Bless Your Heart

by Kimbra Swain

  “Levi, if you want me to say that I’m not going to sleep with him, I will for you,” I relented. “But just because that book tells you that I can do that doesn’t mean I ever will. I suspect my father delivered that book, and nothing would please him more than me becoming the queen he’s always wanted me to be. Don’t be manipulated by the book.”

  He hung his head shamefully. It broke my heart. “I’m sorry, Grace.”

  “Aw, sweetie, don’t be sorry. You are a good man, and I appreciate you being here with me,” I said.

  “I have to stay, because of the demon and the witch,” he said.

  “The demon won’t mess with you, and I don’t think the witch wants you dead,” I said. “You are free to go whenever you want.”

  “I want to stay,” he mumbled.

  “What’s that? I couldn’t hear you,” I smiled.

  “Grace!” he grumbled.

  “That’s what I thought,” I said as the door opened, and I expected Remy to walk in. However, it was a very worn-out looking Jeremiah Freyman. “You, sorry son of a bitch!”

  I rushed toward him in anger, and Levi jumped up holding me back. Damn, he was strong.

  “Grace, I’m sorry. Had I known all of Shady Grove would go to hell in a handbasket, I wouldn’t have left,” he said.

  “They won’t tell me anything about Nestor!” I screamed at him.

  “You know about Nestor?” he asked.

  “Yes, you old fool, I can’t believe you kept this from me,” I said. “I can’t believe everything you’ve hidden from me! Dylan is dead!”

  He hung his head. “I know, Grace. I’m terribly sorry,” he muttered.

  Grief slapped me in the face and drew tears. I stopped struggling with Levi, burying my head in his chest. “We’ve called you, Jeremiah,” Levi said as he let me cry.

  “I know, boy,” he said.

  I spun around on him again. “You will stop calling him boy. He isn’t your child. He’s no one’s child. Do you understand?” The fire and venom of frustration that I had pent up about everything that happened since he left flowed out of me like hot lava. Levi gently held me back, again.

  “I understand, Grace,” he responded quietly. “I chased the witch into the swamps, but I didn’t catch her. She’s still out there. When I got back to civilization, I got all of your messages plus several from Caiaphas. I immediately came back.”

  “She’s still out there?” Levi asked worried.

  “She won’t come here, because of Grace,” Jeremiah replied.

  “Can you please find out something about Nestor?” I asked.

  “I already have. He’s resting. His arm and left side received burns, but they tell me it’s not too bad. He will recover. I’ll establish that you’re family with the proper authorities, and you can see him as soon as the doctors allow it,” he said watching me. My anger cooled knowing that Nestor, my only relative in this world, was going to survive this. “The question now is who set the bar on fire.”

  “I assumed it was the Sanhedrin since he told me who he was,” I said.

  “No, Grace. We don’t operate in that way. We would have taken him to court, much like they did with you while I was gone,” he said. “Someone else did this.”

  Remington Blake walked in the door and stopped when he met my eyes, “Grace, are you okay, honey?”

  “I’m fine, Remy. Thank you for coming. Jeremiah has decided to reappear,” I said pointing at Jeremiah who sat down in one of the waiting room chairs.

  “I see,” he smirked at Jeremiah. “Old man, you picked the wrong time to go out of town.”

  “Yes, I see. You prosecuted an innocent woman for murder, Remington. What are you doing here?” Jeremiah asked.

  “As if I had any choice in that matter! You know I have to do my job. She was better off with me in that position. I could have caused a mistrial,” he spouted back at Jeremiah.

  “They would strip you from the bar,” Jeremiah said.

  “If it kept Grace from going to prison, I would have done it,” he said flatly.

  “He’s looking into some things for me concerning my father,” I said.

  “Yes, I heard that he’s been in town, too," Jeremiah said.

  “Maybe we should go somewhere else to talk, Grace,” Remy said. Jeremiah waved his hand, and we all appeared in the stone circle.

  Levi wobbled with the force of the magic that it took to transport us. “Whoa, there, Dublin. You alright?” I asked.

  “Yeah, sorry,” Levi said.

  “I meant without you, Jeremiah,” Remy said.

  “Sorry, I’m assigned to Grace currently. You’ll just have to tolerate my presence,” Jeremiah growled.

  Remy handed me a folder. Inside a list of cases that Demetrius Lysander had defended in the past year. Every case was for a fairy who was guilty of heinous crimes. In every single case, he obtained a not guilty verdict or mistrial. Among the defendants there were five red caps, two evil sirens, a sluagh and a troll. There were fifteen others not identified.

  “These are evil fairies,” I said.

  “Yes. The worst of the worst of us,” he said.

  “He’s making an army?” I asked.

  They all stood in shock. “That was my conclusion,” Remy said. “You have to tell your father.”

  “I think my father knows,” I said. “He was very close during the trial when Lysander was around, but once it was over, I didn’t see him.”

  “You think he’s involved?” Levi asked.

  “No, he is not,” Jeremiah finally spoke up.

  “It’s time for you to spill it!” I pointed at him. “Is he going after my father?”

  “No, he’s going after Shady Grove,” Jeremiah said.

  “Why? It’s clear that there are more here like me that you have never mentioned,” I said. “What’s special about Shady Grove?”

  “Shady Grove is a haven for exiled fairies and a few lycanthropes,” he said.

  “Maynard is a wolf,” Levi said.

  “Yes, but lycanthropes aren’t just wolves. They can be any kind of shifter. Most of the ones here are loners with no family or pack,” Jeremiah said.

  “You pushed me to move to Shady Grove to work with Dylan! You wanted me here because of the supernatural element! You’ve used me without telling me my full purpose. Jeremiah, I would have helped if I could,” I said.

  “Would you Grace? You are too busy waiting for your next male conquest to even notice what was going on around you,” he said.

  “I kept to myself to protect those around me, including the people in this town. I should have done that with Dylan,” I said.

  “Dylan knew what you were,” Jeremiah said.

  Truth hit me like a truck. All those years, Dylan knew what I was. He didn’t need me to help him. However, I was willing to bet that Jeremiah never told him about my true nature.

  “He couldn’t possibly have known how dangerous I really am,” I snarled at him. “Do I need to remind you of how powerful I am, Jeremiah? Do you need a demonstration? I am the daughter of Oberon, King of the Otherworld and the Wild Fae! By rights and blood, I am an Unseelie Queen!” When I spoke my heritage, the stones of the circle glowed with power. The center triquetra ignited in blue flame, and the earth shook.

  Remy backed away from me as Levi looked around at the spectacle. “I know who you are, and we need you to be the queen to prevent this from happening,” Jeremiah said to me backing away.

  “You don’t want me to be that bitch!” I yelled, and the stones glow increased. The ring in the woods illuminated the entire greenfield reflecting cyan light on the trees.

  “The people of this town need you to be Gloriana,” Jeremiah begged.

  “I am not her anymore. I’ve fought that evil my entire life! I will not give into her,” I growled. My magic store unleashed waves of power, and I stepped on the center stone.

  “Grace,” Levi said worried walking toward me.

  “Stay there, Dublin,” I point
ed at the ground. He froze in place.

  As I stood on the center stone, the power flowed through me. My glamour dropped revealing my aquamarine eyes and platinum hair. The inside of the circle chilled, and my breath visibly escaped my mouth in small ice crystals. The wind picked up in the circle, swirling around us violently.

  Remington made it outside of the circle, staring in wonder. He knew who I was, but had never seen it. Levi tried to move his feet but was fixed in place. Jeremiah stood with his hands outward calling power to himself.

  “You wanted this, Jeremiah! Why do you call power? You intend to strike me down?! Is this what you wanted all along?” I stepped off the stone, and a long, silver gown enveloped my body. It flowed softly around my legs as I walked. It fit snugly down to my hips accentuating the fairy body of a seductress.

  “I call power only to protect myself from your wrath, my Queen,” he said kneeling to the ground.

  “Get up, you fool! I am not your queen!” I said.

  “Yes, you are,” he said bowing before me. His form slightly shifted. He still looked like the middle-aged man that I knew, but his ears formed points. His skin turned smooth and luminous.

  “Seelie!” I screamed at him out of pure shock. “The Sanhedrin are Seelie court!”

  “We are, my Queen. We are here to protect not just the humans from the Unseelie, but to protect the exiles of the kingdom,” he said.

  The Seelie court were the epitome of self-righteous zealots. They even put the southern holy rollers to shame. They tried to dictate everything that my father and his realm did. Granted most of my father’s subjects were dark, evil beings, but he kept them on a short leash and out of the real world. When one would get loose and come into this world, the Seelie would hunt them down like the fairy pricks that they were, killing the Unseelie fairy without knowing why they left in the first place. It’s what they did to me for years until I ran into Jeremiah surrounded by trolls several years ago.

  Feeling movement behind me, I spun to see Levi moving toward me with his hands up in a defensive position. He was surrounded by a flowing glow that rippled over his skin in a mesmerizing cadence. I was seeing him as a fairy without using sight. My eyes shot to Remington who looked very much the same, but around his head a crown of stars orbited his dark locks of hair.

  “Grace, what’s happening?” Levi asked.

  “I see you. The fairy you,” I said.

  Power ignited through the center stone once again and standing there on the stone, my father slowly turned to face me. His long black robe flowed down around leather boots shimmering like slick metal. He moved toward me with his arms folded in front of his belt. His hands were hidden deep in the draping sleeves of the robe. His white hair laid straight around his shoulders and upon his head rested a crown of whitened antlers encrusted with diamonds.

  “Gloriana, have you chosen to take your place in the Otherworld?” he asked as his voice softly echoed around the circle.

  “No, Father,” I said. He looked at the bowing form of Jeremiah. “Rise, Seelie enforcer.”

  “No, I bow before my Queen,” Jeremiah insisted.

  “I’m not, what?” I looked back and forth between them confused.

  My father smiled, knowingly nodding his head to me. “You’ve chosen a different kingdom,” he said.

  “I haven’t chosen shit,” I said as my southern accent escaped.

  “It seems to me that those exiles here need a Queen,” my father suggested.

  “Jeremiah is not an exile,” I said.

  “Yes, I am, Grace,” Jeremiah said. “I’m just exiled here to serve as Sanhedrin.”

  Levi stood between my father and me. I met his eyes. “I’m an exile, too. Sort of,” he said, as he bowed to match Jeremiah.

  “Get up, Dublin,” I said. “This is ridiculous.”

  Remy reentered the stones which continued to glow reflecting the power of both my father and I. “Grace, we need you,” he said bowing.

  “Oh, hell no!” I said.

  My father laughed, and it echoed through the trees rich and full. “It seems whether or not you chose them, they have chosen you, Gloriana.”

  “My name is Grace,” I said.

  He nodded, “Yes, Grace, Queen of the Exiles. I love you, my child. Tell Nestor Gwinn his debt to me is paid.”

  My heart lurched with the mention of Nestor. My father walked back to the stone and stood upon it. Just before he disappeared in a flash of light, he looked upon me with admiration, love and respect. Three things I never expected to see from my father.

  I released the power I’d held, and it rippled across the circle, dissipating as it hit the stones. I dropped to my knees shaking from the enormity of it. Levi rushed to my side. “Grace, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Levi. Just released the jack-in-the-box,” I said. My icy appearance faded back to my normal glamour, but I continued to see Levi with the pulsating harmonics travelling over his skin. I also saw Remy’s crown and Jeremiah’s true form.

  “What’s wrong?” Levi asked helping me to my feet.

  “I can see,” I said.

  Jeremiah stood, “You see us as we are?”

  “Yes, does this mean I can see everyone?” I asked.

  “It means you’ve accepted your royal heritage. We need to go after Lysander, and we need you to lead us into battle,” Jeremiah said. “Unfortunately, Caiaphas and the other Sanhedrin are not on board with this idea. They are reserving judgment after they see results.”

  “Oh, so if we fail, they intend to cut me down,” I said.

  “They can try,” Levi spouted. I laughed at him.

  “Okay, Bard, calm down,” I said. “How do I turn this off?”

  “Just will it, Grace,” Jeremiah said.

  I took a deep breath and focused on Levi as I knew him to be. Not this glowing ball of symphony. His fairy likeness faded away, leaving only his bright blue eyes and kind face.

  “Why is Lysander doing this?” I asked.

  Remy and Jeremiah looked at each other. Remy shrugged, and Jeremiah rubbed his forehead.

  “Oh, just fucking tell me,” I said.

  “You rejected him?” Remy asked.

  “Well, yes, but that’s because he was my lawyer and on daddy’s payroll,” I said. “But come on, a whole freak army to take over one exile town, because I wouldn’t fuck him?.”

  Jeremiah said, “It’s not that, Remy. Lysander’s daughter is a concubine. She had a daughter, too. Your father did not choose her.”

  “So, this is my father’s problem,” I said.

  “Yes, but Lysander is indebted to your family so your father cannot take him out,” Jeremiah said.

  “Neither can I,” I said.

  “Sure, you can. You aren’t your father’s daughter. You are an exile,” Jeremiah said.

  Pacing back and forth, the ground crunched under my feet as a thick frost covered the blades of grass. Levi looked at it as I paced.

  “So, you are like that queen on the cartoon,” Levi said.

  “If you ever say that again, Levi Rearden, I will cut you off and you won’t have to worry about getting laid,” I growled as my eyes flashed turquoise.

  He unconsciously put his hands over his crotch. “Um, geez, Grace!”

  “Sorry,” I muttered. “I’m not a cartoon and contrary to popular belief an act of love does not thaw a frozen heart.”

  “Tell that to Dylan,” Jeremiah said.

  “I would if I could, Jeremiah, but he’s dead!” I screamed.

  “Right, don’t talk about Dylan,” Jeremiah muttered.

  “You brought us out here. Take us back,” I ordered Jeremiah. He waved his hand, and we appeared in my trailer.

  “No, the hospital!” I said.

  “We can’t just jump into a public place. There are normals here mixed with the exiles,” he said.

  Levi opened the fridge, offering me an orange soda. He offered drinks to Remy and Jeremiah. I took several sips from the can and sat it
down on the counter. I walked into my bedroom in the darkness to think. Was all of this the simple revenge of a father? There had to be more to it than that. The light from the living room darkened as Levi stood in the doorway. He came in, shutting the door behind him.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I don’t trust either of them,” Levi said.

  “Levi, I don’t know what I’d do without you. I don’t trust them either. I’ve known Jeremiah for ages, but he’s still Sanhedrin, add to it he’s some sort of Seelie overseer, I don’t know what to think of him. And Remy has always been sketchy. Any man who lies for a living, much less lies about having a wife, is not honorable in my book. I don’t care how hot he is.”

  “You know you can trust me, right?” he said.

  “Yes, and I’m sorry I threatened to cut off your balls. Besides, I might need them at some point,” I grinned at him.

  He blushed in the darkness, and it was adorable. “I knew you wouldn’t really do it,” he said. “Grace, I don’t know what’s going on here, but if Lysander killed those kids, we have to take him out and deal with the rest of it as we go.”

  “Who made you so wise all of a sudden?” I asked him.

  “I’ve always been wise,” he said. “And not a wise ass, don’t even say it.”

  I laughed. “You’ve only been here a short time, and you already know me.”

  “Not like I want to,” he mumbled.

  My smile faded and something primal clicked inside of me. This beautiful man standing before me had just offered himself to me with a few simple words. If I took him, it would corrupt him forever. Worst case scenario, he might end up dead like Dylan. He watched me debate it in my head, but he didn’t move. “No, Levi, you don’t want that,” I whispered trying to convince myself.

  “Maybe not right now. But someday,” the romantic side of himself spoke.

  “Never, Dublin. I won’t do to you what I did to Dylan,” I said.

  “Dylan chose you,” he said. “One day, Grace.”