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“Umm...” I blinked at her. “I don’t understand.”
“I do,” Alisdair growled. He was no longer a beast, but the threat was no less ferocious. “She did this.”
“Did this?” I repeated. “Did what?”
“I planted items marked with the Wind and Wild crest in your mother’s home, knowing that monstrous man would— well, do something monstrous.”
My jaw dropped. “You did what?!”
“I did as ordered, my queen. As your humble servant, I—” One of the babies started fussing. “Oh, hold on.” Treasa floated their cot around, and picked the little one up—bouncing her in her arms. “Hmm. Where was I— Oh, yes! I got your mother and sister sentenced to execution because I had to give you a real reason to leave Lumenfell and Alisdair’s side,” she dropped—calm as could be.
“I noticed that after Raelina died, the curse worsened. It ripped through the land quicker than ever, and bled over the borders of Quatassa and Sarabai. Which is of course why I had to convince my lord that you died too.”
My eyes bugged wider with every word. “Treasa!”
“Yes, yes, I was surprised too by how quickly his despair spread like plague,” she mused. “You are his one true mate, my lady. Never doubt that.”
My mind twisted into knots putting the scale of her manipulation together. “You! It was you in the square! You sent the mob here?”
“Nope, that was my daughter. First-born,” she explained. “She was born six-hundred years ago, and has lived with her father outside of Lumenfell, and the curse. My first husband also hid and protected her, so she’d never be forcibly bound. Fortunate for she grew into a prodigy. She claimed the gift I gave her, and then surpassed me. Truly, she is a wonder.
“Anyway,” she breezed, still sounding like we were having a fun conversation about Elvan beaches. “I told her she had to keep sending people until she was sure she sent you. Thankfully, you caught on quickly.”
“And the flowers?” Alisdair barked. “How did you get so many of them!”
“Those flowers can pop up further than you know when you perform great magics, my lord. Whenever you missed one, or more, I helped myself.” She shrugged. “Never knew when it may come in handy, and this time it did.” She beamed. “Lit a fire under our lady and she—voila!—broke the curse! Huzzah, huzzah! What a great day for Elva.”
Every soul in the room gaped at her in disbelief.
“Treasa,” I said slowly. “I don’t think I like you very much.”
She laughed heartily. “I did ask you if you were willing to accept the consequences of spreading the curse faster. I do regret the lives that were lost today,” she said, losing her smile. “I never wanted that, nor do I take it lightly, but freedom is everything. There is no life without it. So, thank you, Queen Callidora Cursebreaker, High Lady of Wind and Wild. You saved us all. Long may you reign.”
“I—”
“Queen Callidora Cursebreaker.” Foalan dropped to his knees. “I pledge my fealty to you. Long may you reign.”
“Foalan, you don’t have to—”
“Queen Callidora Cursebreaker, I pledge my fealty to you. Long may you reign,” Bradach grunted out. “I won’t kneel, if you don’t mind, keva. Can’t inflate that ego too much.”
Bradach never ceased to send my eyes rolling.
“Queen Callidora Cursebreaker.”
“Queen Callidora Cursebreaker.”
All over the room, everyone dropped to their knees, and pledge their respect and loyalty tome.The poor girl from the Gutter. The Stolen Princess. The Queen of Nothing.
The Cursebreaker.
Amidst it all, Treasa ducked out of the—floating her babies behind her. She sent me one last wink as she disappeared.
“Um... I...” My jaw stuck forming words as I turned back. “Call me Calli?”
Alisdair laughed. “How could they call you anything else, my beauty?” He planted a searing kiss on my lips, scrambling my mind. “My little bird, my nightmare, my queen. My wife.”
“Till the end, my love. Forever and always.”
