in her voice and splashed across her face, but I just didn’t believe her.
“Is that all?” She crossed her arms. “You’ve taken my home, and I’d like to finish setting up my new one by the river.”
You’ve taken my home.
Bitch, you have no idea what you’d taken from me, I wanted to say.
“One more thing.” I reached out, lightning-quick, and she flinched, bringing her arms up to block what she must have assumed was going to be an assault. Instead, I pulled away a strand of her long orange hair, holding it between my fingers.
Her eyes went wide. “Did you just—”
“We should be going.” Trissa stepped forward, hand out to usher Indra away. “You want to get everything set up today in your new place, right?”
Indra allowed Trissa to pull her away but not before I saw the satisfying look of fear cross her face.
I took the hair between my fingers and slipped it into a book from the library. It was a book on fae creatures, and it would be a safe place to hide the hair in case Indra came looking for it while I was out crystal hunting. I just wasn’t ready to see the truth yet, by doing a memory spell on Indra’s hair. I’d save all of that for the Queen. I needed to get the crystals and restore Faerie.
“Wow,” Elle said. “That was… Wow.”
I sighed, slipping the book back onto the shelf. “That’s a problem that’s going to come back and bite me in the ass, no doubt.”
With a flat palm, Elle creased the page where she’d been taking notes. “I wrote everything down… except the threat to enslave her. The Queen will be up to speed when she wakes and can deal with it then.”
I nodded.
“What now?” Elle stood, everything mended between us. She was my bestie, my ‘ride or die.’
“Now we get things ready for Liam and his army.”
Elle’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
I looked her in the eyes. “We can’t do this without them. I’m going to have to figure out a way to convince them to come back.”
Elle looked delighted at that thought, but then her face fell. “I’m sure Cam and the others would.”
My throat tightened. “But not Liam…”
My best friend nervously tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I believe his last words before passing out in Kira’s arms were, ‘I won’t take charity from that vile snake Lily.’”
I winced. “I guess I deserved that.” I left him for dead… after he’d brought me a crystal and a piece of his hair as a gesture of goodwill. I’d been so wrapped up in his confession that he’d killed my mom. I didn’t really—
“It’ll be okay. He’s your soulmate.” Elle’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I gave her a sad smile. “Well, let’s get things ready anyway.”
We stepped outside, and I asked the fae to gather around. I ordered the farmers and woodworkers to build a bridge across the river, which now ran clear blue and into the forest. Binding my soul to the Tree of Life had permanently healed a small part of the once black and desolate land.
“I’ll also need twenty new huts by three days’ time and two bathhouses with running water. A larder and kitchen as well!” I barked off orders to the assembled fae. “We need to build a fence where the new spring growth meets the blackened forest to keep creatures out. Start sharpening wood spears, and place them at an angle facing outward to deter predators.”
The fae men nodded. I was going to give Liam and his men the other side of the riverbank. It was full of trees, lush green forest, and flowers now, and with new huts and a fence, it would be far superior to the soggy swamp Indra had given them. It was also their own bit of land set away from us in case Liam didn’t ever want to be near me again.
“When I’m not hunting for crystals, I’ll be here with you, helping build, helping sharpen sticks,” I told my people. I didn’t want to be a Queen who barked orders and then went inside the cool throne room to gorge on berries.
One by one, they bowed their heads to me until I cleared my throat and bid them a good day. While walking back to the Tree of Life house with Elle, she leaned into me. “You’re smashing this temp Queen thing.”
I wished I felt the same, but I didn’t. We had