by Unknown
“There you are, my Queen,” Isleen declared as she came into the room. I jerked in fright and then settled when I saw it was only her. “I've been looking everywhere for you,” she said with a concerned frown for my behavior.
“You're not the only one,” Roarke smirked.
“Yes, the King has been asking for you as well,” Isleen glanced at Roarke and then back to me. “We need you in the throne room.”
“Throne room?” I lifted a brow. Whenever she referred to our dining hall as the throne room, it meant serious business.
“We have a messenger from the Air Kingdom and he's requested to address both you and King Arach.”
“Oh,” I sat up and then smiled when my you know what didn't ache. I'd healed, yay. “Okay, I'm coming.”
“So I've heard,” Roarke winked at me and picked up Hunter so he could follow us down to the throne room.
Chapter Ten
“Here's my queen now,” Arach gave me a stern look when I entered the throne room.
I went down the center aisle, my footsteps muffled on the red carpet that ran in a length down the hall. I passed the waiting messenger and the two large braziers, one set to each side at the bottom of the dais, which held raging fires. Three little steps and I was on the platform where the thrones were set. The high table had been hastily pushed back against the wall behind the thrones and the banner of the House of Fire was hung over it. I guess it wouldn't do to greet a royal messenger while you were sitting behind a dining table.
“Hey,” I whispered to Arach. “Sorry about that, I was in the nursery with Roarke,” I gestured to where Roarke was standing with Hunter.
“The one place I didn't look,” he rolled his eyes.
“Oh, you were looking for me?” I asked innocently. “I thought you just sent Isleen to find me.”
“Well, I thought we could-”
“My King,” Isleen cleared her throat. “The messenger from the House of Air is waiting.”
“Yes, of course,” he directed his attention back to the faerie before us.
The messenger had bright blue wings that were iridescent in the light of our fey lanterns, and green eyes without a pupil. Weird but not the strangest thing I'd seen in Faerie, not by a long shot. He actually looked pretty normal if you ignored his wings and eyes. His skin was a creamy beige, his face shaped like that of a human man, and there were no other unusual appendages protruding form his body. Overall, pretty tame for a faerie.
“King and Queen of Fire,” the messenger bowed. “I come with an invitation for you both to attend the Air Kingdom's Autumn Ball. I'm also told that King Guirmean of the Water Kingdom is here and I'm to invite him as well.”
“Air has an Autumn Ball?” I looked over to Arach.
“Evidently,” he shrugged and then looked back at the fey. “When will this Ball be held?”
“In ten days hence, King Arach,” the messenger replied.
“You may tell your king and queen that we shall be attending,” Arach nodded and then searched the room for Guirmean. He was actually just to the right of us, having come out of the crowd upon hearing his name. “King Guirmean, would you care to give your response?”
“Yes, please thank your royals for the invitation and advise them that I will attend as well,” Guirmean nodded regally.
“Excellent,” the messenger bowed. “By your leave?”
“Yes, thank you,” Arach waved a hand and the man departed.
“A party,” I mused. “How fun.”
“Yes,” Arach didn't look or sound pleased.
“What's wrong?” I frowned at him.
“I wanted to focus on having a child right now,” he looked over with serious eyes. “I don't want any distractions.”
“Arach,” I sighed. “You need to relax, you're making me a little crazy.”
“I just don't want you to change your mind,” he took my hand.
“Then you're going about it all wrong,” I gave him a sympathetic look. “Because having sex with me constantly is really making me want to rethink this.”
“You don't enjoy having sex with me?” He lowered his voice but the room was full and when I glanced up, I saw Roarke's shoulders shaking from repressed laughter. Damn fey hearing.
“I love it,” I cleared my throat. “Perhaps we can go somewhere more private to discuss this?”
“Oh,” Arach looked around at all the rapt expressions. “Yes, very well.”
He held a hand out to me and helped me down the steps, then walked us regally out of the room. I glared at Roarke as we passed him and he hid his laughing face behind Hunter. The coward. Hunter cooed at me and clapped his hands, his fiery cat eyes shining bright in delight. I danced my fingers at him before we exited the room. Then we headed up the stairs and straight to our bedroom. I admit, I was a little hesitant about his choice of location. I still wasn't ready for another dragon romp in Mr. Fertility's bed of determined passion.
“So tell me now why you don't want to have sex with me,” he focused on me as soon as the door closed.
“I do, I just don't want to do it twenty times a day,” I sighed. “I'm a little tender after all of that. Also, I had no idea dragons had such stamina. It's impressive... and painful.”
“So heal yourself,” he frowned.
“Think about that statement,” I felt like I was talking to Roarke all over again.
“Oh,” he frowned and then smiled brilliantly. “Then I shall heal you after every episode.”
“Ugh,” I rolled my eyes. “Arach, we can't spend all day, every day, in bed. We're monarchs, we have stuff to do. You know, royal stuff.”
“Producing an heir is royal stuff,” he began to stalk towards me.
“Stop!” I held up a hand. “First of all, we've already done it five times today so we should be good, and second, it's actually counter productive to have sex a lot when you're trying to have a baby. It lowers your sperm count.”
“I'm a faerie,” he smirked, “and a dragon.”
“So what, you have an unlimited supply?” I lifted a brow at him.
“Well actually, I don't know for sure,” he frowned and blinked, “but I doubt we're hindered by human restrictions.”
“Okay, let me try this,” I sighed. “I'm going to recast my spell again if you don't ease up.”
“I knew you would change your mind,” he snarled and narrowed his eyes on me.
“I haven't changed my mind,” I snarled back. “I just want sex with you to be about pleasure and not a chore. A painful chore.”
“I've never thought it was a chore,” he lost his bluster. “Have you?”
“It's actually giving me a bit of anxiety,” I confessed. “I'm already unsure about having a child, having you pressuring me to have sex all the time isn't helping.”
“Oh,” he deflated and sank into one of the chairs at our little dining table. “I see. I didn't realize I was pressuring you.”
“Oh, gods damn it!” I swore. “I thought this would make you happy and now it's just become another thing to fight over.”
“I don't want to fight,” he said softly and held out a hand to me. I took it and let him pull me over. He put his hands around my waist and stared up at me earnestly. “I'm sorry I've let this consume me. It's something I've wanted badly for such a long time and now that it's finally within reach, I just want to grab onto it and make sure it doesn't slip away.”
“I know and I do understand but you need to know that it probably won't happen overnight,” I ran a hand through his crimson hair and he sighed. “It may take awhile...”
“What is it?” He sharpened his gaze on me. “You've just thought of something.”
“What if I get pregnant but it's not yours?” I whispered.
“Excuse me?” His eyes started to glow.
“What if it takes so long that I'm still not pregnant by the time I head back to the other realms?” I explained.
“Can't you just redo the spell when you return?” He frowned.
“I could but what if this goes on for awhile and I forget?” I thought about how I usually traveled with my ring. Remembering to redo and undo a pregnancy prevention spell every time I jumped was going to be hard.
“Then you'll have to stay here till you do conceive,” he declared with irritating finality.
“Arach, you know I can't do that,” I broke free of his grip.
“Why not?” He growled. “You can return to the exact time you left, that's what makes having a child with me feasible in the first place, isn't it? So why can't you stay here till you get pregnant?”
“Because when I left, Trevor, Kirill, and Odin had just gone to infiltrate a Hindu monkey palace to free a horse-shifter friend of ours and I'll be worried about them until I go back and know if they're safe,” I explained.
“I can't believe I understood that,” he said dryly. “Which one of the Dark Horses in imprisoned?”
“You remember them?” I smiled at him, a warm sensation rising inside me.
“Of course I do,” he huffed. “I remember all who are a part of your life.”
“That's so sweet,” I cooed.
“Just in case they hurt you and I have to kill them,” he nodded.
“And there's my dragon,” I chuckled.
“So what do we do? Hold off on trying for now?” He brought us back to the subject at hand.
“Perhaps,” I chewed at my lip when his face fell. “What if we try this again the next time I return? Hopefully there won't be any drama that prevents me from staying until we know I'm pregnant.”
“What about your fertility magic?” He asked suddenly. “Couldn't that help you to conceive immediately?”
“Baby, I don't have that anymore, remember?” I sat in the seat across from him. “I gave it to Persephone so I could keep the moon magic.”
“Oh, right,” he took a deep breath and looked away. “The moon magic you had to get back from the Indian.”
“I can ask Persephone if she could help us,” I offered, ignoring his surly comment about Toby.
“Really?” He brightened.
“Of course,” I gave a little laugh. “She's one of my best friends, I'm sure she'll help if she can.”
“If she can?” His eyes narrowed.
“I don't know what the magic can do,” I admitted. “I never used it to get someone pregnant on cue. I don't know if it can do that or if it will just increase my fertility. Look at what it did for our kingdom, it's not a sudden thing. Only now are some of the women getting pregnant.”
“As long as it helps us conceive, it would be appreciated,” he grinned.
“I also need to talk to the others about this,” I got a tight feeling in my chest. How were they going to take it? They knew I was planning on eventually having a child with Arach but I doubt they were expecting it to be so soon.
“You mean your other lovers?” He got that irritated look in his eyes again.
“You know what?” I suddenly growled. “You need to watch it, dragon. I was with them before I was with you and now they're going to have to take a back seat to your need for an heir. How do you think they're going to feel when I have a child with you first?”
“First?” He lifted a brow. “So you're going to have children with all of them?”
“I...” my heart started to pound faster in panic. “I don't know. I guess I'll have to if they want children.”
“Have to?” He laughed. “You don't have to do anything, A Thaisce.”
“Says the man who's guilting me into bearing his children,” I rolled my eyes.
“I'm what?” His voice went terse.
“I mean...”
“You want to have children with me only because I've made you feel guilty?”
“Well...”
“Is that right, Vervain?” He growled.
“Yes!” I shouted suddenly and stood, surprising both of us. “I'm not ready for children! I don't know if I'll ever be ready but whenever I'm here I feel like it's a constant barrage of looks, questions, and arguments about when I'm going to do my duty and bear you an heir. It just makes me feel guilty and tricked! Yes, I feel tricked! I never wanted to be Queen of Fire and bear your little dragon babies. I was manipulated into coming here and manipulated into marrying you and now I'm being manipulated into having your children.”
“Are you finished?” He asked calmly.
“Yes,” my chest was heaving and my hands shaking. I sank back into my chair.
“Now I'd like you to try a new perspective,” he continued the calm tone. “Can you imagine what it's like to spend thousands of years thinking you were the last of your kind, that you would never do right by your kingdom and provide an heir? Then to have a woman who was part of a race you despised, land in your life and reveal that she was your only chance at saving your race. But oh, she isn't free to marry you, she has numerous lovers already and also happens to hate you. So you work a spell to change her mind and instead, you change your own. You end up falling in love with her, which makes the idea of having children with her all the sweeter. Oh but the spell backfires and she remembers her other men, remembers the life she had before you, and leaves you.”
“Arach, I'm sorry, I-”
“Stop, Vervain,” he growled, “I'm not finished.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“You wallow in hatred of yourself and these other men,” he ground out. “You wallow so deeply that you neglect your precious kingdom and disrespect the High King, who then casts you into a horrible prison devoid of your element. A prison that destroys you slowly but is still vastly preferable to being without her. Then she comes back. She saves you and forgives you. She stops your world and then starts it spinning in an entirely new direction. You change, your kingdom changes, the whole damn realm changes for her. Yet still she denies you the child that would give new hope to your nearly extinct race. Why? Because she's just not ready. Now, how would you feel, Vervain?”
“I'd feel like it was all some horrible cosmic joke,” I blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall.
“Yes, sometimes it does feel that way,” he leaned forward and wiped the corners of my brimming eyes. “But mostly it feels like a miracle. You're everything to me and I would never want you to feel guilty or tricked. I want you to feel loved and safe here. I want it even more than I want children.”
“You do?” I asked in a small voice.
“I may have pursued you because of what you are,” he smiled softly. “But that all changed when I fell in love with who you are. You're not just a means to an end. You are my end. If that means there will never be another dragon-sidhe born, then so be it. I would rather remain childless and have your love than have an heir whose birth destroys that love.”
“Nothing can destroy my love,” I whispered. “Just because we fight, it doesn't mean I'm going to leave you. I love you too, dragon, and when I love, it's forever.”
“It's forever for me as well,” he closed the distance between us for a toe-curling kiss.
Chapter Eleven
“I'm sorry about what I said,” I was laying in Arach's arms in our massive bed, staring up at the golden dragons embroidered into the dark bed hangings. Ironically, our fight about having children had led to sex but it was the slow, make-up variety so I had no complaints.
“No, you're not,” he chuckled, causing my head to move since it was laid on his chest. “And neither am I. I'm glad we talked about it.”
“Again,” I mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Well, we seem to talk about it a lot and every time it ends like this, with you assuaging me somehow,” I sighed and sat up so I could look at him. “I will talk to Sephy about our situation and see if she can help. Even if she can't, we can still try on our own the next time I return to Faerie.”
“I don't want you to resent our child,” Arach sat up as well.
“I won't resent our child,” I scoffed and then smiled. “You know me better than that,
any resentment I have will be taken out solely upon you.”
“Yes, of course,” he rolled his eyes. “What was I thinking?”
“We will have a child,” I promised. “I just don't know about children, plural. That may be too much for me.”
“Talk to your other men about it,” he looked like that statement had cost him.
“They'll understand,” I leaned my forehead to his. “And we'll figure this out. I could get them to remind me to do the spell.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” he nodded.
“And maybe when you come for a visit, you could spend a night with them,” I suggested.
“You want me to sleep with your other men?” He asked in a horrified voice. “I'm not that kind of man. I would have thought you'd know that by now.”
“Just sleep, as in the same bed,” I shook my head and laughed. “You know what I'm talking about. Stop pretending to be shocked.”
“Yes,” he relented. “I just don't know how I feel about your lion magic being used on me.”
“But you were perfectly okay with using a forgetting spell on me,” I pointed out with a lifted brow.
“A most valid point,” he relented. “I'll sleep in the same bed with them but as soon as one of them touches me, accidental or otherwise, I'm leaving.”
“Agreed,” I laughed. “You sound like Odin.”
“How so?”
“He had reservations about sleeping in the same bed as the others too,” I shrugged. “Now he's okay with it.”
“That unsettles me,” he narrowed his eyes.
“Why?”
“The idea of magic changing my nature is scary,” he said simply.
“Again, I'd like to draw your attention to the forgetting spell,” I smirked.
“Are you ever going to stop using that against me?” He huffed.
“Ah... no. Never,” I smiled. “Besides, wouldn't you rather be enchanted into accepting a situation you can't change than be resentful of it... forever?”
“Perhaps,” he gave me a little grin. “I will try it your way. Once.”
“Until then, why don't we get back to trying to get me pregnant?”
“Are you certain I'm not injuring you?” His eyes twinkled.