Eve practically pulls me through the back roads to the castle, each one blocked off by a row of guards. She doesn’t speak, and instead keeps towards her destination. I’m nothing more than a cat following in a tiger’s footsteps.

The castle steps seem somewhat eerier than before, as if the oil torches aren’t casting enough light on the snow-covered surface. Eve stops at the top steps and points out. “It should begin soon.”

I trace the direction of her finger. “What should?”

She doesn’t answer, for the answer shows itself to me. She is pointing to “the pit” – a large hollow hole in the middle of the kingdom where a good chuck of Northern Aldridge’s civilians work. It is the site of an ancient meteor impact, so its rock has special properties – namely, the ability to retain magic like a storage compartment. It is here the magical crystals get fashioned and the Level Twos give their energy to them.

Out of the pit comes a pale white glow, which soon intensifies to a thicker cream color, before settling on a solid yellow.

“What’s happening?” I have never seen the pit glow like that before.

“You heard my order from before. What you are witnessing is a complete devotion from everyone in the kingdom to magic. No man, woman, or child is hoarding their powers away. The Angels will be so proud of me next time with all the crystals we make.”

If she is still queen at the time. I bite my words, not daring to think of the latter situation. No matter how many soothing words I tell her at night about the usage of healing magic, it’s not particularly useful without allies. Should a rebellion occur, it’s not like she could burn up a rebellion like her mom, and she had lost her mom as an ally only an hour ago.

If it did come to a rebellion, she’d only have a few guards to defend her, including me. But I’m not entirely sure I’d defend her myself. After all, if the rebellion succeeded, as it most likely would, I’d be executed for my relation to her.

A high-pitched wail shrieks from the north. Eve ducks, and I cover my ears. It’s like a combination of the sound of nails on a chalkboard and a squeaky wheel.

When it ends, we rise ever slowly, half expecting the kingdom to be on fire or worse. Yet, despite a few dark clouds gathering above the Lural mountains to the north, there’s nothing particularly different.

“What was that?” Evelyn attempts to straighten out her side ponytail, but failing that, rips out the hair band holding it in place.

“I don’t know.” It’s a rhetorical question, but either way, I’m a bit scared about all of this.

Eve takes on last glance to the north. “Probably nothing. A Norlax waking from its hibernation, I suppose.”

“Even if they did make those kind of noises, Norlaxes wake in March, not October.”

She doesn’t pay me much heed. “I am going to the Beriac forest. I hope you will join me.”

Has she gone insane? “You know you can’t. Nobody’s ever come back from trying to find the other side. But even if there is another side, you have a kingdom to rule. Are you going to leave your people alone instead of guiding them to your goals?”

She pats my head like I’m a child. “I don’t mean exploring. I need somewhere private to tell you some plans for the kingdom. We won’t leave sight of the kingdom, I promise.”

I suppose I don’t have much of a choice. I ensure my quiver has enough arrows should something go wrong, and proceed to follow Eve west past the castle.

The Beriac forest is a massive assortment of trees, stretching south from the wall all the way up to the Lural mountains. The further west one marches, the more distance spreads between the wall and the Lural mountain. Yet the Beriac forest covers that space and then some, even encroaching on some mountain slopes.

The lush evergreens tower above us, shading the word in the darkness of a fake night. Needles crunch beneath our feet on top of the packed snow and ice. I continue to check back as the glowing city grows frighteningly distant. We’re not particularly far in, but with all the stories of gallant heroes who dared attempt to explore the forest never to return, I didn’t want to take any chances.

The high pitch wail shrieks again, this time much closer that before. We cover our ears, begging it to stop, yet it drones on and on without end.

The city seems to glow brighter than before, a surefire sign more civilians are giving their magical energy to the crystals. I can’t help but wonder if the shrieks and the eerie glow are somehow related. But it’s an idle thought: we know the source of the glow, not the shriek.

Eve shakes her head. “I think we are far enough.” She’s trying to ignore what she doesn’t like. She’ll never be a good queen if this is how she acts. But I’ll need to defend her all the same.

“Why did we come out here?” Even with the city in view, I still feel like we’re breaking some rule.

“This is about my mother. You saw how she acted during my ascension ceremony. She defied me. She cannot let go of her former status of queen.”

It’s not much of a surprise. Eve didn’t particularly seem regal with her temper tantrum.

Eve grips on the bark of a tree. “People are too used to having her as a queen. I need to make sure people understand I am the ruler now, not her.”

She is making a valid point. Transitions are never easy, and are usually solved via a massive show of power. My dad still remembers how Eve’s mother made fire dance in the sky to make the civilians fear her. Yet Eve can’t do anything like that – they’d only stand in awe of her pretty lights.

I move close to her. “I know you are, and I know you can’t do all the things she did to make your people fear you. But there’s another way to rule instead of fear. It’s through love. Let your people know how much you care about them. See that all their needs are taken care of, and work to make them better. Maybe even ask those ‘Angels’ for more than what they give. They may not know we’re suffering as we are.”

She breaks off a piece of bark from the tree. “Angels know everything. They know exactly how much we need, and give it to us. Asking for more is gluttony.”

I should have known better than to bring up the commoner’s deepest wishes. “Then there are plenty of other ways to rule with love. Instead of giving the majority of the food and supplies to the Level Fours, why not spread them out among all the people? If everyone chips in a little, you can stop a lot of suffering.”

She tosses her bark aside. “No. Your idea is good and all, but it’s too quick, and it involves fighting for love – something the civilians should give me for no reason other than I am their queen. No, I need to get rid of my mother somehow. I need to kill her.”

I drop my hand. “What are you saying? She’s your mother!”

“She is also in my way. I will not let anyone stand in the way of my rule. She gave far too much leniency to defiance, and that is what led to the coup d’état yesterday. I won’t allow that to happen.”

She can’t do something as horrible as matricide in cold blood! What kind of civilian would ever respect her then? But she’s determined, so I have to appeal to her some other way. “How can you? You can’t overpower her. She’d fry you to a crisp.”

Eve smirks. “The art of healing also involves knowing death. A little poison in her drink at dinner tonight, and she will never know the difference.”

“Eve!”

She leans on a tree. “I know the myth about matricide bringing curses on the perpetrator. I do not believe such things. The Angels are the one true religion. I will rip out the tongues of anyone who says other—”

My open palm strikes her cheek, forcing her head aside. Her eyes blaze up. “You dare strike the queen? Who do you think you are?”

“A concerned civilian.” I’m going to die for my actions, I know it. But somebody has to tell her the truth. “And one who would like to call herself your lover. But if this is how you’re going to act, then you might as well kill me and get over it. Have my words meant nothing to you? Do you not understand ‘every life is precious’ and think you can simply dispose of people who stand in your way? At least this time I can tell you for certain what your mom’s purpose is: thirty-four years of wisdom on how to rule.”

I kick at the snow. “If you kill her, you might as well kill me alongside her. She’s a human being, and no matter what she did, she doesn’t deserve death for telling you your folly.”

“Folly?”

“Yes, the folly of forcing the entire kingdom to create your stupid magic crystals. The ‘Angel’ told you they were sufficient. That’s all you can expect out of someone like them. They don’t care about you or me, so they’re not going to praise you on a job well done. You either provided enough for their trade, or not enough. But you’re making even the Level Ones contribute the little magic they have. Your mom is right. You’ve gone too far.”

I lay down my bow and quiver. “Even an amateur can pierce the heart. If you wish to execute me and go on your way, then do it. But I won’t stand around and allow you to commit such heinous acts.” I hold my hands out like an eagle to show no resistance, and close my eyes to wait for the fatal shot.

But instead of pain, a soft warmth wraps around my chest. Eve buries her head in my shoulders and sniffs. “This is why I love you. You always know my faults.”

I put my arms around her. Maybe she could still be a good queen if I steer her in the right direction.

It takes another high-pitched wail for her to finally calm down. This time, the noise is seemingly on top of us and knocks us to our feet. Yet it’s simply a figment of the imagination, as nothing but the grey snow-laden clouds hang above.

Eve pulls herself up. “We should head back. I need to undo my ridiculous command before someone hurts themselves.”

I have to agree.

“But before we do, I must ask you one thing. You saved the blasphemer before, and you spoke low of the Angels. Why? They created us, so why do you not honor them?”

The tiger has finally cornered the kitten. I can try and submit to it, or I can strike back. But I’ve lied to her for far too long to make her happy. She needs to know the truth.

“I don’t believe they did. They’re not divine figures. They are humans with white wings. I know saying this is a warrant for my death, but I don’t believe in them, and my parents don’t either. My grandparents even fought for freedom from them, but your mother killed them.”

Eve doesn’t seem angry. Rather, she seems saddened by my revelation. “Yes, such a statement is reason enough to order an execution. Or, as it shall be, was.” She clenches her fist. “I declare that from this day on, nobody shall be executed for their religion.”

I throw my arms around her. “So you’re all right with me believing what I do?”

“No. I will ensure you spend your training hours in the church learning the truth. Not believing in Angels is a sin unto itself.”

And a girl loving a girl is a sin as well. But this isn’t the time or place for such a statement. I can work on changing her a little bit at a time.

Our faces are perilously close to one another. Eve’s eyes sparkle and pull me in. If I need to continuously remind myself this girlfriend thing is an act, is it really an act anymore?

“Do you mind?” she asks.

I let my lips do the talking. Our lips meet, and for just a moment, there is nothing else that matters in the world. She has me, and I have her. Our bodies are one, sharing our warmth and our love.

But another sort of warm comes from our side, this time much more sinister and unnatural. I give Eve a final squeeze before we break our kiss to see what’s going on. But nothing could have prepared me for what is now before us.

“Wh-What is this?!” Eve shrieks.

Fire licks high in the sky from the city between the trees, flittering through the various roughshod houses. Yet, this is no domestic fire, as the flames themselves are black and grey. The flames strike houses and instantly set them ablaze despite the heavy snowmelt on the rooftops.

This fire isn’t localized either. The entire kingdom as far as we can see is on fire.

Black specks flitter around above the kingdom like flies above honey. They dive out of the sky to the streets below, and each time they do, they let out a soft, yet no less terrifying, shriek like the ones we heard earlier.

As a girl, I had read about something like this happening. It had been in a book of fairy tales and myths my parents used to read to me to get me to sleep and teach me morals. This particular one had been written to teach me about the dangers of hubris.

I don’t have time to reason this out. Mom and Dad are in there! Fairy tale of not, this is reality right now. Denying it will get us nowhere. I need to get in there and make sure they get out all right. It seems Eve has the same sort of idea, as she’s already running to the city – her stupid blue ascension dress making it ever more difficult to run. Why couldn’t she have worn something a little more comfortable today?

I strap my bow and arrows on my back. If these specks really are who I think, then I’m going to need them. My parents’ lives may depend on them. I charge toward the city and my future.