Val avoided looking at the chaotic kitchen. “Any idea how we’ll get all those faeries out of my house?”
“I’ll lead them out. They’ll follow me if I scream bloody murder,” Sinatria assured her.
Bloody murder was indeed what she screamed when Val pulled the spare room door open. The faeries zoomed out of the room in a yammering, yelling, squabbling tide. Val bounded downstairs after them and bid Sinatria goodbye before excited faeries engulfed her at the front door. They disappeared into the night, leaving their chaos behind.
When Val checked the time difference app on her phone, Avalon’s magic fluctuations put it an hour ahead. She had a couple of hours to sleep.
She groaned. After grabbing a party-sized bag of cheese curls from her kitchen cabinet, the only package still intact, she plodded upstairs to bed and fell asleep eating them while watching an episode of Castle for the third time.
Val’s alarm blared two minutes later. She blinked awake in the dark and groped for the phone under the covers. How had she managed to set the alarm for two minutes instead of two hours?
She hadn’t. The two hours had passed in a blink, and it was time to get up.
Val buried her face in a pillow and moaned into the cheese-dust-covered fabric. Did I really agree to be the magical overlord of a homicidal faerie? She lay there for a few minutes, questioning her existence, but eventually dragged herself to her feet.
A shower did little to wake her up, and her eyes burned as she pulled on a court-appropriate outfit, a tailored black suit with a sprinkle of rhinestones on the lapels, and stumbled downstairs into last night’s chaos. A mush of milk, eggs, yogurt, and raw rice mingled on the kitchen floor. Her microwave was a big blob, and the toaster lay on its side, exposed wires spilling out.
“Nooo,” Val moaned at the sight of the coffee machine. Mangled plastic revealed its inner workings, which looked melted. A sad puddle of coffee had spilled from the countertop to the floor.
Val checked her phone, but there was no time for cleanup.
“That is future Val’s problem,” she muttered, storming to the garage. The McDonald’s down the block would have to do for breakfast.
Sensing her urgency, Genevieve started her engine with a roar as Val approached, also opening the garage door. Val paused, as she often did, unable to resist admiring the magnificent car. The Mach 1 was a symphony in speed and beauty composed of metal and glass. Her engine purred with latent power.
Val’s bad mood instantly lifted. “We’ve got to get to Manhattan before the traffic starts, Gennie.” She slid into the driver’s seat, and the leather surrounded her like an embrace. “Oh, and I need to get breakfast along the way. Think we can do that?”
The thunderous bellow of Genevieve’s engine was all the answer she needed. The Mustang peeled out of the garage with a screech and surged into the streets of Bay Ridge, her three hundred seventy-five horses charging in unison.
Genevieve skidded sideways into a parking spot within a cobbled courtyard surrounded by crenelated walls. The driver’s door swung open before her wheels stopped, and she practically ejected Val from her seat.
“Thanks, Gennie!” Val hit the ground running.
She jogged across the parking lot toward the magnificent domed edifice that housed the throne room. Early morning in Avalon was always breathtaking, but the warm sunlight that poured from the unmarred sky seemed lovelier than ever as it glinted on the stained-glass dome. Its colors caught her eye, but she didn’t slow down.
It was eight on the dot when Val trotted up to the gleaming copper gates. They were among the most beautiful Copper Dwarven work she’d ever seen, inlaid with sparkling selenite crystals. Six griffins wearing armor emblazoned with the crest of the Eternity Throne guarded them. The part-lion, part-eagle soldiers were bigger than horses, and their amber eyes regarded her from leonine faces as she walked between them.
The hallway beyond was resplendent, with many-colored silk banners hanging on the walls. Val scanned them until her gaze found the banner of the Iron Dwarves: a hammer and tongs crossed over an anvil on the outline of a rampant bear. Val touched her amulet, which was cool on her chest in the absence of danger.
She paused in front of the banner despite her hurry. “What’s the story with the bear?” she asked no one in particular in a whisper.
Raised voices echoed down the hall. Val tensed and moved toward the throne room. The doors were slightly open, and the yelling came from within.
“That was your vow, Julie! You said that every species would be free to express their culture!”
“I also said that every para has the right to a fair trial!”
“Why does the Eternity Throne alone have the right to decide what is fair and what isn’t?”
“Because we aren’t known to eat our young!”
“Only the weak and deformed!”
“Like that’s better?”
Val edged to the doors and peered into the majestic room. Its sandstone pillars and the gorgeous sunlight falling through the stained glass spoke of peace and majesty, but neither was evident.
Queen Julia stood in front of her throne. Silver flames engulfed her hands and licked up to her elbows, and her fists were clenched by her sides. In front of her, the faerie king dripped corrosive faerie dust. It sizzled on the marble floor.
“I thought you accepted our ways, Julie,” the faerie king hissed. “Perhaps the throne has gone to your head.”
“I accept you.” Queen Julia’s chain mail dress clinked as she stepped forward. “That doesn’t mean I approve of everything you do.”
“We do not seek your approval,” the king spat.
“Well, you should since I am your queen!” she thundered.
The faerie king raised his chin. “You are the first Eternity Queen to rule the faeries, but we can change that. Do you forget that my wife and daughters died to secure your throne?”
The flames on the queen’s hands vanished, replaced by wisps of black smoke.
“You know I’ll never forget that.” The queen’s wings drooped. “Neither of us will, and they’d expect us to be better than this.”
The flow of faerie dust trickling from the soles of the king’s feet slowed. “They would.”
