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Once I was outside the castle doors, I unfurled my wings and flew to the beach. I had always been connected to the island, winds, and surf. With my curse lifted, that connection felt like a second heartbeat.
That connection told me where the Unseelie Queen would be waiting. I could feel her presence like a knot of darkness and sickness, poisoning the island itself. She wouldn’t just harm the humans and seelie, she would destroy nature itself. Her court was chaos and malice personified.
I circled twice in the air before landing on the sand. She was just paces ahead, wrapped in a blanket of cold, wet mist and wearing her nasty crown of bones. I thought of how nearly she had added Georgia to that crown. I reached skyward and drew down a bolt of lightning.
She and her mist vanished and reappeared several paces away, narrowly avoiding the strike. I growled and threw another. Nothing. Another and another. Finally, one came so close that, for a brief moment, I saw her terrible face illuminated. A face no one outside of her royal court had seen in centuries. That was enough to frighten her.
Grudgingly, she inclined her head to me before vanishing.
This time, she did not reappear.
The seas began to calm, and the rain slowed.
I began to harness the sea breeze to blow away the dark, oppressive clouds she had left in her wake. The wind sprites fought back, not yet willing to admit defeat. I continued to battle them for several minutes until a familiar voice called out.
“My king!”
I spotted the Captain of the Guard crossing over the sand dunes, his red cap bobbing up and down as he hurried toward me. He carried a net woven from gossamer and behind him was a team of red caps. “Need a hand with the sprites?” he asked.
I gratefully accepted, and the net was tossed into the sky. When it was full, it took six strong red caps to pull the sprites down and bind them.
I called another gust of sea breeze, and the sky was clear.
“Will you stick around and round up any stragglers?” I asked the Captain.
He nodded. “It would be my honor.”
I returned inside and ran down corridor after corridor, searching for any remaining sign of Hawthorne, the wretched snake. I checked his rooms, the council space, and even the library. As far as I could tell, he was gone, vanished to serve his mistress.
As I walked through the castle’s courtyard, I stared up at the bright sun and blue sky. It would take us days to round up dissidents and weeks to complete the repairs to the island itself, but the worst was over.
I knew the Unseelie Queen. She liked to strike in darkness when her prey was weak. She had never wanted a long or difficult fight. She wouldn’t return to the island unless the tides turned in her favor. For now, we were at peace.
“Forrest!” I heard someone shout.
I turned around and saw Rowan with his hands on his knees and his long beard trailing the ground as he leaned over to catch his breath.
I moved quickly to meet him. “Are you okay?”
He sucked in a few rasping breaths. “Better than. We’ve captured Hawthorne.”
I followed Rowan back to the Council Chambers. Inside, two of my spies were holding Hawthorne in the center of the room. His golden eyes were black, and he looked rabid. “Let me go, or you will regret it,” he hissed to the man and woman holding him.
“I think you are the one who will regret, Hawthorne,” I said.
As his eyes landed on me, the wind went out of his sails. “But it’s daylight. You can’t-”
“Oh, I can,” I said with a wicked smile. “You played a nasty little game, but you and your Dread Queen lost.”
“She won’t lose,” he growled.
“She’s already lost. She’s left the island, and it appears she left you behind.”
Hawthorne’s eyes widened, and for a moment, they glimmered back to pools of crestfallen gold.
“Your majesty, what should we do with him?” asked Rowan.
I thought for a moment. “Hold him somewhere secure. Let him stand trial with the rest of the captured. I doubt they’ll go easy on him. Personally, I hope never to set eyes on him again.”
