AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Soon, I will be just as they are. Fear not as my family, the Havlock family, has been made from death so that you may not meet your own.”
Exclamations and sharply drawn breaths came from outside the room. The crowd slowly shifted their attention as Idalia sat on her throne watching the door she’d come in moments before. A ripple of shock moved through the room as Ambrose entered first with the others following behind her. Their eyes burned that striking vibrant color and there was no hiding the scars that made up Sienna’s skin.
After her sisters, came her parents. She’d never seen them in such fine clothing before and she had to force her hand to stay put on the arm of her throne rather than touch her lips in surprise. They might not have ever worn something like this before but they both looked as if they’d been born to. Her mother’s newly made eyes met hers before she inclined her head. Idalia looked for something on her face, in that fiery gaze. Approval? Joy? Satisfaction? Something…anything.
Her dad’s face was as stoic as ever. The corners of his mouth were turned up but the rest of his face was slack with—was that disappointment?
It took every fiber of her being not to bolt up out of her chair and demand why they appeared as they did. This was supposed to be the big night when her family could finally be reunited and all of them could tell her how very proud they were of all her hard work.
Yet again, that terrible voice in the back of her head snickered. Idalia tried to shut it down because maybe it was only because her parents were uncomfortable. It was possible to give them the benefit of the doubt before she could really sit down and talk to them. She’d spared no expense in offering them everything she could to help ease their transition back into the living realm.
The citizens of Pasia had truly been worked into some sort of ruckus as they all began speaking hurriedly to one another. The queen allowed the conversations as her sisters made their way to their seats and her parents found their spot behind the row of thrones.
“Tonight we dine, we celebrate.” Her voice cut off the roar of those gathered. “Tomorrow my family and I will ride to battle once more. So please join us as we find our kings and set our country at ease.”
A cheer rose up. When it died in the ballroom, they could hear it make its way through the rest of the castle and the town that had come to join them. She wondered if the truth of what she’d just shared had made its way through them yet or if they only raised their glasses because they saw others doing so.
“As you were.” She dismissed her guests who immediately sprang into snacking, gossiping, and heading to the dance floor that perked up at the swipe of a bow over strings. Angling her hips in her seat, she turned to look at her sisters.
Ambrose didn’t notice the way Idalia looked around her, as her eyes drifted over faces in the crowd. She had the lost look in her eyes, enough so that Idalia worried that the warring of voices had started up again. Neither Farah nor Sienna had seemed to have any issues. But they had never been plagued by such things before either.
Farah sat, tilted back in her seat, skin stretched taut over her knuckles as she held onto the armrests as if she might fly out of it. Her dress was a creamy orange—a peaches and cream look that flattered her skin tone well—with red stones that scattered the bottom of her skirt and the sheer orange sleeves that puffed from her shoulders. Her lips were marked in a color nearly the same shade as Idalia’s and pressed thin.
It was Sienna who met her gaze first, though. Her blush gown sparkled under the chandeliers that hung above them; the slender ribbons wrapping her arms drifted from her wrists to gather at the ground. An ache started in her heart when Sienna gave her a half smile.
“Hollis didn’t make it did he?” Sienna said, her voice only just loud enough for Idalia to register.
Farah’s head snapped to the side. “No one made it.”
Idalia shook her head. “The Fae completely destroyed your castle and everybody they found inside of it.”
“The Fae?” Farah coughed out a laugh. “You think it was the Fae?”
“It was the Fae,” Idalia reiterated.
“You’re so funny, Idalia. You think you know it all.” Farah rolled her neck in an unladylike motion. She looked like she was ready to start a fight. Next, she’d be cracking her knuckles. “It was not the Fae that got me. It was our past that came back to bite me in the ass.”
Idalia frowned, trying to hold back from telling her sister to watch her mouth while sitting on the throne.
“Then who?” Sienna leaned in.
“Aylee,” Ambrose answered for Farah who nodded along.
“No,” Sienna gasped. “Oh my gods, that makes so much sense. I’ve—I’ve seen her.”
“Yes, Aylee and the Fae are working together. She’s currently camped outside of the city with their troops waiting to come back and kill us all. It will be our job tomorrow to try and convince her to do otherwise.”
“How is that possible?” Sienna took her time wiping the shock from her face.
“Just as you were brought back,” Idalia said.Kind of.
Aylee had come back by the gods’ will alone. Idalia had returned to that valley to collect Aylee’s body as she had the bodies of her parents, only to find the grass charred and her body gone. That would explain why she was so determined to bring her own family down. She was influenced by the gods who hated them, instead of the one god who gave them all a second chance. An inconvenience, but Idalia truly thought she could handle the problem.
“And how exactly have you done this, my dear?” Her parents made their way forward, standing between the thrones of Idalia and Ambrose. Several wayward glances peeked up to wonder exactly who they were…what they were.
“I got creative.” Idalia deadpanned. “Are you happy to have everything you’ve ever wanted?”
“My time here prior to death was consumed with idiotic thoughts and thousands of mistakes. Perhaps this is one of them.” Her mother’s full lips ticked down and Idalia’s stomach turned over. “I spent my early years desiring for the things I might not ever have—”
