I rip off the ring, throwing it to the floor. Like a tidal wave, my magic floods back. I close my eyes, focusing on the forest—my forest. I sense each tree, each wild rose as it wraps around the dusty boughs of the spruces, and every one of the birds as they roost for the night.
I feel my creatures, from the tiniest faunaweaver to the barghest that stalks our human driver as dusk approaches. The woods have gone wild in my absence. My decrees have been abandoned, my subjects doing whatever they wish, many yearning for order and others ready to challenge it.
I call to them, letting my magic touch theirs, letting it run free after too many weeks of confinement. Whispers echo through the woods—the heir has returned to West Faerie.
“I’m your queen,” I say to Ian, fully accepting my mantle for the first time. “Obey me.”
Ian stares at me as my magic encircles the carriage, his mouth open and his pulse thrumming in his throat.
“Alex is mine,” I command. “You will transfer his illanté agreement to me.”
The tether shimmers as I say the words, moving from Ian’s wrist to my own.
“What’s going on?” Lord Cavinder breathes.
I meet Alex’s eyes as I answer, “I’m no longer a puppet.”
“The contracts?” Alex manages, breathing hard.
Slowly, I turn to Ian, and then to Lord Cavinder. “They didn’t take effect.”
Lord Cavinder straightens like he was struck by a bolt of lightning. “What do you mean?”
“Perhaps because I signed them when I was bound. The magic isn’t holding me to my promises.”
“That’s impossible,” Ian snarls. “It’s still your signature—”
The carriage goes quiet as Phillip produces the contracts from the inside pocket of his jacket. They’re torn in half, right down the middle of my signature.
“Phillip!” Lord Cavinder yells.
“I didn’t feel right about it,” he says, avoiding his boss’s eyes. “Not after I sat in Alex’s office and heard what you did to his father.”
Alex stares at Phillip, dumbfounded.
“What…” Frederick begins, finding his voice first. “What did you do to Mr. Devereaux?”
The horses slow, and the carriage comes to a stop.
Alaric glances toward the window and then says to me, “We must have arrived at your brother’s estate.”
“We were still moving?” Frederick says as if just realizing it. “The driver didn’t notice the racket?”
Alaric suddenly laughs, and Alex smiles next to him.
A few moments later, raised voices sound from outside the carriage as the driver speaks with whoever has come to greet us. I hold my breath, dreading the moment we step inside the manor and I must face Brahm.
But that moment comes faster than I expect. Before I can get my thoughts in order, the carriage door swings open with a crash, and my older brother looms in the doorway. He’s always towered over me, but he looks massive now—a wall of formidable iron. His eyes find mine, and I gulp.
“You’re back,” he says, punctuating the words with a staccato sigh at the end. His eyes move over the rest of the group. “And you’ve brought company.”
“Is your dungeon full?” I ask.
He raises his brows. “Not at the moment.”
“I need you to arrest this man.” I nod toward Lord Cavinder. “Do you think you have room for Ian as well?”
Brahm looks at the count, and the smile that spreads across his face is nothing short of terrifying. Without asking a single question, he says, “I believe I can accommodate him.”