by Unknown
The problem was, I had no idea what to give a faerie newborn. Arach had a nursery made for our future children and it had items in it that I never would have thought of. Things that little baby dragons needed. Well, Guirmean's baby wouldn't be a dragon. He or she would be a water-sidhe and Dahlia's baby would be dark-sidhe. So what did those babies need? Perhaps it would be best to just give them something all babies could use. Something more human than fey.
I gave it some thought and finally decided. Then I grabbed a couple of pieces of silverware from the kitchen and used my territory magic to transform the forks into gifts. They were wrapped and everything. Yes, I was rather pleased with myself. Being able to transform things in my territory was a magic that came in really handy and I tried my best to improve my skills by practicing a lot.
I packed the gifts in a bag, texted Darius that I'd meet them there, and then asked my ring to take me back to the last time I'd left Faerie.
Chapter Five
“Ah, here she is!” Arach exclaimed as Nora and Guirmean both gave a little start.
Damn, that's right. I'd left Faerie right after Guirmean had asked if he could move into Castle Aithinne so that he could be with Nora. Oh, this was going to be fun. I grinned at him.
“That was unsettling,” Guirmean blinked at me. “Is everything alright, Queen Vervain?”
“Very alright,” I nodded to him and then went to give my fey husband a kiss.
“I missed you,” he whispered right before our lips met. It was a little joke we had, him saying he missed me when for him, I'd barely been gone a minute.
“I missed you more,” my usual answer as well. “I have some news.”
“What is it?” Arach narrowed his bright yellow dragon eyes on me and I stroked the little red scales at his temple in an unconscious gesture meant to soothe him.
“Lorna is in labor,” I glanced at Guirmean and saw his face go blank.
“What?” Nora asked for him.
“Well, not yet but she will be on October first,” I grinned and looked back to Arach. “That's why I returned. I thought it better to come back now and spend some time with you before we all go to meet her at the End of the Road, as opposed to returning with her and making you wait two weeks.”
“I approve of this decision,” Arach said with a smirk. “I would have been very upset if you had kept me waiting and wondering for two weeks.”
“Yes, I figured,” I said dryly and turned back to Guirmean. “So, we have two weeks to get you settled into Castle Aithinne before your baby is born.”
“This is actually very convenient,” Guirmean brightened. “Knowing when my child is going to be born. Not many fathers get that kind of information handed to them.”
“Indeed not,” Arach gave me a look that I'd labeled his I want dragon babies look.
“Please don't start,” I whispered to him and he sighed.
“I think you'll be needing a bigger room, Nora,” Arach straightened up from where he'd been leaning against his desk.
“Thank you, King Arach,” Nora slid a hand through her wild hair self-consciously. She had really let herself go while she wallowed in misery and she was probably feeling untidy now that she had Guirmean back. She was such a neat and orderly person normally. Not so surprising since she was Captain of the phooka guards.
“Yes, thank you again,” Guirmean said to Arach. “I know this is a most unusual request.”
“We're happy to have you here, my friend,” Arach gripped Guirmean's shoulder warmly and I smiled at that.
The Arach I'd first met would never have befriended Guirmean. He may have interacted with him in a vaguely diplomatic way but friendship? No way. To see him change into a fey who would allow another faerie king of a different element to live in his home, felt like a huge accomplishment.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Arach lifted a blood red brow.
“I just love you so much,” I smiled.
“We'll wait in the hall,” Guirmean grinned and ushered Nora out the door.
“I love you too,” Arach cocked his head at me. “Are you sure everything is alright? Nothing else happened in the Human Realm that you want to talk about?”
“Nope, it's all good,” I grinned and slid my arms around his waist. “I just wanted to say I love you.”
“Even after I gave you that look you don't like?” He lifted a corner of his mouth along with his eyebrow.
“Especially after that,” I lifted myself for a kiss and he met me halfway.
“In that case,” he began with a wry grin. “Would you like to discuss-”
“Don't ruin it,” I put a finger over his lips and he started to laugh.
Chapter Six
We settled Nora and Guirmean into a larger room with Isleen's help. Isleen was basically the fey equivalent of a chatelaine-a castle housekeeper for those of you not medievally inclined. She immediately knew which room would be best for Nora and Guirmean. Besides taking care of the castle, she'd also raised Arach from when he was just a little boy and I knew he secretly thought of her as a second mother. She was kinda a big deal in the Fire Kingdom.
She was also amazingly beautiful, as most leanan-sidhe are, with porcelain pale skin, thick black hair that hung in a silky curtain to her waist, and dark eyes which had glints of fire in them. Stunning really but I'd never seen her romantically involved with anyone. At least not beyond the occasional meal(leanan-sidhe drink blood). That had all changed when I'd met Mimir.
The Viking God of Knowledge had once been Isleen's lover and when he found out that I knew her, he asked me to tell her how much he missed her. This hadn't produced much more than a happy reminiscing in Isleen initially but lately things were starting to progress. She'd been to visit him on three occasions, during which I'd loaned her my Ring of Remembrance so she could return to us immediately.
Arach had been shocked when I first offered her the use of my father's ring but as I pointed out to him, Isleen is one of the most capable women I know and I had no concern over her returning the ring. Plus, I didn't think the castle would survive without her. Not even a day. He'd agreed to that and had given his blessing to her romance with Mimir as long as she used the ring and Mimir didn't hurt her in any way. If he hurt Isleen Arach would, and I quote: “turn into a dragon so I can tear that Norse giant into little Norse parts and spread him all over that damn Norse territory that my wife's mother helped build.”
“Do you think I could borrow your ring again?” Isleen asked right after we left Guirmean's new chambers.
“Of course,” I took it off instantly and handed it to her.
The ring had a mind of its own and we weren't sure at first if Isleen would even be able to use it but it seemed to know how much I loved her and she never had a problem with it. It was originally made for fey use after all, just not in the way we'd been using it. It was meant to be a way for the long-lived fey to be able to relive, and therefore recall, their past. When you lived for thousands of years, remembering your past could become difficult.
It didn't seem to mind my new purpose for it. In fact, I sensed that it was quite satisfied with the way things had played out. That might sound silly to you but in Faerie a lot of inanimate objects could have very strange abilities... like sentience. As I've already mentioned, the ring was one of those sentient objects and it had proven it dramatically once when it was stolen from me by the last Queen of Water. Let's just say it sent her to a very inhospitable locale. Anyway, it seemed like the ring was at peace now, finally fulfilling the purpose it had wanted to fulfill as opposed to what it had been created to fulfill.
“Hurry back,” Arach joked as Isleen put the ring on and disappeared. I rolled my eyes at him. “What? That was most humorous.”
“You know, you're welcome to use it as well,” I offered and his teasing look vanished.
“I...” he frowned and blinked. “What?”
“You could relive a moment with your parents,” I continued. “If you want.”
“A Thaisce,” he sighed and pulled me into a hug. “You stop my world.”
“Oops, sorry,” Isleen laughed a little as she reappeared. “Here you go, my Queen,” she handed me the ring back and then sashayed happily down the hall.
“Looks like he hasn't hurt her yet,” I observed as I replaced the ring. As much as I trusted Isleen, I always felt a little relief at having it back on my hand.
“He better keep it that way,” Arach narrowed his eyes on Isleen's departing figure.
“We can't stop her from loving someone just because the love may end or go bad,” I tapped the end of his long nose. “She's gotta take her chances, just like the rest of us.”
“Are you glad you took a chance on me?”
“Took a chance?” I laughed. “Have you forgotten that we are all pawns in Faerie's elaborate game? I never stood a chance, it was all decided for me.”
You're such a child, she said, right on cue. You always had a choice... unfortunately.
“So you did choose me,” Arach smirked.
“Are you trying to make his ego bigger?” I whined to her.
Impossible, she scoffed. He's a dragon, his ego has always been as large as it could be.
“Rightly so,” he nodded in agreement instead of taking offense.
“You two are incorrigible,” I slid out of Arach's embrace and headed down the hall, in search of more intelligent conversation.
Ooooh, she learned a big word.
“I'm leaving now,” I called back as I heard Arach start to follow me. “I'm done talking to you. Both of you.”
Have you forgotten that I'm the consciousness of this entire realm? You can't walk away from me. I am everywhere.
“And I'm your husband,” Arach added as he grabbed my hand. “You're impaled with me.”
“I'm what?” I stopped to stare at him in horror.
“Oh, didn't I say that right?” He frowned.
Stuck with, Faerie snorted(how she did so without a nose is beyond me). The word is stuck not impaled, Count Dracula.
“Oh yes,” he grinned. “You're stuck to me forever.”
“Ugh,” I groaned as Faerie laughed. We didn't even bother to correct him.
Chapter Seven
“This is heaven,” I sighed and looked up into the bright, fey sky.
“Heaven is wherever you are,” Arach's face leaned into my view, “but this is quite nice, regardless.”
I sat up from where I'd been resting my head in his lap, and stretched. Just as I got my hands high in the air, Dexter came barreling into me. I gave a sharp exhale and caught the not-so-baby nurial. He started making the gravely sound that was his version of purring, and rubbed his pointed face into my belly. His silky black ears flopped forward with the movement. He was really getting big now, reaching higher than my knees when I was standing, and way beyond the size where I could carry him around on my shoulders like I used to.
“Are you having fun?” I asked him and he lifted his eyes to me as if he understood. “Or are you getting tired?”
He curled up in my lap and went to sleep, right on cue. Of course he didn't fit in my lap anymore either, so only his front half was on me. I laughed and leaned back into Arach, who wrapped his arms casually around my waist. In front of us, the children were playing and we both set our attention on them. We'd taken them out to see the village of Misty Meadows where my friend Caitir lived. The villagers were thrilled to see the children and the children were excited to be in a new location. It was a win-win.
Misty Meadows was set near the Weeping Woods, our wet, jungle-like forest near the border to Air. Its proximity to Weeping, combined with the heat coming from nearby lava vents, made Misty Meadows into an ethereal paradise which lived up to its name. Delicate fingers of mist floated through the air and flowers bloomed crimson, deep purple, and shocking white against a verdant backdrop. The plant life was so lush, even the thick paving stones couldn't hold it back and every seam was filled with determined blades of grass. The air was filled with the scent of ripe fruit and the faerie wine, which was being handed around, and laughter echoed in the humidity, adding one last haunting layer to the dreamy quality of the setting. I sighed with happiness.
“This is good for them I think,” Fionnaghal nodded her long, slender snout in the direction of her triplets; Daoir, Deirdre, and Vervain(who I called Mini V).
“They look like they're enjoying themselves,” I nodded in agreement.
Fionnaghal's children were even bigger than Dexter now and all of them were walking, though I thought Deirdre's six legs gave her a bit of a advantage over the others. Roarke's son, Hunter, was also walking now and he chased after the other children with a strut that was purely inherited from his fire cat-sidhe father. Then there were the phooka kids, who may have been much older than the rest but were still around the same size as the Hidden One triplets. Hidden Ones tended to grow faster, I was told. Probably because they usually ended up a lot larger than their fey brethren.
The phooka kids loved the Hidden Ones. I'd been taking the children down to see the Hidden Ones in their cavern for awhile and now the phookas felt free enough to wander down there all on their own. They especially liked that there were other children there and Hunter often tagged along... when his mother would allow it.
Anna had come out with us to the village and she seemed to be loving the experience just as much as the children. Both Roarke and Anna had originally been cat-sidhe of the House of Earth but then Roarke's father had betrayed him and Roarke had defected to Fire, an occurrence that shocked all of Faerie. To live in a kingdom of a different element was hard on a fey. The only ones who'd been able to handle it so far had been the earth pixies but pixies had very little magic to begin with so living apart from their element wasn't as big a deal for them.
So yeah, it was shocking. Then, while the realm was still reeling from Roarke's defection, Faerie herself gave her blessing by transmuting him into a fire fey. He became the first fire cat-sidhe in existence. This had inspired other cat-sidhe to leave the rather rigid confines of the earth cat-sidhe court and follow Roarke to Fire. Faerie happily transmuted all of them, including Hunter's mother, Anna.
Roarke had traveled around the kingdom with me but Anna had mostly kept to the castle, so this was her first big adventure into Fire. She was ensconced in a group of village women, talking avidly while she looked over their crafts. Fey crafts were unlike anything you could find in the Human Realm and I may be biased but I think the fire fey are the most talented craftsmen of all the faeries. Especially now that the earth pixies had joined Fire for good. Yes, we were collecting all the fey outcasts and I was perfectly happy with that.
Included in the group of women around Anna was one who was very pregnant and kept rubbing her belly like she couldn't believe there was a child inside her. I was told there were two other pregnancies within our kingdom, which delighted me to no end. The fertility spell I'd performed with Arach was finally revealing how well it had worked.
Arach and I were seated on a blanket within the open area in the center of the village and Fionnaghal, along with her mate, Taog, were seated beside us. We hadn't felt the need to bring guards with us since we were within the boundaries of our own kingdom. Besides, Arach and I could do more damage than all of our guards combined. They were more useful guarding the castle than us.
“Aunty Queen,” Mini V patted my leg gently with one of her four hands and pet Dexter with another.
“Yes, darlin'?” I smiled down at her. I had told all the children they could call me Aunty but Fionnaghal had insisted they call me Queen, so her children had adopted the compromise of Aunty Queen. I thought it was sweet.
“Daoir is trying to pick up Deidre again, look,” she pointed one of her remaining two hands in the direction of the other children.
This was not tattling, just her wanting to include me in their fun. She nuzzled her face against Dexter and laid down half across my leg to watch with me. I stroked a hand over her
soft, golden-brown fur as I watched Daoir try ineffectively to lift his sister. This was a common game for them and although Daoir never succeeded, he loved trying to prove his strength.
Hunter took one look at Daoir, shook his head and strode over to lend a hand. Obviously this was a task which needed a cat's touch. Surprise, surprise, the boys actually managed to lift Deidre and all of her thick legs off the ground. Deidre then gave a horrified shriek, which startled the boys into dropping her. She got up and smiled over at her mother in triumph.
“Deidre won again,” Mini V laughed.
“Just like her mother,” Taog chuckled with his daughter. “This is good, our men like strong women.”
“Who doesn't?” Arach kissed my cheek and I got a fluttering feeling in my belly.
The butterflies of my love magic. They often responded to Arach like that. Love wanted to come out and play but that would only lead to Lust making a show as well and we were not in the right place for that. So I reined it in and satisfied myself with snuggling deeper into Arach's chest.
“Imagine what it would be like to see our children playing here as well,” Arach whispered and ruined the mood.
“There will be even more children in Fire by the time we have babies,” I said in my best diplomatic tone.
“By the time?” He angled his body to the side so he could see me better. “How long are we going to wait, Vervain?”
Oh, here we go.
“Really? We have to talk about this again? Can't we just enjoy this day out?” I waved my hand towards the children.
Sensing the tension, Dexter and Mini V both slid off my lap and snuck away. Fionnaghal and Taog picked them up and wandered off with them. Everyone knew what a touchy subject this was for us.