CHAPTER 199

"Please. I've seen the humans and how they fawn over Oberon and his host. The king has fallen in love with the human world at the detriment of our own." She smacked her hand on the armrest of her throne and rose. "What is it about the human world that seduces our kind, even our very own king? What can be so wonderful about them that he would willingly stay away?"

"He says the people love him." The messenger ducked his head in fear as the queen's fist lit up with emerald light. She spun out of her throne and slammed her fist into the empty throne next to hers, causing it to explode.

"But I love him," she cried. "Is my love not good enough? What of the love of our people, our children?"

On the ground, the real queen was shrieking in agony as she was forced to relive her worst days. More images flitted by of another king of music, one who would drive people to scream in his very presence. Mike recognized the singer immediately, but also recognized the silhouette of Oberon superimposed on top of him. The faerie king did not look well, and the final memory showed the queen with dark tears streaming down her face, kneeling over the broken throne.

"Why?" she whispered, clutching what was left of the throne. "Why did you stay until he died? You couldn't control him and he couldn't comprehend you, and now you're both dead as a result. Why must I be cursed with the burden of eternity all by myself? Was I not worthy of your love?"

The real queen was motionless now, and Mike watched as her body began to flicker as if she was about to vanish. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and came back into focus, only for Oberon to appear near her side.

"You weren't good enough," he whispered. "Not enough for me to stay."

"Shut up," she whispered, and her body flickered again. Another Oberon stepped forward from the mist, then another, and all of them chastised the queen. Some pointed out her failings while others spoke of the wonders of the human world, and she flickered rapidly now, her shoulders hunched forward.

She was about to wake up. Mike was about to win, and he should have been elated, but all he felt right now was sadness. The queen may have treated him and Cecilia unfairly, but knowing now the true reason for her rage, he felt like he understood why.

"Let her out," he said, squeezing Lily's hand and hoping she was still there.

"What?" Her voice echoed, but the queen didn't seem to hear it.

"Let her out, Lily." He couldn't see her, but he could feel the succubus' presence. "Before she wakes."

"Romeo, are you fucking nuts?"

Mike yanked his hand out of Lily's and now stood outside of the door. He hooked his fingers in the lock and yanked, ripping out the mechanism and the doorknob itself. When he let himself in, the queen was almost gone, and when he touched her shoulder, she spun on him, her eyes wide in terror.

"Come on," he said, then led her out of the anxiety and back into the front yard of his home. The others were waiting for him as if they were statues, all except for Lily, who looked very disgruntled.

"Is this some trick, Caretaker? Now that you've seen my shame, you would—"

He put a finger to her lips. "Enough. Our fight is over."

"No, it isn't. Neither of us has awoken yet."

"It is." He looked over at the others. "No more fighting. You can all relax."

"I...I don't understand." Her eyes moved back and forth between the others in suspicion.

"But I think I do." He took her hand in his, and she tried to pull away, but he held tight. "All this time, I thought you just really hated mortals, but it was more than that. My world took something important from you, didn't it?"

"Oberon knew better," she whispered, her hand relaxing in his. "Yet he still went away."

"And it goes deeper. Cecilia fell in love with a mortal." He pictured her once more hanging over the shattered throne. "It's not so much that she loves me, but that one day I'll be gone and her heart will be broken, just like yours.

The queen scowled. "She doesn't deserve that."

"But that's life. You aren't used to the idea of losing a loved one, because your kind live forever. It's different for humans. Try as we might, we all move on, and we spend our brief lives learning that we will lose those we hold most precious."

"If you're trying to sway me with words, Caretaker, then it won't work."

"Not words. Actions. I challenged you to a duel, but there's a fundamental truth about me that you may not understand. I hate fighting. Maybe it would be easier to duke it out in here and make you miserable, but that wouldn't do anything to solve the fundamental issue here. If I win, you will still hate me, maybe even more so than before. Am I right?"

The queen said nothing, then nodded.

"I assume that I won't wake up unless I want to, right?"

She nodded again. "We are in here until you choose to wake or your mortal form dies. I'll admit, that was my contingency plan, our agreement said nothing about keeping you alive."

"Lily?" He looked over at the succubus. "Can you stretch us out?"

"Oh, always." She swung her tail around and stroked it seductively. "It's pretty much a guaranteed fit."

He rolled his eyes. "I mean time. Can you stretch out time?"

"You're no fun, but yes. Not like I did before, but that's your fault for being weak of mind and spirit." She released her tail and it whipped around behind her. "I won't bore you with the math, but I'll toss this bitch back into her bad dream long before I think you might die. Whatever your agenda is, it isn't the same as mine, you got it?"