What now?
Who leads us?
They are questions I cannot answer.
I cannot celebrate, and I cannot rest.
I can’t even eat.
I see the worry in my monsters’ gazes. I am simply a wraith, floating through the dark castle without purpose or hope.
I have done everything I was asked to, and I have sacrificed so much. Even though I have the love of many good men, it almost doesn’t feel right.
It’s almost as if I should plunge from this tower and join my sister.
Slipping from their arms in the middle of the night, I find myself in the highest point of the black castle, my gaze trained east to the golden one.
My feet dangle on the edge, my eyes closing with the breeze.
Lights flicker all over the realm, and laughter and music reach me even here, but my heart is broken, and I do not know how to fix it.
“You cannot. Only time can heal it, but it will never be the same. Not fully.”
I whirl at the voice, my heart thumping as Emelyn stops before me.
She is as ghost-like as I feel, her magic keeping her alive, despite being the phantom who healed the lands.
Her memory, or soul at least, floats before me, watching me carefully where I perch on the edge. A crown sits upon her head, and a soft smile curls her lips.
“To love is to suffer. To live is to be in pain, Cora, our savior. You know that more than most. In pain, we find darkness, and in darkness, we find truth. I wish your journey had been easier, but I’d be lying if I said I was sorry.”
“At least you are at peace,” I whisper as a large, black shadow forms behind her.
Her smile softens as she looks over her shoulder and back to me. The shadow morphs and solidifies until I see King Kulmak standing behind her, his strong hand cupping her shoulder.
His crown is on his head, and his once grief-stricken, mad gaze is at peace as they watch me, his arms coming around to embrace his wife.
“I know how you felt now,” I find myself admitting. “Why you would burn the world, start a war…do anything. This feeling…” I slam my fist to my chest as more tears fall. I didn’t think it was possible to find more tears to cry. Succumbing to it, I drop to my knees and weep. “I can’t live with it.”
“You can and you will,” the king rumbles, and in his voice, I hear my own minotaur’s ancestor. “You must. The realms need a leader now. They need a queen, and queens do not live on their knees.”
“It is okay to grieve, Cora, but remember she is still with you in memory, in your heart. Destiny has a plan for us all,” she offers mysteriously as they crouch before me, their hands outstretched. “As it does for you. Your purpose is not yet over. My king is right—these lands need a leader, one who is sure, strong, steadfast, and dedicated. One who knows the pains of life, one who came from a humble beginning but has a drive for equality and happiness. They need you, Cora, as it was always supposed to be. I saw you so many years ago. You were so brilliant and bright that even in death, I had hope, and I give that to you now. Save them, Cora, and they might just save you back.”
I place my hand in theirs, and although it’s just a ghostly touch, their strength fills me, even as my tears fall.
“Do not give into the pain. Use it as you always have, my queen.” The king bows with his words—a sign of respect I don’t expect.
“And know we will always be here, and that we are eternally grateful,” Emelyn adds.
Their touch slowly disappears, and once more, I am alone with only the moonlight, but something in their words gives me comfort.
They are right—I can’t give into this pain.
Kai is gone, my suffering will not change that, but to honor her memory, I must live on.
To tell the stories about her.
To breathe life back into her and into our lands.
