Chapter 53

“The queen, in person, is much like the king. In our kingdom we have no ideas such as the queens of your fairytales; our history is one of egalitarianism, strong leaders with a sense of duty, sacrifice and protection. So, she had better role models I suppose, athletic women, all capable of taking command. We find your role models for women worrisome, so much psychological battery to starve and be weak, together with well intended calls for strength bringing cognitive dissonance - psychological torture en mass. With healthy role models, children learn easily what a lifetime of school cannot teach. They see our queen - a healthy, strong, decision-maker, freely cooperative not subordinate - and they become it too. Surely you know how natural learning works? We do,” said the Fae Prince as I looked at him in stunned silence.
Did he not who I was? Or who I was supposed to become in a couple of days?

“Thus, we know the importance of having the right queen, not by blood or birth, but by who her spirit shows her to be, by her authentic self. Our queen is loving, empathic, clever, artistic, spiritual, practical, athletic, motherly and devoted to the service of others. She is honest, forgiving, compassionate, joyful and grateful. She is a humanitarian, an environmentalist and full of life. Our queen is a scientist, a writer, a philosopher and athlete. She is brave, giving and nurturing. She is all these things naturally,” said the Fae Prince once again fluttering his beautiful mesmerizing golden wings.
Why was I not being able to speak? What had happened to my voice?
He was smirking at me as he came closer and said,” You think that you are going to be better than her…..can you become better than your own mother? Can you become better than the Red Queen or are you going to be a tyrant like her?”

“Your monarchy has been entitled, unhappy, dysfunctional, aloof, unfit - obsessed with wealth, power and status... and look what you got. On our planet, we have a healthy society because we learned basic biology better than you, it's the foundation for everything. Natural God given leaders provide the north on your moral compasses, they are as the stake to the tomato vine, the anchor for the nation. A queen will have both great wisdom and a child's heart. She can live in modest homes, sleep under trees, eat ordinary food and still have the respect of nations. I wish you had leaders as such as ours, to heal yourselves and your planet... but perhaps you do, can you find your queen?” he spat in my direction and I screamed awake.
What the hell was happening? I was sitting on the bed in my room in the castle and Luke was standing over me and growling at me. I looked at him in surprise when I saw that his teeth was all bared at me and I did not understand what was happening until Serafina suddenly showed up at my room near my bed and said,” You need to knock it off whatever you are thinking right now, Sin..”
“What is happening, Serafina?” I asked and my voice did not sound like my own. What the hell was happening to me?
“You are glowing all shades of golden and you are hovering on your bed like you are flying. What is this, Sin?” she asked as she muttered a spell and then I slammed back down on the bed with a start. I looked at myself and found that I was covered with golden glitter all over.
“I was having a dream. The Fae Prince of the Summer Court was shouting at me that did I know how to be a queen? Then he said something about being a tyrant like the last Red Queen and whether I was going to be better than my mother…I don’t know what he was talking about and then I could not speak and I did not know what happened…” I replied to Serafina who was listening to me intently. Then she nodded.
“That is only natural. I mean I did not think that the Alpha magic would start working on you so soon but it is only natural that there will be effects of these kind,” said Serafina. The somber expression on her face was lightening considerably but that did nothing at all to cheer me up.
“Why is there golden glitter on my body?” I asked her as I looked at myself. It was sticking to my skin as if someone had sprinkled glitter dust all over my body which was sticking to me like a glove.
“I am really not sure but I have a feeling that when you were asleep then you have probably opened a portal to the fae world on your own which is the reason you are bathed in their essence. That is the reason Luke is still so disturbed,” said Serafina as she sat on the bed.
“And how did you arrive here so early? It was like you were waiting for something like this to happen,” I said to her in an accusatory tone.
“I might have put a spell on you,” said Serafina with a sheepish smile and then she added,” That was only because I was worried about you and wanted you to be safe. After everything that has been happening don’t you think that it is prudent that we have to think about your safety?”
“Yeah…It was a good decision but then it also hampers privacy,” I said with a smile. I guess that I was secretly happy that she cared about me so much. But then I remembered that there was a lot that I wanted to talk to Serafina about. And now that she was here it would be good to have this conversation.
“So now that the contest is over and I am going to be crowned the Queen of wolves in a couple of days, what do you think that you are going to do? I mean have you made plans on what you are going to do next?” I asked her with a somber expression but I knew what I would be telling her in case she said something different.
“Honestly everything has been happening so fast, Sin, I did not have the time to think about this but I have not thought about it. I have been with you for so long that I cannot think of anything else. Moreover now that you are going to become Queen you have to think on who is going to be your royal Magick…I guess, there is Raksha who is…” Serafina said and I immediately protested.
“No….no…and not in a million years…Raksha is not going to become my Royal magick under any circumstances. That woman is nothing but a tacky cunt and she is a pathetic woman who thinks that latching on to someone with power is how you are expected to survive this world. I don’t know what was exactly was her equation with the Red Queen but I know this that I don’t have a place for a woman like that in my court,” I said with a ring of finality in my voice.
“then?” she prompted me and I smiled.
“So Serafina, would you like to be my Royal magic, in the Court of Amorentia? Along with Drima I would like you to be my closest aide,” I said and then I continued without giving her a chance,” For all my life since I have had some sense I have always known you to be my sister, but a lot more powerful than me. And I know that I can never leave my family wherever I am. So I am asking you this, Serafina? Will you be?”
Serafina had tears in her eyes. I knew that she wanted this as long as she had been to the court of the Red Queen and I knew this. She might not have said it to me but I knew that this was her dream.
“I shall be honoured to have you as my Queen and my sister. And I shall be honoured to take the place of the royal magick in your court. I have been thinking about it for quite some time now and I know that it is in my destiny. You are going to be the one queen who is going to bring change to this world and others and I have to do my part here as well,” said Serafina as I went ahead and hugged her.
In her embrace the world stopped still on its axis. There was no time, no wind, no rain. My mind was at peace. How could it be that I hadn't seen Sera's love for what it was before? Pure. Unselfish. Undemanding. Free. She felt her body press in, soft and warm. This was the love she'd waited for, prayed for. She inwardly thanked God and hugged all the tighter. A love like this was to be cherished for life. Finally, I was home.
“I am so glad that you said yes. Now there is something really important that I need to discuss with you. This is about you, Sera,” I said and her eyes were wide with surprise.
“Of all the things that I could have expected you to say now, none of those included the sentence that you just said,” said Serafina and then she said,” Do you want me to kill Salazar?”
And I could not believe that she would even think of doing that but I loved the idea. I was getting more and more bloodthirsty every single day..uggghhh!!
“Honestly, I am glad that you brought it up. I don’t think it is necessary to be so aggressive right now. But I hate that slithering creature and please make sure that she gets an official message that her pet will be served at the dinner table of the wolves next time it tries to attack or sneak on me or on Luke then there will not be a warning also. But no, that is not what I wanted to discuss about,” I said and she raised her brows at that
“Alright, so what is it?” she asked.
“There might be aa chance that I have gotten some information about your family,” I said and she looked at me as her jaw dropped open.
“What are you saying?”
“Yes…there might be a chance that your mother is still alive,” I said and she shrieked at that.
“How do you know that? Who is she? Where is she? Do you know her? Have you met her?” she started rambling and I tried to quieten her. Then Luke suddenly growled and she was quiet. Her eyes were so bright that they changed colour and became pink. It was damn scary.
“There is a catch Serafina. This is only a hunch and I have gotten some information only. Nothing else and I did not want to do anything without discussing this with you first. But the thing is, Sera, that the woman who was as powerful as you who was lost in her own home when she had a baby was about four centuries earlier. No one found her again and the child was also lost to time. There might be chances that you were the one kept hidden with magic only to be brought back to the land of living just for my sake. But whatever it might be Sera, I am going to find it out,” I said and she looked at me without saying anything.
“As improbable as that sounded I know that you are not joking and I know that you will never lie about something like this…but if that has happened Sin then we are dealing with something and someone insanely powerful…” she said.