by Tarisa Marie
“Hey, when are we leaving?” Geoff asks suddenly.
“You’re not coming.” I state blankly, as though it’s obvious.
“Yeah I am, of course I am.” He says.
“No, you’re not.” I argue and turn to Blahyne to back me up. He just shrugs. “You’re not coming.” I say and Geoff makes a pouty face.
“Why not?” He wonders. It’s a dumb question.
“You’ll get killed.” I tell him while removing my hair from its elastic.
“I’m not that bad.” He tries.
I look to Blahyne who gets my hint and directs his sword at Geoff swinging it towards him. He jumps out of the way and misses the first blow but the second lands him a long slice across the upper arms and he cusses.
“Okay, okay. I suck.” He finally admits and puts his sword back.
“Frick, you really screwed up my arm.” He wines and puts his hand over it.
“You’re fine.” Blahyne says bored.
“Blahyne and I are leaving tonight.” I tell him finally answering his question.
As we walk into the castle to make the final arrangements, Mary runs out crying.
“What is it, love?” Blahyne asks, picking her up into his arms.
She cries into his shoulder.
“Oh so he isn’t always an asshole, he’s nice to kids.” Geoff scoffs.
“This is his daughter, Mary. My stepdaughter.” I introduce him. His face turns a tad apologetic.
“I know you’re leaving! I know because everyone is running around everywhere and won’t play with me because they’re so busy! Where are you going daddy?” She balls.
“Laytah and I are going on a trip to the Ruby Court. We won’t be long, a few days maybe, at most. Remember why I got you Lacey?” He asks her.
“To keep me company when you can’t be home.” She says as if she’s rehearsed it a thousand times. As if she just notices Geoff she stares at him through tear soaked eyes. “Mom is going with you?” She sobs not taking her eyes off of Geoff.
Blahyne looks surprised by the girl’s use of the ‘mom’. “You mean Laytah?” He asks her, confused.
She nods. “Well she is my mom isn’t she?” She asks. “My new one, I mean.”
Blahyne is silent for a moment, then say, “Yes, she is. But she’s not you’re new mom, she’s you step mom.”
Mary smiles and wipes her face with her tiny hand. “I’ve been waiting for a mom for a long time.”
When I look away from her and at Blahyne, I see he’s smiling, not his usual cocky, arrogant, masked smile, or the sexy one he always gives me, but a genuine smile as he lets his mask disappear for a single moment before covering it up again with a deep composure.
“Who is this guy? I’ve never seen him before. He must be new here.” She says sniffling and pointing to Geoff.
“I’m Geoff,” he greets the young girl, eyes filled with interest.
“He’s my cousin.” I tell her and she lights up.
“Does that mean that he’s my cousin too?” she asks. “But he looks more like dad.”
“He’s not my cousin by blood, I explain to her. But yes, he is your cousin too.”
She jumps from her father’s arms and runs to Geoff, wrapping her arms around his leg in a hug. “Hi, Geoff. I’m Mary.”
Geoff’s eyes sparkle as he looks down at the little girl. I always knew that he had a sweet spot but I never knew that it was for kids. Growing up with him, there were never any little cousins to play with.
“Nice to meet you.” Geoff coos and the little girl grabs his hand.
“Do you want to meet my dragon Lacey?” She asks hopefully.
Geoff’s eyes widen and he looks to Blahyne as if to ask him if it’s okay. When Blahyne nods Geoff agrees to Mary’s request, both of them grinning.
“Take Tyler with you.” Blahyne instructs as the two begin jogging to the barn.
A young boy trots up to them from behind us somewhere and follows them, obviously must be the young mentor that Blahyne assigned to Geoff.
Soon Blahyne, I, and two guards, Sarah, a petite nymph, and Nahlar, a vampire, set off on our travels to the Ruby Court.
My nerves poke fun at me as the space between us and our destination disappears. Once we enter the boundaries of the Ruby Court the air feels thick with tension. We await to be met by someone and prepare to be attacked by guards, but no one shows. It’s not until we are directly in the Kingdom that stares come our way. We use strong royal glamour to veil our faces from recognition. It works, and no one notices us. We make it to my uncle’s castle where the doors are opened for us and we are rushed through when we flash our Opal Royal Rings. It is considered very rude for a Kingdom to turn down a visit from another, even the Opal Court. I can’t help but wonder if the King somehow knows that I’m alive, and that I’m coming. Is he prepared for me? I can’t imagine that Damon would tattle mainly because the king would bring wrath on him for his betrayal. By telling him that I am alive, he is admitting his lies to Jadorn.
“We wish to speak to King Jadorn Woods,” the nymph says professionally. Neither I nor Blahyne speak in worry that our voices may be recognized.
The guard nods after inspecting our rings and sends us to the open common room. It’s weird being back in the place I grew up after being away for so long.
It isn’t long before the king makes his appearance in the room, surrounded by many guards. Some of which I recognize from my parents line of guards, traitors. It takes me a moment to realize why some of the others are familiar, they are Damon’s guards. Damon stands side-by-side with the king. The reason for all the guards, there is two people being guarded they’ve already joined their Courts.
“Unglamour yourselves,” Jadorn orders.
“King Jadorn, we have come from the Opal Court and wish to keep our identities hidden in regards to our families here in the other Courts. We are all exiles. We’ve only brought a message.” The nymph explains.
The king chuckles. “Well you should all be ashamed of your own faces. What message do you bring? From King Blahyne, I assume?”
“We mustn’t speak it in front of anyone, for it involves information that cannot just plainly be given out.” She continues. “It is absolutely vital that one of us speak to you alone.”
As we all assumed he would, he disagrees.
“I will listen to this message of yours on my own conditions, I will bring along King Damon as well as a guard for each of us to talk to one of you.” He tries.
“We’re under strict orders, sir.” She pushes.
“I’m sure you are.” He sneers. “Do we have a deal?”
The nymph glances at the rest of us. I am too busy eyeing the sword on his hip, the sword. Damon squints through the glamour we use to mask us, surely attempting to see if I am one of the four people who stand before him.
“I have reason to believe that one of these men before us is the disguised King of the Opal, traitor of my own Court, King Blahyne.” Damon speaks glancing around the four of us.
“Oh come on, my disguise is that easy to see through is it? Or is it that you only know me too well?” Blahyne admits straying from the plan. “I have come to speak to you about a bargain regarding the Emerald Court.” He continues. “I have come to inform you that the rumors are true. I have slayed their king, King David Barthelow for sneaking into my Court and stealing one of my brownies.” Stealing is one of the most forbidden actions in the Courts, so is sneaking into another Court.
“Ah, thank you for the personal message but why come yourself? When not send your guards? And for the record, have you not just done the same? It is my knowledge that you made it all the way to the castle before being stopped.” The Ruby King roars.
“There was no one there to stop us. We were able to walk straight to the castle.” Blahyne informs him. “It wasn’t even warded. I thought you must be expecting us. It is big news after all, the murder of a King. Technically you could say that I defeated there Court. I am technically
their king, am I wrong?”
Jardon doesn’t disagree as this is the rule in Andaglon.
“I have a proposition.” Blahyne states.
“Let me hear it then so I can get back to my business.” My uncle says sternly.
“I am offering you the Emerald Court, in exchange for that sword you keep at you waist. For it belonged to my beloved’s family and I have nothing left of her.” Blahyne offers.
The king looks surprised by this. “You wish to exchange the entire Emerald Court for a piddley sword?”
“Yes, that is correct.” Blahyne agrees. “Unlike you, I am sentimental.”
“Hmm…Interesting…I suppose I have no reason to keep this sword other than as of a token of what I have accomplished.” He mutters. Yeah, a trophy for slaying your whole family.
“You know what King of the Opal Court? You have a deal. Might I ask how you killed David Barthelow thought?”
I hear Damon’s intake of breath, but what is he going to do? Blurt out that I’m alive? To have him exiled my Court for being a traitor? Where he knows we’ll probably kill him.
Of course the King would agree to such a petty deal. I mean what did he need the sword for if the only person that could use it to kill him was himself right? Except I’m alive and his dull brain didn’t catch on. Damon knows what going on, I can tells he’s fuming. Surely though, he too wants the King dead. I wonder if he wants him dead enough that he’ll let me kill him or even help knowing that I will no longer unknowingly help him take over Andaglon now that I have my memories back. I wonder if he has a backup plan. If so, am I falling right into it?
“I’m quite sneaky, sir.” Blahyne announces and approaches the man to shake hands and seal the deal. He eyes Damon as he does.
Chapter 10
One thing about the fae, they keep their word. Blahyne really had just handed over the Emerald Court in exchange for a weapon. Which means that if I fail to complete my task and do not kill the Ruby King and he kills me, we are even more screwed.
The king rids himself of the sword and hands it to Blahyne.
“Hold this, guard, while I remove my own.” Blahyne says to me and chucks me the sword. Blahyne pretends to start undoing his swords sheath so that he can replace his accessory with this newly acquired one. I catch it and unsheathe it carefully.
Jadorn like I said before, is not very bright. He believes that the guard, me, is only inspecting the sword to make sure that it’s real or something. I do check to make sure it’s the real one. It is. But I am really pulling it out to seal his fate.
Damon puts a bored face on and pretends to be uninterested now that the deal has been made and takes his guards and leaves the room.
It’s four on four. Apparently he is going to help by not being in the room when a fight breaks out.
As soon as the door closes behind Damon and his guards, the Ruby King nods to us and thanks Blahyne for the trade. He is obviously very happy about his latest power gain. I’m suddenly very happy that Blahyne had a plan because mine, well, it wasn’t very good.
This is when we attack. Our swords unsheathe at my lead and each of us takes a guard. I take the unarmed King. Too easy really.
He chuckles. “You cannot kill me, guard. Do you not know who I am? Your king has sent you into an unbeatable fight. I cannot be killed.” He’s so dull that it takes all I have not to give away my true identity.
I slash him across the throat too lightly and he grabs a sword from one of his guards. “You dare slash a king’s throat?” He hollers angrily.
The guard whom he stole the sword from gets hit with a deadly blow from the small nymph and tumbles to the ground.
It’s only a couple minutes before I have the king pinned to the wall. My excellent fencing skills had reemerged after all. I let the glamour go and hurl the sword dramatically into his chest. His eyes widen as the truth sets in. I pull the sword out and plunge it back in numerous times like some sort of animal. A stab for every one of my fallen family members.
When I turn around to face my small army only two are standing. Blahyne and Nahlar. I look to those who have fallen and see Sarah, the nymph, lifeless on the castle floor.
I look to Blahyne who lifts his gaze up from Sarah’s body and nods to the door behind him. I walk over to the door and push them open, this time showing them my true self. The guards storm in, swords ready and see the King and his three guards on the floor, lifeless. When they look back at me holding the sword some of them are angry, others smile at my return. They all bow. I am their new leader. I nod in thanks.
Blahyne and I now have the Opal, The Emerald, and The Ruby Courts under our belts. Only two more to go…the Diamond and the Sapphire. Surely the Diamond Court will willingly join with us, the Sapphire on the hand may be another story. Will we have to start a war in order to bring peace? Or will we be able to bring all the Courts together peacefully?
I tell the guards to round up the people and bring them into the large courtyard and it isn’t long before the area is filled with hushed voices buzzing over whatever news they think they are about to hear. When I step out and face them, gasps fill the air and then the hushed voices get louder.
“I, Laytah Mahline Woods, have defeated your king in battle. I will now be crowned the new Queen of the Ruby Court with my husband King Blahyne Edward Shafkov of the Opal Court and the Emerald Court.” I shout out to them. The crowd goes wild with cheering and a few gasps at the mention of the Opal Court. “Our Courts will not join, all three will remain separate, at least for now. We will call you back here if there are any updates. The crowning ball will be in three nights from now!” I shout to them. “You may be dismissed.” More cheering.
“Good job, my queen. I knew you’d pull through.” An all too familiar voice says in my ear. I jump back. I’d nearly forgot about the phantom in my dorm room and in the hospital all those days ago.
“Who are you?” I whisper low enough that Blahyne can’t hear.
“You tell me you don’t know? Well then, you should find out soon enough, my queen.” The voice answers and I shiver as I feel its presence disappear. Obviously the voice belongs to some sort of ghost, a fae ghost if it is able to access the world of Andaglon. I have lost many friends, many familiar members, killed many fae in battles and so I do not know who it is that haunts me. Over the years, I have learned to be patient. The ghost says I will find out who he is soon enough and I so I will wait although my curiosity is far from settled. Not many fallen fae have the power to return to living plane as a phantom.
The crowd eventually disperses and Blahyne and I pop into the Opal Court along with Nahlar.
“Wow, I’ve never bounced between courts like that. How handy.” Blahyne says.
“A plus side to ruling more than one, I suppose.” I say and run downstairs to find Geoff and Mary and tell them the news.
I find the two of them together, along with Tyler, outside with the horses and tell them of our victory. Mary jumps into my arms, ecstatic that I’m back but not caring so much about the other part.
I decide to pay a visit to the old witch Lenaya and meet her in her new home in the Opal Court. She hastily greets me and invites me in along with Blahyne, Mary, and Geoff.
She makes us some tea and we sit down with her at her table.
“What brings you to my home, King Blahyne, Princess Mary, Queen Laytah, and…” Lenaya says.
“Oh, sorry, I’m Geoff.” Geoff introduces himself.
“Ah, Geoff, nice to meet you, I’m Lenaya.” She says appreciatively.
Before we can answer Mary jumps up. “He’s my cousin!”
Lenaya chuckles but doesn’t reply to Mary.
“We have come to welcome you to the Opal Court officially,” I tell her and pull out a small bag from my pocket containing a few golden coins as a gift and hand it to her.
She smiles thankfully. “Oh thank you, you didn’t have to do this.”
“I owe it to you,” I tell her truthfully. This woman has been m
y backbone for years, a mother to me.
“I thought you were here to tell me the other good news.” She proposes and we’re all left staring at each other.
“What news?” I ask finally.
“Well, that you’re pregnant, dear.” She says as if it’s obvious. My eyes widen and I instinctively look down to my stomach. It’s not that fat is it?
“I think you’ve been mistaken.” I tell her, confused.
She laughs. “I don’t think I have, dear. I’m never wrong.”
“What about Damon? You were wrong about him.” I suggest.
She laughs again. “Dear, I knew all along, why do you think I let you sneak outside those days ago? Why do you think I told you about Blahyne?” Of course she had known that I was sneaking out. I’d thought I was sneaking but truth was that I wasn’t at all. “I am witch dear, a powerful one. I can tell when people are lying. I know your future. I know all of your futures. I also know that you are pregnant, barely, but you are. I also would like to know why you have brought Damon Kingsley’s son into my home.”
“What?” I ask her confused.
“This boy, here,” she points to Geoff, “Is Damon Kingsley’s son. You are not aware of this?” She asks incredulously eyeing him as though he’s going to pull his sword out.
We all look to Geoff who is too busy playing rock paper scissors with Mary to even know what we’re talking about.
“He can’t be.” I say, thinking out loud.
“But he is, my dear.” She murmurs.
Geoff, finally realizing that we’re talking about him, looks up at us leaving Mary’s gaze questioningly. It occurs to me that his father was never around, he never met him. He also looks more like Damon than I ever cared to notice before. Could it be true? Damon is a sex fairy, maybe he stumbled upon my aunt while investigating my own family and… I try not to think about it. Could my cousin be the spawn of my ex-husband? My now biggest enemy? Though we’re not related by blood it feels as though we are.
“Your mother met this boy’s mother and fell into the role of her older sister very quickly, my dear. This is how Damon discovered Ms. Carol. It was not out of love that they conceived a child but out of King Damon’s hatred towards your family. Surely he has his reasoning for having a child but this secret is not known to me. Only time will reveal this to us.” The elderly lady says in a raspy voice.