by Kimbra Swain
His words didn’t surprise me. Tennyson was thorough and meticulous. Of course, he had kept tabs on me.
“It’s this darn heart,” I said, rubbing my tattoo. It twinkled with power.
He pointed a large finger into my sternum. “It’s this darn heart,” he said with a smile.
“Thank you, Lachlan,” I said using the name my father used for him.
He sighed. With a slight nod, he turned and opened the door for himself to join Jenny. I felt Levi approaching from behind.
“If he touches you again, I’m gonna rip that tree trunk off and beat him with it,” he said in a playful tone.
“Sounds gory,” I said.
“Maybe,” he said. “You okay?”
“Yeah. He’s just lamenting his position with my father,” I said.
“He’s more than made up for it,” Levi said.
“In his eyes, he could never make up for it,” I said.
“That’s what makes him a knight,” Levi said.
I sighed. We had good knights. It was time to see what the white-haired one wanted.
“What’s eating you?” I asked as Winnie, Aydan, the Brownies, and Rufus came inside. Levi went into the kitchen to fulfill requests for beverages.
“Have you been out to the wolf fights?” he asked.
“No, have you?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “They are interesting. Like an underground fight club.”
“The first rule about fight club is no one talks about fight club,” Levi said from the kitchen.
Finley and I stared at him for a minute.
“Huh?” Finley asked.
“I dunno,” I replied.
“You know, he’s really strange sometimes,” Finley teased.
“Leave him alone. No one can tease him except me,” I said.
“Yes, and you are teasing the hell out of him, aren’t you?” Finley said.
“It’s not like that,” I said.
“Whatever you say, Glory,” he said. “Anyway, the wolves. It’s good exercise, but Tennyson is there most nights. Remy too. They bet on the fights. It’s just strange to me. I think you should go down there.”
“Where is it at?” I asked.
“Where is what?” Levi asked.
“The wolf fight club,” I replied.
“It’s out past Troy’s place,” Levi replied.
“You’ve been there?” I asked.
“No. I just know it’s there. I’m the mayor, remember?”
“By default,” I replied. Finley snickered.
“What’s going on out there?” Levi asked.
“You should go see for yourself. I’ll stay and watch the kids,” he said. “I need to get to know my nephew. He needs to learn a few manly things.”
“Okay, she-elf,” Levi said.
Finley wrinkled his face. Even with his alabaster skin in frustration was still beautiful. He couldn’t help it. Bless his heart.
“I’m not leaving you here with my son,” I said.
“You wound me, Glory. I love those kids,” he said, holding his long fingers over his heart.
“Uh-huh,” I mocked.
“I do. I’ll be good. I promise,” he said.
“Wanna go to a fight?” I asked Levi.
“It’s a date,” Levi said, as he took off up the stairs. “I gotta change clothes.”
“It’s not a date!” I hollered up to him.
“It could be a date,” Finley suggested.
“Too soon,” I said.
“Whatever, Grace. No one is going to question your love for Dylan if you start seeing Levi,” he said.
“Since when have I cared what anyone else thought? It has nothing to do with that,” I said.
“Go put on something nice,” he said.
I looked down at my slouchy sweater and jeans. They were nice enough. “I’m good,” I said, as Levi bounded back down the steps. He wore khaki slacks and a deep blue button-up shirt. Only he hadn’t quite got it buttoned up as he hit the bottom of the stairs.
“No, Levi looks nice, and you look like…”
“Tread lightly, Fin,” I warned.
“Like a trailer park queen,” he laughed.
I slapped him on the arm. “Fine,” I huffed.
“You look okay, Grace,” Levi said.
“You would say that if she wore a burlap sack,” Finley said as the kids turned the television on.
“You don’t even know what a burlap sack is,” I said.
“Sure, I do. I heard someone say it at Nestor’s the other night, and so, I googled it,” he said.
“I rue the day you learned how to use a cell phone,” I replied.
Reluctantly, I trudged upstairs to change clothes. I wasn’t sure exactly why what I wore mattered. I could handle it two ways. I could either dress to the nines. Enough to put Levi in a tailspin. Or I could go one step above this and just look nice. Finley was right. Perhaps I enjoyed torturing Levi. I thought back to Dylan and how I had tortured him. He loved every minute of it. Levi did too, but I felt like his patience might run out. Something clicked inside of me. I didn’t want his patience to run out. It felt too soon to move on. But I knew that in many ways loving Dylan was a risk. I didn’t know how it would turn out. It turned out badly, but our love didn’t. It was far more perfect than I imagined it could be.
On the other hand, loving Levi wasn’t a risk. He had established himself as a leader with very little help on my part. It was like it suddenly awoke in him. From the moment he stepped out of the torture of the Otherworld, he had taken on more and more responsibilities. He grew up overnight. He still had a touch of immaturity with things, but I chalked that up to be his natural disposition. I loved seeing him brood.
“Hurry up!” Finley called up to me. I didn’t know we were on a timeline. I stood in the middle of my room trying to decide. Middle ground wasn’t a foreign concept to me. I decided that might be the way to go. If we were showing up to this as the leaders of this community, then perhaps I should look at it that way. A quick dig through my closet and I found a nice dress that resembled the red dress I wore the night that I got elected queen. Only this one was a light lavender color with a simple belt. I slipped into a pair of heels and took a look at myself in the mirror. I pulled my platinum blonde hair up into a ponytail. Sexy, but not. I could do this, but it wasn’t a date.
“Well, damn,” Finley said as I walked down the stairs.
“More like wow!” Levi said.
“I tried to go conservative,” I pouted.
“You look great,” Finley said. “Very queen-like.” Which was exactly what I wanted. Levi just stared. He was like the dog on the cartoons that Winnie watched where his eyes bulged out and his tongue rolled across the ground.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
“Yes,” he gulped.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked. He shook his head refusing to answer, but he offered his hand to me. I took it without hesitation. I had always taken it without thinking. Why did it matter now?
“Have fun,” Finley said.
We walked out to the truck silently. He walked me to the passenger side to open the door for me. I watched him as he did it.
“Just get in,” he huffed.
“Thank you, Levi,” I said. His eyelids flared up in surprise. He knew I meant it. No sarcasm.
“You’re welcome,” he said.
We had driven through town before he began to speak again.
“It’s been a while since you’ve not worn jeans or simple shirts. You look very nice,” he finally admitted.
Since Dylan had died, I hadn’t really cared about my appearance. Now I knew why he had that look. I had made an effort. In his mind, I had done it for him. He wasn’t completely wrong. If my plans went forward, I knew if Levi was going to be the King to my Queen, that we might need to make it official at some point.
“I just needed time to get back in gear, but I knew I didn’t have too much time before my responsibilit
ies would catch up with me. Besides, I couldn’t look like trailer trash with you dressed so nicely,” I said.
“Grace, you have never looked like you belonged in a trailer,” he said.
The rest of the ride was quiet. When we pulled up to Troy’s property, there were cars parked up and down his long driveway. Stone and Bronx leaned on Tennyson’s black land yacht but straightened up when they saw us. Bronx stamped out a cigarette, as Levi drove by them slowly. When we reached the house, he found a gap to tuck the truck into without blocking the drive.
I got out before he could help me. He scowled, but I grinned at him. He couldn’t help but return it. Levi knew who and what I was. While it’s nice for him to open doors for me, I’d rather do it myself for the sole purpose of aggravating him. Once again, his hand was offered, and I didn’t refuse.
We made our way through a lighted path to the edge of the woods where two of the pack met us. Both looked uneasy as we approached.
“Grace, Levi, is Troy expecting you?” the one on the right asked.
“No,” I replied.
“Maybe I should let him know you are here,” he said while the other one remained silent.
“No, you will not,” Levi said forcefully.
“Um, okay,” he trembled.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Sammy, but we are here to observe the fights. That is all. No need to announce our presence. Are we unwelcome here?” Levi asked. His tone implied that the answer better not be anything other than what Sammy spewed out of his mouth without hesitation.
“Of course not. All are welcome to the fights,” Sammy said. “Stay on the path. It will lead you to the fight.”
Levi stepped forward, and I followed his pace. I expected to find a field where the wolves fought, but to my surprise, it was an actual octagon-shaped ring with netted sides. No one was in the ring as we walked up to the gathering. Bleachers surrounded the fight floor. The spectators weren’t just the wolves. Along with Tennyson and Jenny, Remy and Tabitha, I saw many other citizens that I recognized. Troy saw us reach the edge of the crowd and rushed up to us.
I could sense the panic in him before he spoke.
“Grace, what are you doing here?” he asked.
“We came to watch the fights. Is that okay?” I asked.
“I didn’t know you knew about the fights,” he replied. He looked back over his shoulder making eye contact with Amanda who approached us.
“I don’t know much about them which is why I am here,” I explained. In part, it was true, but I also wanted him to know that I was somewhat disappointed that this whole thing wasn’t mentioned to me at some point. To see at least two of my knights here, yet to know nothing about it bothered me. For so many years I didn’t trust anyone. I’d given my trust to these people, and even though this might turn out to be no big deal, I thought that perhaps I’d been left out of this for a sinister purpose. I could never stop being paranoid about the people around me. I had too much to protect.
“We don’t know why they didn’t tell you about this or invite you. Let’s just hear them out,” Levi suggested. I wasn’t sure when he had become my voice of reason, but heavens knew I needed one.
“Just too many secrets and betrayals in my lifetime,” I said.
Looking through the crowd, my eyes landed on a man I didn’t know, but it was clear that he was a cursed Unseelie fairy. He sat quietly on the first row. His stoic face and piercing eyes focused on me as if I should know him. His deep olive skin reminded me of my Uncle Brockton’s glamour when he posed as a Greek lawyer. His defined cheekbones gave an edge to his face along with the neatly cut beard. Finally, I met his whiskey-colored eyes. In them, I saw fear, but I also saw defiance.
Tennyson bristled in his seat not far from the dark, but handsome man. The man slowly nodded his head to me, and inexplicably I nodded back to him. He never smiled or showed a hint of emotion other than the sternness in his eyes.
“Why don’t you have a seat and watch?” Troy offered as he shooed away a couple of his guys that were seated ringside.
“Thank you,” I responded with my eyes fixed on the man. He held my gaze. Levi guided me to the seat with a firm grip on my arm. Troy moved away from us to speak to Amanda.
“Could you stop ogling that man? I know it’s not a date, but geez,” Levi complained.
I turned my head back to Levi breaking the attention of the dark man. A slight grin curled up on the edge of his mouth as he waited on me to berate him. I’d never known a man in all of my days that enjoyed me scolding him. “He seems familiar,” I said trying to avoid giving Levi what he wanted.
“He should be,” Levi replied.
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Tennyson says his name cannot be spoken here or in the Otherworld,” Levi explained.
“No,” I muttered, turning back to the man who had focused on the two men in the ring preparing to fight.
“What?” Levi asked.
“He wasn’t just banished. He was forsaken,” I said.
“Forsaken?”
“I was banished from the Otherworld, but the highest form of exile is called being forsaken. Those who suffer that punishment are executed and their names are forbidden to be spoken ever again,” I said sadly.
“What is that?” Levi asked.
“What is what?”
“That look. The one you just made,” he said.
“Nothing,” I replied.
His hand slipped into mine, as my heart lurched. “Grace, it was something. I saw it for a moment. It was a deeper sadness than I have ever seen. Is being here with me making you upset? We can leave.”
“It’s not you, Levi. Just a painful memory. From long, long ago,” I said.
“Would you share it with me? To ease that pain?” he asked.
“I can’t. It was never to be spoken here or there,” I said with a nod the man across the ring from us. His dark eyes flicked back to us, then away again.
Levi looked confused. “Is he someone you know?”
“That man looks familiar, but the one I speak of is different. Only a few ever suffered the path of the forsaken. They were men who were once loyal to my father, but he found falsehood or betrayal in them. Damning them to death. Erasing them from history,” I said.
“Are you just remembering this?” he asked.
“No, but now that I see him, I realize that those who were forsaken are now living their second lives here in Shady Grove,” I said. A flood of forgotten emotions rushed over me. I tried to reel them in as Troy walked to the center of the octagon. “I’m fine, Levi. I promise.” However, I wasn’t fine. Painful memories threatened to take over me. Levi didn’t let go of my hand, so I leaned on him for support.
“You know you can tell me anything. Whatever this is, I can feel the ache inside of you. It’s as bad as when you think of Dylan,” he said.
“Yes, it is that bad,” I replied.
Just before Troy began to talk, I looked up to Tennyson whose eyes were wide. His ears flinched as he swallowed. Tennyson would have been forsaken had my Father caught him in the Otherworld. I suddenly remembered why Lancelot never really died. He was due to die by the monarch’s command for treason. The sentence had already been laid out, but no bounty hunter could ever capture him to bring him to my father. I realized now that Tennyson with his vast wealth and empire had probably paid each one of them more than what my father offered them, and he continued to live his life above while he was condemned below.
When I looked to Jenny, she tucked her arm inside of Tennyson’s but looked down. She too had been forsaken. Only she had suffered the death that her lover had not. She returned to this world a grindylow, a cursed beast. My eyes floated back to the dark man. I wondered what sort of beast he has been cursed to be. I wondered what his name used to be, and what it was now. I could almost remember, but not clearly.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, fairies and shifters, welcome to fight night. We welcome our Queen to the gathering tonight and ho
pe to provide her with a good show. I will relay the rules to anyone who does not know them. Two shifters fight like men. They are forbidden to shift. They must fight hand to hand with no weapons and no magic. There are no wards to prevent a shift or magic use. It must be a choice by the competitors to play fairly,” Troy said as he turned in the ring. On each side, he wore a holster to bear the weapons I had given him, Driggs.
Another pang of emotion struck me. Levi squeezed my hand tighter, as I inhaled to compose myself.
“Our first fight is two newcomers to the ring. A couple of young ones who are eager to earn their places in the pack. Please give encouragement to Phelan and Ingo,” he said as two young men bounced back and forth ready to fight.
Phelan stood almost six-foot-tall with dark brown hair and brown eyes. His legs were muscular with tight calves. He definitely had the weight and height on the other boy.
Ingo had a lighter brown hair the color of hay with pale blue eyes. His arms moved like lightning in front of him. While the other might out mass him, he definitely had the speed and agility that the bulk of the other man wouldn’t allow.
“Ready?” Troy called. The crowd yelled to encourage the man they supported. The two young men nodded to Troy. “Fight!” he yelled, backing out of their way to allow them to fight.
Phelan took the first swipe at Ingo who quickly dodged the strike to land a couple of punches as he moved. They landed just under Phelan’s arm around his rib cage. Phelan growled in frustration. I feared we would see them shift before our eyes, breaking the rules.
“No matter how mad they get, they will not shift,” a familiar voice said behind me.
“Dominick,” I muttered.
“Good evening, Grace. Levi,” he said politely. I couldn’t see him, because he sat directly behind me. I was sure he wasn’t sitting there when we sat down.
“Nick,” Levi responded.
“Nick?” I asked.
Dominick chuckled behind me. “Yeah, my friends call me, Nick,” he said.
“I didn’t know you were friends,” I muttered loud enough for both of them to hear above the cheers of the crowd as the two in the ring continued their dance.