AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fey took a deep, shuddering breath and released it. The flames pulled back closer to her skin. She called Water, called Air, called Earth, she called everything inside of herself to push it down, down, down. Another deep, intentional breath and the flames were gone, pulled back inside her where her other powers lay.
Dormant, and waiting for her call.
Let me out, it purred, the demand barely more than a whisper under her skin. Suddenly the shop felt too cold, too still, and her heart pounded painfully in her chest.
“Are you alright?” Regina asked.
“No,” Fey said. She was exhausted from fighting herself, exhausted from the effort of holding back. “No, I’m not alright.”
She glanced around the shop, worried about the damage she may have done. But aside from the burnt wreckage of her bag, there was nothing.
Fey took a breath and counted to ten. Then, just to be sure, she did it again. Her muscles relaxed slightly, the tension in her shoulders easing. That blaze inside of her still waited, still wanted out, but it was manageable now. Contained.
“I’ll get a broom, and you can sweep that up,” Regina said, looking pointedly at the ash on her floor. Fey almost laughed. She’d had many reactions to her powers before—fear, distrust, even envy. But only Regina made her feel like a misbehaving child. “I’m sure I have another bag in the back you can have, no extra charge.”
“I’m sorry,” Fey said, shaking her head. “I haven’t lost control like that for a while. It’s just…”
“I know,” Regina said. And maybe the Lioness was telling the truth. Maybe she knew a thing or two about losing control. About leashing a monster inside.
Regina ducked into the backroom and returned with a long-handled broom, handing it to Fey. Fey took a deep breath and started to sweep.
Regina watched her for a moment, the store silent but for the rhythmic sound of the broom against the shop floor, and then asked, sadly, “You’ve seen the posters?”
Fey’s jaw clenched. Two years ago, when the Queen had revealed Fey’s identity to the realm, she had blanketed the city with posters with Fey’s name and face, hoping to draw her out from wherever she was hiding.
But now, with the Queen dead, the posters that were being put up had a different message. They used the same image as before, but rather than listing her fabricated crimes, the posters said only three words, in big bold letters.
OUR TRUE QUEEN.
“Yeah,” Fey answered through clenched teeth, keeping her eyes on her sweeping and not looking up at Regina as she spoke. “I’ve seen the posters.”
In the beginning, Fey had paid little attention to the calls for her to take the throne. It was just a matter of time before another Witch with all four powers was discovered, she reasoned. If not in the city itself, then in one of the surrounding octants, surely. And then everyone would realize she wasn’t special, wasn’t chosen by the Goddess to rule.
But years passed. Thousands of young Witches came into their powers. Thousands more received the same antidote to Allium that had revealed Fey’s gifts.
And still Fey remained the only Witch in the realm besides the former princess who could control all four natural elements.
Over time, the whispers from her Faction grew. There was no need for a council when they had a queen who could lead them, people started to say. Wasn’t her existence enough to prove that the Goddesshad blessed her to be queen? Hadn’t the Goddess herself sent Fey to put a stop to Queen Edelin’s horrors?
By the time the whispers grew to shouts and members of her Faction started to demand the council be dissolved and Fey be crowned queen, a fundamental shift had occurred in the Eternal City. A few weeks later, someone on the street knelt to her for the first time.
Fey had been forced to pay attention after that.
Fey knew she was no queen. She was a killer, raised on hate and violence and blood. She spent years honing her skills, years turning herself into a perfect monster. And no matter how much time she spent trying to cage that monster inside of herself, trying to be like every other Witch, it still fought to escape.
Goddess help her, she was trying. Trying to be the savior, trying to be the hero the realm saw in her. But no amount of twisting herself to fit the mold others made for her was going to change who she was. What she was.
By the time Fey finished cleaning the ash from the floor, Regina had packed her shopping into a new bag. She’d even slipped in an extra brownie, still warm from the oven.
Fey kept her head down when she left the shop, avoiding eye contact with the people she passed.
She tried to ignore the eyes that lingered on her, tried to ignore the murmurs, just as she tried to ignore the hum of Fire inside her that rose in response.
The Fire that wantedout.
Chapter 4
ALICE
