by Kimbra Swain
“Shit. I’m sorry,” I said.
Compassion filled his face. “It’s okay, but you were right. It works,” he smiled.
“Now you are a tattooed weapon,” I said.
“I was going for sex god, but okay,” he grinned.
“Up for debate,” I said.
“Really? Because I was number one in my debate class in high school,” he replied as I gathered up the ink. I thanked Brittany and turned back to Levi.
“Liar,” I said.
“It sounded good,” he replied. “But I’d be willing to participate in that debate with you.”
I shook my head at his flirts. “I’m sure there are plenty of women in this town…”
“No, Grace. There aren’t,” he cut me off. “There never will be. Ever again.”
“Seems like a long time to go without,” I said.
He reached out to my tattoo, lightly running his hand over it. The echoing memory of the stringed tones and the tingles it sent through me reverberated in my head. “Swappin’ gravy with you is better than any sex I’ve ever had,” he smiled.
“You do say the sweetest things, Levi,” I scoffed.
“I do what I can,” he said, breaking off the intensity of the moment.
When we walked over the vape shop, the door was open, but the proprietor was nowhere to be found. I had hoped to talk to him. Levi and I descended the stairs into the vault. I wanted to check on it while I was there. Stepping through the portal, I found my brother and his wife. Honestly, I had hoped they were making up, but this was a confrontation that I just got lucky to come across.
“You called her?” Nelly fussed.
“No. Grace, what are you doing here?” Finley asked.
“I dunno, Finley. For a moment, I thought it was my fucking vault,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“I tracked her here. I got tired of trying to find her, so I used a spell,” he said. Looking around the room, I could see the remnants of the meager tracking spell.
“How did she get in here?” I asked.
Finley turned to her, staring through her body into her soul. Her heart pounded. “Tell her,” he growled.
“Levi, the room,” I said. The strings on his guitar played the tune I’d heard him play before when protecting a home. He had locked us inside with a ward. She got in, which meant, she could get out again.
“The tattoo works,” Finley muttered. Levi nodded in response.
“I, um, I…” Nelly stuttered.
“You will tell me now,” I said, dropping the glamour. The floor of the vault turned to ice, and she slid across it, tumbling to the ground. I stood over her. “Finley! Why is she here?”
“She’s stealing from us. I should have known better than to trust her. To fall for her tricks,” Finley said.
“Are there items missing?” I asked.
“No, I caught her before she took the book and the stones,” Finley said. “Grace, if you are going to kill her, I can’t stay in this room. Please let me out.”
“Your indiscretion brought this into my town. You will watch,” I said.
“Now who is like father?” he scoffed, knowing that I had ordered him to stay.
In order to remind him, and myself, of who I was, I transformed completely. I wore the crown. The crystalline horn stretched out from my forehead, as the jewels surrounding it cascaded down my hair and around my ears.
“I am the Queen of this place, and even you, my brother, will respect that,” I said. As I turned back to Nelly, I caught the approving look on Levi’s face. He’d heard my conversation with Astor, and without saying it, he agreed with the knight. I should want to be this version of me. It should be the only version of me. Your true self.
“My Queen, I beg for forgiveness. I was coerced by Lord Brockton and Lady Robin. They made offers I couldn’t refuse. Please. Have mercy, dear Queen. You are known for your heart for your people,” she begged. “Please forgive me.”
Just before I snapped my fingers turning her to ice cubes, I asked, “How did you get in here?”
She narrowed her eyes right before she started to lie. That was a handy trick. I hadn’t noticed it before, but I knew the words that were about to come out of her mouth were utter lies. “Jenny and Tennyson are teaming up against you. Their whole game is to fool you. Tennyson has always wanted the throne. You are a fool to trust them,” she said.
With a snap of my fingers, she was gone.
Finley hit his knees. I knelt on the floor beside him. “I’m sorry,” I muttered.
“She only married me to get to you,” Finley said.
“My mouth runs off. I’m really sorry,” I said. “If I am going to be queen, I can’t let that darkness control me. Forgive me, Brother.”
He shook his head. “You were right. I’m an idiot for even trying to settle down. I’m not built for it like you are.” I hugged my brother, and he hugged me back tightly. He wouldn’t cry. It just wasn’t his way to handle things, but I knew that losing her hurt him. However, he didn’t seem to blame me. I hope that stayed the same. He could be completely irrational about some things, but this, he seemed to be fine about.
“Why would they send her to steal the stones? It doesn’t matter where they are. Three of them I control. The Lady of the Lake controls the water stone. It’s not like they can use them,” I said. “However, the book I understand. Its knowledge cannot be replaced.”
Finley shook his head. “I’ve stayed out of the Realm lately. His control there is strengthening. If we don’t make a move soon, I’m not sure we will be able to oust him. Nelly won’t be the last fairy to try to take you down or steal from you.”
“She wasn’t the first either,” I said thinking about Riley stealing the book from Levi. “Where is Mike?”
“Mike told me he can’t come into the vault,” Levi said. “I’ll go see if I can find him.”
“Thanks, Dublin,” I said as Levi left the room.
“Do you believe her about Tennyson and Jenny?” he asked.
“No, Tennyson would have never sworn the blood oath to me, if he were trying to deceive me. I own him because of it,” I said. “Jenny has been extremely helpful. I feel no deception in her, but I know she hated Nelly.”
“She and Nelly have argued all their lives. I thought it was because they were both just strong-willed and so much alike that they didn’t want to admit it. Please be cautious around both of them though,” Finley warned.
“Fin, like I told Levi, there are only a few people in this world I trust. Very, very few,” I said.
“I need to earn that trust,” he said. I hadn’t realized that he knew how little faith I had in him.
“Fin,” I said.
“No, you are right. I’ve hidden between the fight all of my life. I’m choosing a side. I’m choosing yours,” he said. “I’ll prove it to you.”
I hugged him again. I’d wanted so much to hear him confirm his loyalty to our cause. He’d always given me the impression that he could leave at any moment. He was a wanderer of a different kind. Hopefully, this was the beginning of building a stronger relationship between us. I knew that I’d need his help when taking back the Otherworld from our Uncle.
And he was my brother which meant I loved him. Even when he did stupid things.
When we emerged from the vault, Levi was nursing a rather large bump on Mike’s head.
“He was hidden with a spell. She only knocked him out,” Levi said.
“She still shouldn’t have been able to get into the vault,” I said. “We need to increase the security of that thing, but I have no idea how to do it.”
“I’ve found a way to shrink the book if you ever need it. I can teach Levi how to do it,” Mike said. “Damn that hurts.” He patted the knot on his head.
“Do you need the doc?” I asked.
“No, I’ve got a liquid for that,” he said, pulling open a drawer behind the counter of the store. Inside were a glowing set of liquids, he dropped a bit into his mo
d. “Fix-a-flat. It fixes everything. Not just flats.”
“Okie dokie,” I said. “What about the Penis Envy? You still selling it?”
“Yes, but the sales are going down. I think people are forgetting about the evil eye. We might have another flare up before we figure out how to remove the curse on the town,” Mike said. Mike didn’t accept payment in monetary form. He needed ingredients to make his potions. The fairies in this town had access to all types of exotic ingredients that Mike couldn’t readily get. He accepted these items in exchange for his liquids.
“I should get home to feed Aydan, then I need to go meet up with Wendy,” I said.
Levi and I headed home. Finley assured us that he was fine, but made his way across the parking lot to Hot Tin for a few drinks. I called Nestor on the way home and told him what happened. He promised to call me if he thought Finley needed me.
“He didn’t seem to love her very much,” Levi said, as he drove my truck home.
“Finley shows his emotions differently,” I said.
“If something happened to you, I’d lose my mind. He didn’t love her,” Levi said.
“He just defines love differently than you,” I said, trying to avoid the implications of this conversation. I knew Levi’s feelings, and I had no wish to toy with him. He meant the world to me, but I wasn’t in love with him. He turned me on, but my heart belonged to someone else.
“Then, it’s not love,” Levi said. “I’m half love-talker. I know.”
I had to agree with him. Defending Finley was natural for me since he was my brother, but his love for Nelly was always questionable to me. I never had understood the connection, except now I knew that she did it to get to me, which meant the move she made had been planned a long time since Finley was married to her before he ever showed up in Shady Grove.
I had no doubts that my bard knew what real love was. I felt it from him daily. Love sometimes meant loving someone even if you couldn’t have them.
Chaos. My home was in chaos when I returned. Winnie screamed as tears streamed down her face. Aydan screamed because Winnie was screaming. Astor paced back and forth trying to console the baby. All the while, Bramble and Briar flew around the living room having a knock-down, drag-out fight.
“You, filthy little cocksucker!” Briar screamed at Bramble. She threw a magical ball of glitter at him. It missed him, planting on the wall. The room was full of splats of glitter. Did they not know how hard it was to clean up glitter!? Someone was gonna die. I was on a roll already.
“I didn’t do it, my love. You are the only one for me,” Bramble countered.
“You did. You fucked that little pixie I saw in the woods the other day! I saw you staring at her. You stuck your little prick in her love envelope!” Briar yelled.
Bramble dodged another ball of glitter as I took Aydan from Astor. They both were fraying on the edges. “Would the two of you shut up for the love of Pete!” I screamed at them.
“Who is Pete?” Bramble asked. “Have you been sleeping with Pete?” He asked Briar. He flitted above the sofa with his hands on his hips.
“Oh, no you don’t! You aren’t turning this around on me,” she said darting across the room. She plowed into Bramble, and they flew across the room hitting the wall so hard that a cloud of glitter and sheetrock poofed out around them.
“They are going to commit murder, Momma!” Winnie cried.
“Not if I do it first,” I mumbled. “Levi, do something.”
The guitar on his arm emitted out a long dissonant note. Silence filled the room as everyone turned to look at the bard who could play music without a guitar. He grinned from ear to ear. Damn that tattoo was going to be handy. Even Aydan stopped crying. He buried his sobs into my chest.
“Bramble, Briar, come here,” I said. “As your Queen, I order you to keep your mouths shut.”
Briar huffed but flew over to where I was standing. I pointed down at the coffee table. The tiny brownie took a seat on a book. Bramble flew sideways to me, and I pointed to the book next to Briar. He shook his head vehemently at me.
“Now!” I barked.
When he landed on the book Briar crossed her arms, then turned her back on him. He mimicked her movement turning the opposite way.
“Winnie, it’s okay. They are going to stop fighting now,” I said.
“It’s my fault,” she whimpered.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because Briar went to take a nap, and Bramble went outside with me. There was a pixie outside that we played with, but Bramble didn’t lick her love envelope. She didn’t have any mail at all. We weren’t even pretending to be the post office. Her name was Thistle, and she had purple hair. She was adorable, and she’s my new friend, but Briar is so mad,” Winnie explained.
“Sweet mother of the angels,” I said, turning to the brownies. “The two of you are in deep doo-doo.” PG for the sake of my child.
“Grace,” Astor said. “Mind if I take the truck?” Bless his heart. His babysitting days might be over. Battling centaurs and fauns were no big deal for the ginger, but screaming babies and battling brownies had taken its toll on him.
“Sure. Go ahead,” I said. As he left, I settled down into the chair next to Aydan’s crib. Levi took a seat on the couch, coaxing Winnie to sit with him. I lifted my shirt, and Aydan latched on immediately. Nothing like a bit of momma’s milk to soothe the soul, I suppose.
“Now. First and foremost, if the two of you ever glitter-paint my house again, you will never set foot or wing inside this house. Ever. Do you understand?” I asked. They were both bound by silence but nodded their heads.
“Secondly, there are some words that we will not use in front of my children. I don’t think I have to tell you what words those are, right?”
The two little fairies hung their heads and nodded again.
“Third the two of you will clean this mess up. Every, single, dot of glitter will be cleaned up before tomorrow or both of you can sleep in the woods. Yes?” I asked.
“Yes,” Bramble mumbled. I eyed Briar who had been the instigator of this fight. She rolled her eyes to which I growled. Her little brown head started bobbing up and down.
“Lastly, I don’t care who is sending mail or swappin’ gravy. You keep your arguments out of this house and away from my children. Both of you know about the curse going around town. There is no sense in participating in such nonsense,” I scolded. Bramble raised his hand. I rolled my eyes. “Go ahead.”
“You are right, my Queen. I’m terribly sorry. Briar and I just have a tiff from time to time. Every century or so, but we shouldn’t fight in front of Miss Winnie. We aren’t under the curse. We were just fighting. Well, she was,” Bramble said.
Briar hauled off and shoved him so hard he tumbled off the book on to the floor.
“Ouch,” Bramble muttered.
I wasn’t sure if steam came out of my nose, but the room temperature dropped well below the temperature of the air-conditioned house. Winnie crawled into Levi’s lap. “I said, no fighting! Swear it now!”
“I swear,” Bramble muttered from the floor.
Briar’s nose wrinkled up. She was a feisty little thing, but I knew she would concede. “I swear,” she said.
“Now, apologize to Winnie,” I said.
“Sorry,” they muttered simultaneously.
I released my tension, and the temperature in the room returned back to normal. “I don’t want to see either of you for the rest of the day,” I said. They promptly flew out of the room, up the stairs, then disappeared into Winnie’s room.
“Winnie, some of the things that Bramble and Briar said weren’t nice. Let’s not repeat any of the things they said while they were fighting, okay?” Levi said.
“Am I in trouble, Uncle Levi?” she asked.
“Of course not,” Levi said, hugging her tightly.
“Uncle Levi, your hugs remind me of Daddy,” she said.
Stabbing pain shot through my heart. Winnie had lost her
mother. Never knew her real father, and now Dylan was gone. She had been through so much but was still the sweet loving child she had always been.
“I’ll hug you anytime you need it, Princess,” Levi said.
“Am I a princess?” she asked.
“Of course, your momma is a queen. So, you are a princess,” Levi said. “You have the crown that the ghost man gave you, right?”
“Yes, I do,” she smiled. “I suppose I am royal. I’m going to make Mark bow to me.”
“Winnie! No, you aren’t,” I said. “Do you ever see people bowing to me?”
“No,” she said.
“We are a different kind of royalty. We help people and love each other,” I said. It really was different than how I was raised. If I could redefine what being a fairy royal really was, then I would accomplish more than I’d ever imagined.
“Grace, are you going out to see Wendy?” Levi asked. Since Astor had left, I’d have to take the kids with me or leave them with Levi.
“What do you think I should do?” I asked.
“You need to go talk to her. I’ll stay here with the kids,” he said.
“Actually, it can wait one more day. I want to be with my children,” I said. “And you.”
“Spaghetti?” Winnie asked knowing it was our go-to family dinner.
“Please?” Levi grinned which pleased Winnie to no end.
“Sure,” I smiled, as I felt Aydan tugging away under my shirt. He might like spaghetti, too.
“He has sauce in his ears,” Levi said, as he washed Aydan in the kitchen sink. I sat in the living room brushing Winnie’s hair. She’d just taken a bath and was getting ready for bed.
“I’d say he liked it,” I said.
Levi laughed, “I like it, but I don’t put it in my ears.”
“Silly Uncle Levi,” Winnie said.
Dinner with my family was exactly what I had needed. Winnie kissed us both good-night but grabbed Levi’s hand to take her to bed. He handed a clean Aydan to me. I put pajamas on the squirmy little man as Levi went upstairs with Winnie.
It only took a few minutes, and Aydan was fast asleep. He’d had milk and spaghetti. A full belly to sleep on. I watched him in his crib as his long breaths drew in and out. Levi had taken pictures of him eating spaghetti so Dylan could see. I pushed back my sadness, then climbed the stairs to where Levi was reading to Winnie.