THE ONLY PRINCE [High Fantasy Quest Adventure w/ Fae Romance]

Chapter Thirteen

JOVANNA'S MUSIC BOX escapes my grasp, falling to the ground.

What's left of its scarred delicate exterior cracks open, exposing the intricate gears and cogs within. The clatter of the music box hitting the floor echoes, followed by the tinkling of metal rolling across the wood. The sound is eerie and haunting.

A forgotten melody.

Memories rush back to me like a river breaking through a dam.

Images flicker across my vision as I stumble back.

The circling raven over the village.

The dagger-like bolts of lightning.

The ear shattering thunder, the howling wind, the snow, the prince.

Aunt Elora.

Memories swarm around me like a whirlwind. Crash over me like waves that threaten to pull me under.

Aunt Elora's face, her crinkled crows feet smile darts before my eyes. Her laughter, her wisdom, her gentle touch— torn away from me like pages ripped from a book.

The Prince—Noadok. His eyes like dark storm clouds, his presence supernatural and regal.

As I stagger into my bookshelf, I'm suddenly aware, he is not who I had dreamt of last night, and I'm left with yet another mystery to solve. Books tip like dominos, crashing to the ground as I grasp for something, anything to anchor myself. I struggle to breathe, clinging to the edge of the furniture, my knuckles aching with the effort. The room spins around me, the broken music box forgotten on the floor as bursts of lightning and thunder crash through my mind. The conversation between Prince Noadok and my father unfolds again before me.

A prophecy that the Prince thinks is meant for me.

My mother.

MY MOTHER.

She's alive.

She's alive, out there somewhere. And... a Princess? Of the Summer Court? Did that mean my mother was fae?

That I'm part fae?

And my father's been lying to me about it.

About all of it. Hadn't the fae prince called my own father Prince Orion?

Then it dawns on me, that is who Orion had been raised by. Not just Fae, but Royal Fae.

Why?

Did Aunt Elora know the truth? Is that why she hated Orion telling stories of the other realm?

Did it matter if I couldn't ask her? If her body was frozen, cold and still, laying in a coffin of the very thing that had killed her?

No, it wasn't the ice that killed her. It wasn't the storm that killed her. It wasn't the cold.

It was that Prince.

From somewhere downstairs, my father yells. "Kaia? Are you alright?"

The sound barely registers in my ears as the revelation of my mother being alive burns through my thoughts like a raging fire. I struggle to compose myself, pushing the overwhelming emotions down like a heavy lid on a boiling pot. Swallowing heavily, hands clenched into fists at my sides wrapped in my undergarment skirt, I speak, afraid that it might still be sore from screaming in the storm.

"I... I'm fine!" I manage to utter, though even to my own ears, the words sound hollow and unconvincing.

How could I be fine?