“And what have you done (Patreon)

in the meantime?" I snarled. If Edessa wanted to play mind games, she would soon learn what it meant to face a Frontgammon champion! "Have you been skulking around Persoc Tor all these centuries? Hanging on to past glory? I’m sure the power you wielded as Queen and the comforts of the palace were too tempting to give up! You’re still calling yourself the Queen even though you have no claim to the throne anymore. You say that you loved Estmere SOOO much, and you were there when he died. Did you do your utmost to save him? You only had to stop him from sitting on a chair, but alas that was too monumental a task for the Great Queen of all Faerie.”

Edessa hissed through her teeth and gave me a hate-filled glare, but said nothing.

“You loved Estmere? HA!" I bellowed, giving full vent to my resentment. "You barely knew him! I knew him since we were elflets! He was my brother! I LOVED him! It didn’t matter that I was just a bastard! We were family! He always called me his little bro. We were together through thick and thin. We helped each other out, as all brothers should. He was my best friend! He was my only friend! So don’t you DARE lecture me on loss! From my birth I have lost more than you can EVER imagine! My entire life was planned out for me by Unseelie schemers. I was only born to be a pawn in other people’s political conspiracies. I had no agency in ANYTHING, and every good thing I had in my life - my mother, my father, my brother, any friends I could have had, and my great-uncle - all were TAKEN from me by a bunch of conniving, immoral Floozies who think they know better than everyone else. My brother, the only true friend I ever had, was sacrificed by them! I tried my DAMNEDEST to save him, but I couldn't get there in time. Meanwhile, you were RIGHT THERE and all you had to do was keep him from sitting on a Fuma forsaken chair, and you let him slip through your fingers!"

Edessa seemed taken aback by my emotional fury. She blinked a few times, and then her expression hardened. “If we’re throwing accusations around," she hissed, "need I remind you that anything I might have ever done pales in comparison to the sheer magnitude of slaughter you unleashed on Albric Tor all those years ago?”

“That was an accident!" I protested. "I never wanted to use the Plague of Battles! The Duchess of Daisies set me up!”

Edessa sneered. “Have you tried telling that to all the thousands of corpses you left in the city? Mels and femmes who did nothing to you and were just living their lives until they all died in the most horrific way imaginable? Accident or no, it was still unleashed by your hand! And the Duchess set me up rings hollow when one of her own henchfemmes stands by your side at this very moment!"

"I don't serve the Duchess no more," Burnside stated coolly.

I took a deep breath and motioned for Burnside to stay silent. I wanted to be furious, to rage and tell Edessa off, but all I could think of was the screams of that battle ... the blood ... the never ending nightmares every time I closed my eyes ... and the guilt. BY FUMA, the guilt! The crushing guilt and shame that never goes away…

“The memory of that battle haunts me every day,” I managed to croak after an awkward pause.

"I'm sure it does," Edessa snorted. “Since, in spite of your doomsday weapon, you still lost. And you think I don’t know loss? I know loss! You have taken everything from me! EVERYTHING! You tried to save Estmere but did not succeed, and you have the temerity to blame me for the same failing! It wasn’t enough that he had to die for your benefit, he died in the most humiliating way, turned into a lowfolk, denied his heritage and basic elfly dignity! And our child! My precious child...” Her face puckered and tears began to well up in her eyes. “His father was a lowfolk, and so was he. I had to watch him wither away as time ate his life. He grew old and frail while I could not…” She started to blubber in earnest. “His mind was gone when he died! His age rotted away his memories. His last words were to ask me who I was…”

Edessa collapsed on the floor and sobbed, shedding bitter, hateful tears.

"What does any of that have to do with me?" I asked, unimpressed by the waterworks. Had she forgotten that I was trained in Wiles? "It was the Sisterhood who wanted to eliminate Estmere, not I. I did everything I could to stop them, while YOU expended every effort to thwart me. I'm still waiting for an explanation about that. Your child's fate? Not my fault. I didn't even know you had a child. Blame the Vulpitanians; they engineered the whole Ferifax Arch and Lowfolk Interbreeding fiasco. I tried to stop them too, but once again YOU got in my way. Were you so greedy for power that you were willing to sacrifice everything just for the chance of birthing a royal heir? You and Estmere were different species; you must have known that any offspring you managed to produce would be unnatural."

"HOW DARE YOU!!" Edessa shrieked. "You vile, deceitful SKUNK! Don’t you dare look down on me! You took everything from me! You should have left me with Bremor! I could have happily ruled Iberia, but no, you had to steal me away to be Estmere's bride. And then you ruined that too! All of my hopes died because YOU were born, you filthy, lowly, stinky BASTARD!!”

I stared at Edessa for a moment, slowly realizing that I had triumphed. She had said too much and given her game away. I was High King of Faerie, and she was nothing. There was only one thing left to settle.

"So why are you here," I asked quietly.

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