Their Promised Queen

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

            Ruby guides me out the door and into a grande hallway. There are a lot of large paintings hanging up in the hallway. One of them looks familiar to me, a woman and a man holding a toddler lovingly. I stop Ruby and take a closer look at the painting. Is that me?

            “Ruby, is this my parents? Is this me?” I look at her. She nods. I remind myself to come take a closer to look at it after this party. I wonder what kind of party this is. I am still not even sure what the Fae are. I mean, I know they are Fairies but that is about all I know of them. Of us, I mean. Wow, my life has changed drastically in the last few weeks. Not too long ago, I thought I was a totally normal person, just with some weird eyes and ear shapes. Wait, that makes total sense now! I reach up to touch my ears, they’re pointy, like Ruby’s ears are. Do I have wings? I look over to my best friend. I really noticed her this time. Every time I have looked at her in human form, it has been normal. But now that I can actually SEE her fairy form, she is absolutely gorgeous. Her large blue eyes, long flowing blonde hair. She has muscles, but not outrageously so, just enough that I wouldn’t want to get in a fight with her. Her face is like a small oval and her ears pierced with these diamond red rubies. She is pretty distracting. I look behind her but see no wings or indication of such. “Ruby, do I have wings like the others?”

            “Yes, you have wings. The point in the party tonight is so that everyone can see you once more and watch you become the Queen. It has been the talk of the realm for hundreds of years.” She tells me, still holding my hand. I nod, like this is all normal.

            “Wait, you said hundreds of years? I’m only 18 years old.” I exclaim. “How is that even possible?”

            “Time passes differently here. In reality, we are a few hundreds of years old. In human years, you are 18 and I am 21. In the Fae realm, you are 500 years old and I am a little over 700 years old. We live a very long life here.” How she can keep a straight face while explaining this to me is extraordinary. I just feel like my jaw keeps getting lower and lower. How is this possible? How did I grow up not knowing any of this? 

            Without even noticing, we have come up to a large set of doors. Behind the doors I can hear people talking and music playing. A muffled voice starts to belt out something I do not understand right away. Then I hear my name, but at the same time, it sounds odd.

            “Elora, Queen of Seloria!” Seloria, that must be the name of this place, of my kingdom. Ruby lets go of me as the doors open, I try to grab for her hand again but before I know it, I am being swept up inside the ballroom by a magical force. This force brings me to a stop in front of the dance floor. The beautiful colors of this room, they’re magical. And the people, they’re dancing in the air! 

            “Queen Elora, may I have this dance?” That voice, the familiar voice that I kept hearing in my dreams! I turn around and this handsome gentleman is standing behind me. He is in aquamarine military suit with medals adorning it. His grey wings are folded against each other on his back. They aren’t colorful like the little women who helped me into this dress, but they are no less beautiful. They have this beautiful design on them that almost tells a story. He holds out his hand to me as another gesture of what he is asking.

            “Umm…yes. But please, just call me Elora.” I feel a creeping of red flowing up my cheeks. “I would love to dance.”

            “Alright, Elora.”

            He leads me out to the dance floor and we dance for a time without saying anything. He is a mighty good dancer. No trips or mishaps, like stepping on feet. Dan was awful with that. Always landing on one of my toes.

            “What are you thinking about my Queen?” he asks, interrupting my thoughts of Dan.

            “I am at a disadvantage here. Everyone obviously knows who I am. But, I do not know anyone besides my aunt and my best friend. Who are you?” I ask him. He twirls me around before answering me.

            “I am Salzavere, but if it is easier to call me by a human name, you may call me Zeke,” he responds. “That is the name I have used when I go into the human realm.”

            “It is a pleasure to meet you Zeke. What do you do here? You are wearing a military suit, so I am assuming it is something like that?”

            “I am the head guard here at the castle. We protect the castle and your realms people while we awaited your return.” As the song came to an end, he walked me over to a sitting area clad with large, comfortable cushions and long chairs, almost like beds. “I must go, I just wanted to meet my future wife. Enjoy the rest of your evening my dear.”

            “Your future wife???” I ask a little shrill. A few of the fae around us glanced our way, then back to their conversations they went. “I am only 18! I can’t be a wife!”

            “In our realm you are hundreds of years old. I would have married you 100 years ago, but since you were in the human world, it wasn’t as widely accepted as it is here. Your parents promised you to me through my parents before they died. Even though they are no longer here, I plan on keeping them to their promise. Goodnight.” He said and started walking away. “Please do enjoy yourself. You are going to love tonight.”

            “May I dance with you El?” Oh thank goodness! Ruby! I jump up and wrap my arms around her. 

            “I would love that very much! Is what Zeke said true? Am I promised to him?” I ask her, about in tears. 

            “You are fated to Salzavere. That much has never been disputed. The promise that your parents made to his parents is more of a formality. There is something in our realm that happens when ones fated soul mate is born. It is called a pull. You are his fated soul mate and the moment you were born, he was by your side. At the time he was only 2 in human years. But, the pull brought him to you in seconds. That is why your parents promised you to him. But, to tell you honestly, sometimes powerful people have more than one fated soul mate. Some can have two or three. Its uncommon but not unheard of.” She explains, but she wont look at me. She hurriedly wipes a tear away from her face.

            “Ruby, what’s wrong?” I ask her. “Did something happen to your soul mate?”

            “You could say something like that. Yeah.” She tells me. When she’s turned back around, she has a smile on her face again and the tears are gone. “I would still like that dance!” And for the second time that evening, we danced without a care in the world. 

            After a few dances, Ruby pulls me to a throne area. There is one throne directly in the middle, I can only assume it’s mine. She sits me down, backs away, bows, and then walks over to the right side of me and stands there. I’m getting ready to ask her what is going on when an older gentleman walks over to me. Everyone is standing still, no sounds, no music. It is quiet. He looks at me and nods his head.

            “You are ready. Once I do this, you will have your wings and you will understand your native tongue. Shall we?” He asks me. But, it wasn’t really asked as a question. I nod at him anyways. He speaks in the same language as before, one I have yet to understand. If it was my language for many years, why do I not remember it? “My Queen, do you promise to protect, care, and stand by the sides of your people until your dying day? Do you promise to only use your magick for good?” he asks me. I nod and then realize he wants a spoken promise.

            “I promise.”

            “Then as I say these words, everything that was taken from you will be restored.” As he says this, my mind feels like a haze has fallen on it and my shoulder blades start to burn.

            “Aaahhh!” I yelp out. Ruby rushes to my side.

            “Just hold on, I know it’s painful.” She sounds like she’s getting ready to cry. I wonder why she would cry. I can’t really register much of anything beyond this pain. Next thing I know, the pain is gone and Ruby is holding my elbow. “It is finished?”

            “Yes, I believe so.” I tell her. I start hearing everyone shouting excitedly and realize, I can understand them! I understand it all! “I can understand what they’re saying!” I tell her. She just nods and wipes a stray tear from my face. As she does so, she looks back and gasps. “What? What’s wrong?” 

            “Nothings wrong. Your wings…they’re absolutely amazing!” Her hand clasps over her mouth and I hear gasps from around the room.

            I will my wings to open and when I look behind me, I see that same blue/green light from before emanating from these beautiful clear wings. 

            “My Queen, welcome home!” Ruby and the old fairy say at the same time and bow. Then everyone does the same. When I look out over the ballroom, everyone is bowing. In the back, I see Zeke, staring at me. He bows then walks out the door. Hmm…I wonder what that is about.            ________________________________________

            At the end of the celebration, Ruby and my aunt walk me back to where my room is. My aunt gives me a kiss on the cheek.

            “I will see you in the morning. We can talk then. If you need me, I will be in my room which is across the hall, right there.” She says, point to a white and gold painted set of doors. I nod at her and she leaves. 

            “Where is your room Ruby?” I ask her, looking down the hallway.

            “I sleep in the room next to you. Our rooms are connected. It allows me to reach you quicker in emergencies. But, until you are comfortable, I don’t mind having a sleepover.” Winking she throws herself onto my huge bed. “Oh wow, this is much more comfortable than mine!” 

            I roll my eyes and start searching for my closet. I need to get out of this dress. How do I pick clothes for these huge wings?! I open the first door to my left. It looks like it goes to the bathroom. Nope, not it. I open the next door, but it’s an empty closet. Nope, not that one either. I open another and finally find it. I pull out what appears to be a low lying t-shirt and a pair of shorts. This will be perfect for my wings! I quickly change and get back out to my room. In the amount of time it took me to find my closet and get changed, Ruby has already gotten changed and under the covers with a bowl of popcorn. She pats the spot next to her.

            “Come eat some popcorn! I didn’t see you eat anything last night at the graduation party nor tonight at the celebration. You need something.” I seriously love this girl.

            “I could definitely use some popcorn.” I say jumping into the bed. We eat our popcorn talking about how the night went. She examines my wings once more, touching them with the utmost care. “They’re magnificent, aren’t they?” I ask.

            “They definitely are. I can’t believe how huge they are!” She goes to touch them again, but at the last moment draws her hand back. “Well, we should get to bed.”

            She puts the bowl on the bedside table, turns the light off and brings the covers over herself. I pull myself farther under the covers and just lay there. How am I supposed to sleep after today? She must be crazy to think I can just fall asleep. After what seems like forever, I start drifting off. But before my brain completely shuts off, I hear Ruby mumble something.

            “What did you say Ruby?” I whisper to her. For a second I don’t think she heard me. Then I hear it. “I…love you El”. Wait…did she just say she loved me?