At that, his eyes, heart, and shoulders fell in unison. He was at the end of trying, for now. “I had to try.” He stood and faced away, giving the impression that he was gazing at the water sprites. “I have a wedding gift for you. It will be presented at the right time.” That kind of frightened me.
As Kin appeared to continue watching the sprites dance and sing, he said to the fountain, “Ian, she is yours. Take care of her if it’s the last thing you do.”
From the shadows, Ian traced the pattern of the rocky ground to the place in front of Kin. He bowed to him and said he’d meet our people in the meeting room in five minutes time.
In shock still that he’d listened to the entire back and forth Kin attempt to a last minute sway me his way yet again left me speechless as it often did. How many times has Ian sat back in the dark and listened to Pike and Kin do this? I still would never believe I was this special girl they made me out to be.
“You are okay?” It was a question, I think.
“Yes, Ian,” remembering to beam love at him when he worried. “I am perfectly fine with telling Kin the way of our world. I understand he had to try, for he has made the same speech on several occasions and my heart goes out for him. He is who he is and I admire his persistence though I’ll never understand the draw aside from the virginal magic that Grace seems to shout out at the Fey men of this world.”
He smiled with my attempt at humor at my own expense. “I’m glad you are who you are. I love that smart mouth and what makes it say the things it does.”
“You like my smart mouth?”
“Oh, the things I could come back with that, but will save for a more proper conversation in private where no one else is listening,” he tossed his head in the direction of the sprites who giggled nonstop now.
“Why are you meeting with Kin?”
“Business details. Adjustments to new statuses.”
I stood, kissed his cheek, and said I’d see him after the meeting. I had something I needed to do.
Chapter Forty
history- n. the study of past events, particularly in human affairs (the Fey history remains hidden thus far)
Altheon was reclaiming his spot with the bonfire being remade into a more suitable sitting area. He had several of the younger guards busy at work sawing and making log chairs that strangely resembled Adirondack chairs from my parent’s backyard.
“Can I bother you for a moment?”
“Oh, my dear green-eyed queen. I told you long ago that my time is your time. What is it you need for me to say?”
As if he knew or just might say whatever to make me happy. He told me once that he was at times, just guessing but I was never sure. “I don’t want you to say anything that I shouldn’t need to hear.”
“Agreement made.”
He talked so oddly. “I want to know what you know about Kin and I and the Firebearer history.”
“How are the two of you intertwined?” he offered his hand out for me to sit on the still damp, just cut timber. I followed suit only to get the answers I needed. I did squirm a bit at him using the word intertwined with Kin and I in the same sentence.
“You are both Firebearers of both courts who rule their own courts. The prophecy foretold that both of you would duel rule and balance the courts by doing so. Kinsler is the lost Firebearer that really his father kept hidden all for this moment. Kinsler can sense when you are near and now you know more to his secrets. You sense each other. Always have. An old prophecy had the Firebearers of the past interconnected to alert each other of their presence, but it hasn’t reoccurred for hundreds of years because we do not have two at one time. For it to happen, it had a purpose just like Sane ordering Kinsler to hide it and your mother's exile at the time of your birth. Now, Kinsler uses it to make it look like it should lead to believe that the prophecy indicates you as his soul mate.”
The burn was back in my hands, but I haven't told anyone.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before? It would have saved a lot of heartache.” Shouldn’t I be able to return the feelings of one who could be my soul mate? Ian is that. He has my soul wound up in him so much it hurts to be away from him. Like a branch separated from the tree.
“You weren’t ready my dear one.”
You weren’t ready my dear one. I mocked him in my head. He peered down at me over his glasses. He’d heard. Oops! Blocking. Never let your guard down.
“It was never meant for you to be in the winter court.”
It wasn’t? Heck, if he’d only told us.
“Ian was and is the better balance for the Seelie court to sit beside his queen as Pike is the perfect neutral ground who can travel between and keep the peace. Kinsler is the only one who can rule the winter court, for no other can balance ruthless chaos.” He chuckled at his own words.
I rolled my eyes. “So you’re saying that after all this time, you knew the outcomes and how this would play out with all three of them?”
“With wisdom comes the price of knowledge.”
Isn’t that like not saying anything at all? And I’m guessing Ian, Pike, Kin, everyone—knew all this was in Altheon’s head all along. “Okay, let’s say I accept this and move on. You know even more but will not tell me till,” I air quoted my next words, “the time is right.”
He nodded with a knowing smile.
“And I can go forth with marrying Ian now?” I raised an eyebrow for effect.
“I would recommend it sooner than later for all our benefit.”
What the heck? “Who will benefit from it other than Ian and me?” I blushed at saying what I was thinking before I heard it in my mind first.
“Ian needs the seat again beside you.”
I was baffled. Ian never lost it. Altheon didn’t expand either. “And you’ll keep your little riddles I see.”
“Ian made me promise that some things are for him to tell only.” That was an admission. Ian held another secret despite how free I’d felt lately from the fog of deceit. I found the bile rising in my throat.
“No, no my queen. Do not anger at him. This is a well guarded secret that could take your life if it came about to others. Please hold your tongue and for now, let the events play out as they may. Your wedding and marriage night is of the upmost importance right now.”
He seemed to have something else to say so I waited. “And Kinsler’s gifts to you are more appropriate than ever, in fact it is overdue this time.”
Whatever that meant? He didn’t tell me anything else, but I would listen and do as he said. I certainly didn’t want anyone else to die due to my negligence because a man they call the “seer” knew much and told little. I still think it’s scandalizing that he was simply just GUESSING our fates that happened to land just right.
Chapter Forty One
spared- v. 1. to refrain from treating harshly; treat mercifully or leniently. 2. to refrain from harming or destroying
“How did you know Kin wouldn’t hurt me? What debt did he owe?” I asked Ian with my arms wrapped tightly around his middle and squeezing too hard. I wouldn’t tell anyone, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t ask the man I love about things surrounding it.
He sighed like it was something he was finally releasing, “I vowed to take out his father in exchange for your safety.”
Forget that he agreed to a murder and went through with it. I was past that. I didn’t see how that was such a trade, but whatever. “How is that a fair trade?”
Standing in the middle of his room, I hugged him closer to undo his pain.
“There is more to it than you want to know, but if you keep insisting I will tell you.”
That was a warning. “Then tell me.” I could live with the knowledge. I was strong.
“Killing the king of the other court and being of royal blood bounds me to their court. I have lost my seat in the summer court,” he cleared his throat and looked nervously at me.
If there was ever a moment where someone told me something so horrible I thought
I might have a lung crush my insides by loss of physical breath, it was this moment. That was the ultimate of all secrets. If anyone were to know, they could easily kill me and the courts would belong to Kin.
And Lazyra would not have killed my father for that reason alone.
My knees hit the floor and he with me. “Ian, you should never have done it. I am not worth it. I never was.”
His hands took my face, “Grace, I’ve never wanted anything more in my life than you. You are worth more than my own life if I can’t have you. I’ve told you time and time again that I can’t see straight when you are too far. I am a broken man without you. I will not let anything come to harm you again. The court is safe in your hands.” His not so gentle hands gripped me tighter, pushing my cheeks in uncomfortably.
“Ian, what does this mean?” my body felt crushed, not my face. I had a deathly feeling that I was losing him. “Did I lose you?” the tears flowed and I carelessly let them fall. “Are you not mine anymore?”
That’s when his top lip quivered. I saw and he saw me watch it. “Only if you don’t want me anymore.”
I tossed a curious glance back up to his eyes swallowing the softball forming in my throat. Something dawned on me. “You two, you and Kin, knew that would happen. You knew that you’d be in his debt and he in yours. You both knew it all along.”
He nodded to signify I was correct, eyes down.
“You did this to spare my innocence in the process of sparing Kin his freedom only to give him both courts for the taking?” Kin could take it all. And he didn't.
He nodded again. I didn’t hold back. I smothered him with kisses and salty tears. He showered me with kisses all over my neck, ears, shoulders.
I did eventually stop him. “Can this be reversed at all?” He nodded a no into my shoulders. “Then can I save you?” I couldn’t help but wonder. All those years, him saving me.
He shifted back to see me. His face showed all kinds of knowing what I meant, a choke sound in his throat. “You are sure that I am the one you want?”
Worst day ever! Best day ever!
I laughed out loud. It was the wrong time for laughter, but it was just such a ridiculous statement. “Ian, you really think after all this time, years of pining after you, watching you ignore me and tear my heart apart, feeling my heart jump out of my body every time you come near me, melting into your kiss every time you let me taste you, and heaven knows what else I’m dying to have right now.” I was rambling. “Ian, you are the most stubborn, hard-headed man I know, but I absolutely cannot live without you.”
He let his lip lift a touch. “That hot huh?”
He always brought humor into the conversation when the veil of doubt was lifted. I slapped his warm chest and laid my head against my hand. I moved my other hand up to be closer still.
“You never asked or even got upset with me about telling Sarah about us,” I pressed for an answer concerning silly stuff, but it lightened the air.
“You were just sharing with a friend. I understood after I cooled off from seeing someone else seeing me with you. I want you to have friends, I just don’t want them to know everything about us.”
He was all about the not sharing me with others bit. Stubborn, possessive man. “She and I vowed to not share our details with each other again with the fact that you and Bane would probably like to be spared of that.”
“Good thinking, my love.”
He squeezed me tighter in a gesture that meant he appreciated that I thought of him and cared enough to give up my “girl talk” with others.
I wanted something off my chest. “I know about the rings.”
His puzzled face let me go on, “The poker and all.” I put my finger to his lips to stop his protest. “Don’t get angry. I just wanted to say thank you and sorry for being a brat about it.”
The storm clouds were brewing in his brain for how I knew. I’d never tell. I’d told enough.
“Is there anything I need to do for...the day?” He knew I meant our wedding. I blushed every single time I thought or mentioned it. Danella wasn’t here, but Tren and Sarah had everything ready from what they said.
As if still collecting silent warfare for my finding out about the rings, he shook his head a little and said with a true meant for me only smile, “Just be the one smiling only at me.”
I think he would always remind me in some way that no matter what, I was his. I couldn’t say I hated it.
I had one more item to share.
“I invited Kin to the wedding,” I said into his chest.
“As I.”
I was certainly surprised, but not unhappy about it.
***
It all boils down to Kin and me. Yes, together we would make the kingdom more powerfully united with our combining of Firebearers. But what if....
What if a king of one court and the queen of the other combine to make a partnership unstoppable by remaining true allies? Kin’s evil tendencies would always taint his court. His other agendas would always steer his paths.
And being marked by someone led to ultimate claim. If I put aside the thoughts behind the how of it, I could see the why’s in Kin’s eyes. I just wasn’t sure what was emotional and what was strategy to him. He was so emphatically hard to read, yet at most I knew he was devoted to me no matter what.
Being marked was definitely extravagantly chivalrous and romantic, but help me now if everyone of these Fey man would treat me different after the deed.
Maple leaves were weaved throughout my hair and painted intricately on my neck with a kind of golden paint that painfully still felt more like a tattoo than body paint. The pattern wound around my arms and ended at my palms in delicate little petal-like leaves like it had before. I felt like a painting on the Sistine chapel. After hours of painful pampering, I was ready and worn out from being still. Tren was smug with pride admiring her second masterpiece called “me”. The first one was the day of my eighteenth birthday. A tear escaped for Danella. She would be getting onto me right now for thinking something I shouldn’t. I wiped it away.
Wiggling to get up, I thought of Ian and what he might be doing to get ready. Well, I was not too worn out for the after wedding plans. Somehow, that spiked my energy. And Danella would want that.
Chapter Forty Two
one- adj. being or amounting to a single unit or individual or entire thing, item, or object rather than two or more
The wedding day.
I awoke hours before dawn in my own room, for the last time. My mother was here beside me letting the cadence of her forgotten footsteps be a refreshing joy in my heart. My father would be in the wedding too. I didn’t know how he was able to, but hushed lips told me to just appreciate it and stay quiet. Enough Fey had already questioned the man they recognized, but couldn’t place as who or where he came from. They would know the second his name was called. My father would walk me down the last part of the aisle and see nothing of the Fey realm except a beautiful paradise of flowers and “people” all around. He’d have the memory, but an altered one. It was one of the many promises Ian gave me as a wedding gift. To me, it was finer than gold and silver combined.
I was lost without Danella. My heart sighed heavily.
My mother greeted my early awake-ness with orange juice and a bath. I was pampered in the bath till my skin pruned, perfumed till I sneezed, and decorated all over my arms, neck, shoulders, and face with more body art. Was I a tattooed biker chic or a half Fey bride to be, take a pick? The gown was chosen for me, but I knew my friend Sarah, Lazyra, and my mother fought heavily over the final drawings of it. In the end it was white with silver mesh undertones weaved throughout the entire bodice and down the back into a trail that went ten feet back. That last feature would not have been my choice. I found out it was Lazyra’s requirement. She said it had to trail, a tradition.
It was completely strapless with matching fingerless gloves that went to the top of my arms, covering half the art they marked me with. Sarah’s choi
ces. Her official comments of the subject of the dress included something about paybacks and making him drool, but in a very classy way. When she added the word “yummylicious” I knew I’d changed the tides of Fey history alone by my Caylie styled influential speech choices.
The dress. It was completely backless with the two items sewn into and strapped across the curve of my back. My mother’s amulet and Ian’s balanced between the two. My mother’s choice. Since they were both the smaller of the amulet choices, I’d been satisfied. They were both forest green in color, one being a heart and the other an oval.
My choices were irrelevant it seemed, but I was happy. I felt loved.
My hair was up. Just that! Up! It was coiled and neatly tangled on my head with ringlets hanging only in certain areas for the “accents to the crown” they said. The make-up made me look like a runway model with pouty lips and sexy eyes. At first I worried it was too much, but with the crown on top and the dress on, it was just perfect. I felt like a queen. Oh wait, I was.
A veil was placed around me so sheer that I didn’t see it in front of me, only felt it like a cloak I couldn’t breathe under. I could hardly walk in the heels Sarah had chosen from our one and only excursion to the human shopping mall escorted by Bane and Ian at very close quarters. It was fun, but very scrutinizing when your man constantly says things like, “You can’t go in public wearing that” and “over my dead body”.
The heels reminded me of Caylie. She once said that shoes weren’t meant for walking in. I always thought she was ridiculous with her shoes the height of giraffe disguised as a minx.
“You’re up,” my mother said proudly. “I want you to know how proud I am of you. Not many mothers can see their daughter leave home one day and be queen the next. You’ve embraced this life and I admire you for living it to the fullest.”
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