by Leia Stone
“Come on.”
When I looked back he had a smile on his face. That damn bear knew exactly what he was doing. Picking up the pace I turned the corner, moving through a set of open double doors that led out into a … wow!
I was standing in some type of butterfly atrium that was half inside and half outside. The entire room was screened with mesh and filled with hundreds of stunning and colorful butterflies. They flittered about, landing on the greenest and most vibrant flowers I had ever seen. The space was huge, maybe sixty feet long and twenty feet wide.
“Well, this is unexpected,” Kade said, his eyes just a little wider than usual as he took in the beauty before us.
A streak of white caught my attention. Sir Baladar was walking toward us wearing casual white linen pants, a white tunic, and a little bowlers hat. He was beaming from ear to ear. “Your Majesties. I’m so honored to have you in my home.” He opened his arms wide and bowed deeply.
I smiled and stepped forward. “Sir Baladar, the pleasure is all ours. This is King Kade of the bear shifters.”
Baladar nodded. “We are well met.”
Kade looked a combination of impressed and intrigued. “Well met indeed.” He then gestured around to the butterflies. “Are they real? Or magic?”
Baladar got an extra twinkle in his eye then. “Isn’t magic real? Can we ever truly tell what is real and illusion?”
Annnd now we were back to me having no idea if this was all a deception or if Baladar was the most powerful magic born. Ever.
A medium size, circular table appeared out of thin air before us. Atop the white table was an assortment of teas, including a steaming teapot, milk, and a variety of cookies. There were three chairs already waiting for us to fill them.
What. The. Hell?
“Please … have a seat.” Baladar gestured, his tone magnanimous.
Kade looked at me and raised an eyebrow and I knew immediately what had that wary look in his eyes. Sir Baladar was very powerful, and that clearly unnerved the king a little. Me too, if I was being perfectly honest.
Of course, since we needed Baladar’s help, we had no choice but to play the part here today. We both sat, and I waited until the magic born was across from me before I leaned forward. I was done wasting time on pleasantries.
“We need your help in fixing the unstable mecca.”
Sir Baladar nodded as if he’d expected this. “Magic born are fascinating creatures,” he said randomly. “Did you know they hold a particularly close bond with the mecca? They can actually see the energy. Violet especially. It speaks to her.”
I raised one eyebrow. “Yes, Violet is amazing, but what does that have to do with the help we need? Can she just speak to the mecca and tell it to move back to the Otherworld?”
I was confused, which was not a place I found myself often. Usually I was quick to figure things out. Of course, he did seem to be a shifter who erratically jumped around topics with ease, so it was probably not all my fault. Either way, I needed to know what he was talking about.
Of course, the more he was silent, the more I thought about his weirdness. Like why did he refer to magic born as if he wasn’t one? Seriously, he had the white coloring and magical abilities, so what else could he be?
He leaned forward, peering into my eyes with his crystalline blue gaze. “You should know that magic is never that simple, Your Majesty.”
It took me a minute to realize he was answering my question about Violet telling the mecca to return.
“The point I’m trying to make is that a magic born can temporarily share powers with their queen.”
Kade sat up straighter. “So Arianna can temporarily see the mecca with Violet’s help? But that doesn’t tell us how we get the energy back into the fae lands.”
Baladar shifted his gaze to Kade. “The truly fascinating thing here, King Kade, is that Queen Arianna just needs a little more vision, some more control over the energy, and she’ll be able to call forth the mecca. And then you, with your affinity, can help her contain it, direct it even. It’s almost as if your powers were always meant to be used together.”
My cheeks burned as his suggestion settled over us. He was right. Kade had this rare affinity for the mecca and I was more linked to it than any queen before me. Neither of us really knew why, but facts were facts.
The bear king narrowed his gaze on Baladar. “How do you know I have an affinity for the mecca?”
The eccentric male just waved his hands. “Oh, people talk. That’s my gift, King Kade, ferreting secrets from others.”
Kade looked slightly uncomfortable. “My people don’t talk,” he stated with confidence. Then his expression grew a little uneasy. “Do they?”
Baladar bestowed the king with a broad smile. “Every Wednesday night I host a bear shifter night. Your people definitely talk.”
My jaw dropped open. “Bears come to Manhattan?” I said loudly, letting my surprise and annoyance leak out.
Darkness crossed over Kade’s features, and I knew his people were going to hear from their king about this very soon.
Baladar waved his hands in the air. “Let’s focus on what is truly important here. You need to open a portal to the Otherworld. Get Violet to lend Queen Arianna her gift of mecca sight, then the special affinity inside of the queen will allow her to grab hold of the mecca. Then, with King Kade’s help, you’ll be able to funnel a large portion of the energy back to the stones within the fae lands. Assuming there is no foul magic at play here.”
“And what if there is foul magic at play?” I asked. Knowing my luck, I could guarantee something foul was afoot.
He shrugged. “Then it gets more complicated.”
Kade stood and I followed suit. We had our information, there was no time to linger. “Thank you, sir, for your wise council,” I said. “We’ll get Violet and do this at once.”
Baladar put up a finger. “Not so fast … Violet can only lend her power during a full moon.”
Of course it couldn’t be that easy.
“The next full moon is the summer festival,” Kade said.
We would all be on the Island partying the night away.
Baladar nodded. “After the festival, before the sun has risen, you must open the portal and give it a try.”
Okay. The festival was two weeks away. I just hoped the Summer Court could wait that long, but this was our best chance as far as I could tell. I nodded to Baladar.
“We must go now. Thank you for everything.”
He frowned, his expressive features turning somber. “That’s a shame, I have so many stories to tell you.”
I froze, my hand falling back to my chair as I tilted my head toward him. No queen was going to turn down an opportunity to learn more, and I sort of knew he wouldn’t have stopped me if he didn’t have important information to share.
I sat back down. “What kind of stories?”
He smiled. “How about I tell you one important story every time you visit?”
Okay, now I felt like a child being coerced into visiting a beloved grandparent.
“Alright.” I was agreeing to his terms.
Kade said nothing, but he did sit beside me again. I wondered how much Kade actually knew about Baladar. He seemed reasonably surprised by everything he’d seen here today, but I knew him, and he wasn’t ever really taken by surprise. He could probably sense that Baladar was one of the oldest wolves alive, and that he was our people’s history keeper. If he hadn’t known before today, he’d probably figured it out now.
“How about an origin story?” Baladar offered. “I’ll keep it short.”
Kade nodded and I did as well; I was all about origin stories lately. A butterfly landed on my shoulder and I smiled. Their beauty brought a little joy and lightness into the world. Baladar’s entire posture changed when he morphed into storytelling mode; his expression took on a whimsical quality, and I almost thought I saw some rosy red in his pale cheeks.
“In the beginning, there were th
ree races connected to the mecca: the humans, the Tuatha de Danann, and the witches.”
I leaned forward, feeling my brow wrinkling. The origin story was not new, but … this was different. Where were the shifters?
“The oldest of the races were the Tuatha, strong and powerful. Born of magic and energy, they controlled the mecca. Witches were humans that had a genetic affinity for the mecca, and were next in the power structure. Humans were last. They had very little connection or control to the magical energy which governs this area. For many years these three races existed together, but also very apart – they lived in separate but amicable worlds.
“The drama started with a forbidden romance, as most true dramas do. A high priestess of a powerful witch clan, Priscilla Cottington, fell hard and fast for a fae that lived nearby. They made love on the full moon, and nine months later had a beautiful pale, magical child.”
Kade and I shared a look, the first magic born. I knew that magic born were descended from witches, but I’d believed it to be witches and shifters. So Baladar’s story was a little different. I was most interested to hear where his account of the shifters was going to come in. As far as I was told, there were four races: human, fae, witch, and shifter. Shifters were evolved from humans, some sort of magical genetic anomaly which happened during the final days of fae on Earth.
“Then, one of the most powerful fae of all time, a dual animal-affinity male, named Wayland Lightmoon, who held the souls of both a wolf and bear inside, fell in love with a human. His human lover fell pregnant with twins. The children carried each a pure soul of their father’s animals. One was a bear and the other a wolf. It was soon discovered that unlike their fae father, they not only had the animal affinity, but were able to actually shift into the form of their beast, and this was how the shifter race was born.”
My face was pinched as I tried to sort this story out in my head. “Wait, so there weren’t three magical races? We aren’t evolved from humans?”
Baladar shook his head. “Queen Arianna, the shifters are fae. They are part fae, part human. The Tuatha never truly left the mecca, they just handed it off to their offspring. The full-blooded fae went back to the Otherworld because they are stronger on that side of the veil, but for all intents and purposes, you, Kade, and I are all fae.” He leaned back in his chair. “That is the knowledge that landed me in here.” He gestured around him.
Holy shifter. It was known that some shifters were descended from fae. This was the reason the Red Queen had so much power – she could trace her ancestry back to the fae. But the general gossip was that someone in her family had bred with the fae at some point. No one had ever stated that all shifters were actually descended from fae. This was much more than I thought. A fae with dual animal affinity was the creator of our entire race. And bear-wolf souls…
“Wolf and bear together…” Kade’s voice was deep and deadly calm.
Baladar nodded. “In the beginning they were one and the same. Other bear-wolf fae began to mate with humans, and more and more shifters were born. For some reason that combination of animal-affinity fae and human are the only ones who produced children. Other fae tried to mate with humans but it never resulted in a child.”
Geez, how many different types are fae were there?
“So magic born are descended from witch and fae?” My mind was reeling!
Baladar nodded, looking suddenly sad. “Only the bear-wolf shifter fae could mate with the humans to produce an offspring, but it was found that any fae could mate with a witch and create the powerful magic born. The dark Winter Court recognized early that the magic born were too powerful, and that’s why they wiped the witches out. The few magic born we have left are descended from witches that mated with the bear-wolf fae and were smuggled into hiding.”
Holy sweet shifter babies. I just sat there dumbfounded, thinking of what I would do if Violet didn’t exist. Another thought came to me then.
“The heirs? The familiars? How?” My brain was buzzing with this new knowledge and also lining it all up with what the fae treeling had told me. It had been the truth. It all made sense now.
Baladar smiled. “The heirs are born from the royal line of the Tuatha de Danann. You’re all descended from one of the four houses: Summer, Winter, Spring, or Fall Courts. You also have more fae in your genetics than most shifters. Once it was known that the fae touched with animal souls were mating with humans, each court wanted to have their own children represented. It’s why you always have the four houses, Red, Green, Yellow, and Purple. One for each fae court. But you, Arianna, I must confess, you seem to me to be the most fae of them all.”
I stood so fast I knocked the chair over. “I’m … I’m going to need a bit of time to try and compute all of this information. It’s a lot…”
Baladar stood and bowed his head. “Yes, of course, My Lady. I apologize. Before you go though, I do have one question to ask you … when is your birthday?”
My heart was hammering in my chest. Why would he want to know that?
“December twenty-first,” I finally said. It was no secret. Public records were available on the current queen for all shifters to access.
Baladar nodded like he’d expected me to say that exact date. “Yes, I’m starting to get a very clear picture now. That’s an important date.”
Yep, I was born on it, so it was pretty important to me. But seriously, how could that be more interesting than the fact that all shifters were fae? Part fae, anyway. It made me feel sick for some reason and I didn’t know why. Hearing that we were bred like some prize or achievement for each court. Like animals. It was awful. I also had a sinking feeling in my gut that the House of Red didn’t stand for the Summer Court, a court which I associated with the good guys.
Sucking in a few deep breaths, I forced myself to remember my training, to remember that we might have a powerful ally in Baladar, and I needed to be polite.
“Thank you for all of your help today,” I said to him. “We’ll pick this up another time?”
He gave me a small smile. “Of course, My Lady.”
Kade had been very quiet for most of the story, although I could see a few veins bulging out of his forehead as he stared at butterfly covered plants.
When he turned and caught my eye, I almost stepped back. His copper irises were swirling, shadows visible in the depths of the molten color. He stood, and crossed over to stand behind me, closer than usual, his heat engulfing me and lessening the icy tendrils of shock coating my body.
“Well met,” he rumbled toward Baladar, before we both turned to traverse the halls and find the exit.
Holy crap, shifters were fae. Like actual Tuatha de Danann mixed with humans.
I’d been so distracted I’d missed the fact that Baladar was walking us out, only noticing when we reached the door and his hand stilled on the knob. “Calista is here,” he said, inhaling deeply.
My heart pinched a little. I could sense the sadness seeping from him. “When was the last time you saw her?”
He looked away; those pale eyes with lightning strikes through them were unfocused.
“We email each other every so often, but I haven’t seen her in many years.”
With that he ripped open the door. On the other side, hand raised, looking slightly flustered, was Blaine. Monica was on his right.
“You’ve been gone a while. We were starting to get worried,” the commander of my dominants said, his huge body blocking the doorway completely. He stepped aside then, allowing us to walk out.
Baladar tsk tsked Blaine. “Your queen was perfectly safe in my home.”
I noticed that Baladar stayed in the entryway; he made no attempted to walk out onto the front porch with us. He’d said he was banished here, as a punishment from the Red Queen; he literally could not walk out the door. There had to be a way to lift this banishment. It couldn’t be true that now that the queen was dead, his only way of being released had died with her. Baladar was very powerful, though. If there was
a way, surely he’d have figured it out. Which made my heart clench just a little tighter. It was a long life to spend trapped in a cage.
The car door opened, distracting us all. Calista stepped out clutching her tablet; she was wide-eyed and clearly a bit nervous. I could see her white knuckles where she held the small electronic device. The air around us charged as Baladar moved as far forward in the doorway as he could. They had their eyes locked on each other. Calista stopped at the first step and the intensity of energy zapping around increased. They stared at each other like nothing else in the world existed.
“Hi,” Calista finally said. A simple greeting, but I could see the magic born’s face crumble.
“Calista…” Her name on his lips was like poetry. The saddest poem you had ever heard.
A loud screech broke the moment, and Kade lifted his head to the sky. Nix was descending, her huge wings washing shadows across us all as she landed on the bear’s arm. My line of sight dropped lower to where Finn was coming up the stairs. I reached out and ran my hand through his fur.
Where have you two been? I asked my familiar.
He nuzzled against me, his warmth so comforting. We were scouting. I won’t let the fae take anything more from you.
The fae, right. I needed to tell Finn everything we had learned here today. I followed along with the conversation, he said before I could start. Explains why the fae have familiars too. Clearly that is a royal trait, and those shifters strong enough are the ones who receive them.
Yes, I said, digging my hands deeper into his fur. So weird that we are both fae. You’re from the Otherworld, and my ancestors and family are there now. It’s all very different to the shifter history we’re taught. Someone wiped this information from the history books. Someone didn’t want shifters to know they are fae.
I could sense that Finn agreed with me, but neither of us had any more answers about why that might be. Kade cleared his throat, and I realized that everyone was waiting for me to get into the car. Calista and Baladar were no longer Romeo and Julieting all over the place. They’d tucked their emotions back inside and were acting very polite.