by Amy Sumida
I'll do my best, Faerie said gently in my mind.
Dexter's crimson stare went sharp. His fox-like head cocked as if he were intently listening to something. He sat down, crossing four of his six legs, and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he looked at me in complete understanding and yipped happily.
I hugged him in relief. “Thank you. I promise I'll look after you.”
Dexter yapped over his shoulder and Deidre got up. She whined and looked from her father to me. Dexter had fathered children already but if Deidre left, she'd be giving up the chance to be a mate and a mother. She had more to lose. I saw her struggle with the choice and went to hug her.
“It's okay, Deidre, you can stay,” I said softly. “You'll still have a place here. Hunter will need you and so will the Hidden One children. The other Deidre would miss you if you left.”
Deidre whined. Dexter went to her and licked her face.
“We still have some time,” I said to the nurials. “Two days. You don't have to decide yet.”
“Two days?” Isleen whispered.
“Can Hunter come with us?” Rian asked.
“No, Son,” Arach said gently but firmly. “Hunter has to stay with his family.”
A knock came at the door. Isleen opened it and Roarke, Anna, and Hunter stepped inside, all three of them wearing worried expressions.
“We heard that last bit,” Roarke admitted. “Where are you going?”
Arach and I explained it again. This time, it took longer, what with Roarke stopping us to ask questions every two minutes. Finally, we got it all out. Hunter bawled and clung to his mother's leg despite Brevyn's efforts to calm him, Anna looked shaken but resolute, and Roarke was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
But it was Isleen who spoke first, “I'm going with you.”
“Isleen, Lugh is going to ask his mother to come to Faerie and live here,” I said. “He's staying in Faerie.”
“That doesn't matter.”
“Yes, it does,” I said gently. “You love him.”
“You are my family,” her voice broke.
“Isleen.” Arach pulled her into an embrace. “I want you with us, I do, but I don't think you'd be happy there. This is your home.”
“You are my home,” she said firmly as she stepped back. “All of you. If you leave, I go with you.”
“I have no one else to entrust the kingdom to.” Arach's eyes teared up as he said it. “I want to name you queen.”
Isleen swayed as if he'd struck her.
“Isleen?” Arach took her hand.
“You want to leave me behind?”
A tear slid down Arach's cheek. “The way you're looking at me right now will haunt me forever. I'm so sorry, Isleen. You have shouldered so much since my parents died. You looked after our kingdom until I could. In my mind, there was no other choice. But if it hurts you to be left behind—if you would truly be happier in the God Realm with us—then you are, of course, welcome. You are always welcome at my side. You know that.”
Isleen let out a long sigh, tears running down her cheeks with it, and hung her head. “It is selfish of me but—”
“Be selfish!” Arach grabbed her arms and shook her. “For once in your life, do what will make you happy. I will not have you make this decision out of responsibility or loyalty. If you stay, do so because this is your home and you can't be happy anywhere else. But if you come with us, do it because that is what you want above all else.”
“You have some time yet,” I reminded her. “Think about it. And talk to Lugh. He should be back tomorrow.”
“I don't need to talk to Lugh.” Isleen lifted her head. “I go with my family.”
Arach pulled her back into his arms. “I love you,” he whispered. “I'm glad you're coming with us.”
“Um.” Roarke cleared his throat. “Does this mean that I have to be King?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
We addressed the court next and then spoke to the entire kingdom through a mass mirror announcement. Roarke and Anna, as the remaining royals in Fire, would become King and Queen after we left, even though the Court of Cats was a separate entity and their royal status was different from that of the elemental kingdoms. The kingdom mourned, wails echoing throughout it, but those who took it hardest were the Hidden Ones.
The Hidden Ones children sobbed and clung to me while the adults huddled together and moaned as if in pain. It set me into a fresh bout of tears and I had to make the rounds, hugging each of them, before my sadness seeped into an exhausted calm. I couldn't spend as much time with them as I wanted to, there was so much to do before we left. So I was forced to leave them and the rest of my people to grieve without me.
After everyone had been notified, I went to fetch Blossom. I had waited to tell her because I didn't want the Pixies to overhear us. During the warmer months, they lived a foot away from Blossom, in their tiny village behind the castle, and looked after her for me. But I should have at least taken Blossom inside before I made the announcement because the wailing of Pixies had scared her. Her petals were trembling when I crouched down beside her.
“We have to move to the God Realm but it's going to be okay, Blossom. Don't be scared.” I held my hand out to her and she uprooted herself, curling the long tendrils of her roots into my palm and using them to pull herself into my hands. “I've got you. I wouldn't leave you behind.”
I took her upstairs and put her in her winter pot by the window while Arach and I packed. There wasn't a lot for us to take. When you live in a castle, most of your stuff isn't really yours. It's not as if I was going to drag the furniture to Pride Palace. I packed my jewelry and small treasures: a breathing pearl, an air flower, and Ull's spellbook that would one day belong to Brevyn. There was also the emerald and sapphire figures of a boy riding a dragon that our pixies had made for Rian and Brevyn in honor of Rian's first flight. Arach and I left the fire crowns for the next king and queen, but I took my white gold dragon crown that I wore on special occasions. I packed some clothes and my favorite accessories but that was all. Arach only packed a single bag as well. I wasn't surprised by that. But I was surprised by my sons.
They each had a bag holding some clothes and a few childhood treasures but not much. They left their toys and books for the other children but took their swimming trunks. I smiled at that and hugged them tightly. I was so proud that they knew to value people more than things. It meant more to them to know that Hunter and the other kids would have their toys to play with and would remember them by those things than it did to have the toys themselves.
“We've done all right,” I said to Arach after the boys set their bags down beside ours and hurried off to find their friends. “Our sons are good boys.”
“They are indeed.” Arach came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
I stood at the window, staring across Faerie as the sun set. Blossom leaned closer as if she were memorizing the view as well. She was a sentient flower and in some ways understood more than even Dexter did. I hadn't offered her a choice because I already knew her answer. Blossom had been born of me, of my magic in Alfheim, and there was no choice for her. Like Isleen and Arach, she would go where I went.
“It's a good thing that they mourn our leaving,” I said as the laments of the Fire Kingdom echoed eerily through the realm. “It shows how much we've touched their lives.”
“Yes.” He nuzzled my cheek. “And I regret having to leave them but I won't let their pain change my mind. You are my world, A Thaisce.”
I turned in his arms and slid my hands up the sides of his face, laying my fingertips over the crimson scales at his temples. “And you are mine, Dragon. We'll face this new adventure together.”
Arach bent his head and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his powerful shoulders, feeling the muscles in his back move as he lifted me. With his hot tongue flicking against mine and his moans vibrating through my mouth, he set me on the window ledge and leaned me out over the steam that rose f
rom the magma moat far below. We basked in the heat as we created our own.
Arach lifted his head to look down at me. “Shall we give them one last gift, A Thaisce?”
I nodded. Arach lifted me in his arms and carried me out of our bedroom. We went down the spiraling center stairs, the way shortening for us as it always did, and then down even further into the bowels of the castle. When we entered the cavern of the Hidden Ones, they stopped sobbing and formed an aisle for us, then dropped to their knees reverently. They knew where we were headed and they knelt to show their gratitude. The last time Arach and I had made love in the magma well, many Fire-Fey women had conceived—Fionnaghal of the Hidden Ones was one of them.
Murmurs of “My Queen” and “My King” followed us back into the tunnels. Arach continued to carry me past the homes of the Hidden Ones to the little cave at the end. The Hidden Ones guarded this place with their lives because it held the magma pool that connected to the entire kingdom. It was like the heart of Fire—our elemental well. Anything done to that pool would be done to the entire kingdom and its people. Arach and I could connect to all of our Fire Fey through it. And when we made love inside its molten embrace, ripples of our love would flow through it, out to our people, and any fertility we had would be shared with them as well. It was the perfect way to say goodbye.
Arach set me on my feet at the rim of the rock basin and we helped each other out of our clothes. Once we were naked, Arach stroked my hair back from my face and over my shoulders, his fingers twirling with the strip of sparkling starlight at my left temple. I laid my hands over his and he lowered his forehead to mine, taking a moment to just breathe with me.
Arach climbed into the pool first, scales bursting over his skin as soon as he touched the magma. My husband became a gleaming, blood-red beast with black horns crowning his head and yellow eyes glowing from his alien face. That beautiful monster gently helped me into the pool with his claw-tipped hands, watching eagerly as a similar shift came over me.
Golden scales met crimson in the viscous liquid. I drew my claws over Arach's smooth chest, making a satisfying clicking sound. But Arach wasn't in the mood for foreplay; he brought me down with him into the magma, settled me over his lap, then covered my mouth with his—sharp teeth clashing with mine and nicking me. Arach groaned with that first taste of blood and pulled my hips down firmly until our middles met. I wrapped my legs around him, aligning our bodies, and bit him back.
Sweet, warm blood ran across my tongue and Arach's recent memories burst into my mind. I felt the terror that had filled him at the thought of leaving Faerie and the overwhelming sadness that he had hidden from me. But both emotions paled to the agony he experienced when he contemplated the alternative. Leaving Faerie wouldn't be easy on Arach but it was the only choice he had.
As his truths hit me, Arach's sex hardened, extending into mine. Making love in magma is a tricky business. The tender parts of our bodies were protected from the extreme heat by scales, including, and especially, our sexual organs. But once aroused, his cock slid free of its scaled sheath to seek my entrance. If we weren't aligned properly when this happened, the magma would hit his shaft and it would withdraw. No, Arach wouldn't be hurt, he was a Dragon-Sidhe after all, but it would make sex difficult if his shaft kept playing hide and seek.
Luckily, we were in perfect alignment and Arach entered me smoothly. I ground over him, the scales transmitting sensation to the underlying nerves in a most delicious way. Magma bubbled and clung to us, dripping down our bodies like hot syrup. I shivered as ecstasy swept through me; those little movements I made were enough to lift me steadily toward climax.
Arach groaned and nibbled his way along my scaled jaw. “Grab my horns and ride me hard, wife,” he growled in my ear. “I want to see you go wild.”
I snarled wordlessly and reached for Arach's horns. Savage lust overcame me as my clawed hands filled with their slick lengths. I gripped them tightly and used them as leverage to lift myself. Arach growled and bucked beneath me, his head remaining still despite the strain I put on it. The magma bubbled and spat, elemental magic tingling through the molten rock and into us. Arach's cock became as hard and slick as volcanic glass inside me, sliding into my core, demanding my pleasure as I demanded his. I was nearly there when Arach tossed his head, freeing himself from my grip, and lifted us out of the magma.
I cried out as he flipped me around, thrust into me from behind, and then lowered me back into the pool, onto my hands and knees. With a savage roar, Arach started slamming into me. Magma splashed up my shoulders and over my face. He moved so fiercely and yet barely withdrew, his body glued to mine. Those rapid, wild thrusts forced me to brace myself against the stone rim. But my dragon wouldn't merely take that pounding, she pushed back, bringing our mate even deeper.
“Arach!” I shrieked in abandon. “I love you!”
My sex clenched and rippled around his, milking him as I began to tremble into my climax. My husband bent over me and grabbed my breasts, talons scraping my golden scales. He bucked wildly, the slap of scales upon scales cracking against the stone walls.
“I love you too, A Thaisce. More than anything or anyone,” he panted.
And then we came together in rushing, wild, abandon. Our love, so freely expressed, spread out to all of the Fire-Fey in our kingdom. I felt their shivering energy through the magma and sensed when their sorrow shift to wonder. The wails of our people stopped and eased into a soft peace. Arach and I slipped into a shuddering peace as well, our sated bodies sliding beneath the molten surface together. Arach shifted me onto his lap and held me tightly as we basked in the bliss of love and fire as we shared it with the people who had given us their trust and loyalty for so many years.
“Goodbye,” I whispered to them.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Early the next day, they started to arrive. Faeries. First came our people, many having traveled through the night so they could reach us in time to say goodbye to us in person. Then the others started to show up. King Guirmean, Queen Nora, Prince Morgan, Duchess Lorna, and Darius—one of my werelions—came from the Water Kingdom. King Ruari and Queen Bronagh came from the Earth Kingdom. King Rowan, Queen Liatris, Prince Baidhen, and Princess Sinnea came with their entire court from the Kingdom of Darkness. King Fionn and Queen Breana brought their baby daughter, Princess Eveline, and—greatest of shocks—Craigor, a faerie with who I'd had a rocky past. And even the High King Cian and High Queen Meara came to wish us farewell. In honor of the occasion, Isleen organized a feast to rival all feasts that have ever been served in Castle Aithinne.
The hugs and tears seemed endless. So many faeries begged the High King to reconsider, to try another option before resorting to such an extreme measure, but he was adamant and I admired him for it. It couldn't have been easy for him to face all of us and stand strong but someone had to. Someone had to consider the problem with wisdom and cold reason or the rest would suffer. And being that person didn't win him any compassion or gratitude. Cian stood off to the side of the somber gathering, his chin lifted and shoulders straightened against the glares he was receiving.
I went over to him and hugged him. He flinched in surprise and then relaxed into my embrace.
“You're doing the right thing,” I said as I withdrew. “We all know it; we're just not strong enough to see past our emotions right now. Which is why you're the High King and I'm grateful for it.”
“Queen Vervain,” King Cian said on a sigh, “I shall miss you greatly.”
“I'll miss you too, High King.” I rubbed his arm sympathetically before I turned to hug his wife. “And I'll miss you too, Queen Meara. You've both been good friends to me—right from the start.”
“And you have been a good friend to us and our realm,” Queen Meara said. “Look around you, Queen Vervain. This is only a fraction of the people you have touched here. That they fight and weep for you is the greatest of honors.”
“I think so too,” I smiled through the sheen that s
uddenly covered my vision.
“Tima,” Darius said softly.
“Excuse me,” I said to the High Royals. I turned to Darius, one of the first Intare I'd ever met. He attacked me to save my life and in return, I saved the Intare and made them mine. “Dare.” I pulled him into a hug.
“I don't know what to do,” Darius whispered in my ear.
I stood back and looked at him. “Your brothers or your lover. That's a hard choice.” I sighed. “You're going to stay here, Darius.”
He started to weep silently.
“I'm choosing for you,” I said as I took his hands. “Because the lives of your children depend on it.”
“My what?” Darius blinked away his tears.
“You're going to marry Lorna and have water-lion babies,” I said with as much of a smile as I could muster. “And you'll be so happy that you won't miss us at all.”