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Perhaps if Ace were to come herself tomorrow, she might finally end this once and for all.
Idalia
The fire within her globe was more mellow today than most. It flickered and spit embers but the flame remained low. The queen was thankful that her staff remained protected by the magic that made it. No matter how many days passed, the wood never aged nor did it show any sign of wear. That didn’t mean it couldn’t be broken. That much she had learned from her sisters.
Even if the staff was not susceptible to little bits of damage, her fingers were. Blood stained under a few of her nails as she’d nervously picked the same re-appearing splinter.
Burke sighed, carefully taking the staff from her hands and leaning into the corner of the queen’s sitting room. He took her hands in his and leveled her with a long gaze. “My queen, quit fidgeting, it does you no good.”
“Now you sound like my mother,” she huffed a laugh, pulling away from his touch.
Across the room, Ambrose was propped in a tall red velvet chair. Today she had some sense about her and was carefully cleaning her nails while she listened to Idalia fret. Judging by the simple grin she wore, Ambrose was likely enjoying seeing Idalia nervous for once.
“Was she in good shape?” Ambrose looked up. Her eyes were back to that chilling orange color—the same unnerving color of Aylee’s. When her sister was in her right mind, she could use her own god given magic to change her eye color from orange to brown or vice versa. No matter how Idalia hated the orange it seemed that Ambrose preferred it when they were alone. Though this might be another one of their little games, a tactic to make Idalia uneasy. And it was working.
“She looked savage, like some undomesticated beast. Her hair was,” Idalia shuddered, “a ratted mess. She was wearing oversized men’s clothing. Honestly, I’m afraid if we get too close she might bite us.”
Ambrose hummed. “Well, we did drag her to the middle of a valley and brutally murder her. I think getting bitten might be the least we deserve.”
“Her death was a necessity.” Their eyes met as Idalia bit the words out.
“Sometimes I wonder if that’s true.”
“It is true.” Queen Idalia threw her hands in the air and began her pacing. “Without her sacrifice,our sacrifice, we would not have been able to defeat the Fae. They would still be within our borders, playing with us humans as if we were toys. Our parents tasked me with one job as the eldest of us; that was to bring our family up in riches and status. I have done just that, have I not?”
“So, is this about the Fae or riches and status?” Ambrose asked, her voice calm.
The time was growing near for the final phase of Idalia’s plans to come to fruition. She’d worked hard for years—years—to gain as much ground as she had for her family. Now the nearness of it all made her feel like she might finally crack and she was barely holding herself together. So close…she was so damn close.
“Both,” Idalia answered firmly.
“Perhaps there is a better time for this conversation,” Burke said around the hand that scratched at the stubble growing on his chin. He was back in his usual uniform today, mostly keeping his distance from both sisters as he leaned against the door.
“Later, I might be too distracted to talk.” Ambrose scowled before turning her attention back to her sister. “You know I’ve always wondered when your planning and plotting began. Was it from birth that you were born conspiring? All these years it was so hard to ever get the upper hand and even when I no longer had the desire to play petty games with you and Farah, she never truly won, did she?” Those orange eyes went a little glassy at the mention of their sister. “Did you have a plan before you convinced us that sacrificing Aylee was the best course of action?”
Her growing grin became something between a sneer and a smirk. Idalia laughed through her clenched teeth before plopping herself down on the couch across from Ambrose. The voluminous tulle of her skirt fluffed up around her, only pushed down as the queen dropped her hands into her lap with another giggle.
“You caught me, Ambrose,” Idalia quipped.
She groaned. leaning back into the couch. Her entire life she’d kept these secrets to herself. Did it so much matter now that everything was almost done? None of what she did could be undone. Even the idea of finally telling the truth made her feel a little lighter in this body that had begun to feel almost burdensome.
“I had a plan long before our parents’ deaths.” There she said it. Or at least some of it. “Ah, that felt so good to say.”
“Say more.”
Then she did, the words falling from her lips with such rapidity she couldn’t slow them or stop them. A well of information had finally been opened within her and it was flooding her.
“No one in our little village of River’s Bend was going to be enough. Not to satisfy our mother who craved the fine life she couldn’t get when marrying for love.” A love that betrayed her no less. “I knew if I wanted to achieve what she never could, I would have to go big. I’d have to start a war.”
Ambrose quirked a brow and Burke pulled away from the wall moving several feet closer.
“I sent invitations to several prestigious Fae families over the course of a year. All of which were signed by different names. Names of people who, in their letters, suggested that they wanted to take part in the Impelling. And the Fae, being bloodthirsty demons, couldn’t pass up the invitation. So the Impelling began to grow in number. The deaths of humans from Fae that couldn’t control their impulses.”
“And our parents?” Ambrose’s voice was deathly quiet.
“And our parents were the cherry on top. They were the reason we could proclaim our anger. I knew with certainty that they were not gone for good; that is what made it so easy to go through with. Once I bring them back, they will be stronger and better than before. But with their death, I could convince you all to join me in revolt against the Fae, to lead our people to remove them from their long lived reign of terror.”
She had Ambrose’s attention now. Ambrose’s sparkling heels tapped against the floor as she scooted herself to the edge of her seat. “How?”
