Midnight Frost (19 page)

The suns were still dark, but we could still see. We could look around.

It was over.

Epilogue

W
e spent many hours counting the dead. We gave them all graves: pixies and centaurs, fairies and wolves. We mourned for them all. We buried too the bodies of those members of the Dark Hordes we had managed to kill, and for them, too, we said a prayer. Perhaps one day, I wondered, they too would do as Redleaf had done, abandon their hatred and anger and live once more in the light of Feyland.

For there was light. The suns had not reappeared in the sky, but the magic we had created together cast a pale morning glow over the land. It was enough to sustain us for a while, I knew, to keep us warm. But we would have to find a way to restore the suns.

“I'll do it,” Shasta said to me, standing hand and hand in Rodney above a grave that she had dug for a pair of Winter fairies, husband and wife. “It's my fault that they're gone.”

“
Our
fault,” Rodney cut in.

“I know I can never make up for what I've done,” said Shasta. “I can never bring those people back to life. I know I'll never be a Winter Princess again, but I don't want to be.” Her face was solemn and grave. She was no longer a child, I thought. She had lived through the horrors of the past few days, lived through her mother's sacrifice. She too was willing to do what she had to do to restore Feyland to what it had been. “I'm not going beyond the Crystal River anymore. Neither is Rodney. One day we want to go, to escape. But not yet. Not until we bring the suns back. And we'll work for it, Breena, no matter how long it takes.”

“And I will, too!” Rose cut in. Her face was bruised and lined with scars, but I could see the strength of spirit in her. “I made that potion that set those vile creatures free from the Gorge.”

“My mother loved me,” Shasta said, looking out over the horizon. “And if I could have only believed that, only known that…”

“You know it now,” I took Shasta's hand.

“I'll make her proud of me,” Shasta said. “Wherever she is.”

I caught sight of my own mother, walking in the distance with my father by her side. I could not hear what they were saying, but their expressions said it all for me. I had never seen my mother look so happy, so relaxed, so in love. As my father took her hand, I could see that his guilt and shame had vanished and my mother's too. No longer was their relationship something to be hidden, something to be regretted, a source of conflict. They had acknowledged the pain they had caused, and Redleaf had at last forgiven them.

They came a little closer and I could hear their words. I ducked behind an orange tree, fearing that my presence would intrude upon their reverie.

“We will rebuild it,” my father was saying. “This is our chance – to rebuild everything. The palace, the city...us.”

“Us?”

I peeked out behind the tree to see my father blushing bright scarlet.

“I am...” My father looked down. “Free to marry. At long last”

“To marry a human?” My mother looked hopeful.

“The situation is not what it once was,” said my father. “The people might not accept a full human – one without any magic at all – as Summer Queen, but as Summer Queen Mother they might be more willing. They love Breena.”

“Of course they do.” My father squeezed my mother's hand. “Just like we do. Imagine it, Raine – the family we never had. The family we'll get to have at last. You, me, and Breena, living together.”

“She's a bit old for that, don't you think?” My mother laughed. “She's not a baby anymore.”

“Don't I know that?” I could see the wrinkles on my father's face. “Then just you and me, then – in a separate wing of the Palace. And Breena coming over for dinner!”

“Do you mean that?”

“I know we did a lot of stupid things together, Raine,” said my father. “But we did one good thing together. One very good thing. And when I look back on my life, I think I would have done all the foolish things together just to get her in our lives. And you. And I want to try it again – without being foolish, this time. I'm too old to get down on one knee, Raine – my knees aren't what they used to be. Fairy immortality only goes so far when one has taken a few dragon-spikes to the kneecap. But I hope you'll say yes, anyway.”

I could see my mother give him an impish smile. “I'll wait while you get a pillow to kneel on”

“Is that a yes?” His face brightened.

“Shh!” She silenced him with a kiss. “You'll spoil the surprise, Frank!”

I knew that their reverie was no place for me – not yet. Right now they needed to be alone, alone for the first time in twenty years, alone to whisper promises of times from before I was born, out of my earshot. I smiled as I left them, knowing as well as my father did that my mother's teasing was a sure-fire sign that she meant “yes.”

We'd be a family again.

I walked a little further down the battlefield, where Delano and his men were burying the pixie dead.

“This land,” I said. “This land is not Feyland.”

He looked up at me, resting on his shovel.

“I will make a decree,” I said. “The land where the pixies have fallen – this patch of earth here. I will call it Pixie Pass, in honor of the pixies who once lived there. Whom we fairies once drove out. And nobody will pass this land without honoring the pixies who gave their lives to save it.”

“Thank you,” Delano said quietly. There was no hint of sarcasm in him any longer.

“And we will welcome pixies in our courts. Summer and Winter alike. You don't have to stay in the northern lands – not unless you want to.”

“They're not so bad,” Delano gave a weak smile. “You would have learned to love them. Had you stayed. Had you married me.” He looked at me with regret.

“My home is here, Delano.” I extended a hand. “But you are welcome in it.”

“And you – and your kind – are welcome in the north.” He took my hand and we exchanged a solemn handshake.

“I will always call this place Feyland,” I said. “But I will let it be known that it once had ano          ther name. Skirnismal. And those pixies who live among us will be welcome to call the land by whatever name their language requires. They will have the same rights as fairies, and my patronage will extend to them all. I know you are King of the Pixies. But will you accept another title?”

“What is that?”

“The Duke of the North,” I said. “Of the United Lands. You will of course rule all the pixies,” I said quickly. “I would never dream of...”

“I accept.” Delano lowered his eyes. “But now,” he said sadly. “I must finish the burial?”

“Someone you know?” I motioned towards the grave.

“My son.”

Delano continued digging, no longer meeting my eyes. My heart filled with pity for him. How much of his life did I not know – would I never know? How much would remain a mystery to me?

I went further along the walls, to where the wolves were mourning their dead with a howl. Josephine was covered in earth as she dug each grave by hand, spurning all offers of magical help.

“I told Josephine the truth,” Logan came up behind me. “I told her that our engagement was for politics only – that I didn't want that. That I wanted you to marry for love, not for our support.”

“And?”

“She wasn't happy about having anyone but a Wolf on the throne. But it's different now. She trust you. You saved Feyland.”

“We all did,” I said.

“I told her that the Wolves would be granted full magic again, under the new Frostfire reign. I told her that wolves would be welcomed into the courts once more.”

“Court,” I said. “We want to build just one. Leave the Summer and Winter palaces where they are, but build a new one. The Palace of United Feyland. Right on the border between Summer and Winter. A palace for all fairies.”

Logan gave a faint smile. “Then I need to ask your Royal Highness for a favor.”

“What is it?”

“Shasta must have told you by now of her plan.”

I nodded.

“I want to go with her. On her quest. To help restore the Feyland suns. And for another reason. I want to find the source of Wolf Fey magic. I want to restore magic powers to my kind – to restore their lost glory. I want to go away for a while. Only...”

“Only what?”

“If you had a reason for me to stay?” His voice trembled. “If you had a reason to keep me here.”

I sighed. I knew this time my choice was final, that there was no going back. The war was over now, and as the chaos of the conflict had died down, it was time to give him the true answer. The honest answer.

“I give you permission to go,” I said, taking his hand. It was enough. He knew what I meant.

“I see,” he said.

“I will always welcome you back here,” I said. “As a friend. As my closest most dear friend. But now it's time for you to go. To find your magic. To find...to find someone who can really make you happy.”

Logan took a deep breath. “I figured you'd say that.” He forced a smile.

“I'm sorry.

“No, don't be sorry.” He turned away from me. “I think I always knew – deep down. I knew however much you loved me...it wasn't the way I loved you.”

“I do love you, Logan,” I said. “But you deserve someone who can love you in a different way, completely.”

“It'll be tough finding someone who can measure up to you.” Logan gave a bitter laugh. He looked down, and for a moment I almost wavered.

I had to be strong and let him go. “When you find her,” I said. “You'll know.” I fought back tears.

He opened his arms and I ran into them. It was to be our last embrace for a while. We held on for the longest time, but finally he kissed me on my forehead, turned and walked away. I felt my heart break but knew it was for the best.

At last I came around the castle walls to find Kian. He stood alone, looking out over the horizon. His face brightened when he saw me.

“Where have you been?” He took my hand.

“With Logan.”

“Oh,” his face fell.

“Saying goodbye. He's leaving. He's going with Shasta and Rodney and Rose. On a quest. They've gone to find the suns. To get them back.”

A smile came to Kian's face. “Then...?” He finished the thought telepathically.

I nodded.

“Then we're here,” Kian looked out over Feyland.

“Here we are.” I looked out with him – over the valleys and mountains, over the forests and oceans. Everything was faint in the magic-light, but its beauty was even now unmistakable.

“Then there's something I have to do.” Kian dropped to his knee, taking hold of my hand. “I believe, your Highness, I told you that if this war was ever over, I would ask you to marry me. I would ask you to be my Queen. And now here we are.”

“Here we are.”

I could feel the tears stinging at my eyes. I thought of all we had gone through to get to this moment – of all the pain and confusion, the misunderstandings, the deaths. All at once I felt tired, more tired than I had been in my life. My limbs ached; my muscles cried out for release. All the adrenaline that had kept me going for the past two years left my body, and I sobbed with the flight of my tension.