“That’s where you’re wrong. He will relent on that because he knows how much we’re hurting,” Declan insisted. “Devinshea never shirks his duties, and he will eventually get Rhys to see reason as well. But that is not what I want to talk to you about. I want to talk about how to fix this. You are the only one who will see this cannot be allowed to stand.”
“What?” I asked. “I assure you I’m more than happy to support my son’s decision concerning the Fae who tried to force him to do their will.”
“That was the Unseelie,” Declan argued. “One of the reasons Mother is in trouble is the fact that she wouldn’t force Rhys to perform his duties. She is heartsick over the entire thing but you will not see it because despite the fact you have a crown, you have never sacrificed for it.”
“Never sacrificed?” I’d pretty much died for that fucking crown. I sacrificed for it every single day, and I’d never truly wanted it in the first place.
A hard look came into Declan’s eyes. “Not in the way we have. You’ve never been forced to choose between the crown and your children.”
“I can promise you my crown would lose that battle.”
Declan nodded as though I’d proved his point. “And that is why you are not a true queen. Damn it, Zoey. I did not come here to fight with you. I came here to ask what you are going to do about this situation. You have to fix it. Daniel and Devinshea would never take the chance, but you will. You will do anything to set this place right.”
I sat again, shoving the anger to the back of my mind because he was saying something I was interested in. I’d shut down talking to Danny and Dev about my plans since I didn’t really have any at this point. “What are you talking about?”
He glanced around as though making sure we were alone. “I am talking about finding a way out of this mess. You were taken out of time by something magical. There must be a way to fix it.”
He was thinking along the same lines I was. The balance had been shifted by magical means, and that almost always meant it could be shifted back the same way.
Of course, there would be a price, but I was willing to pay it.
“The painting won’t work. I’ve already thought about trying to go back through it, but I’ve been assured it no longer functions. Know any time traveling spells?”
“I don’t know of spells, but I have researched some tricks we might incorporate,” Declan allowed. “I’ve been looking for a way to get you back since the moment I realized what the wizard was doing.”
“Why didn’t you use that hidden guard of yours to protect your brother’s kingdom?” That bothered me, too. We’d had powerful allies, and they seemed to have all failed.
“It happened very quickly, and the wizard was prepared.” Declan’s eyes trailed away. “He’s far more formidable than I imagined. I thought he was a friend. Devinshea told me he was someone I could trust. By the time I realized it was going wrong, I went after the children. I didn’t know they’d already been taken to safety. No one informed me there was some kind of plan in place. I assumed I was still in charge of getting the children to safety if anything happened.”
“What safety? You turned them away. If you’d taken the children with you, what would you have done when they wouldn’t allow Lee or Fen inside the sithein?”
“That didn’t happen until later,” Declan corrected. “I assure you if they had gone with me that day, they would have been inside, and once inside my mother wouldn’t have allowed them to be taken. It was months later they showed up, and by then the damage had been done. I intended to do my duty. I wasn’t allowed to.”
“I wasn’t the one who told Albert to take the kids. It was Gray who warned him.” I’d like to have a talk with the dark prophet, but I was leaving it all to Kelsey. She was going to meet with her husband and report back to us about anything of concern.
“I wish he had warned me.” Declan met my eyes, and his gaze alone told me how tired he was. “That day was so chaotic. After I got Sean out and many of our Fae contingent, I started to look for ways to find you. Then I looked for ways to warn your younger self.”
“What did you try?”
He sat up straighter. “I attempted to send you several messengers. There are faery creatures who can travel across dimensions, and it’s been said they may even traverse time. They are noncorporeal, of course, and can be difficult to deal with. I made deals with three such beings to find a time when you were younger and warn you. It seems none of them made their way to you.”