Phantom Fae

by Terry Spear

  And then together they became invisible.

  Chapter 19

  Ena had to trust Brett could get them out of Zane's castle without detection because she certainly didn't have any other viable plan. They hoped to get to the first floor before anyone headed down the narrow stairs and bumped into them. Brett carried the egg as they hurried up the stairs. Thank the goddess, they reached the first floor just as three guards stalked toward the dungeon and missed them by inches. The guards passed them by and rushed down the stairs.

  "They're not down here!" a man called out a few seconds later from down below.

  What was going on? Had Hammer, or one of the other archers on the wall walk, set them up? Maybe thinking Zane had something valuable and it should belong to the phantom fae?

  As soon as Brett saw the entryway, Ena went first to open the door. They hoped her action wouldn't catch anyone's attention. But at the moment, no one was in view.

  The door swung open and Brett and Ena hurried outside as she grabbed onto his tunic again.

  "Let's go," Brett said.

  Ena was never so grateful when they left the mage's keep undetected. "Can you continue to hold onto the egg?" They were no longer invisible to each other as they fae transported.

  "How long will it take us to transport there?"

  "About three hours."

  "That long?" Brett sounded worried.

  "What's wrong? We evaded the men at Zane's keep. They can't follow our trail dust because neither of us leave one."

  "I hear and feel the dragonling pecking at the shell from inside."

  Ena fought feeling panicked. "Let's hurry,"

  "You're a dragon shifter. Aren't you interested in bonding with the dragonling?"

  "Are you kidding? Can you imagine housebreaking it?" And more than that. Caring for it until it was old enough to fend for itself.

  "Oh, yeah, I envision what a problem that would be. I had to help housebreak a Labrador retriever puppy. I can't imagine how hard it would be to teach that to a baby dragon.

  Halfway to the dragon caves, a loud cracking sound came from the dragon's shell nearly making Brett drop the egg. "It's hatching! I'm afraid I'll be holding onto the shell and the baby will fall. We better land."

  "It has wings," she said.

  "Will it be able to fly right after hatching?"

  She didn't recall how it was for her when she was just a baby. "Maybe not. Let's land and I'll take a look at the shell." As if Ena was an expert on a baby dragon that was trying to hatch from an egg.

  Brett set the egg down in a forest and a beak poked a hole through the side of the shell.

  "It's definitely hatching. What do we do now?" Brett was looking freaked out, his eyes darkened and sweat peppered his brow.

  "Remove your tunic."

  "I have every intention of courting you, but this doesn't seem like the time or place—"

  "Oh for heaven's sakes. Remove your tunic. Hurry, Brett."

  He pulled off his tunic and she smiled when she saw his muscles. "Nice." Then she grabbed his tunic and watched the egg, ready to cover the dragonling's head with the tunic and keep the baby from imprinting on either Brett or her or both. Hopefully, the baby dragon wouldn't bond with Brett's tunic. She thought it would simulate the inside of its shell. Then again, she could imagine it trying to break out of the tunic next.

  The dragon kept moving around inside the egg, poking new holes. Ena kept following it around, readying the tunic to pull over the dragon's head. "Don't let it see you, Brett."

  Brett turned invisible and she stared at the spot where he'd been. Then he turned her invisible and so was his tunic. "I can't see the tunic to put it on him now."

  "Here, let me do it." He reached for her, found the tunic in her hands, and took it from her. At least now, they could do this without fear of the dragonling accidentally seeing either of them.

  When the black scaled dragon's head popped out of the shell, Brett got behind it and covered it with the tunic. The baby dragon cried out, nearly giving Ena, and probably Brett, a near heart attack. Brett quickly lifted the baby into his arms.

  In the woods, the sound of horses' hooves headed for them.

  "Riders," Ena whispered. When she saw Duke Tully and some of his men as he led the way, she hoped the duke wasn't still committing crimes or it would go badly for him.

  Right as she reached for Brett, Duke Tully saw the empty dragon shell. His eyes shimmered with greed and he smiled with sinister intent. "A dragonling just hatched and is out here in the wilderness. Find it."

  Ena wondered how long the duke would search for the hatched dragonling. If he'd found it? She was certain he would have sold it to the highest bidder, not attempted to locate the mother and return the baby to her.

  As much as Brett wanted to reassure the squirming baby dragon that he would be fine, he didn't want the baby to imprint with his voice.

  "Are you all right carrying the dragon?" Ena asked, her words hushed as she held onto Brett's belt now.

  "He's sleeping in my arms." Brett turned them visible as they traveled through the black void of space.

  Ena shook her head. "You look like one proud father."

  Brett wanted to laugh. "Remember, courtship and marriage. We can wait a good number of years before we have kids of our own."

  Ena blushed. Brett smiled.

  Later that night, the dragon caves come into view. Brett hoped delivering junior to the mother would go without a hitch.

  They landed on the limestone ledge outside the cave, and Brett felt anxious. The mother dragon shot out of the cave so fast, Brett nearly dropped the baby, fearing she intended to kill him. He started to remove his tunic from the sleeping baby, but the dragon snatched the dragonling in her mouth too fast. She carried him into the cave by the scruff of the neck. After setting him on the nest, she ripped off the tunic and tossed it aside.

  In horror, Brett stared at his shredded tunic. He really loved it because Ena had loved it on him when she bought it for him. He'd had every intention of wearing it for a good number of years.

  The mother inspected her baby, her snout caressing his face, touching, and consoling. Tenderly, the dragonling nuzzled her back and they made eye contact, an adoring mother with her adoring son. Brett was glad that the baby had imprinted with his mother like it was meant to be.

  Unexpectedly, Ena wrapped her arm around Brett's waist. He looked down at her. She was smiling as she watched the display of affection between mother and son. Then the dragon tucked Brett's tunic in the nest as if to reassure the baby that Brett was still there. The baby snuggled against it and went to sleep.

  The dragon turned to address Brett. "Thank you."

  Brett shifted into the dragon. "We were glad to find him safe and return him to you."

  She nodded.

  Relieved they had been successful with this mission, Brett realized just how important Ena's work was. But now he would like to learn something about his family's heritage. He shifted again, and asked Ena, "Do you think we can find anything about my heritage at the local dragon shifter community before we run off to do your last mission?"

  "Yes, of course. We're here. But first, we need to tell the elder the baby has been returned."

  "We would have rescued the baby anyway, even if no one was willing to pay for it," Brett said.

  "What? Don't tell me you intend to forgo your payment. You're a dragon shifter. Act like one. People won't take you seriously otherwise."

  He would have done it for free, and he suspected Ena would have also—but she didn't like showing that side of herself to others. He had to learn the rules for being a dragon shifter, he supposed, but he didn't think he'd ever ask for as much of a payment as the other dragons did. He could just see causing lots of trouble with the rest of them if he began undercutting their prices.

  After making arrangements for the elder to have the gold sent to Ena's castle in payment for the return of the dragonling to her mother—for which the villagers we
re extremely grateful—Colin invited them to sleep in his cottage for the rest of the night.

  The next morning, after enjoying a hearty breakfast of pancakes and sausages with Colin, Brett and Ena flew to the dragon colony.

  Small castle towers dotted the area, and several servants were out working the soil in gardens or exercising horses and the like. Since the fae were all doing menial labor, Brett assumed none of them were dragon shifters. The dragon shifters most likely did all the kind of jobs like Ena and he were doing now. He was grateful that she had taken him on as her apprentice.

  The servants all looked up to see Ena and Brett flying through the sky as dragons, and he wondered then if she'd ever visited here or not.

  He and Ena targeted a keep that was in the center of a large square. He wondered if the dragon shifter who owned this castle was in charge of the colony. Ena and Brett landed in the square and shifted. Servants cleaning the square or setting up merchant stalls eyed them with curiosity.

  "Have you ever been here before?" Brett asked Ena.

  "No. I just know about this community and two others. I'm sure there are more, but they would be much farther away that I didn't want to check into those right away. Alton is from here."

  "Ah." What if Brett was related to Alton? What a shock that would be.

  The dragon shifters were gone, just like the elder had said, but a servant at this keep led them to the archives in a library that housed four rows of books shelved all the way to the top of the twelve-foot ceiling. In one section, detailed dragon shifter lineages in the area were categorized by family. As they perused the massive books on top of one of the mahogany tables, Brett found that not only did the books have names and relationships in extensive family trees, they also had hand-painted pictures of the dragons. Even though he knew his family members wouldn't necessarily be gold, he was drawn to any that were pictured.

  "Do you have any golden dragons that still live here?" Ena asked the man, though she'd already said coloration didn't have a lot to do with showing relationships.

  "A dozen or so."

  Brett perked up at hearing it. "Did any of them end up mating a phantom fae? Who happened to be a mage?"

  "Are you asking about your own heritage?" the man asked, his black bushy brows narrowed.

  "Yes. I was raised by humans. I'm trying to learn if I have family anywhere."

  "You're a dragon shifter?"

  "Yes." Brett shifted into his gold dragon form and the man's jaw dropped. "You're the spitting image of the master in the keep directly south of here along the River Klein."

  "As a dragon or a human? Fae?" Brett quickly amended.

  "Especially as a dragon. But as a fae also. You'd best be leaving before they return."

  Brett was disappointed that if he had found family, he wouldn't be welcome. "He wouldn't be pleased to see me?"

  "If you are his grandson—after his daughter was murdered by the phantom fae queen for marrying her most promising mage against the queen's knowledge or her wishes—no you would not be welcome. I doubt he'll want anything to do with you. You're half phantom fae, are you not?"

  "I had nothing to do with my parents' deaths. Who could fault them for loving each other?"

  Ena agreed with Brett that it didn't make any sense, but she reminded him that he was a fae, and their ways could be strange to someone like him.

  "The man she married had the support of his father even, and he encouraged them to live there." The man frowned. "We didn't think dragon shifters marrying a fae that wasn't a shifter could have offspring who were dragon shifters."

  "Apparently, you were wrong. If you can leave a message for him, I'll be staying with Ena near Crislis Castle in the dragon fae kingdom. If he would like to see me, we can arrange a meeting." Brett didn't want to assume that it would be all right with Ena if he invited his grandfather, if that was who he was, to visit at her castle.

  "He's welcome to stay with us," Ena quickly offered.

  The old man shook his head. "He won't accept the invite. Just the same, I'll tell him you came and made the offer."

  "Thank you." Disappointed to hear that his grandfather wouldn't be interested in having anything to do with him, Brett was grateful that he had found family with Ena and her people.

  Chapter 20

  After returning to Ena's castle, she wanted to have some down time before she went on her next mission. This one wasn't as much of a priority like the last two. She needed to find a lost wedding ring in the dense forest of Carlan's Pass. Not that it wasn't important, but they really needed to take a day of rest before they ventured out again.

  "What is your next job?" Brett asked again, when Ena didn't tell him right away.

  "I thought we'd rest up for the next one." She settled on the couch in the Great Hall next to a fire the following evening, planning on setting out the day after tomorrow. She hoped Brett would come to sit beside her, but she wanted him to feel comfortable with approaching her, and not as though he was her servant or dragon shifter apprentice. "If you wonder about the man who might be your grandfather…"

  "I'm not."

  She thought the notion the dragon shifter might be related to Brett, but wouldn't want to see him really had bothered him. Especially after Brett told her how his phantom fae grandfather had been murdered by the queen also.

  "I'll be right back." He vanished.

  She wished she could make him feel better about his family situation, but she figured he must need some alone time. She studied the flames licking the air in the fireplace. Though she'd always felt at home here, and was glad to be able to return, Brett's coming into her life had made all the difference in the world. If some fae wanted him for payment for passage through their lands again, she would fight tooth and claw to make the passage…with him and not give him up for any reason. He was more important to her than all the treasure in her dungeon. Speaking of which…

  She sighed, left the couch, and headed down into the dungeon to check her piles of treasure. It was a dragon thing. Whenever she returned to rest up for another mission, she checked her hoard to make sure that it was all there.

  When she reached the dungeon, she found Brett down there and all her treasure was gone.

  "Ohmigoddess!" She was ready to turn whoever stole her treasure into ashes as soon as she could find the thief.

  But instead of looking horrified to see her treasure was all gone, Brett smiled at her and took her into his arms. "My gift to you. I made it invisible. If anyone has any plans to steal it, they will find nothing at all."

  She clamped her gaping mouth shut and looked around at the empty cells as Brett rubbed her back consolingly. She couldn't believe it.

  Then he made it visible to let her see it. She relaxed. She didn't have any words. She was so amazed at what Brett could do, but she still hadn't gotten over the shock to see all her treasure vanish.

  "So anytime we leave, or whenever you want, I can just make it disappear."

  "You are a wonder. Thank you, Brett." She kissed him and was just getting seriously into his kissing her back when they heard footfalls on the stairs.

  Ryker cleared his throat as Brett and Ena turned to see him.

  "Beg pardon, my lady, my lord, but Brett has a visitor."

  At first, Ena couldn't believe that Brett would have a visitor here, but then she wondered if it was his grandfather.

  "My grandfather?" Brett looked half excited and half worried.

  "I wouldn't know. But he's a dragon shifter from near the River Klein, near where Alton had lived."

  Ena expected Brett to hurry up the stairs, but he took her hand instead. "Make the treasure invisible." She was glad he could do such a thing, after she got over the initial shock. She wanted him to know how proud she was of him.

  He quickly did so and Ryker gasped. "One of Brett's new abilities," Ena said.

  "Remarkable." Ryker wandered around in the closest empty cell and shook his head. "Really remarkable."

  Then they heade
d up the stairs, Ena leading the way. Brett was still holding her hand as if to say that she was in his life now no matter what happened next. Meeting the dragon shifter was good news, hopefully, but being with her was just as important.

  When they reached the landing, Muriel hurried to greet them, wringing her hands. She whispered, "He's in the parlor, pacing. He's really agitated, but oh my, he looks so much like an older version of Brett. They've got to be related. Cook gave him some tea and sweet cakes, but he's not eating or drinking."

  "Thank you," Ena said to Muriel. "We'll see to him."

  When they reached the parlor, Brett followed Ena into the room decorated in fine tapestries of scenes of lakes and rivers, each also depicting a flying dragon that was one of her ancestors. A small reading library sat in one corner, and velvet covered couches offered enough seating for twelve fae, though the dragon shifter wasn't sitting.

  The man quit pacing and turned to face them. His eyes were as blue as Brett's and his hair the same rich brown as his. Then he turned to Ena and studied her for a moment, bowed his head in respectful greeting, and turned his attention again to Brett.

  "You are Brett, son of Angelina, my daughter, and Baldwin, the phantom fae mage who captured her heart."

  Brett took a deep breath and exhaled it, then extended his hand to him.

  "I am Sol, the sun dragon, your grandsire." Instead of shaking Brett's hand, he took his hand and pulled him into a warm embrace. "Cato's administrator was wrong in telling you that I wouldn't wish to see you. I didn't know my daughter had a child before she died. She must have hidden you in the human world from Queen Everlee…and from me."

  Brett hugged him back and Ena was fighting tears.

  "Will you visit me? You have uncles, aunts, and cousins."

  Brett was nodding. "Oh, yeah."

  "I'll make arrangements then." Sol looked at Ena then and said, "And your…friend?"