by Claudy Conn
Habit. She always turned away when a Fae came into view. She had been doing that since she was a toddler—she was a Fios and couldn’t afford to give herself away to them.
Being a Fios meant she could see Fae whether or not they disguised themselves in human Glamour, as the ones she passed just now were doing. She could see Seelie Fae and Unseelie Fae through their Glamour, even through their Féth Fiada of invisibility. She could not be compelled by their mesmerizing gaze, and she was immune to their sexual ability called Lianhan that seduced human women and sent them into a rapture from which they could never emerge.
Her mother had taught her to never display that she saw them for what they were. The fear was ancient, but it was there, the belief that they would spirit her away to Faery and keep her imprisoned in their Realm so she could not give their secrets away—yeah, right, like anyone would believe her in this day and age.
She saw a cab, and luckily it was empty. She hailed it, it pulled up, and she jumped in, not aware she was holding her breath until she let it out inside the cab.
Damn, but the summer job she had taken would do her some good. She needed to get away; managing a tour group would keep her busy and earn her some much-needed money. Her job as a marine biologist was a dream job if you didn’t count the fact that the starting pay was beyond awful.
This would be great. She had been to Dublin with her parents a few years ago but never to Killarney.
She recalled Dublin and the time she had spent with her parents. She would treasure the memory forever. It had been their last vacation together before she lost them to a drunk driver. She had been with them; they were laughing, and her father had turned just a bit to tease her when it happened. A driver, passed out from intoxication, veered and hit them head on. She had been thrown clear of the wreckage and lived, but they had not.
Then Joe had entered her life, and she’d thought, wow! He turned out a ‘wow’ all right.
Tammy had tried to warn her off him, and Tammy had been right. Why couldn’t she see what her friend saw almost immediately?
Mooning over Joe when they first split had been stupid and a total waste of time. She was certainly over him; now she was very sure she would never again allow herself to be swayed by a handsome face and a killer smile.
She knew now she had only been infatuated.
Her heart had always whispered that he was not the picture she had painted of him. He was and always would be a player. He had an eye for the ladies and did not even try to control himself.
She didn’t think it a total loss. When she’d met Joe she’d been so ready to spread her wings, and he had been all about that. For almost a year, it had been a thrilling ride.
He had never really loved her, and the truth she made herself face was that she hadn’t really loved him either. He had been fun.
Okay, chapter closed, and now she was off to her mother’s homeland with a group of seniors.
Just what she needed to relax—simple, easy, and no complications. Then in a couple of months, Charleston Aquarium, here I come!
~ One ~
THE NARROW SIDEWALKS of Killarney were teeming with locals going about their daily business and tourists heading for eateries and pubs after a long morning of sightseeing. Jazmine’s group of jolly seniors was certainly in the latter category; having just disembarked from a boat tour of the lower of the three Lakes of Killarney, they were ready for a pint and a bite.
As she guided them to a lovely pub for lunch, they continued to ooh and ahh about the breathtaking views of the mountains they’d enjoyed on the boat and of the Ross Castle ruins that rose majestically near the pier. She saw them seated, made sure they knew how to get back to their hotel, and left them happily chattering away, pleased with their first sightseeing event in Killarney. Most, she knew, were planning to devote their afternoon of free time to exploring the nearby shops in search of gifts and mementos.
Their free time was also hers, and she had a yen to go off hiking and take a look at Middle Lake, which had not been visible from the tour boat. She also wanted to spend more time admiring the mountains that served as a backdrop to the lakes, edging, enclosing, and offering up the mysteries of the ages. She focused on the montage of mountains, ageless and spectacular in their shades of dark purple, browns, and spotted greens, undulating, and they whispered promises to Jazz as they rose and hovered like guardians of the quiet waters in their valley.
Jazz gazed at them and imagined the breeze wafting over her skin, touched by the oaks and pines of their rolling foothills, spoke of ancient secrets. How she would have loved to live a couple of hundred years ago in this valley …
Something about Killarney, about the way the earth felt beneath her feet, thrilled her. It was as though the earth stroked her with affection, welcoming her home.
She imagined it in the past, when horse and carriage was the mode of travel and life was simpler.
After making sure her backpack contained water, a cell phone, and an apple, she set off and within an hour found herself quite alone on a narrow footpath that led away from the main trails of the national park. She wanted to get close to the Middle Lake and the water’s edge.
An odd shape caught her eye, and she frowned. It didn’t quite make any sense to her; she needed to get a closer look to see if her vision was playing tricks with her mind.
However, as she approached she realized the glistening apparition was something almost no other humans would see. She should have known. After all, she thought, pulling a face, she was in Ireland, one of their favorite haunts!
It was invisible to most humans because a Fae spell of concealment had been performed to hide its presence, but she could see clearly that where water met high grass, a huge structure hovered, just inches above the water. Monoliths!
The sarsen stones were arranged like a large, open doorway, much like the ones she had seen in pictures of the stones at Stonehenge, in England.
However, these were a single set, three huge stones, two standing and one lying flat across the top of the two sarsen Standing Stones. And then she noticed a much smaller one, set back just a bit from the land, also hovered over the lake.
This sarsen was shaped like a pyramid and stood as though to block the entrance. One would have to squeeze left or right to get past. Hell, what was she thinking?
This was crazy.
What was even more disturbing was the fact that the pyramid-shaped stone suddenly whispered her name. “Fios Jazmine,” it murmured, “come, you must come.”
Her instincts shouted, Run for your life. Her curiosity made her step forward, transfixed on the pyramid now talking to her.
She stood mesmerized for a long moment before she took another step forward. She extended her hand towards one of the Standing Stones, wanting to feel its texture. The entire experience was almost hypnotic.
“Don’t touch it!”
Jazz whipped around so fast she nearly snapped her neck, to find not only a Seelie Fae but a Royal Fae Prince bearing down on her.
Had he heard the stone call her a Fios? He must have.
Oh no, oh no. She could be in trouble here. She had turned to the sound of his voice. A normal human would not only not have seen him but not have heard him either.
She had given herself away.
He was not in human Glamour but cloaked with invisibility, yet she had acknowledged his presence when he’d surprised her. What was more, he was a Royal, and her mother had told her tales of what Royals did with their kind. She knew the tales of Royals, all Seelie Fae, visiting, discovering what they were, seducing, and then whisking them off to Faery.
Now what? Play dumb, yes, that was it; she could do dumb. What moved her to peek at him she didn’t know, but she did. He saw her interest with narrowed eyes. What was she doing—what was wrong with her?
She had never seen a Royal before, but she knew by the torque around his neck, which was gold and etched with the insignia of his Royal House, that he was one.
Ro
yals were the most magically potent of all Fae and therefore the most dangerous, and this one was the hottest Fae she had ever seen. She was mesmerized by the way his long, thick, flaxen hair blew in the wind all about his handsome face. She was so damned taken by his good looks and his smokin’ body. Oh, this was not good. There was only one thing to do.
She took off at a speed, even greater than the one she knew she possessed, aware that it was probably useless. No matter how fast she could run using her Fios magic, she couldn’t out distance him. He was a Fae, with the power to ‘shift’, which allowed a Fae to step from one place into another in only a matter of seconds. She didn’t know if that was science or magic, but she knew she would be trapped.
Fae seers had many extraordinary gifts. However, not all Fios had the same gifts. One of her particular gifts was speed. She held the hope that she would hold no interest for him, that he would not bother himself to stop her. Wrong.
Evidently, stopping her was what he wanted to do.
She ran into a brick wall that she realized was his chest, bounced off like a rubber ball, and fell backwards so hard she had the wind knocked out of her.
The Royal Fae Prince stared down at her as she lay back against the grass trying to catch her breath and asked, “What, by Danu, are you?”
* * *
Pretend you don’t hear him! Pretend you don’t see him, she told herself. Yuh, duh, he knows you turned when he shouted at you. He knows you ran away from him.
Doesn’t matter—just pretend. She said out loud, “Huh … what did I run into? A tree? I don’t see a tree. Must be just clumsy me, tripping over nothing.” She got to her feet and brushed herself off.
“Don’t be foolish. I know you can see me—my reflection is in your eyes, and your eyes are not quite human,” the Royal Fae scoffed. “Now answer my question. Just what are you?”
“Don’t you know? I thought Royal Fae were all-powerful, all-knowing … all-magical. You should know, but if you don’t, well, one up on ya, mister,” said Jazz, starting to walk off.
He reached out and clasped her arm with one hand, gently stopping her. “You are going nowhere until you tell me what you are and why you were about to touch the dolmens. You should not even have been able to see them.”
“Well, there you are—saw them, meant no harm, just curious, so that’s it. You go your way. I’ll go mine.”
“Are you working with Pestale?” He glared at her.
“Don’t know him, so, no, not working with him,” Jazz said, hoping she could find a way to make him let her go. Then he surprised her by bending to put his nose near her ear and taking a long whiff of air. He sucked it in deeply and then moved to repeat the action just under her chin.
She had been so stunned that she had gone rigid, but she couldn’t deny the tingling sensation his nearness elicited from her. She looked up to find his deep russet-gold and alien eyes full with what appeared to be glitter. His gaze was hypnotically difficult to turn away from.
They were Seelie Fae eyes but not coldly calculating as she had been told by her mother, who had been taught this by her mother. His eyes seemed to hold a fire in their depths. She formed a thought in that moment, a silent acknowledgement that what she had been taught might not be right. And that made her frown. She had never looked into the eyes of a Fae. She had never been close enough. Her mother had told her Fae were rigidly disciplined, without souls, without empathy—no heart. She had never doubted her mother, but … this Fae made her wonder.
“You don’t smell of him,” said the Royal Fae. “However, that in itself means little. You have a choice—tell me who and what you are. Tell me your purpose here, or remain with me indefinitely until I can get to the bottom of—”
Suddenly the earth beneath their feet began to rumble.
The air began to swirl with dust and leaves all around them. A crack of thunder, deafeningly loud and with a power of its own, joined with the rumbling earth and created a deafening fissure right where they were standing!
The earth beneath their feet began crumbling away.
“What, by Danu?” the Royal Fae exclaimed and grabbed her, bringing her right up against his hard body.
Swirling winds surrounded them, and Jazz thought a tornado had hit.
Misty atmosphere invaded Jazz’s nostrils as earth fell away from her feet. They were going to be swallowed up by the ravine that was forming.
Was this possible? Did Ireland get earthquakes and tornados?
No time for clear thought as he held her tightly; she relied on him to somehow transport them out of danger. Odd that she should find herself relying on a Fae …
She, however, did not have a choice. He seemed to have her in his arms, and the earth she had just been standing on was no longer there. Ha, no longer there, she said to herself, which meant … oh, yes, it meant he was holding her above the widening crack, and together they were floating about in the air.
Sure, why not, Jazz, she said in her mind. It fits with everything else you don’t understand.
Blackness enveloped them, and she found herself holding tight to the Royal Fae with no intention of letting go.
They were falling but not just straight down. They were being battered through what seemed like a wind tunnel, though she couldn’t see it through the blackness—she only felt the stickiness of walls as they bounced from side to side. She hoped he wouldn’t release her, because now he seemed the only thing standing between her and sure death.
He shouted above the roar of the wind, “Don’t let go!”
“Damn straight I won’t! What’s happening?” But she never got her answer, because just then the wind force managed to yank her out of the Seelie prince’s hold and sent her flying off and away.
She couldn’t see through the blackness and felt as though she couldn’t breathe. She struggled not to pass out as her lungs seemed to be collapsing.
Dying? Was she dying? She felt as though she were dying.
And then, just as she began to lose consciousness, she felt strong arms surround her and heard an Irishman’s rough brogue declare, “Well, bless me, where did ye coom from, lass? And not that I be complaining, but whatever is that ye be wearing?”
~ Two ~
THE FIRST THING Jazz did was look up and into the rugged face of a burly stranger who leered back at her. The second thing she noticed was that he was wearing an old-fashioned style of clothing. His form of dress made him look as though he belonged in the eighteenth century.
She frowned as she tried to take it all in. Where was she?
He shook her and said, “Are ye daft, lass?”
He looked like a blacksmith … how odd, but he had that look about him. They appeared to be standing outside an old-fashioned stable, she thought, so a blacksmith was what he must be. She gave him a tentative smile and said, “Ah … um …”
“Aye, daft it is.” He laughed and gave her rump a hearty pat.
She backed away from him and put up a finger. “Hey!” Deciding it was time to vamoose, she took a quick glance around and saw they were in a village of sorts.
Huh, she thought, it looked like the restoration village she had taken her seniors to just yesterday.
It was no longer afternoon—the sun seemed to be setting—and she glanced down the sandy street, wondering how she had gotten there.
A ruckus caught her attention, and she saw a tavern across the sandy avenue. Two men with their arms about each other’s shoulders went in to the cheers of other men.
Where was she? What was this place?
No sense. It made absolutely no sense.
“I don’t know what ye be wearing, but no matter—we’ll soon have it off ye, darlin’,” said the burly man, who then reached for her top.
She slapped his hand away. She didn’t need to know where she was to know she was in a bit of trouble and needed to get away—and fast.
He laughed. “Frisky lass, aren’t ye? Well, there be no one about to bother or interrupt us, so give over, do
,” he said on a slur as he grabbed hold of her and pulled her roughly to his leather-vested chest.
Although Jazz possessed several very different Fios powers, each unique in its own way, super-strength was not amongst them. Even so, she had a few tricks up her sleeve.
She didn’t know where she was, she didn’t know how she got there, but she knew what and who she was. She waited for the opportunity to break away from him.
Thinking perhaps she was hoping for too much, she decided the situation needed a bit of manipulation. She went into action.
Relaxing, she pretended to faint, hoping it would trick him into easing up on his hold.
It worked too well—he almost dropped her.
She, however, steadied herself and, before he knew what she was doing, stomped heavily with the heel of her booted foot, planted it right smack onto his foot, and dug in.
He yelped and bent over in pain, and she took that opportunity to give him a good, solid kick right in the shins. He shouted out with rage and agony, and she slammed her now aching foot into his crotch.
That was the final blow. He couldn’t move, but he sure could howl!
She didn’t stick around but zoomed into super speed and was gone in a whirl of dust.
Speed, she had speed but no idea where she was speeding to, and within a short span of time she slammed into a hard, tall body. Very hard, very tall, and also unmoving.
Two hands held her shoulders.
Breathe, she told herself, breathe, as she tried to shake free from the grip that held her in place.
A familiar and, she decided, a very welcome voice said, “What the devil were you thinking?”
* * *
This rebuke incensed her. “What was I thinking? Me? Thinking? Like, there I was, minding my own business when you came along, a Royal Fae out of nowhere, and whisk me off to this.” She waved her arms about. “I don’t know where this is, but I know that I didn’t ask to come here, so take me back!” Her fists went to her hips, and she glared at the Royal Seelie.