Heir of Golden Storms

I dry my tears with the sleeves of my blazer as I pull away from Thalia. I grab her hands as I stand up. She moves, sitting on the edge of the pedestal. “What happened?” she asks. Confused.

“You…” I clear my throat. “You were cursed by Crimson. She made herself look like me and gave you an apple with the curse in it. We only had until midnight to break the curse.”

“How did you do it?” she asks as she stands up.

“I do not know, and I do not care,” I say. “Just promise me that you will never do that again! I thought that I lost you.”

She nods as she slides her hands away from me. “Where is everyone else?”

“Outside,” I say.

I walk beside her out of the throne room. She only needed to stretch a little to continue walking as if she was never cursed. Outside of the throne room, North is the first to jump at Thalia.

“You are awake!” North exclaims.

Hesperia moves to stand next me. Glade stands where he was seconds ago with North. Kalani has moved to hug Thalia.

“How did you break the curse?” Hesperia asks. Maybe she wants to know if I kissed her again and it turned out that I am her true love. But I did not kiss her. I only grabbed her hand and cry my feelings out.

“I do not know,” I say. “I did not do anything.” I look at Thalia, who is talking to North and Kalani. “Thalia? Can I steal you for a moment?”

“Sure, but why?” she asks.

“I need to do something, and I want you with me,” I say.

She rises an eyebrow but does not ask any question. “All right,” she says.

I extend my right hand and lay it open for her to grab. I smile as she looks at my hand and then at me. She smiles too and lays her hand on mine. I move it to rest her arm on my right arm. I cannot help but lay my hand on the back of hers and caress it with my thumb. I am afraid of her being all an illusion and she is still on her pedestal. I continue playing with my thumb on the back of her hand, making sure that she is there.

“Wrap your arms around my neck,” I tell her when we are outside.

“Why?” Thalia asks.

“Because we are going to fly,” I answer.

She has never flown with me before. She wraps her arms around my neck, and I take it as an act of her trusting me. I rise to the sky slowly, without wanting to end the ride. When we leave the Mountains of Endless Night and the night sky comes to a view, I cannot help but stare. The full moon is at the biggest phase. The stars spark the whole sky as if they all have gathered to witness Thalia and I fly.

My gaze shifts to Thalia. She is staring at the sky too. Her blue eyes reflect the sky, shining on different spots as if she owned the stars. Her dark purple hair moves gently in the air and that is when I notice it. Her hair is the sky and her eyes are the stars. She is my night.

“What?” she asks as she catches me staring. Her mouth curves as if she is not accustomed to someone staring at her.

“Glad that you are all right,” I say, but I do not move my sight. She is all that I want to see.

“I still wonder how the curse got lifted,” she says.

“Let’s wonder that tomorrow,” I say. “Do not ruin the moment.”

“All right,” she says and this time she fully smiles.

I land a few meters away from the Forbidden Forest. Crimson is right where I last saw her, inside the Forbidden Forest and her shoulder against a tree. Thalia lets go off me when her feet touches the floor. I start walking towards the forest with Thalia beside me. Crimson rises her sight from her nails smiling, but her smile fades quickly.

“What?” she asks, standing straighter. “How? This was not supposed to happen like this! The sleeping curse is unbreakable! You were supposed to come crying back to me and I would have ended up free from this forest!” She admitted that I was never going to find her name.

I let her vent, before I say, “I am tired of this. I am tired of getting into trouble without me searching for it. I am tired of the people closest to me paying. I am tired of begging everyone to stop punishing us.” I hold Thalia’s hand. “I am happy to tell you that you will never leave that forest.”

“Never?” she asks, analyzing the situation. “You will not keep me in here forever. I can leave whenever there is a holiday or something celebrating at a court. I can go out every time and cast curse upon curses until you beg for me to stop, until I see you give up everything for me. You have no idea what you have gotten into.”

“Bring it,” I dare to say. Crimson flinches: no one has probably spoken to her like this. “I have wielded the Cursebreaker and the Cursemaker. I have cursed twice and broken curses thrice. So, bring it. Curse me with everything that you have. I will be here to break every curse and curse right back. You forget the reason why you picked me: I am both the Cursebreaker and the Cursemaker.”

I pull Thalia towards me and jump into the air, not leaving her the satisfaction of answering me. I fly away from the sound of her scream behind us.

***

When I open my eyes in the morning, I find that I am staring at Thalia’s back of her head. Her dark purple hair is messier this morning that the previous mornings. I move closer to her and wrap my right arm and right wing around her. I hear in her breathing shift when she wakes up. She turns to face me.

“What are you doing?” she asks, her eyes wanting to close again.

“Hugging you,” I say as I smile.

She smiles. She grabs my left arm and puts it under her head, using it as a pillow. She closes her eyes again. “First you cried and now you are hugging me. That curse must have really hurt you.”

“It did. It made me realize what I take for granted,” I say.

She smiles with her eyes close. I wait for her to fall asleep, and when I hear her breathe faintly, I close my eyes. The curse did not only make me realize that I took her for granted, it made me realize that I love her. I do not understand how I said it, since faeries cannot fall in love unless it is love at first sight or there is someone in the relationship that loves the other. I could not have lied because faeries cannot lie.

I smile with my eyes close. I do not care how I can love her. All I care is that I do. She is here with me, and I am not letting go. I drift to sleep again.

***

A knock on the door interrupts me. I am trying to fix the neck on my blazer in front of the mirror. “Who is it?” I ask. The door opens and North steps in. “Oh, it is you. Come in. I am struggling to keep the blazer’s neck from crooking.” I press my fingers and when I pull my fingers away, it stops from folding. I turn to face North. “What are you doing here?”

“Is Thalia here?” North asks, searching the room.

“She is in the bathroom,” I say. “I will tell her that you are searching for her.”

“No,” North says quickly, putting her hands in front of her. I stop from walking. “I want to talk to you.”

“All right. I am all ears,” I say as I move to my dresser. I open the door and take a pair of black boots from it.

“What happened last night when we left you alone with Thalia?” North asks I sit on the chair of the desk.

“I…” I try to say. Then, I see that she is still standing at the door. “You can sit on our bed, you know?” She nods and walks to sit on the bed. “Do not tell anyone what I am going to tell you. I… I told her that I loved her. I cried my heart out, thinking that she was not going to wake up.”

I let the boot that I am holding drop. “I do not know how I said it,” I continue. “I am a half-faerie. I cannot lie! I cannot create love where there is none!”

“But you are also half-pixie,” North tells me. “Pixies do not believe in love at first sight. They love differently. They believe in falling in love slowly.”

I shake my head. I am also half-faerie. I cannot lie because of my faerie half. That half is stronger than my pixie half. If it was not, I could have known that I was a pixie well before I discovered my horns and wings.

“Tell me, have you fallen in love before?” she asks.

“No,” I tell her.

I have never had a lover before. Back when I was prince of the Court of Miracles, I had been with faeries several days and then move to another one. I have lasted with some faeries more time, such as Sky, but I have never fallen in love. I have never been lovestruck the first time that I saw a faerie.

“That is why,” North says. “Your faerie half does not let you lie but it does not dictate how you love. Your pixie half does.” I stare at her blankly. “Don’t you get it? You did not lie. You love her. You fell in love every second that you spent with her.” She stands up. “Love is already in your relationship with Thalia. Now, it is your turn to make her love you.”

She stands up. “You broke the curse. She is your true love after all.”

She leaves the room, leaving me to think. North might be right. I know that I love Thalia, but what North made me realize is that I can make Thalia fall in love with me. She is a faerie, and faeries only fall in love at first sight or if someone is in love with them. Well, I am, and now…

“Well, how do I look?” Thalia says. I had not noticed that she had left the bathroom.

She is wearing a dress made of the finest linings at the court, crafted by the hands of the highest tailors in the court. The long dress is a dark orchid with no waves in it. It covers her chest completely and has sleeves that stops right before her elbows. It has a piece of textile of the same color and material that goes around her waist. Her hair is tied up at a perfect combed bun.

“You know what could make it better?” I ask as I stand up. I walk towards her and stop to lean towards her. She does not back down. When our faces are inches away from each other, I pull the pin holding her bun. “Wearing your hair loose.”

“My hair is messy today,” she says, trying to comb her hair with her finger. Her hair has more waves than the few waves that it usually has.

“But I love it like that. Do not hide something so beautiful,” I say, and then noticed that I said the word love. I start to feel the blush coming. “Anyway, we better get going.” I walk towards the door for her not to look at my red face.

“Um, Rowan?” she asks.

“What?” I ask, not turning. She must have seen me blush. I rarely blush!

“You do not have your shoes on,” she says. I look down at my feet and then at the chair where my shoes are.

“Oh, right,” I say and move back to the chair, feeling now ashamed of how dumb I am acting in front of Thalia

***

When the carriage comes to a stop, Erie opens the door from outside. I step out into the dark night and help Thalia down as usual. I smile at her slightly and she smiles back wider. We walk to the gate, staring at the huge white castle known as the Miracle Castle. The knights guarding the gate rises their spears.

“The queen and king of the Court of Storms request to speak with the High King,” Erie says for us.

“The High King does not allow visitors at this hour,” the knight answers. “You need to retreat and come back in the morning.”

“Tell the High King that his brother is here,” I say. I wish that my wings and horns were visible. They would have been afraid and led me through. “He will not turn down this opportunity.”

The knights do not move. If I did not need to be calm for this, I would have flown over the gate and forced my way into the castle. I could have also created a storm with the help of Thalia and blew everyone out of our way, but I need to behave. This is business.

The knight that spoke to us moves to open the gate without asking the High King. As soon as the gate opens, a knight runs inside, probably to deliver the message that we are here before the High King see us.

The white doors with golden lines and winged horses open as we approach. As I walk through the main halls, memories start appearing. I remember being little, running away from Oberon without pants, not wanting to get dressed. I remember running towards Marin arms when she came home from lecture. I remember shadowing Zephyrus when I was little, wanting to be more like him.

The doors of the throne room open, and we step in. Easton is sitting on the throne with the crown, that his father used to wear, on his golden head. He has a straight posture and a high head, owning the new title of High King. At his left stands the new High Queen, Gracin, with a crown smaller than Easton’s

It does not surprise me to see the sprites kings and queens here with Easton and Gracin. They are standing the same way that their thrones back at the Slumbering Forest are located. The Forest King stands on the farthest at the left, his green skin shining with the white wall and the golden of the throne. At Easton’s right stands the Earth Queen, her fingers are together, interlocking, and in front of her.

The River King stands next to Gracin. He is standing straighter than usual and does not look at Gracin, as if he is afraid of what she is capable of. Right next to the River King stands the Wind Queen. She looks peaceful, as usual, but scanning the situation closely.

“Ah, you are all here,” I say as I walk in. “It saves me the trip to the Slumbering Forest that I was going to take later tonight.”

“Queen Thalia of Storms, little Rowan, what brings you to my court?” Easton asks. He thinks that calling me little is going to annoy me. It used to annoy me when we were little, but now I do not care.

“I wanted to congratulate you for your crown,” I say. “You totally earned it,” even if he killed his way through it.

“Is that all?” Easton asks. “Then get it over with. I am in a meeting.”

“And I also wanted tell you a new discover that my beautiful Storm Queen, the council, and I found,” I say, ignoring his comments. Easton is one with a low patient. Playing a long game is better for me. “It concerns all of you.”

“And why is that?” the Earth Queen asks.

“Would you like to do the honors, Thalia?” I ask as I bow at her. I need them to see that Thalia and I are one. We rule beside each other and we will make them respect us as equal.

“Of course,” she says as she curtsies at me. She turns to the kings and queens. “We planted ourselves the basic question that will lead all our speculation. That question was: Why would the High King, may he rest in peace, decide to attack our precious Court of Storms? We did not need the reason; he had plenty of reasons to hate us. What we wanted to know was why he attacked us that specific day.

“Why did he not attack the day that I got Rowan back from the Court of Summer? Why did he not attacked when Rowan came to rescue our dear friend North from being tortured by his hands? Well, there was only one explanation. He did not want to.”

“Where are you going with this?” Easton asks quickly, almost not letting Thalia finish her statement.

“You do not interrupt my queen,” I warn him. He rises an eyebrow, calculating if he should counter my statement, but he does not. The High King power has not gotten into his head.

“Continue,” he says, waving his hand.

“Thank you,” Thalia says. “Then we asked ourselves: What made him changed his mind? There were only five people in his life that could change his mind, and those were his sons and daughters. Well, he did not considered Rowan as his son anymore, Marin and Ailsa were at another court, and Zephyrus was dead. That only left you, Easton.”

“Are you accusing the High King of something?” Gracin asks.

“Me? I have not accused of anyone yet,” Thalia answers. “I have not gotten to the accusation part. We still have plenty of time to get there.” She fakes a smile at Gracin. “Would you let me continue now or do you have something else to add?”

I want to smile. That is my wife right there, owning her place.

“Proceed,” Gracin says.

“Very well,” Thalia responds. “Easton could be the only one to change the High King’s mind. That only left the reason why he wanted to attack the Court of Storms. He had already blamed the death of Zephyrus on Rowan’s hand; what else would he need? Well, we later knew that he needed to kill the High King to earn the crown. Why don’t blame the death of the High King on Rowan too?” Thalia looks at me. “Would you like to take it from here, Rowan?”

“Gladly,” I say. I look at each sprite king and queen. “That is where you four come in. You promised someone to help her break the curse of the Forbidden Forest. I was the only one who could break it and Easton wanted to blame me for the High King’s death. It is a win-win scenario, don’t you think, Thalia?”

“Of course, I do, Rowan,” she answers. “What happened afterwards?”

“Well, I am sure that Easton and the sprites came to a plan,” I say. Then I look back at the kings and queens standing in front of us. “Easton would convince the High King to attack the Court of Storms with not one, but two courts. I would have come to the Court of Miracles to beg and Gracin would have killed the High King. Now, this is the part where you gambled. You were not perfectly sure that I was going to the sprites to ask for their help, but I did.

“At first, it seemed too easy that you only agreed to help me stop the war with the deal of me only breaking a curse. I told you that I would give you anything, but you only agreed to the curse. But now it makes sense. Easton needed me alive to blame me and you needed me alive to break the curse. Now, let me tell you why your plan failed.”

“It did not fail,” the River King answers. “We all got what we wanted.”

“You did, but we made a few adjustments,” I say. “We cursed back the Forbidden Forest. Now, no one can come out from it.”

“What?” the Earth Queen exclaims. “How dare you break your promise?”

“He did not break your promise,” Thalia says. “He broke the curse, did he not?”

“Still, you are still blamed for the death of the High King,” Easton says. “You lost. No other courts will become your ally. It is just a matter of time before I send the armies of each court to the Court of Storms and destroy you two.”

“Do it,” I say. “You forget what you made me. Everyone knows me as the killer of royalty. Everyone thinks that I killed the eldest prince of the Court of Miracles and the High King, and everyone knows me as the one who showed mercy to the Mountain King.

“Three royals,” I say as I lift my arms. “Try to send every court towards me. No one will dare face me! I am a monster, a monster that you all made.”

I turn around and Thalia does the same. I grab her hand and smile at her, expecting everyone to witness us. With our heads high, we walk out of the throne room.

***

“Rowan, this is not the way to our castle,” Thalia says after she peeked out of the window of the flying carriage. I love how she mentions that it is our castle. We already made it to the Court of Storms after the meeting with Easton, Gracin, and the sprites kings and queens.

“I know,” I say. “I want to take you somewhere special.”

The carriage lands on top of a mountain, a little farther from the Mountains of Endless Night. Erie opens the door of our carriage. I step out and extend my hand to Thalia.

“Where are we?” Thalia asks as she takes my hand and steps out of the carriage.

I do not answer, but when she sees where we are, her jaws drop. A huge two-story building stands alone on this mountain. It is made of polished brick gray stones. It has a wooden porch in front of it with lamps with blue flames hanging from it. The door opens as we walk the steps of the porch.

“Good evening, my queen and my king,” the woman inside says. “Your table is already set. Right this way.”

I nod and follow her. Inside, there is a ball room. People are dancing with the live music. Tables, with people dining, are surrounding the dancefloor. More tables are on the second floor, where there is a hole to look down at the dance floor. The waitress leads us to the best, and only table, at the balcony at the end of the room. We sit down.

“I will be right back with your courses,” the waitress says.

“Wow,” Thalia says as she watches the sight.

From here, we can see the Mountains of Endless Night and the sea. We can see when the starstruck night ends and the dark clouds start. We can see even the Storm Castle miles away.

“Why did you bring me here?” she asks, amazed.

“Because a splendid woman like you deserves dinners like this,” I say and stand up. I extend my hand to her. “Would you do me the honor of dancing with me?”

“Of course,” she says, grabbing my hand and standing up.

“Of course, you will,” I say as I walk with her towards the dance floor. “Who would on her rightful mind neglect a chance to have my body next to hers?”

She pushes me and she holds back my hand as I laugh. “Arrogant,” she says, smiling, and I cannot wait to hear this every day for the rest of my life.

* * *