When my mug is empty, I put on the dress my parents picked out. It’s to the knee, loose in the skirts, with charming front laces and capped sleeves. I feel worlds better finally out of Midscape clothes and borrowed robes from the Keepers.
Wandering downstairs while I wait for my parents, I take a turn around my shop. I can see Poppy made some adjustments while I was gone. I’ll need to put a few things back into place.
I can also see the ghost of Luke, standing in the doorway. But even that hateful memory isn’t as bitter as it once was. For all he risked, for as foolish as he was…maybe it was because of what he did that Eldas and I could finally see eye to eye. If I wasn’t so desperate for a way out, I might have just accepted Eldas as he was. Not as the man he was becoming.
The phantom sensation of his hands on my skin gives me a shiver. But the memory is immediately chased away by my mother’s voice.
“Are you ready to go?” She and Father stand at the bottom of the stairs.
“Yes,” I say, and we head off.
We take the long way through town and end up behind where the stage used to be. I can see signs of the new improvements made in this area. There are cuttings of the vines that grew over buildings piled up in the street, waiting to be burned or used for compost.
Father leads me around the side of the stage. I catch a glimpse of the entire town—the people I came back for. The people I love and owe. I take a deep breath.
“Let’s go,” he says.
I’m ushered onstage before I can collect myself. I think I was announced by the Head Council member, or Head Keeper? Maybe both? I stare out, standing where Eldas did months ago, looking out at the faces of everyone I once knew.
My heart is in my throat, trying to strangle me. Wrong, this is wrong, something in me screams, the Human Queen isn’t meant to be seen before her coronation. I’m not in the right place, I realize. I’m not meant to be here, with these people. For all I love them, and even though they will always be a part of my heart, I will never fit in with this world again.
With all eyes on me, I turn and run.