by Sumida,Amy
“He's not a faerie,” he repeated.
“He is now,” I whispered and held him up for Arach to see. “Look past the crown, honey. That little piece of my mother, the one I left in Alfheim? It now lives in Brevyn. He's become a triple-souled being. I got a little of my mother too. Aednat gave me back my nahual, and helped me to heal my star.”
“Brevyn's a dragon-sidhe!” Arach took the faerie news further, leaping to a conclusion I hadn't even considered. He didn't seem to hear what I'd said about my nahual. He just grabbed Brevyn, pulling our son away from me like he was snatching up treasure. “My sons are both dragons!”
“Well, I don't think he could shift,” I blinked in surprise.
Why hadn't I thought of that? My faerie mother had been a dragon-sidhe. So Arach was right, her essence would be that of fire, specifically dragon fire.
“No, he wouldn't be full blooded,” Arach's sudden joy didn't show any signs of wavering. “But he's mine now, truly mine.”
“You are such a dragon,” I shook my head at him. “And by that I mean you're a five-year-old boy. Mine, mine, mine.”
“Don't you understand, A Thaisce?” his smile softened. “No one can say Brevyn isn't my son now. He's a faerie and he truly belongs here. This is his home.”
My face went slack as I stared at the three of them, Arach was so damn happy, I thought his face would break. All those little comments Faerie had made about Brevyn being more mine than Arach's. Odin's vows to be a part of Brevyn's life. Hell, even my own insistence that Brevyn was free to live as he choose, and love whomever he wanted to because he was not our heir. All of that had been eating away at my husband. And I hadn't known, or perhaps I'd been too self-centered to notice.
“Brevyn has always belonged here,” I finally said as I slid across the carriage to sit beside them. “And he has always been truly yours. I'm so sorry if you've ever doubted it.”
“I have never doubted it,” Arach swore. “It was the opinions of others which had me concerned.”
“You shouldn't have been,” I slid my arm around Arach and leaned into our family. “No one would have challenged Brevyn's right to live here. He's our son.”
“Yes,” Arach took a deep, satisfied breath. “Yes he is. And now he's a faerie too.”
“And a king,” I brushed my finger across Brevyn's brow. “Barely a prince, and now he's a king.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Now tell me what's happened in the mere half a day that I've been gone,” I demanded.
Equine screams cut off Arach's answer. The carriage twisted and tumbled downward. We fell to the carriage floor, Arach and I both angling our bodies protectively around our sons. An ominous crack echoed around us, followed the rushing resonance of water filling the coach.
“What in the world?” I gaped at the water flowing in around us. “I'm feeling like a James Bond martini: shaken, not stirred.”
“Make haste, Vervain!” Arach handed me Brevyn, then kicked the carriage door.
The sound of splintering wood was muffled by the water outside, which we were apparently immersed in. When the door broke open, the water immediately came pouring inside with even greater gusto, bring the door debris with it.
“Move!” Arach batted the pieces of door out of the way, then reached back to help me and the children out. “Vervain hurry!”
Arach was in a panic, something I rarely saw.
He had good reason, it turns out. We made it out just before the carriage sank completely. I found myself treading water in a pool large enough to hold all four of the phookas who'd been pulling our carriage, along with the carriage itself. There were phookas in human form, scrambling about, trying to free their brethren in horse form. Horses could swim, but these were phookas, fire fey, and the water had amped up their fear. They thrashed about, getting more tangled in their reins, their hardened hooves posing yet another danger to my children.
“Shift now!” Arach shouted to them in his most authoritative king voice.
The phookas shifted immediately, the loyal part of their brains responding to Arach's voice. Or maybe they were just more scared of Arach than they were of the water. Whatever it was, they shifted. In human form they were still a bit tangled in the leather straps, but at least it was a loose tangle, and there weren't any thrashing hooves to worry about now. So I focused my attention back on getting my children out of the water.
We were still on the Road of Neutrality, but someone had dug a trench across it and filled it with water. It must have been concealed somehow, either enchanted or cunningly camouflaged. Either way, the phookas had run right over it. The hole was also much deeper than I'd originally thought. Even as I swam towards the edge (Arach had taken Rian so I only had to worry about Brevyn) the carriage was continuing to sink behind us, air bubbles rising in the spot where it had been. I barely caught a glimpse of the roof.
Arach eased the screaming Rian onto the road, and then climbed out of the hole. Both of the boys were wailing, their shrieks numbing my ears. It had been difficult to keep water out of Brevyn's mouth, what with him opening it so widely, but I somehow managed to get him to the side of the pool without drowning him. Arach crouched down and took Brevyn from me as soon as we were close enough to reach. I breathed a little easier once both my sons were safe. Cedric took the thrashing twins so that Arach could help me out, but as I reached for Arach's outstretched hand, another hand beneath me, grabbed my foot and I was pulled underwater.
I saw Arach's shocked face through the wavy surface above me as I dropped deeper and deeper into the hole. The water was murkier further down, and even though I twisted about, trying to kick at, and also get a glimpse of, my attacker, both my hair and the sediment hindered my vision. I scraped at the sides of the hole, but I only managed to get more mud into the water, making visibility even worse.
Then my foot made contact with something hard, and I caught a glimpse of pale hair. Long, pale hair. I couldn't tell the exact color, not in that murk, but it was definitely fair. I jerked my foot back to kick again, just as another hand grabbed my wrist, and yanked me up in the opposite direction.
I looked up and saw Arach there. He gave a firm pull, lifting me to him, and then swept his arm around my waist. One more yank and I was free from the pale-haired perpetrator's grasp. With a furious shove, he pushed me from the water, and immediately, a heap of hands reached for me. I was lifted from the pool and swiftly pulled away from the edge.
I searched for my sons immediately, and Cedric rushed over with them.
“Is everyone alright?” I asked him as I took the screaming babies from him.
“The phookas who were pulling the carriage have all suffered minor injuries, but they're being seen to,” Cedric reported.
“Good,” I looked back to the muddy pool. “King Arach?”
“He's still down there, Queen Vervain,” another of the phookas answered me.
“Arach!” I shouted as I rushed forward. “Arach!”
My screams were even louder than my boys' as I searched the gloomy surface of the pool for signs of my husband. I kept hearing him telling me how drowning would have killed me if I wasn't a goddess. Arach could drown in that dirty pool while I stood there screaming futilely.
“Please stay back, my Queen,” other phookas came forward to restrain me. “We'll go in after the King.”
But before anyone could dive in, a clawed hand emerged from the muck, and dug into the muddy bank. Arach hefted himself out, a vicious look upon his face. He sluiced off the mud and water. Then he crouched down by the pool, and rinsed off his claws, before shifting them back into a more human looking hand.
“He just disappeared,” Arach growled. “I chased him down to the very bottom, but then all I could feel was mud. The bastard!” he shouted and glared at the water. “I want a guard posted until we can get back with reinforcements. Then we're going to drain this death trap and find that cowardly fool. You don't attack the Kingdom of Fire without getting burned!”
“Yes, King Arach,” a few of the red caps stepped forward, crossed their arms, and began watching the pool avidly.
“Is anyone hurt?” Arach looked around at our faeries. He spotted the naked phookas, and went over to them as I calmed our boys. I watched as Arach assessed the phooka's health and nodded. It looked like most of the injuries had been healed when they shifted. “Can you walk?” he asked them.
They all agreed that they could, but they ended up shifting back into their horse form so they wouldn't have to walk home without shoes on. Arach gave one of them a pat on the back, talking in the horse's ear too low for me to hear, then he turned to me.
“Vervain, bring our sons, we're getting them home. Now.”
“Yeah, I'm down with that,” I frowned as I stepped past the massive puddle, giving it a wide berth.
“Anson will carry you,” Arach gave the phooka's back another pat.
The boys had finally wound down to hiccups and sniffles. Arach took them from me and passed them to Cedric once more. Then he knelt and helped me onto Anson's back. I was dripping wet, and felt horrible for adding that weight and discomfort to his walk, but I knew we needed to get home as quickly as possible. And I would be slow on my feet if I had to carry my sons.
“You six stay here and kill anyone who comes out of that water,” Arach gestured to the red caps who had volunteered for guard duty. “The rest of you, come with us.”
Arach jumped up on another phooka and gestured to Cedric. Cedric handed him Rian, and Arach settled our son into the crook of his arm as he gathered up a handful of mane. I'd already taken Brevyn from Cedric and settled myself similarly. After Cedric was relieved of his burdens, he shucked off his clothes and shifted into a horse. The other phookas followed his lead. They would be faster in horse form.
Then there were the red caps who weren't remaining behind. They may have appeared cumbersome, much too large to move quickly, but one of the reasons they usually joined us on our trips was that they were actually quite limber and moved fast. Their long legs covered as much ground as a horse's stride, and once they started running, they had a speed to match. So we took off at a pretty nice clip.
“Arach,” I asked as he directed his phooka to run beside mine, “how do you know it was a man?”
“What?” he was scanning the forest as we rode, on high alert.
“You kept saying he,” I reminded him. “How do you know it was a he?”
“I don't,” he frowned and looked over to me. “I just...” he shrugged, “assumed. I know Aalish is probably behind this, but I can't see her doing such dirty work herself.”
“Ironic since she's the Earth Queen,” I muttered.
“Yes, quite,” Arach grimaced.
“I saw long hair,” I offered. “Not that it's proof of sex, but it was really long and was a light color.”
“What color exactly?” Arach lifted a crimson brow.
“I couldn't tell,” I shook my head. “But it was definitely pale. I saw it even in that dark water.”
“Yellow?”
“I don't know for certain,” I sighed. “But it could have been.”
“Aalish could have used her earth magic to escape,” Arach's jaw ground together. “It would be an easy thing for an earth-sidhe to move through soil. But the water... how could she remain submerged for so long?”
“A breathing pearl,” I reminded him, “just like the one I saw her pull out of her pocket at the wedding.”
“Of course,” his eyes hardened. “Perhaps I've underestimated her dedication. This is the third time she's tried to kill our children, Vervain.”
“I realize that.”
“The bitch will die slowly.”
“Yes, my love,” I agreed grimly, “she will. Slowly and screaming. Drowning in her own blood.”
Chapter Sixteen
A few hours later, I was showered and snuggling beneath the thick bed covers with my boys. They were wiped out, sprawled beside me, and making soft, baby, breathing sounds as they slept. Arach had gone to oversee the draining of the hole, but I had little hope that he'd find anything. I think it was as he said, and whomever had attacked us had escaped through the earth itself.
On our way home, Arach had informed me that there had been another attack in the Water Kingdom while I was away. Specifically on Lorna and Morgan. They had gone out for a swim in the shallows behind Castle Deuraich, and had been pulled into the deep by a severe undertow. That wouldn't have been an issue since both mother and son were water-sidhe, but this particular undertow was a tumbler so strong it pulled up the seabed and surrounded them with sand.
They could have easily choked to death on the sand (another type of earth, I might add), but Morgan called up a water spout and spun them to safety. He was particularly talented with water spouts. He'd been making them since before he'd been born. Lorna was really shaken by the attack, but Morgan had thought it was a bit of fun. I pointed out immediately that it was now clear that our enemy was targeting the children specifically. What an evil bastard. Or bitch most likely.
I was certain it was Aalish, as I had been from day one. But in addition to the phookas Arach had dispatched, the High King had kept guards posted on Aalish, and neither units had seen Aalish leave the Earth Kingdom. Seen being the key word. If she could move through the earth, as Arach assumed, she could have easily tunneled her way in and out of her kingdom with no one the wiser. King Cian agreed that it was a possibility, but without catching her in the act, he had no proof.
My eyes searched the bedroom aimlessly as I drifted off. This was our sanctuary. Little treasures from our life together had begun to accumulate on the tops of the dresser, our little dining table, and the bookshelves I'd had specially made. Before he'd married me, Arach had lived a rather spartan life with just the bare necessities within this room. He'd had something to sleep on, something to hold his clothes, and something to eat at. Now there was a smaller version of the bed sitting beside it, full of two-hundred-fifty pounds of nurial, named Dexter. There were toys scattered across the fur rug in front of Dexter's bed, and a tall flower pot for Blossom to sleep in. There was a vanity for me, covered with jewelry boxes and perfume, and Arach's simple armoire had been upgraded to a wardrobe large enough to fit my clothes inside it too.
Things I'd gathered from all over Faerie sat on the bookshelves which now lined the stone walls. Beside the fey chatchkies were faerie volumes bound in leather and fabric. There was the large breathing pearl given to me by the water pixies, and the air flower which had been a gift from the air pixies. The later sat within a glass case, equipped with a sign warning everyone not to open it. The flower was a condensed storm, and if it broke, the storm would be released. No one wanted that, though you never know when you might find a storm handy. Next to the storm flower was a feather I'd found in the the Kingdom of Darkness. It was a brilliant pink with lacey black tips, and propping it up was a little crystal I'd stolen from the Earth Kingdom.
This was my home now. I loved it and all the faeries within it. I had thought I'd finally found a happy peace with the other kingdoms, that maybe they'd accepted me and my children. I looked down at my sleeping sons, and a shooting slash of panic lanced through my chest. Someone wasn't just trying to kill me, they were trying to kill my babies. It hurt in so many ways, but mainly, it scared the hell out of me.
“Not just my babies,” I whispered to myself, “they're after Guirmean's son too.” I scowled at the breathing pearl, sitting on the shelf across from me on a golden stand. “Why? Why would Aalish want to hurt Morgan? It doesn't make any sense.”
Perhaps because it isn't Aalish, Faerie's voice filled my head.
It could be, Alaric's voice joined hers. Just because you haven't seen her do anything, doesn't mean she hasn't.
“Al? What are you doing here?”
Faerie came to see me, he sounded smug. We've been discussing your situation.
“Which one?” I huffed.
Your star, Faerie huffed back. I fel
t it when you healed. But we still cannot see your future, not I nor Alaric.
“Oh really?” I chuckled. “That must burn your butts.”
This isn't funny, Vervain, Al chided. Your future should have settled right back into place.
“Maybe it did, but it's hiding from you,” I teased them.
Hiding? Faerie sounded as if she were actually considering it. Do you think it is?
“No,” I rolled my eyes. “I was joking.”
I wasn't talking to you, you buffoon, Faerie snapped. Really, of all the souls, why hers?
Stop it, Faer, Al tsked. She's a good girl.
“Did you just call her “Fair”?” I gaped at the air before me as if I could actually see them. “Did you mean fair as in just or like a type of amusement park for humans? Because I don't think either applies. Though sometimes she can be a cross between a roller coaster ride and a fun house.”
He meant Faer as in a shortening of my name, F-A-E-R, Faerie growled.
“That sounded like fear,” I grimaced, “which would be highly applicable.”
Stop it, both of you, Al sighed. At least the star is healed, now you can move towards fulfilling your destiny.
“If I still have one. Maybe this whole messing with time thing has pushed a reset button on my life, and now I have a blank slate.” I shrugged, considering telling them about the moment of clarity I'd had. The glimpse into the plan that wasn't really theirs and yet kinda was. I tossed out the thought, doubting my ability to explain it so that they could understand. I didn't really understand it anymore. I just had a sense that things were as they should be. Plus, I liked the idea of making them squirm.
You wish, Faerie grumbled.
“Yeah, I do.” Funny thing was, I didn't really. But again, how would I explain that to these two?
Vervain, I chose you for a reason. I gave you your goddess soul, remember? Alaric said gently. Odin may have done the asking, but I was the one who made it possible for Azrael to put you into that well. I led Thor to you so that you could then meet Aphrodite and take her magic, releasing the repressed god soul inside you. Then Faerie led you here, where your fey essence was brought forth. We have put all of our hopes and faith into you. Please do not fail us.