The Light guards stepped into the room first. Next came the women servants, each one dressed in a different-color gown. I noticed Juniper was in soft rose gold. After the male servants came the Light Queen, stunning in a pale yellow gown, very much like the one in Jay's tapestry except not shimmering. Over it, she wore a white cape that swept the floor as she walked calmly toward the throne.
"James," the Light Queen said.
Absinthe writhed in front of the throne still, her fingers scratching at her neck. She seemed completely unaware of the arrival of the Light Queen.
Jay looked at the Light Queen, and he closed his eyes and let out a breath of relief, I felt myself fill with dread. There was something wrong.
Around the neck of the Light Queen, a white stone swung on a chain. I stared at it. The Light Queen's eyes were on Absinthe, watching the self-made new Dark Queen squirm.
"Absinthe was following your orders!" The revelation was so shocking that I spoke it aloud before I had thought it all through. I went to stand beside Jay.
It seemed as though everything stopped with those words. Even the Light Queen froze.
I stumbled on, looking at Jay, willing him to believe. "Jay, you had to serve the Dark Queen and Absinthe had to serve the Light Queen. You had to. Neither of you could disobey even if you wanted to."
The Light Queen made a gentle smile. "The girl is correct to a point. If I had commanded her to stay by my side at all times, she could not have left. But I had given no such command. Once she was gone, she could no longer hear my commands and so, did as she pleased. I have come here today to put things right."
The words seemed so reasonable. I wanted to be mistaken, but the stone still swung around the Light Queen's neck.
"But I saw the stones. Absinthe had identical miniature ones she was wearing them when she used magic to disguise me. She seemed to be drawing more power from it."
"You are mistaken, little one, and now you will be silent. There are more important matters at hand." The Light Queen's voice was firm, and several of her servants moved towards me.
"Artemis..." Jay said, shaking his head. "Only the Light Queen can use those stones. It's always been that way."
I turned to him, eyes flashing with rage. "I know what I saw!"
The crowd murmured at that. I wasn't sure what outcome the Dark Court would be most pleased with; probably the one with the most bloodshed. I had no doubt that they were at least glad someone was insulting the Light Queen.
Jay held up his hand. "I want to hear what she has to say." His announcement brought silence around us. I was marveled at that. He was leaning against the throne with blood streaking his body and clothes, unarmed, and yet he still commanded enough respect that everyone went quiet for him.
He nodded to me. "Speak now."
I took a deep breath and when I spoke again, I made sure that it was loud enough for everyone to hear. "I guess it's pretty obvious now that I'm not a normal human, I'm a witch, but I have been living as a human for... well... for eighteen years." Jay gave me a look, but I hurried on.
"I apparently was living on Dark territory very close to where the Dark Queen lived. When I was a little girl, I had three ghosts that watched over me. They were working for the Light Court.
"I moved to Freefall where I lived for a couple of years until she"—I pointed to Absinthe—"showed up at one of my mother's gigs. She took the guy we were living with aside, and a couple of minutes later, he tried to kill my mom. The next day we moved back here. A couple of days after that, my old ghost friends contacted me and said they needed me to play along with their plan.
