"It isn't easy being queen, but there are some benefits. "—Rowen Keckilpenny Brown

"That's not an answer," I grumbled.

"I got sidetracked."

"By what? I needed you!"

"Cheese?" he said sheepishly.

"Great. All it takes to distract you is a little cheese?"

"It was an aged gouda. If that helps."

Blade tapped my other shoulder.

"Hey, no poking the queen," I said.

"Sorry. I just wanted to see if you needed help to get rid of the vermin?"

Vermeil tucked himself closer under my chin, and I barely suppressed a gag. What? I love Vermeil, but the dude feasts on piles of garbage. Blade glared at Vermeil and hissed ferociously. "Oh no! Now I see why you two don't get along! Cat and rat."

I spun on Blade. "By the way, you and I are going to have a serious discussion about how you pretended to be a cat my whole life."

"Meow?" Blade said, grinning. Even though I had an entire dungeon at my disposal, he didn't seem at all worried. I shook my head. "Look, Blade and Vermeil. This fighting ends now. As long as the two of you live inside my castle, you will get along," I said, sounding so incredibly like my dads, my heart ached. And speaking of my dads, they were now sitting still, their bulgy eyes staring at me in a "is this your boyfriend and are you being safe" kind of way.

I shook my head at them. No way was I having that conversation with them in front of my subjects. Or ever. Now I was having second thoughts about whether their amphibious lifestyle might have some advantages.

For me!

"Vermeil, I don't want to mess up turning my dads back into human form. Any suggestions?

"Now that you're the queen, I think a basic Latin incantation and well-defined visualization should be fine."

"Should be?"

"Will be?"

"You're not inspiring confidence."

"Trust your powers, Rowen. You got this."

Trust my powers. Trust my powers. Despite my new mantra, my stomach turned several cartwheels, did three backflips, and then tightened into a ball as I opened the lid of the terrarium, picked one dad up in each hand, and set them on the stage floor. Closing my eyes, I imagined my dads as they were. Love for them swelled from my core, and along with the magic, it all flowed into my fingers. "Patres meos a bufones ad homines!" I encanted.

Blue electricity zapped out of my fingertips, whizzing into my dads. I held my breath as the surrounding air shimmered, kind of like it did when my hot, annoying swordsman turned into my mangy, annoying cat.

The longest second I'd ever endured passed. The shimmer grew and coalesced into vaguely human shapes. And then ...

"Daddy! Papa!" I said, racing into their arms. "You're back!" Tears ran like tiny waterfalls from my eyes as I took in the smell of them. The smell of love. And home.

They squeezed me so tight; that I could barely breathe. But I didn't care. This was the most magical moment in my life. "Rowen! What have you done?" Daddy scolded, totally breaking the mood.

Maybe they'd been toads for so long they forgot how to say thank you. "You're welcome," I replied.

I unwound myself from them to get a better look. To make sure all their parts were in the right place. They looked normal. Well, as normal as any parent can look if you know what I mean.

"Rowen," Papa said, all serious. "We didn't want this life for you."

I sighed. "I didn't have a choice."

"You could've refused Petronella. Allowed us to remain toads."

I tugged my fists into my hips. "You didn't raise me that way. You raised me to sacrifice for the people I love, so really, this is all your fault." Ha! Try to argue away that logic!

"That's different," Papa cut in. "We're your parents. Parents are supposed to sacrifice for their children. Not the reverse. A life without love is untenable." He shook his head like a sad dog. "Today should've been your sweet sixteen. A day where we took you for a mani/pedi, made your favorite dinner, and let you hack into the World Bank without us getting mad at you. Anything but this!"

"You know, in Medieval times, at sixteen, I would've already had four kids and wrinkles. Brittlebane is kind of a Medieval setting. Therefore, here I am old enough to decide for myself."

My dads looked at each other with that silent communication thing, then looked back at me. "Well, then we're staying." They gave me that "if you argue, we will send you to your room for all eternity" expression.

"But Daddy, what about your shop? And Papa, how will the IRS survive without you?" Ugh! How can a queen rule with her parents around when they want to make her go to bed by ten and won't let her do anything dangerous like flying a broom in a lightning storm and stuff? I didn't say that last part out loud not wanting to give them any ideas.

Papa grinned. "It'll probably be the end of the IRS. They couldn't go on if I was not there catching the tax cheats. But the good news is, I can keep the Brittlebane books in order for you."

Daddy pursed his lips. "I know the topiary garden at the Familiar Zoo must be a mess without me."

And with that, it was all settled. I had my parents back. And they were going to help. Right?

Blade cleared his throat.

"Yes?" I said, welcoming the diversion.

"Would you like to dance?" he said, holding out his hand to me.

"Do you have protection?" Daddy asked.

"Are you kidding me? It's just a dance!" I said. "That does it. I'm turning you back into toads."

To annoy my parents, I took Blade's hand and allowed him to lead me onto the dance floor. My royal subjects moved aside as the orchestra played something boring, slow, and romantic. This was not the correct music for me to yell at Blade for lying to me about being a cat. I should probably have waited, but the anger roiled inside me. Or maybe that was just hunger. No matter.

"You were my cat!" I hissed, trying to keep my voice low.

"Not really your cat. I was the neighborhood cat."

"I told you all my secrets! And as soon as I can, I'm going to find a spell to remove any memories."

"What secrets?" he said, looking as innocent as a felon. He pulled me close, and the nearness of his body was like a spell that made me forget why I was mad. We moved to the music. I couldn't believe how easy this was. How we fit together like puzzle pieces. How my body yearned for his, and I wanted to be even closer no matter how near we were. My heart raced.

Blade's breath was warm on my neck. Goosebumps erupted all down my arms. "Too bad you aren't allowed to love now that you're queen," he said.

"Yeah, too bad," I agreed.

He grinned and winked at me. "I know you intentionally messed with the oath. You promised 'in no event not to renounce the bonds of love.' A double negative. Well done."

"Thanks for giving me the idea," I said. He leaned in closer and, oh, my! Blade was feeling the same way I was if the firmness between his legs meant anything. Now I was worried about protection! "Blade, control yourself!" I commanded. "My dads are watching."

He laughed so hard he doubled over and lost his balance, nearly tripping over a pair of mushrooms on the dance floor. "Rowen," he said, reaching into the waistline of his pants and extracting a small book. The book.

"Finally!" I said, backing away from him and opening the book I had found in my parent's attic that he had stolen what seemed like years ago.

It. Was. Blank!

I fanned through page after page, but there was nothing but blank pages.

"Excuse me? You kept a blank book from me?"

"It's a diary," he said. "You can use it to tell your story."

But before I could make him explain more about the book, Blade pressed his soft lips to mine and kissed me so profoundly that the rest of the world seemed to disappear in smoke. When he tugged my bottom lip between his teeth, I thought for a moment that this wasn't the place to be making out (especially with my parents watching), and with that, we rose into the air toward the chandeliers, my heart swelling with love. Not just for Blade but for my parents. For Vermeil, and Lubris, and Lubris's cousin, and Nellie, and King Triton, and Xiri, and Ash, everyone else I'd met in the castle.

(Except for Tyra, who would receive a painful and fitting punishment!)

But for now, back to the love part ...

The love swelled and swelled, and the magic coiled somewhere deep in my belly. As it released, it raced down my arms, and blue lightning bolts zipped out of my fingertips. The stained-glass windows swung open, and my magic bolted into the moonlit sky.

Then the most miraculous thing happened! The eternal full moon plunged beneath the horizon.

A deep mournful howl rang out across the land. The werewolves had lost their full moon, which had loomed over the landscape for five centuries.

Uh, oh! Had I done that?

Then the sun rose into the sky, higher, higher, higher, emanating warmth and light over the land. The crowd oohed and aahed and laughed and danced.

"Look what you've done," Blade said.

"I know. Those poor werewolves."

"No, you've brought light to Brittlebane. And love. This is a new era," he said. Then he gathered me into his arms, and we floated toward the ceiling without even trying.

As we neared the open window, my dads shouted warnings about boys and being safe, so I flew faster, straight out the window, up, up, up, high above the castle to the tallest rooftop. I brought us down gently, where we landed on a rooftop garden filled with roses, a tinkling fountain, and a wooden bench. We sat there, the sun's warm rays seeping into our skin. Beneath us, Nellie breached the surface of the moat in joy, a little moat monster on her back. My heart twisted with joy. And beyond that lay the Forbidden Forest, the Familiar Zoo, the Fairy Mound, and dozens of tiny storybook villages in the distance.

"I like it up here," Blade said, kissing my nose. "Very private."

Then he began kissing me the way you do when you are totally in private, and there's no way your dads can catch you.

My stomach then growled so loud I wanted to jump off the tower in embarrassment. Your stomach simply should not growl during romantic interludes! "Sorry," I muttered.

"You must be starved," Blade said.

"I am. I could kill for a French fry." He tilted his head as if wondering if I was serious. "I'm not the sort of queen who would actually kill for a French fry," I clarified.

"Good to know," Blade said. "By the way, I snagged something for you from the kitchens."

"You did? What is it?" He removed a sack from his pocket and opened the top. The magical smell of fried potatoes wafted through the air. "How did you know?"

"I'm a minion! We're taught to anticipate the queen's desires."

"Well, you certainly please me. Now, if only I had ranch dressing." He dug around in another pocket and handed me a bottle of ranch. "Is it too soon for me to declare my eternal love for you?" I said.

"I love you too. Always have," Blade replied. "I have a story to tell you about the day you were created, but let's devour these fries first, okay?"

I didn't answer because my mouth (and my heart) were too full.

THE END

Don't worry! There's more to come, including Blade's story and what happens to Tyra. So stay tuned!

If you haven't voted on all the chapters, I would be so grateful if you did! Thank you again for reading my story and sticking with me for the past year!!!