A/N: Now that I've bought and re-read Ironside, I caught a writing bug and this came to mind. Nothing special. Just a quick (very quick) little idea I had. One-shot. Reviews would be nice. Disclaimer: I totally own everything...in my dreams. Mad props to Holly Black.
They argue like dogs over a bone. Who will the Seelie crown go to? Who will be the next to wither, deformed in the shadow of such power? The thought sickens me. After seeing what has become of my poor brother and the despicable hag I once bowed down to in foolish idolatry, I know the circlet to be a curse. Never will I wear it. So who will it go to? What monster will spring forth now that I – a mere handmaiden – have cut down the last?
"It's done," the pixie known as Kaye had said, catching my hands as I agonized over my rash act. "Come on. Stand up, Ethine." The tone of her voice had been gentle and comforting. Amidst the chaos, she was looking after me. I, who had been her captive hours before and who had thought of her as nothing more than an ill-mannered schemer, untrained in the ways of our people. I, who had wished Silarial as my brother's lover instead of she. In spite of this, Kaye had rushed to my side to calm me. It is not unlike how she rushes to save my brother, even after he does something to prove how unworthy he is of her love. Yes, my eyes are open now. He – not she – was the undeserving one all along. In this dark hour, I see that the changeling before me is the only light left. All along, she has meant no harm. Her intentions are pure.
"Wait," she says now, helping me to my feet and snatching me out of my private musings. "Who do you want to get the crown?"
I am to choose?
"It doesn't matter what she says," seethes Talathain. I feel two thorns nestle into my heart. One stems from the look in his eyes, so unlike the looks of adoration I once saw in those sky-colored spheres. The other is from his loyalty to Silarial even in her death. His eyes have not been opened, and he walks as a blind monster.
"It does!" Kaye insists, once again speaking in my name. "Your Queen made Ethine her heir. Like it or not, she gets to say what happens now."
As Roiben's ghoulish chamberlain stomps out, I pour over what Kaye has just spoken. I get to choose what happens. I get to pick who the crown goes to. But who?
My eyes flicker to the pixie once more. Kaye stands defiantly, pure-intentioned amongst the arguing fiends. She knows right from wrong and unaccustomed to our ways, she could lead us into a new era. One wiped clean of the errors of the past. Before me stands the only one deserving of a crown.
But no. I will not harm the one wholly untainted heart left in our world. I will not sully Kaye's goodness or her happiness by cursing her with Silarial's legacy. To do so would make me no better than the dead tyrant lying cold and lifeless on the snowy ground.
"Kaye is correct," Roiben says, and I am shocked to find that for the first time in decades, we agree. "Let my sister decide."
I have resolved not to blight my brother's pixie love with the curse of a crown, and as he is already half-ruined and burdened with one…
"Take it," I say. "Take it and be damned."
It is minutes later that I see Kaye hold my brother up to keep him from falling. I see him leaning into her, grateful for the support. I see him laboriously turn after his promise to be a better ruler than Silarial. Silver eyes meet black ones and I can see how deeply their love for each other flows.
And as long as she is there to guide him, free of the crown itself, I feel hope.
A/N: First story in the Modern Faerie Tale world. What'd you think?