Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Remme opens his mouth to object, but Brie stops him with a hand on his arm again. He glares at that hand.
“Why would the oracle choose someone like that to rule?” I ask.
“She didn’t,” Sol says. She pours herself a cup of tea from the porcelain pot and takes a sip. “The queen who ruled Elora before the Seven came to power wasn’t the one the oracle named. Her king didn’t even wear the crown of the Chosen.”
“How could that happen?” Remme asks.
“The queen and king of that time were called Cora and Fazal, and they schemed their way into power. They knew the male who wore the crown was in love with someone else, knew he was hiding his crown in hopes of staying with her. He didn’t want a life with a mortal wife, not when his heart beat for someone else. And the Chosen queen? She was just a scared mortal girl who had seen her sister captured and abused by a faerie. She was terrified of our kind and certainly didn’t want to be married to one. Cora and Fazal made them a deal: They would stand in as the Chosen if the true Chosen rulers signed a magical contract promising secrecy.”
“The Chosen couple was willing to risk all of Elora for their personal romances?” Remme asks.
I bow my head, thinking of the conversation I had with Hale before he left for Elora. Maybe that makes me selfish. Maybe it makes me unworthy of this crown. He carries so much guilt but even that doesn’t outweigh his love.
“Cora and Fazal seemed like they would be ideal leaders. They told the true king and queen about all the ways they wanted to change the realm for the better. Apparently they were quite convincing.”
Misha gives a sad smile. “And it’s easier to believe something when you want to so badly.”
“Yes.” Sol sighs. “When everything in Elora turned for the worse during their rule, the true Chosen couple was bound by the magic and couldn’t tell anyone the truth about the two on the throne. When they eventually tried to defy the contract and get the truth out, the magic punished them for it.”
“They died,” I say, my heart sinking.
Misha narrows his eyes. “If they couldn’t share, then how do you know?”
Sadness fills Sol’s eyes. “Only through the truth magic of the Chronicles did I learn my grandmother’s past and that she was the one the Chosen king loved.”
“I am so sorry,” I say.
She lifts her chin. “She and her friends made our plan to overthrow the king and queen and close the gates between the realms to protect the humans.”
“The original Seven,” Remme says, clearly softening to the story.
“Yes,” Sol confirms. “But by then the fae had done so much damage they knew the humans would never accept them as fae. The decision to pose as mages seemed harmless. But the power changed some of the original Seven, and they became greedy for more—more power, more wealth, more everything. Corruption is sneaky because it infects in small, seemingly inconsequential ways at first, but suddenly it becomes too big to ignore and it expands from there exponentially.” She closes her eyes, lost in her thoughts. “My grandmother confessed in her diaries that she wasn’t immune to the siren call of power. She justified many decisions that she regretted in retrospect. Destroying the true history of Elora, for example, seemed like the only way to keep what had happened with Cora and Fazal from happening again.”
“That’s idiotic,” Remme mutters.
“Had her regret been enough to undo the mistakes of the past,” Sol says, “we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“So what are you asking of us?” Misha says.
“Erith is power hungry. We’ve been unable to change anything about the Seven’s rule with him overseeing us—especially since two of my counterparts are devoted to him. And the only way he’ll give up his power while he’s alive is if he’s stepping into a more powerful role.” She holds Misha’s gaze. “Which, I imagine, is why you’re interested in forming this alliance. You have as much to lose as the rest of us.”
I look back and forth between them, confused. Does she mean because what affects one court affects all of Faerie?
“Felicity has already agreed to help us take out Erith,” Konner says.
Remme snaps his head in my direction.
I meet his eyes. “When the time is right. Only once I’ve met with Hale, and we’ve taken precautions to prevent any potential casualties.”
You didn’t tell me that, Misha says into my mind. What’s changed?
My niece. I can make efforts to protect Hale from Erith, but I’ll never be able to fully protect her so long as my father lives.
“You want us to ally with you and help you take out the other two,” Abriella says.
“That’s right,” Sol says. “In return we will help your realm fight what Mordeus has planned.”