“Chace, why are you really trying to help us?” I can’t help but wonder out loud. I want to know his main reason before we reach the enchanted forest.
Chace never stops walking. He does not even turn to look at me when he answers my question. His posture is rigid, and he is on the lookout for our surroundings. “I failed as a friend to him, so I am trying to make up for that.” He sounds so sincere with his words. There’s no arrogance in his words that he usually carries. “The same thing with you, Stella. I wasn’t a good friend to you either. I was being an asshole, as what you and your sister like to call guys like me.” He tries to let out a laugh, but it sounds hoarse and forced.
I can feel Custard and Javi sharing their own thoughts with one another. They are probably gossiping about us right now. From what I hear from my sister, spirits do gossip.
Chace suddenly lets out a curse while Javi and Custard come to a halt. Their actions and behavior alarms me. It takes a while for my eyes to adjust, but my hearing has already picked up on the noise ahead.
I am about to climb down from Javi when Chace stops me. “Stay with Javi, Stella.”
I couldn’t figure it out at first, but that’s when I heard her voice.
“This is enough, Prince Chace. What do you think you are doing, escorting a criminal?” Queen Titania, the fairy queen, leaves the shadow of the night and makes herself visible through the moonlight. She wears riding attire and mounts an elk.
“Mother, she’s not a criminal.” I can’t tell what kind of expression Chace makes, but I can hear a hint of fear when he talks to his mother. Behind the queen, I can just make out a few fairy soldiers blocking the entrance to the enchanted forest. “Let her through.”
“She brought an outsider.”
“Give it a rest, mother. We both know what you really want her for.” Chace sounds frustrated. He starts to clench his hands at his sides so tightly that I can see veins showing on his arms. “It is about time that you stop this. We can’t force her. She doesn’t even have her powers anymore.”
Hearing those words from Chace is not what I expected. I was shocked and baffled to hear him say that. Did he really mean his previous words to me? Is he really here to help?
I hear the queen laugh. “My son, you’re still a child. You can’t understand the importance of choosing your partner. A princess is meant for a prince.”
“Then pick someone else!” Chace yells. In his anger, the temperature immediately dropped, alarming everyone within the vicinity as a blizzard started to envelope the area. Custard heads to us, placing Leo in my care while he shields us from the snow.
“Wasn’t she the one you chose?” The queen remains unfettered even when her son seems to be about to lose control. The blizzard begins to slowly diminish a bit, and Chace’s posture slumps.
“She didn’t choose me.” He mumbles the words that I almost did not hear it. His voice is so full of pain that it hurts me as well. To hear Chace in this vulnerable state made me forget what we have been through at our age and made me remember what our relationship was like when we were kids.
What have we become? Me, Kellar, and Chace that is…
“Your choices do not matter.” Queen Titania dismissed Chace’s remorse with a wave of her hand, not even caring how her son was feeling. Her steely, cold gaze goes to me, and she glares. “You two don’t understand. Two winter fairies in this century can only mean fate. You two are just being distracted because of that boy, right?” The moment the queen’s gaze flickers on Leo, Chace and I immediately know what she plans to do. “Kill him.”
An arrow comes from above, clearly aimed at Leo. Chace blows it off with a blizzard over our heads, but that wasn’t the only projectile that flew in the air. A dart was thrown in the direction of Chace while we were distracted by saving Leo.
“Gah!” Chace falters, grabbing and throwing the dart down. He meets my gaze. “Stella, get out of here! Custard, Javi, go!” He throws his hand in my direction, creating a thick wall of ice between us.
“Chace!”
“I’ll be fine. Just go!”
Javi carries me while Custard does the same to Leo. Everything seems to be in such a rush that I cannot see where we are headed. All I know is that Chace is on the other side, fighting.
Chace is facing his mother. He should be fine, right?
Javi and Custard focused on going the long way to the enchanted forest in order to avoid the fight. I feel terrible that I have become useless in fights. I could have easily frozen everything and everyone if I had.
If I had my powers, Chase would not have had to protect us and would not have been left behind.
We get to the enchanted forest, and I notice that Custard and Javi are slowing down a bit. I was about to ask what was wrong, but that’s when I sensed that something seemed weird in the area. Normally, Serena would be here to greet us, but why isn’t she here?
“Princess!” Alexandra suddenly rushes out to greet me, or I guess that it isn’t entirely a greeting because she seems to be in a hurry. I thought about waving at her, but when I caught the panic in her eyes, I paused.
I got off of Javi to meet her halfway. Upon closer look, I notice that she’s badly hurt. Her torso is bleeding, and the way that she carries herself makes it seem like she has a rib fracture or two.
“What happened to you? Where are the nymphs!? Kellar?!” My brain seems to be having a meltdown because I can’t quite find the right question to prioritize. My ears seem to be ringing at the moment, and I can’t seem to quite hear myself. Something inside of me knows that something is wrong.
“The other rebel faction sided with the faes. They managed to enter the enchanted forest. Prince Kellar, he—”
That’s all I needed to hear. I wasn’t thinking straight when I rush in the direction where I saw Alexandra running from. She tried to stop me, but considering the condition of her body, I managed to run past her.
In my haste to cross, I have to fight my way through a dense patch of vegetation. The stench of blood is becoming so oppressive that I fear I may go insane. I set out along the route that would bring me to the healing spring where Kellar was most likely resting as soon as possible.
Along the way, I was halted by the nymphs, who all suddenly jumped from one of the great trees in order to stop me.
“What are you guys doing?! Release me!”
“Stella!” I feel relieved when I start to hear Serena coming towards me. She grasps my shoulder tightly. “It’s too late, Stella. They got him!”
“What?” I feel like something came crumbling down. Has my hearing deceived me? Surely I heard her wrong? “What did you just say? Who got him?”
Serena’s eyes soften. She looks conflicted between guilt and remorse. “The rogues managed to get past Alexandra and the others with the help of the faes. The guardian tried to stop them, and so did my sisters. But it was an ambush, and we were outnumbered. Stella, I’m sorry. Kellar…he’s gone. The rogues took him.”
I feel weak in the knees and collapse to the floor. My thoughts kept going back to what might have been different had circumstances been different. What if I came right here the second we stepped into this world? What if, back then, I had faith in Chace? What if we got here earlier?
What if I still had my powers?
My powers. If only I had my powers. I could have done everything differently. I could have gotten rid of the people who were getting in my way.
Everyone shouldn’t have gotten in my way. I should’ve had my powers. I could have gotten rid of it all.
I want them back. I want my powers back. Being helpless sucks. It does not matter if I still have them or not. Queen Titania would still have gone after me because of my bloodline.
I want to get rid of her, but for what? For revenge? Revenge would not bring Kellar back.
In the end, it’s my fault for being helpless.
I just want to be alone. I want silence.
“Stella?” Serena’s voice of concern is not even enough to get me out of the state that I am in. I’m not angry with her. I need to be alone.
“Leave me alone, Serena.” I don’t know what convinces Serena to move and get her sisters out of the way before I unconsciously release a massive blow of ice and a blizzard in the area.