The Awakening

Chapter 28

"Like the galaxies, her darkness is full of magic, stardust, and mystery."

                                  -Bruisedmelodies.

My mom's mom.

I gape at her. An emotion flits over her face, gone before I can analyze it.

I didn't realize she was still alive. Doesn't a queen have to die before another monarch can assume the throne?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Freya asks.

My grandmother.

"I didn't...I thought you were dead" I tell her.

She smiles softly "Why would you think that?"

"Um...Well. Casimir is the king. Logic requires the throne to be empty before another can lay claim to it. Right?"

She shakes her head, her golden cloud of hair ruffling and resettling on her shoulders "The throne was empty before Casimir ascended on it. I retired."

You can retire from queenship?

That would mean she was the one who named my mother, next in line to the throne. It means she knew when my mother died and she allowed her murderer to become king.

Does she know who killed her?

I narrow my eyes at her "Did you know Casimir killed my mother? Did you?"

She closes her eyes on an exhale but doesn't answer.

I scoff in disbelief.

"You knew! How could you let him become king after that? You rewarded his crime with power!" I shout.

My voice echos for a moment, there's a slight rustling on the trees and then with a loud screech some birds fly away.

Freya studies me, eyes glittering dangerously in the ensuing silence "I'm going to let that impudence go because I assume you didn't know any better, but don't you ever talk to me like that again."

I stew in silence, arms folded over my chest.

"When I discovered what my son did, I was furious. They say a mother doesn't have a favorite child. That couldn't be the furthest from the truth.

My daughter was my pride. Beautiful, kind hearted, and selfless. Our people loved her. It was no surprise to anyone when I named her the heir to the throne a couple of years before I retired." She inhales deeply glancing around us unseeingly.

"But after I made that announcement strange things began to happen. Fatal accidents. Someone was trying to kill her. We tightened security around the palace but the danger only intensified. I was heartbroken when I sent Niniane off to the human realm to protect herself, while we took care of the danger here.

The year I retired, I sent Casimir to get his sister, he was the only one I could trust with her location. He came back some days later with news of her death."

I swallow blinking my stinging eyes as I listen to her.

"Casimir came back with a darkness to his soul, a cruel gleam in his eyes and I knew. I knew he had committed treason. I asked him about it. We had an unholy row but he wasn't remorseful. I had two choices, arrest him for his crime and lose my remaining child, or let him off with a warning. I did what was best for Alfheim. The realm wouldn't have survived that upheaval."
I close my eyes, pressing my fingertips to my lids tightly to contain the tears that were threatening to fall.