My father is fast asleep and my mother is too weak to even respond, which means that neither of my remaining parents can give me some sympathy for my impending coronation. I'm drowning in self-pity and I need an outlet for that.

The guys will probably try and be comforting, but they've all tried to persuade me to become Queen since the issue was first raised. Same with Tamara. Who else do I have to talk to? Ada perhaps? No, I should leave her to recover and spend some time with her men. That leaves only one person... ehm... unicorn.

I focus on my magic and let her run free. She purrs in happiness, jumping all around me, making the books on the shelves around me shake. I've not had the chance to use proper magic recently. Teleporting is different, and the bit of wind magic I did in the Dragon Realm didn't even dent the surface of my powers. Find Blaze, I tell her, confident that my magic will find a being more magical than anything else in the Palace. I mean, the unicorn eats magic. It doesn't get more extreme than that.

She runs away and the further she goes, the more my awareness increases. I can hear people talk several corridors away, I can smell the sweat of some soldiers training outside, and I feel the breeze in the courtyard where Blaze is currently snoozing. Wow. I need to do this more often. If I wanted, I could probably eavesdrop on people on the other side of the Palace. No wonder my mother always knows everything.

My magic gallops around Blaze and I zone in on her energy, teleporting to her location a second later. Life is so easy when you're powerful. Too easy. I'm starting to be worried that I might become complacent soon.

"Hi Blaze," I greet the unicorn who's lying beneath a snow-covered tree. He lazily opens one eye.

"Good morning, my lady. Are you here for sparklies?" He grins widely and I smile at him.

"Nope, never again. Storm would kill me if I took any. I assume you haven't heard the way I behaved after your little incident yesterday?"

He flutters his eyelashes at me. "Not a word. Although you should know, unicorn babies are born without horns."

"Blaze!"

He cackles. "Don't worry, Princess, my lips are sealed. But if you're ever interested in how unicorn foals are made, you know where to find me."

"Are you propositioning me?" I ask, stunned.

"No, I'm offering you a science lesson. I'm not into humanoids."

"Thank the Gods."

He grins and gets up on all fours, shaking his shimmering mane.

"Now, why have you come, if not to get sparklies and talk about foals?"

I take a deep breath, before blurting out, "I'm becoming Queen."

He doesn't react surprised at all. "Was there ever any question about that?"

"Yes! My mother is still alive and usually, one Queen has to die before another is crowned."

"Technicalities," he says dismissively. "You've got the makings of a great Queen, and that's what counts."

"Thanks, I think," I mutter, a bit disappointed that I won't be able to get any commiseration from him either. I wish my mum was here. I could do with a hug and some whispered words of confidence and comfort. But no, the Morrigan has taken her away from me. I'll never be able to snuggle against her again. She'll never be able to hold me ever, ever again. The gravity of it all slams down on my heart. I've grieved, but there is still so much sadness deep within me. It hurts.

"Sparklies?" Blaze whispers, but I glare at him and step away.

"Don't tempt me. Please, don't."

He nods. "Sorry, bad joke. Do you want to talk? Is that what humans do?"

"I guess they do, but there's not much to talk about. My mum's dead, my mother is so weak she couldn't even talk to me today, and my dad is traumatised. Everybody wants me to be Queen, but all I want is time to deal with what's happened and spend time with my men. I just want some peace and quiet, Blaze."

He's quiet for a moment, watching me through his dark, beautiful eyes. Then he says, "Touch my horn, Princess."

"No way!" I protest. I have no intentions of blubbering nonsense about baby unicorns again, or worse.

"It's not for sparklies," he explains. "I want to give you that moment of peace that you're craving. No side effects, I promise, and there won't be any time passing here while you're gone. Special unicorn magic."

He gives me a wink. Do I trust him? Well, that's the wrong question. I trust him to be on my side and not to kill me. Do I trust him not to mess with my head and turn me into a lunatic for his own amusement? I'm not so sure about that.

"I promise," he repeats. "It's nothing bad. You helped me, now this is me helping you in return."

"No sparklies?" I ask one last time and he shakes his head with a smile.

"Definitely no sparklies."

"Okay then... but if you're lying about this, I'm going to make you a very, very dead unicorn. I'm sure a unicorn pelt would look lovely on my office floor."

He winces. "I'm about to retract my offer."

Before he can do that, I touch his horn and am whisked away from the courtyard and through the magnificent light of a sparkling rainbow.

I know this place. There’s no mistaking the familiar rock formation on the pristine white beach. I’ve been here many times on family holidays. Barra, one of the islands of the Outer Hebrides, an island where the plane lands on the beach. I used to love that as a child. Oh, who am I kidding, I loved it as an adult too. That moment when the plane wheels hit the ground and sand is thrown into the air, hiding the tiny little airport from view. We got stranded there twice because the plane couldn’t take off due to high winds. It’s a beautiful place, but why am I here?

"To relax!"

Blaze's booming voice is all around me, reverberating through my bones.

Okay then. He wants me to relax.

"How long do I have?" I shout, not knowing whether he'll be able to hear me.

"As long as you want. Time doesn't flow in this place, so don't feel like you're missing out on things. Just relax and shout when you want to return."

"Ehm, Blaze?"

"Yes, Princess?"

"Can you see me here?"

He cackles. "No, you're in your own head, silly. I'm just supplying the magic to make it feel real."

Phew. That means I can undress and go for a swim. I don't want the unicorn to see me naked. I know he's not even human and is not interested, but still, I prefer my privacy.

I take off my shoes and roll up my trousers before heading towards the sea. Scotland isn't exactly known for its warm weather and I want to test the temperature first.

The water is warm, bathtub kind of warm. Warmer than a heated swimming pool. Okay, this isn't real, this isn't Scotland. This is paradise.

I strip and run into the water, the sand soft beneath the soles of my feet. The waves lap against my naked body like a gentle massage. This is heavenly.

When the water reaches my neck, I stop, looking out over the water. The sun is high over the horizon, its light reflecting on the waves, throwing patterns of brightness onto my skin. In real life, I'd start to worry about sunburn now, but this isn't real. This is a dream, a beautiful fantasy that I'm going to take full advantage of.

I smile and start to swim, daring the waves to carry me back to the beach.

When I get tired from swimming against the current, I turn onto my back and let myself drift, looking up at the beautiful blue sky, interspersed with drawn-out fluffy clouds.

I've not felt this relaxed in a long time. The sun is driving away all my dark thoughts and memories, leaving only contentment and peacefulness.

This is so much better than sparklies. My emotions here are real, not artificially increased. I'm not hyper, I'm happy.

I think back to all the family holidays we had here on Barra. The laughter, the walks by the beach and the live music in the evenings in one of the local pubs. No wonder Blaze sent me here. This is a safe place that I almost forgot about. I don't think anything negative had ever happened on any of the holidays. No arguments, no sadness. I'd always planned to return here to write my thesis, staying in a self-catering cottage somewhere close to the sea, without the distractions of everyday life.

I laugh. My thesis. That isn't going to happen. There are no formal qualifications needed to be Queen. People in the Realms probably don't even know what a PhD is. They don't have schools there, because there aren't any children. There are no universities for the adults either. Guardians are created with all the knowledge and skills they need, and anything else is taught in training sessions. I guess there's the Palace Library as well for all those Guardians who want to learn more. It's strange how I always thought education was essential, but here in the Realms, that's not the case at all.

"Princess?" Blaze calls from all around me. I turn back onto my front and look around, making sure there isn't a unicorn waiting for me on the beach.

"Yes?"

"I have four gentlemen here who would love to join you. Shall I let them in?"

A grin spreads on my face. My Guardians. Did Blaze tell them where I am? Well, it doesn't matter.

"Of course!" I shout back. As beautiful as this beach is, it's much better to share its beauty with others.

A splash to my right makes me shriek in surprise. Blaze seems to have thrown my Guardians into the water rather than let them appear on the beach.

"I'm going to kill that unicorn!" Storm splutters and I turn to him. He's still wearing his uniform, except that it's now drenched and clinging to his body. He's tall enough to stand, but he doesn't look happy about it.

I splash some water at him. "Come on, enjoy it! It's so nice and warm!"

He looks up at the sky and glares at the clouds.

"He got me all wet," Storm complains. "Why can't he just behave?"

I laugh. "Now that would be boring. I can't imagine him following the rules."

Storm looks back at me, smiling. "No, neither can I."

That's when I notice that I can see his smile. His mouth, his nose, his eyes. I can see him! The annoying aura has disappeared, letting me see him just like I used to be able to.

Another splash, this time from behind me, and an angry Arc starts shouting curses at a certain unicorn. Storm and I exchange a look and both burst into laughter.

He's actually laughing, properly laughing. Okay, this really is a strange place. My Storm, laughing like a normal human being... well, Guardian.

Frost is the next to arrive, but instead of complaining, he's whooping in joy.

"I love it!" he shouts and starts swimming towards me. "This place is beautiful!"

Arc and Storm look around as if they haven't really noticed their surroundings yet.

"Aye, it's stunning," Arc agrees. "But the water is a wee bit warm."

"You're so Scottish," I laugh. "Most people would be happy to have warm rather than freezing sea water."

He shrugs. "I'm used ta cool air around my legs."

And around other things, I want to say, but his grin says it all. He knows exactly what I'm thinking.

"Why are you all in the water?" Crispin suddenly shouts, making us all turn to look at the beach. He's standing there, hands in pockets, still fully dressed and compared to the others, very dry. We can't have that.

I throw a wind lasso around him and drag him into the sea. He screams as he's pulled into the water while the men around me are roaring with laughter.

"What did you do that for?" he groans when he resurfaces in front of me. "I was very happy on dry land."

"A little too happy, Crisp," Frost chuckles. "If Wyn hadn't pulled you in, I would have."

Crispin glares at him but then turns to me. "So, what are we doing here? Is there a reason we're all standing in the sea with our clothes on?" That's when he realises that I'm not wearing anything. "Oh."

"The elephant in the room..." Arc mutters. "Or the Goddess in the water."

Heat flares through my body. Did Blaze plan this? Whether he did or not, this is a beautiful present. In the real world, we've not had time to be together in ages, not all four of us. Here, time stands still and we can take as long as we want. We can relax together.

The guys are standing in a circle around me, watching me, but nobody's making the first move.

"Do you need instructions?" I ask teasingly. To emphasise my point, I make my magic remove their clothes. There, now we're all naked.

"Did you just undress us?" Storm asks in a deep voice full of promises and sin.

I shrug. "You were too slow."

"Are ye in a rush?" Arc comes at me from behind, little waves signalling his approach. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me against his chest. "We can do this fast, if you want."

His cock is pressed against my back, already hard and ready. Do I want this the quick way? Yes, I'm not in the mood for a drawn-out foreplay. I want them, now. But they can take their time once we've started. I don't want this little piece of paradise to end just yet.