but I needed to see more.
As the Queen lay there gasping like a fish, she muttered one thing.
“Why?”
Indra felt a pang of remorse. Her memories were not as accessible as Liam’s, so I didn’t know the extent of their friendship. But they must have been close for it to hurt Indra even a tiny bit because otherwise, she was cold as ice inside.
“You’re too powerful.” Indra pulled a bottle from her pocket and brought it to the Queen’s lips. “And I can’t have that.” She upended the potion into the Queen’s mouth, and I gasped as the Queen went completely limp, into a deep sleep.
Then, a huge fake wail rocked Indra’s chest, and she screamed for help, the sheer bad acting of it all made my stomach turn.
Screw this, I couldn’t watch anymore.
I thought of my mother, wanting to be done with this memory, and felt myself pulled forward in the timeline.
Indra stood over my mother, her fingers at my mom’s temples. Just seeing my mother again like this, close-up, smelling her hair through Indra, seeing her downturned lips, it was a punch to the gut of my fresh grief. But that grief was quickly replaced with rage as I realized what she was doing to my mom.
“Your sister has fallen into a deep sleep. The land weakened her. And the child is your daughter.”
My mother frowned. “Mine?” Her voice was dreamy.
Indra nodded. “Oh, yes. All yours.”
Indra’s gaze flicked up, and I saw a line of people waiting outside to meet with her. Mara, Trissa, they were all waiting to meet with the new high elder of Summer, the one the Queen appointed in charge.
And she was going to brainwash every single one of them.
I didn’t need to stay any longer. I’d seen enough at this point. Standing in the room, I washed off the paste and then rinsed my face, watching as my hands shook in the mirror.
The Queen was a badass. She hadn’t fallen after building the dome or losing the crystals. She fell because Indra spelled her. She’d said she was weakened, but I had no reason to believe that the loss of the crystals was what actually made her weak.
Stepping forward, I wrenched open my door and grabbed my special sword off the wall, hanging it at my hip.
I burst into Kira’s room, causing her to jump. “How long until the Queen would wake on her own if Indra had been spelling her into sleep this whole time with snoozeberry juice?”
Kira frowned. “Twenty years of it? I dunno… days, weeks?”
I nodded and ran out, marching through the empty house until I reached the outside where Trissa and Elle were talking to Jasper and pointing out something in the distance.
“Elle!” I snapped, causing all three of them to turn. “I’m going to officially arrest Indra for treason. What do I need to know?”
Her eyes widened, and all three of their mouths fell open in shock.
“You have proof?” Elle pulled her royal law textbook from her satchel and started to flip through it.
Jasper’s hand dropped on the book to keep Elle from reading anymore. “She’s the Queen. She can call treason on whomever she wants.”
Relief poured through me. “Good. Because Indra is a fucking witch. Literally. So, Jasper, I might need you to help me take her to the cages.”
Jasper raised one eyebrow in shock, and I was relieved, quite honestly. For a second, I thought he might be working with her or something crazy.
“A witch? But she looks—” Elle started.
“I know,” I growled. “Illusion.” People were milling about, and the sun was about to set. I wanted to get this over with before I lost my nerve.
“Jasper! Are you ready to help me?” I growled.
He bowed slightly. “At your command, my Queen.” There was a playfulness in his voice but also an undercurrent of respect.
Without waiting for another word, I kicked off the ground, shooting up into the air and taking off for the house that Indra now shared with the elders. I felt the wind rush at my back as Trissa, Elle, and Jasper flew behind me. Jasper kept his wings concealed often, tucked down into his coat, or maybe they were magically cloaked. I assumed it was to remind him not to use them out in public in the Earth realm. Only so many illusions to explain a flying person. But ever since he’d come back to Faerie, he’d been flying a lot more now.
We zipped through the small busy road of tall houses. People