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Chapter Thirteen, Part One - Dead to Me

Chapter Thirteen

Dead to Me

Once upon a time, my mother was a beautiful Queen, so humble, and so demure for an Unseelie Fae, that she actually refused a royal title. Instead, she was simply known to her adoring subjects as Queen Tierney.

But, as with all great leaders, there were those who were opposed to my mother’s rulership. So much so that one day she was cruelly slain and then immediately replaced by her younger sister, Titania. Westley, Queen Tierney’s loyal night, escaped to the Otherworld with the help of Tierney’s brother, The Forest King. His name was Oberon and he was known as the wise and fair ruler of the Seelie Court. He knew that Westley was innocent of the crime he was accused, and so helped the Knight escape with me to the Otherworld. And the Hunter King, fearing that I would one day be discovered by his sister (who he and Westley both suspected of the murder) cast a spell to cloak my Fae-ness. And it had all worked perfectly until the night of my sixteenth birthday when the spell had finally broken and forced Westley’s return. Because I was no longer shielded from the Fae, the Ice Queen’s faithful Slaugh and evil Knight had finally managed to track me down.

            From pieces of Westley’s revelation, this was the short, ugly faerie tale that I had managed to spin inside my head. It started out so beautifully and by the end, it was so dark and twisted that I could hardly believe the story was real. Or that it even belonged to me.

And of course, it never occurred to me to be shocked by Westley’s accusation against the Ice Queen. Rather, it made sense in such a profound way that I wondered why it hadn’t occurred to me earlier. After all, in the conversation we shared, I had no way of knowing if Titania was telling all of the truth or if she was lying. Westley admitted that the golden band he wore across the middle finger of his right hand was what protected him from my influence (apparently he dabbled in alchemy), and why wouldn’t the Ice Queen have such a device?

As if to prove that he was worthy of my trust, Westley promised not to open the box without me, that he’d help me learn to shape and hone my growing powers, and that he would tell me anything I wanted to know about Tierney. I accepted. The opportunity to learn more about my real mother was too tempting an offer to pass. Besides, within the short amount of time that Westley and I had slowly gotten to know each other, something between us had finally changed. I couldn’t say that we were friends exactly (to be honest I had no idea what we were), but maybe we had finally stumbled onto the right track.

*  *  *

There was something about the way Danny Hall smelled that could truly make a girl lose her concentration.

“… worried about you?”

Gosh his teeth were white…

“Tamsyn?”

“Uh, sorry, say that again?”

It was early Friday morning, and the bell ending first period had just rang. Danny had surprised me in the hallway on the way to my second class, and even though I had only a few more minutes until I was late, I really didn’t care.