve too opened her gift, grinning over at Andorra with joy.
By the time the evening ended, Andorra was hugging Desmond and Cher goodbye. She waved to Eve and grabbed her bag of gifts. She felt spoiled and lucky, and a little dismayed to return to the Royal Court as Queen Andorra.
She gripped Callum's arm as she brought them into the in-between. "We need to talk about the daemonium."
"I'm way ahead of you. It was planned." Callum crossed his arms, anger radiating off of him in waves. "And I have a hunch of who is behind it."
Andorra brought them to the Royal Court, but she didn't step out, not yet. Here, in the in-between, no one could eavesdrop on their conversation. "I'm thinking whoever is behind it knows when these large gatherings are taking place. I mean, they attacked the Winter Court at your dad's monthly press conference. And in the Autumn Court, they've been crawling around the city streets at night, when people are returning drunk from the taverns."
"So someone on the inside. I think we can guess who."
"But does she have the ability to create a gate to Moribund? I was under the impression that was incredibly difficult to do."
"Difficult, but not impossible." Callum shook his head, thinking. "She can't be doing it alone. The Daemonium would kill her if she had them with her in the in-between like this."
Andorra shook her head. "Not necessarily. Remember when they attacked us? When the Sun Clan came over?" Realization dawned on Andorra then, and she played a slideshow of that day in her head. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Was Roseria behind all of that too? Was she the one who let the Sun Clan in?"
The Sun Clan entering Anlithamy had always been a mystery to Andorra. The Daemonium coming to attack, that had also been a mystery.
Something cold settled into Andorra's gut as she thought back even further. She went very still as she recalled the daemonium reeking havoc on her high school. Recalled that man who had come to retrieve her from the human realm before she had made a decision between the Sun and the Snow Clan.
"We don't have time to think of all the 'what ifs'. We need to track her down. And you're right, I bet she's not alone, either. Someone else is in on this."
Andorra rubbed the bridge of her nose. There were many complications that surrounded Roseria. Andorra had once thought of her as a friend, but now, she knew that Roseria had been anything but.
"I think we need to pull a Royal Council meeting tomorrow morning. Figure out how we can stop her from creating these gates."
Callum cracked his knuckles. Shadows spread around his feet. "We're going to take her down. She won't get away with this."
Andorra hoped that he was right.
By the time she returned to her own room, she was dog tired. She greeted the guard who stood at the door to her stairwell, giving him a smile as she climbed the stairs to her room, thinking of all the ways she could get out of the gown the quickest. She wanted nothing more than to lay in her bed, pajamas on.
When she opened her door though, she was greeted by a surprise guest.
Nohx stood by her windows, his eyes tracking her as Andorra shut the door. His face, as always, was serious. He set down someone on her desk, and as he did so, he allowed a smile to curve across his cheeks.
"Noah!" Andorra nearly threw herself into his arms. He caught her with ease, his hands resting on her hips as she wound her arms around his neck, pressing her face against his skin. The heat from her body enveloped him immediately in a way he had been missing. His fingers flexed against her, wishing they were touching bare skin.
"Hi Sunshine," he rasped into her ear. Something warm and bright settled in his chest at the feeling of holding Andorra in his arms. It had been days since he had seen her last, and it had felt like an eternity for him. He wasn't proud of being distracted by her absence, but it felt unavoidable.
His fingers trailed down to the hem of her dress. "What happened here?"
Andorra stepped back, grinning up at him. The high of the celebration still thrummed in her veins. "I had a run-in with the daemonium. But I'm okay, don't worry. The dress was a liability."
Nohx's face darkened. "You had a run-in?"
Andorra walked backwards towards her closet. "Yes, but everything was fine. They were pretty easy to defeat." When she reached the closet, she made a twirling motion with her finger. "Will you turn around so I can get changed?"
Nohx spun, closing his eyes in frustration. "Where was Callum?"
Andorra stepped out of her ruined gown and into sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. "Getting the Summer fae to safety. Someone had to help usher those people out of the streets. You can turn back around, now."
Nohx watched as Andorra climbed into bed, pulling the blankets up to her waist as she sat against the headboard. She catelogged the anger in his expression, but it wasn't a dangerous sort of look. She wasn't afraid of him as he stepped closer, standing at the edge of the bed.
"You have a guard for a reason."
"Noah, I was fine. And I had the Flayre with me." She patted the bed beside her. "Stop standing there and join me."
"Callum is there for a reason." There was a stubborn edge to his tone, but Nohx listened, climbing into her bed. For a moment, he sat next to her without touching her. His own fear for her safety had an edge to it that caused ice to tickle his skin.
"You and Callum need to both accept the fact that I'm Queen. And I'm powerful. I defeated them, no problem. I know my safety is important, but so was theirs, Noah. The Summer fae needed someone."
Andorra pressed her hand to Nohx's shoulder. "I love that you're concerned for me. But I'm not a useless Princess anymore."
Nohx's eyebrows pulled down low. "You were never useless, Andy."
Andorra leaned her head on Nohx's shoulder, relishing in the feeling of his sturdy body beneath her own. "Let's start over. You can ask me all about Sunnandæg and how great it was."
Nohx shifted, pulling Andorra closer, snaking his arm around her body. Her heart thrum against his chest, her head below his chin, and he let his thumb drag across the bare skin of her arm. He pressed a kiss to her hair. "Tell me about Sunnandæg."
"It was really fun. Tiring yes, but so much fun. There was a lot of dancing, and eating, and everyone had it off from work. It reminded me of being a kid on the fourth of July a little bit, which I know is such a human reference, but it had the same feeling. No school, neighborhood barbeques, getting to play with sparklers in the night. It was almost as if I was ten years old again with sticky popsicle on my hands and Born in the USA playing on every household radio."
Nohx's thumb paused against her skin. "Do you miss the human realm?"
Andorra shifted her head so she was blinking up at him. "Sometimes. Do you?"
Nohx shook his head, and he had a faraway look in his eyes. "It wasn't the same for me like it was for you. We still acted as if we were in Anltihamy. So no human celebrations for us. I think my short time as a high school student was the closest I ever came to human culture."
Andorra let out a little laugh. "You didn't miss out on much."
"I used to dream of joining you. Of running away and joining a human family near yours. I was so close to doing that a few times."
Andorra pressed her hand to Nohx's stomach, hating the sadness in his voice. It made her own chest tighten, knowing Nohx was carrying demons just like she was. "You wouldn't have liked the heat of California."
"I would have suffered just fine if it meant I got to celebrate the Fourth of July with you. We could have both been running around with sticky popsicle fingers."
Andorra was silent for a long moment. She played with Nohx's shirt, dreaming of a world where she got to grow up with Nohx. What it would have been like to be his next door neighbor, or his classmate, or even have a middle school crush on him.
"I wish I could remember you," she said instead. "Like, the memories I had before I was forced to leave."
"What, having me isn't enough?" Nohx's fingers found her sides, and he began to tickle her, causing Andorra to burst out in surprise laughter. She tried to scoot away from him, but Nohx trapped her underneath him, his fingers relentless as she cried with laughter for him to stop.
"Noah!" She gasped, wriggling in his grip. "You win!"
Noah stopped tickling for a single moment, leaning down in her ear. "What do I win?"
Andorra panted, trying to anticipate the tickling to continue. "My love and devotion! Which coming from a Queen is a lot!"
"Not enough for me, Sunshine." His fingers flexed against her skin, and Andorra flinched against the mattress. "I think I want a kiss on the Fourth of July."
Andorra openly laughed into the pillow beneath her. "I'll get us popsicles."
Nohx pressed his lips against the back of her neck, gathering her in his arms. He loved how she burned against him, melting his insides. The type of burn that he would die for, he decided. "I'll get us sparklers, then."
He flopped down next to her, pulling his Queen into his arms tightly. He kissed a slow path from her ear to her shoulder, and she melted into his embrace, sighing with content. "It sounds like a date." Her voice was drowsy and dreamy all at once.
She never wanted this to end, Andorra decided. She would continue to fight so that every night, she could do this with Nohx. And no one would ever think to tell her no. Figure out the daemonium and Roseria first. And then the Caste system can be next.
It was a good plan. It was too bad the first part would take much longer to resolve than Andorra anticipated.