[Devona]
Arthur, Faye, and I took our meal outside, deciding that a picnic with the three of us would be more pleasant, and more private, than eating amongst the men. We have a lot to talk about. Including a very important, very special change to all of our lives. Faye has given us such an amazing gift. To know her body, her spirit, is hard at work growing our child feels miraculous. A miracle I don’t deserve. To be a family in this way again, after centuries of just wanting to have these two back, to reclaim her from darkness and save her from a cursed fate, to find her and to have her love, the love of both of them--it is more than I could have ever hoped to have again.
We sit together for several minutes, silent, watching the waves of the Eastern Sea against the shores of C
[Faye] Devona leads us around the castle perimeter to a large tower that stands separate from the main keep. As she pulls open a stiff wooden door, the afternoon light streaming in behind us casts shadows, our silhouettes darkening the floor covered in bird droppings and feathers of all shapes and sizes, colored from cream through russet to tan and blueish black. Overhead, several rows of wooden beams and shelving which house several small wooden boxes where feathered heads peer down at us, eyes following our movements in a very unnatural way. These birds are not ordinary birds, their gazes expressing deep emotion and intelligence. Even with the door open and small windows at the very top, there isn’t enough light to see everything clearly. Devona brings a bit of h
[Faye] Devona won’t look me in the eye since I asked her to keep the secret of our child from Arthur. She’s still angry, but she also cannot argue with my logic. Our argument, held away from everyone, was loud and involved a lot of tears, but in the end she came to understand something very important. That one, even two lives, are not worth more than an entire kingdom. Even if those lives are precious to you. We also agreed that with all the loss we have experienced, telling Arthur about this child and then losing us both would be something he might never recover from. I would have spared Devona the pain as well, but she discovered the truth only shortly after I discovered it myself, an
[Devona] It took most of the evening, but the tower is finally ready for us to perform the ritual that will send out the beacon, the call to arms, to all of the Round Table knights wherever they might be. It is a simple enough casting, but the details must be precise, the energy needs to be focused in the right way, and the power needed for this spell is immense. But in truth, I have no intention of activating this spell. Everything is in place to make it work, and if we wanted, it would only take a drop of blood and a well-chosen word to invoke. The goal, however, is to not let it get far enough to risk. We have no idea if Queen Mab is looking through the eyes of those she has infected, or if she is simply speaking into their ears. Either way, it would be easy for her to see that s
WARNING: Brief descriptions of rape (not graphic) and abuse. Read at your discretion. [Lance] I am sitting at a cafe admiring the fading sunlight as the lamps along the Champs Elysee begin to come to life with a warm electric glow. I am sitting alone, watching as lovers pass by, trying hard to move past my pain and heartbreak. Lisa, my latest girlfriend, left me this afternoon. It was a passionate affair that had lasted 6 weeks, only to peter out when I didn't give her the attention she was craving. As she ran off this morning, her clothing in a suitcase and toothbrush behind her ear, she threw one of my shoes at my head screaming, "No wonder your ex left you! You are a pathetic, sad,
[Arthur] Her blood covers my shirt, my pants, and my hands because even though I am not the one carrying her, Faye has lost so much blood it is unavoidable. How could we use her as bait? Why did we think this was the best plan, the only plan to find the traitor in our number? And how could we be so stupid as to underestimate the power and reach of a fae queen determined to keep her throne? But Faye did it, damn it, even if she hadn't meant to, even if the blood that invoked the spell had been stolen by knife point rather than offered freely. That spell, her beacon, worked a miracle. In the minutes since it ended, the cacophony of bird song has filled the night air as birds previously trapped have begun to come back to Camelot. Others, who were already h
[Devona] The mirror has grown cold. Did he get my message? Did he understand that I wasn’t just fighting for one life, but two? Or was he too distracted by war at our gates? The mirror released us into a small stone room. It is almost impossible to see, even with my fae-sharp eyes, the darkness is so complete. There are no windows, which is not unusual, but if there are torches they cannot be seen as all of them are unlit. I expected to find the three watchers here, hoping that the mirror spell had somehow gone wrong, but they are nowhere to be found. As Faye becomes weaker in my arms I kno
[Kaydence]Arthur had ordered me to make sure that Queenie made it to her cage and was locked up. Not a problem. I didn't trust those two idiots to get her there without losing her, and I enjoyed dragging that awful bitch into her cell. I’ve been wanting to give her a few bruises since the day I first met her, and now that I have memories of my previous life and her previous self, I am 100% convinced that my original assessment of her was, in fact, correct.She might look fancy, but she's a nasty, classless muthafucka.Yup, I said it. That damn skank deserves everything she has coming to her.I wish I could remember a bit more of the magic I had been learning from Merlin. We started lessons recently, but so far all I’ve managed to do is slip into the shadows
[Devona]She was mostly unconscious when they had me set her down on that gurney. I clasped her hand for as long as they let me, my tears flowing.“Oh gods, please help her. Our baby. She’s only 7 weeks pregnant.”Within moments an IV is inserted, one with hydration, the other with blood. She is so small. After weeks of torture by Mab’s hands, even with all of our gentle care, she is still so fragile, drained even further by the magic she had just performed and the blood she has lost. The fact that she is even alive to receive this help is miraculous. She should not have survived. In these last few weeks, she has faced many things that should have been impossible to survive.She is so strong, my brave little queen.
[Kaydence]I place a hand on her wrist. "Stop."She blinks up at me. In my mind I trace the rune for "peace" and watch in amazement as her body begins to relax, the flames melting away as her breathing stilled.Queenie's first reaction is relief. Her face goes still, every crease leaving her features. But then just as suddenly her relief turns to anger."How dare you!" she screams pushing over the table and running for the back door. The other players stand in a rush as drinks, cards, and chips go flying. Shouts chase her retreating form as she dashes between players."Balance," I call out, tracing the rune with my hand and watch in amazement as Queenie falls backward, her arms pinwheeling."Tranquility," the room goes still, everything stopping as if time itself couldn't be rushed. The people who were once angry and pushing their way towards us stopped moving. Soon Queenie and I are the only ones moving."Grace," I finish the incantation, moving with the speed and agility of a dancer,
[Queenie]We are getting low on supplies. It takes quite a bit of baneberry juice to make the sleep potion. Because we need to keep him perpetually asleep, I need a constant supply. In Torq, baneberries are not very common and the cost of exporting them is stretching our finances thin, even with Mab’s hidden stash of gold.“This is why we should have stayed in Delas,”Mab argues.“We didn’t need to buy anything when we were still there and…”“It was teeming with knights. I had to stay indoors the entire time,” I argue. “Torq is better. I can actually go outside and talk to people here.“You
[Kaydence]The morning is bright. Too bright. My eyes hurt from too much mead and not enough sleep and I find myself for not the last time wondering why I let Devona trick me into this quest.I must have been getting on her nerves. Either that or she just needed me to find something to do so that she could focus all of her attention on the queen. It doesn’t matter.“Are you still with us, Sir Kay?” Gawain is annoyingly chipper. He’s a morning person. He also has this annoying habit of deadnaming me that is getting under my skin.“It’s Kaydence, you dumb ass,” I grumble, blinking at him while I shield my eyes, my other hand firmly placed on the pommel of my saddle.He
[Kaydence]It's been two months since we lost Arthur in the battle for Avalon.Two agonizing months since my best friend fell into an enchanted sleep. I watch my mentor, Merlin Devona, cry over her every night. She tries to hide it from everyone else, but I know. How could I not? We spend most mornings together working on my skills as a paladin. I'm getting stronger, and more skilled, but not nearly as strong or as skilled as I was in my past life as Sir Kay. Kay had a lifetime to learn. I've only been at it a couple of months, and I know this, but it still doesn't keep the whole situation from feeling pointless and frustrating."Tell me why I have to do this?" I whine as Devona grinds some herbs in her pestle. "This has nothing to do with fighting.""All g
“Good night, my love,” I kiss her brow before sitting by her side in an old wooden chair, its velvet cushion long shredded with time. Faye does not respond, her eyes closed tight, her breath shallow. She has been like this since the night of the battle, unresponsive and unmoving, preserved by her own magic, for the last three months. Technically we won; Mab is dead, her forces are scattered, and I am serving as regent, bringing the powers of Avalon back together once more as we work together to reconstruct our world. But we also lost. Arthur is gone, missing. I cannot feel him through the bond, not since I saw Mab pierce him through the heart with her bone blade. Nobody is sure why his body was taken. Some suspect that Mab had one final plan in place and that somehow he plays a part in it. We are searching for him, following every lead throughout this world and the next, but each time we th
[Faye]I can't breathe. Something is in my throat. Choking, I sit up. Monitors in the room begin to ding erratically as I continue to gag, my heart beating fast."Hold on, Mrs. Drake" an agitated voice advises. "We just need to remove your breathing tube."Breathing tube?"Heart rate is elevated," a nurse records. "All other vitals seem to be within normal ranges."The long tube is removed from my lungs and I almost vomit at the pulling sensation. Like a fish caught on land, I begin to gasp."Breathe, Mrs. Drake, breathe," a calm hand rubs my back. “You’ve been incapacitated for a few days. We had to put you on a ventilator when you stopped breat
[Queen Mab] The moon is rising full and bright over the fields of Camelot. My head is light, heady with the power of nearly a thousand souls, freshly harvested. The blade I carry was crafted from the very bones of my enemy, Morgana, whose rotted corpse lay buried beneath the tower itself, along with her granddaughters, the famous oracles who predicted my doom. There is something satisfying about destroying their legacy with their own bodies that provides me with a sense of peace. Stretching my limbs, I feel invincible, unstoppable, as I prepare to move through the battle. My agents have served me well. Guinevere, ever the loyal servant, was more than eager to take her position mixed amongst Arthur's trusted advisors, staying invisible, passing the corruption of my curse onto those two gullible knights as she waited for my signal to attack. She knew that she’d
[Arthur]A page helps me into form-fitting leather armor I’ve never worn in this lifetime as I suit up and prepare for war. It doesn’t matter that I am only 19 years old. I am the king, whether I want to be or not. I was born to this, it is my destiny. It doesn’t matter that I have no memory of living this life. As soon as I pulled Excalibur through time to my hand I became the leader of these troops in the fight that has been building for centuries. No, millenia. Now the enemy is sitting just beyond the gates, setting up camp, watching and waiting for the right opportunity to strike.It is my duty to lead these soldiers, these knights into battle. But what do I actually know of war? I have tried to access the memories of my previous life, but unlike Faye and Kaydence, I do not have a deep connection to the King Arthur I was. I have flas
[Lance]Holding my head, I scream, falling to my knees.“Camelot…Camelot…Camelot…Camelot…Camelot…Camelot”“Monsieur,” a hand shakes my shoulder, “Est-ce que ça va monsieur?”“Non,” I shake my head, “non…non…non…non…”The earth starts to shake. Glasses on tables begin to rattle, some falling to the stone floor of the cafe. People sitting at tables continue their conversations, laughing as if they do not see or hear everything else happening around them. Even my screams, echoing through this restaurant, are something they are trying to ignore.On the edge