by Cara E Holt
“I need a hospital .” I say sleepily. I’m struggling to keep my eyes open.
“No human hospital can treat a bite from a Barguest.”
“It was wolf.” I mumble struggling to stay awake.
“Just sleep Ebony. I’ll take you where you need to be.” I fight to stay awake, I’m worried about Lorcen, but I feel my eyes closing, the pain is becoming too much to bear.
I open my eyes and blink, the light is too bright and it takes a while for my eyes to adjust. I take in my surroundings and realise I am in a grand bed in a very fancy looking bedroom. It looks like something out of a five star London hotel.
Ah you’re awake.” An English voice says that makes me jump in fright. I find a woman I do not know sat in a chair beside the bed I am in. “His highness will be pleased.” She says smiling at me.
“Who are you?” I ask and it comes out croaky.
“I’m Kallie.” She tells me offering me a silver cup with water in it which I gratefully take and down thirstily. I look at her, she is very pretty with long blonde hair plaited down her back, and she is dressed in a very pretty blue dress that is full length. It’s then I notice her ears and wonder if I’m high off painkillers. I point towards her ears.
“Your ears are pointy.”
“Well that’s a little rude. Yours are strangely round.” She smiles though when she says it, clearly not too offended.
I look around the room again. “Where am I ? This doesn’t look like a hospital.” I attempt to sit up and the room spins.
“Woah! Easy.” Kallie says gently encouraging me back down. Then I remember the wolf and us driving away leaving Lorcen behind to fight that thing!
“Lorcen! Oh my god, I need to find him.” I force myself up and swing my legs out of the bed.
“Please Miss you need to stay in bed. You’re not strong enough yet!” I ignore her attempts to get me back in bed and shakily stand on my feet. I wobble my way over to a door and pull it open and stagger out into the hallway. I hold onto the wall and force myself to move forwards.
“You’re awake!” Says a voice I recognise that stops me in my tracks. I look up and see Blaine down the other end of the corridor. He smiles and makes his way swiftly towards me. As he nears me I step back in shock as he looks different. Strangely he looks taller and more muscular than I remember. His ears are pointy too! I put my hand out to stop him coming any nearer.
“What’s with the ears?” I take in his weird clothes, he’s wearing black leather pants and some kind of blue tabard top. “Why are you wearing fancy dress?”
Blaine laughs and takes my elbow in his hand. “I’m not in fancy dress. Let me take you back to your room and I’ll explain everything.”
I sigh. “I must be shit high on pain meds.” I say more to myself than Blaine in explanation for what I am seeing. “Why is your accent English?”
He guides me back inside. “This is my real accent. Can you leave us for a bit Kallie.” She bobs almost in curtsy and says she will come back shortly. He lowers me back into bed and pulls the covers back over me. He sits himself on the edge of the bed and looks at me somewhat nervously.
“Okay.” I breathe, “One. What is with the pointy ears? Two, where am I? Three, where is Lorcen?”
He holds out a hand to shush me. “Okay Ebony, what I’m about to tell you will not be easy to take in.” He leans in and takes my hand in his.
“Firstly, can I say, it is such a relief to see you awake. You have been unconscious for three days.”
“Three days!” I reply shocked.
I look at him confused. “Where am I Blaine, is this your house? Why am I not in a hospital or at home?”
“No hospital would have been able to treat you. You needed a healer.”
I frown feeling very confused. “I don’t understand. Am I in some kind of weird coma?”
Blaine takes a breath as if preparing himself. “You are in my home, but not my home in Weston. In fact we aren’t even in America.”
I blink as what he says registers. “Sorry did you just say we aren’t in America!”
“We are in the change lands, in the court of spring and summer, more commonly known as the Seelie court.”
I process what he is saying. I pinch myself and it hurts. “Not in a coma or a dream then. You said Seelie.”
Blaine nods in response. “Seelie, as in fairies.”
“We prefer Fae. I’m Fae Ebony.” He points to his ears.
I laugh somewhat hysterically. “This is a joke right? There’s no such thing as fairies.”
Blaine’s face remains serious. “No joke.”
I shake my head. This is crazy. “I am Fae Ebony. I have wings and can do magic.”
“Show me.” I demand. “Show me your wings.” He looks surprised but nods and stands and walks to the bottom of my bed. There is a slight fluttering noise and then two god damn wings spring from his back!
“Holy shit!” I murmur and Blaine smiles. His wings are beautiful, regal, they are pearlescent white in colour with flecks of gold in them. They remind me of the wings of a dragon fly.
“You really are a fairy?” I say incredulously.
Blaine grimaces. “I’m Fae, we find the term fairy a little insulting.” He moves cautiously up the side of the bed and sits back down before me on the edge of the bed. “Don’t be frightened.” He begs taking my hand in his.
“I’m not frightened, shocked, amazed maybe. Are humans allowed here?”
Blaine shakes his head. “Not really no but you are an exception.”
“I am?” He nods and strokes my hand in his. “Okay here goes.” He says more to himself than me. “Ebony you are not entirely human.”
“Of course I am.” I snatch my hand out of his, now he was talking crazy!
Blaine shakes his head. “You’re half Fae, Ebony.”
I laugh and shake my head. “No, no I am not. I don’t have weird pointy ears like you!”
Blaine looks at me hesitantly and then stands up and walks over to a set of drawers and comes back over with a silver hand held mirror in his hand. “See for yourself.” He hands me the mirror.
I take the mirror and hold it up before me not sure what he expects me to see, I gasp when I see myself. “Well fuck a duck!” I say in shock and touch my ears and the image in my reflection is true my ears are pointy. Blaine smiles sympathetically.
“We aren’t sure why but a protection and glamour spell were placed on you. You appeared human but once you crossed over into the change lands some of the glamour wore off. Hence the ears.”
I feel my back in a panic suddenly wondering about the wings and breathe a sigh of relief, no wings.
I look back in the mirror. My hair is different too, it’s longer and the colour is darker with an almost blue shimmer to it, in certain light. My pale skin somehow seems more flawless. I touch the ears again. “Freaky”.
“Beautiful, not freaky.” He says. “I know this is a lot to take in.”
“No shit Sherlock!” I reply and he laughs. “What was that thing that attacked me? It wasn’t a wolf was it?”
Blaine retracts his wings and I wonder where they disappear to. “No it wasn’t a wolf. It was a Barguest and for some reason it had been sent to kill you. Its venom is fatal and that’s why I had to bring you here to a Fae healer.”
“Why would anyone want to kill me?” I ask in disbelief. “I’m just an average teenage girl.”
Blaine shakes his head. “That is where you are wrong. You are very special in the change lands Ebony.”
I feel a little overwhelmed with everything I have just learned. I mean fairies exist that was enough to blow anyone’s mind, but to then be told you are half Fae!
“This is a lot to take in.” I confess to him as I sit and fiddle with the sleeve of my top.
“There’s a lot more too, but maybe we should leave it until tomorrow and let you rest.”
I shake my head in protest. “If there is more I need to hear it Blaine. Do my par
ents know I am here?” Then a thought hits me. “Are one of my parents Fae?”
Blaine looks at me sadly then and I get the feeling I am not going to like what he next tells me. He runs his hands through his perfect blonde hair.
“You’re parents do know you are here. Lorcen has spoken to them and explained what happened. They knew you were half Fae but Ebony your parents, well they are both human.”
I take in what he says and the realisation of what he is saying hits me and my eyes fill with tears.
“They aren’t my biological parents.”
“I’m sorry Ebony. They want to explain things to you when you return home.” I nod and try to hold back the tear. My parents aren’t my parents. Scott isn’t my real brother.
“Why am I special?” I ask. My voice is shaky with emotion.
Blaine sighs and shifts his position on the bed. “Let me start by telling you how things work here in the Fae realm. When a fae child is born they are each born with a distinct mark, like a tattoo. It is called a soul mate mark. “
My mind goes instantly to my birth mark.
“For every fae boy born with a mark there is a female born matching his mark and they are destined to be together, they are soul matched. So whoever we match, we marry.”
I chewed at my lip thinking over this information. “So you have no choice in who you marry?”
“No but the fae girl is our soul mate, our hearts will know each other. Before we are born our love for one another is destined.” He smiles and I can see from his face that he truly believes in what he is telling me.
“What about free will?”
Blaine smiles patiently. “Let me explain it another way. In the human world you believe in the concept of soul mates?”
I nod and he continues. “It is the same for us, only magic tells us at birth who our soul mate is, where as in the human world you have to wait for fate to bring you together with your soulmate.”
“What has all this got to do with me?” I ask suddenly curious.
“A number of years ago, two royal princes were born with the same soul mark. There was great confusion, this had never happened before and no one really understood what this meant. The kings ordered the Fae lands be searched for a female matching the mark but none could be found.”
I grin and wink. “Maybe the two princes were destined for each other.”
Blaine laughs. “Trust me they weren’t. The kings sought answers from an ancient seer. The seer prophesised that the one matching their mark was half fae and was not in our realm, but growing up in the human world. That her mother had gone through great lengths to keep her hidden.”
What he is telling me suddenly registers. “Oh god, you mean me don’t you?” Blaine nods and observes me anxiously. He moves to sit closer. His blue eye’s watching my every reaction.
“The day at the pool Ebony, you saw something on me that you recognised, didn’t you?” I realise what he is getting at and shake my head in disbelief.
“You mean you and me?” I stare at him gobsmacked. Blaine starts to untie his top and lifts it over his head. He turns and shows me his shoulder and it is there where I remember it, as clear as day. The very same mark that I have over my right breast. Blaine turns back to face me.
“You have the same mark don’t you?” I nod unable to speak as I process what this means.
“So I’m your match. But wait! That means you are a prince!”
“I am prince of the Seelie court.”
“Didn’t you say there were two princes with the same mark.”
Blaine’s eyebrows knit together as he nods “I did.” He looks away from me and seems frustrated with something.
“So wait how can I be destined to be both your mates? How can that work?” I ask bewildered.
“It can’t and it has never in all our history occurred before. You will have to choose one of us.”
I chortled. “So I get a choice in all of this at least?”
He smiles softly at me. “You do.”
I realise then that I haven’t asked a very important question. “Who is the other prince with the same mark?”
Blaine exhales and hesitates for a minute “He is the prince of the unseelie court. The prince of the autumn and winter court.”
My mind ticks over. “But aren’t unseelie fae evil and dark?”
Blaine shakes his head. “Human tales tell of them being evil but it is not entirely true. There are good and bad fae in both courts.”
I take a breath that I had been holding, slightly relieved that I am not soul matched to some dark evil fae. “What’s his name?”
“Your other match, the prince of the unseelie court is, Lorcen Wilde.” Blaine tells me, again he is scrutinising my reaction closely.
I shake my head and laugh. “Lorcen is Fae? “ Blaine nods.
Lorcen Wilde the dark handsome boy I kissed is a fairy and I’m his soul mate along with Blaine.
“Is he okay? I mean we left him to fight that beast.”
Blaine laughs. “Lorcen is fine. A barguest is nothing he can’t handle.”
Blaine shocks me then when he leans forward and takes my face I his hands.
“Ebony I know you and Lorcen kissed but I ask that you give me a chance to show you that I could be the one for you.” His eyes plead with me and I melt. How can I resist that handsome face!
“Okay.” I nod in agreement, what he is asking is fair and I at least owe him that chance. “But what if I decide I don’t want to be with either of you?”
Blaine smiles assuredly. “You will, trust me. The soul mark is never wrong.”
My head feels like it’s going to explode from everything I have heard. Blaine seems to realise this.
“I should let you sleep, you are still recovering.”
I yawn at this point. “I am tired.”
“Then rest, we will talk more later.” Blaine leans over and kisses my forehead.
After he leaves I mull over all I have learned. I think back to the dream I had last week of myself and Lorcen flying and laugh as I think it may not be as far-fetched as I at first thought. I tried to imagine what Lorcen would look like with wings.
How can I be a soul mate to two fae males? And if I choose one what happens to the other? Will they spend their life alone? My mind drifts to Lorcen and the times we kissed, in particular the time in the closet when I had been sure we had glowed, was that fae magic? When we kissed it was as if my soul was on fire, Lorcen was like an unquenchable thirst. What about Blaine? Would his kisses feel the same? I had so many more questions. If I chose one of them, would I be expected to stay the fae realm? What about university and seeing the world? Then there was the issue of my parents that I wasn’t prepared to face, the people who raised me and loved me were not biologically related to me. My brother who I adored was not really my brother, so who was I? Who did I belong to?
CHAPTER EIGHT.
I must have eventually drifted off, as I open my eyes and find a very beautiful lady sat observing me at my bed side. She smiles at me apologetically. “I’m sorry did I wake you?”
“No you didn’t.” I reply as I sit myself up in bed. She is stunning and perfect. Her Blonde hair is piled on her head with ringlets coming down. I must look a complete mess next to her with my three day old bed hair.
She smiles looking at me over an emotional look in her eyes. “So you are the beautiful girl destined for my son. I am forgetting my manners.” She holds out a hand. “I am queen Arliss, Blaine’s mother.” I am shocked as she doesn’t look old enough to be his mother.
“Pleased to meet you. Should I get out of bed and curtsy?” I say not sure how to behave around royal fae.
She waves her hand in dismissal. “No need for any of that. You have no idea how long we have searched for you and almost given up hope.” Queen Arliss moves from the chair and comes to sit beside me on the bed. “The king had the Fae lands turned upside down looking for you.”
I smile. “Well now you have found
me.”
She smiles in response “Indeed we have and we are thrilled!” I can see she means that.
I look down at my hands. “I’m afraid I may be something of a disappointment. I’m just an ordinary girl with no idea how to behave around fae.”
Queen Arliss shakes her head “You are far from ordinary my dear. From the moment you were born you were destined for life as a royal either in our court or in the winter court.” She pats my hand affectionately “Are you feeling any better?”
“I am actually.” I admit, after my nap I do feel like I have more energy.
She claps her hands together. “Excellent! I’ll send Maeve in to help you bathe and change. You can borrow one of my dresses for now. Then we can think about introducing you to the rest of our realm and give you a tour of the castle” She seems excited to have me here and I can tell her warmth is genuine.
I grimace at the thought of being paraded in front of people but try to smile like it is something pleasant. With her plans announced she breezes out of my temporary room. Queen Arliss looks more like Blaine’s sister than his mother which raises another question for me, do Fae age? Are they immortal like vampires? A knock at the door interrupts my thoughts and a young girl similar age to me pops her head round the door.
“My lady I’m Maeve, the queen sent me to help you bathe and change.” Maeve like the Fae I have seen so far is tall, I’d say around five foot nine. She has beautiful red curly hair that reminds me of the heroine in the film Brave.
I beckon her in. “Please come in and please call me Ebony.” She nods in response and the rushes off to prepare my bath. I swing my legs over the side of the bed and cautiously stand up, no wobbling today! I make my way over to the balcony and open the double doors, fresh warm air hits me and I breathe it in smiling. The view is breath taking and from here the castle looks huge I can see the surrounding town and I’m not sure what I expected, I guess I thought it would look old, like a scene from a Victorian novel but it’s modern there are slate roofs and bricked buildings. In fact it reminds me of our town back home in England. The sky is brilliant blue scattered with white clouds.