Where the river splits, red velvet benches have been placed where one can sit and admire nature at its finest. They look comfortable enough to curl up on and get lost in a book. There is no other furniture in the circular room, and its stark white walls are in contrast to the colorful floor. I can’t decide if I like the room or not.
I hold my head high as I follow the butler through the mosaic floored foyer to a door at the far end. “King Dagda is expecting you. You may go right in.”
Isla nods at him with something just short of disdain on her face. I try to do the same, but I suspect I’m going to have to practice the look in the mirror for a while before I can really pull it off well. Kallen holds out his arm elbow out and I lace my arm with his. That’s how we walk into what must be the throne room. A very gaudy throne room with fixtures covered with gilt everywhere, but the sole piece of furniture is the throne. Apparently, Dagda doesn’t like people to sit down in his presence.
My mind has been humming loudly since we pulled up to the palace, so I was expecting the room to be full of guards. I’ll admit that I’m a bit surprised. You wouldn’t think that a Fairy who is supposed to be as powerful as he is, would need twenty guards dressed in something closely resembling suits from my realm. They are wearing black pants that fit tightly around their legs and gray shirts tucked into them. A black jacket completes their uniform. They look like a cross between a modern day suit coat and a coat from two or three hundred years ago. I can’t see behind them yet, but I’m pretty sure their jackets have tails.
Towards the far wall is a throne large enough for three men to sit on. It sits on a dais, raising it about five feet off the floor. It’s made out of silver and vines of ivy wind around the sides and back. The amazing thing is that the dias is actually a raised garden of flowers in beautiful reds, yellows and purple and the room smells like springtime back home. The throne looks like it has grown out of it. And in the middle of it is my biological father.
Rising from the throne, he says, “Welcome, Isla. Kallen.” He gives Kallen a withering look. Kallen had been a favorite of his, but not anymore since he helped me take care of the mercenaries Dagda sent after me, therefor preventing the realms from being open to each other. Isla and Kallen incline their heads and nod slightly. Not slightly enough to appear disrespectful, but not hard enough to show deference, either.
His eyes fall on me. “And here is my beautiful daughter. Welcome. I hope the journey was not difficult for you.”
Oh, please. “It was no trouble at all. I simply created a gateway and stepped through it.” I’m glad I was able to keep my voice even.
I don’t miss the quick flash of anger in his eyes. I try hard to hide a smirk. Kallen doesn’t.
Dadga recovers quickly. “Yes, of course.” He walks closer to us and stops right in front of me. “I can see your mother in your features. She was a great beauty.”
A boundless rush of magic washes through me as if a dam burst. All that anger I was thinking about earlier, it has been given life. Sparked by that simple sentence. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to send it back to the earth. There’s too much. I can tell I’m on the verge of creating an imbalance like I did before. Apparently, I’ve been repressing a lot more of my feelings than I thought. Being in his presence, I can’t repress them any longer. The only way this magic wants to go is up and out in a glorious show of strength and power.
I feel others in the room drawing magic in response. Except Isla and Kallen. They are standing at ease next to me. My eyes not leaving my father’s, I make a snap decision. I am not going to play the ‘who’s stronger’ game with a bunch of guards just itching for the chance to attack. It would be a waste of everyone’s time, and I don’t want to spend an extra minute inside this man’s walls. My magic surges forward, and similar to how Kallen had sent Kegan back to the kitchen last night, I clear the room of his twenty guards. The door slams shut when the last one is through.
Dagda isn’t trying to hide his anger now. He starts to speak, but I take his voice away. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see that Kallen’s smirk is trying hard to be grin. “You will not say another word to me about my mother. If you do, I will leave this realm and let the Pooka do what I myself want to do, tear you to shreds.” I release the magic keeping him from speaking.
With one of the best, and quickest, politician’s smiles I’ve ever seen, he inclines his head and says in his velvety voice that was part of what attracted my mother to him, “I was simply trying to pay you a compliment. I will refrain in the future.”
“Good, you shouldn’t say them when you don’t mean them.”
“What interesting terms you use. Have you not been taught the correct way to speak?”
Kallen grips my hand on his arm with his other hand. It must be pretty obvious I want to hit the guy. But I’m not going to. “The nice thing about being the only Witch Fairy ever born is that I get to set my own rules. If you don’t like the way I speak, then you’ll either deal with it or not. But, know that I don’t care one iota what you think about me.”
There’s about a million cracks in his politician’s smile now and his eyes are trying to lodge missiles at me. I just smile sweetly. I didn’t expect this meeting to go like this, but for some reason, I can’t control my reaction to him. I wonder why? Oh, yeah. Because he tried to kill me.
“I see you have the spirit and the lack of fear expected from a true Pooka warrior. Perhaps we should forget the formalities and get down to business.”
“Great.” I don’t like the Pooka Fairy reference, but not enough to keep talking to him a second longer than necessary.
Without another word, he turns around and walks towards a door behind the throne. Leaving the ornate throne room with its gilded fixtures and crystal chandeliers, we follow him through the door. Well, I follow him after Kallen tugs on my arm and I glare at him as I reluctantly start walking. I was fine when we left Isla’s house. But, being in Dagda’s presence, knowing what he’s done and what he still wants to do, it’s hard. It’s hard not to tell him to go to hell like Tabitha suggested. From the cells that make up my body to the last remnant of my soul, I don’t want to help him. It’s as simple as that. But I will, because I don’t know how not to.
The room that we enter is obviously Dagda’s office. The plaster walls are painted a forest green and have mocha colored trim. The room would be too dark if it didn’t have three large windows, letting sunlight stream in in large puddles. A huge desk is set to face towards the windows, leaving the one behind it with his back to the wall. I wonder if that’s for the view, or because he thinks someone would stab him in the back if he had it the other way. The desk is made of a dark wood, but I don’t know which one.
Dagda sits down behind it and motions towards the two chairs in front of it. Kallen escorts me to one of them and then stands behind it, leaving the other chair for Isla. “Your presence is not required for this meeting, Kallen,” Dagda says as he straitens papers on his desk.
I feel Kallen tense behind me. “Yes, it is,” I say.
Dagda looks up at me, up at Kallen, then back to me. Leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest, he says, “Then the rumors are true.”
Isla crosses her leg in a move that somehow draws all of our attention to her. “Dagda, we are not here to discuss the status of Kallen and Xandra’s relationship. Unless you have forgotten, there is a bounty on your head.” A bounty? I didn’t know that. Maybe I can get him to turn his desk around with his back to the window to help the bounty hunters out.
“No, Isla, I have not, but why should I not be concerned. If the girl’s distracted because the Brathadóir is monopolizing her attention…”
And now Kallen’s pulling magic. I remember what that term means; Kallen told me shortly after he came to my realm. Because he came to try to save me, Dagda considers him a traitor.
Before Kallen can respond, Isla says in voice that is dangerously calm, “You will not refer to my grandson in su
ch a manner.” The threat in her words is quite clear. No sugar coating here.
Dagda must be smart enough to pick his battles. After a moment, he inclines his head and gives a small nod. “Perhaps I am being too harsh. Kallen has always been like a son to me. I was greatly distressed when he showed his loyalties were neither to me nor my throne.”
“I was never anything but clear, Uncle, that I believe the realms should remain closed to each other.” Kallen’s words are short and clipped, like each one had to be pried loose from his throat, and then squeezed past the words he really wants to say.
“Kallen left the realm on my request, Dagda. You are well aware of that.”
This conversation isn’t going anywhere good. “Can we just get on with this?”
“Yes, that would be wise,” Isla says with a smile that could freeze the entire ocean if given enough time.
“I have made arrangements for the girl to move in here…”
“Whoa, what? You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way I’m moving in here.” Is he insane? “Your people would take every possible opportunity to try to kill me.”
Dagda is trying to hide his fury. We’ll see how well that works out for him. “You are here to protect me. How, exactly, did you plan to do that if you are not under the same roof?”
Good lord, do Fairies learn how to be condescending in school? Is it sandwiched in between Blood Line Atrocities 101 and How to Piss off the Witch Fairy 102? Because they’re all really good at it.
Unfortunately, though, I haven’t thought about where I’d be protecting him from at all. And funny how Isla didn’t mention the new sleeping arrangements. But, Mom’s and Tabitha’s words come rushing back to me. It’s my destiny. If it’s my destiny, then I set the terms. “I thought it was understood that you would accompany us back to Isla’s house where you will stay until I leave the realm. Didn’t you get that memo?” Other than a tightening of the skin around Isla’s eyes, neither she nor Kallen react to my impromptu plans. I’m sure I’ll hear their thoughts as soon as we leave the palace.
“I was not aware of this change in plans.” He’s responding to me, but he’s looking at Isla.
“How did you expect to be protected, Dagda, when you are surrounded by Fairies who could turn on you any second? Xandra does have to sleep sometime. The safest thing for you to do is remove yourself from their reach. And with four of the most powerful Fairies in the realm under one roof, your chances of survival greatly increase.”
“It would be quite simple to move the three of you here.” His voice may be velvet, but it doesn’t hide the steel in his words.
I stand up. “You know, I really don’t care what you do. Come. Stay. Whatever you want. Keeping the realms from being open to each other can be done whether you’re around to see it or not.” I purse my lips as a thought hits me. “Actually, if the rebellion is successful in killing you off, all I’d have to do is get rid of your remains and the threat disappears.” I pretend to think again and then I shrug my shoulders. “I’m okay with that.” I turn on my slippered feet and walk out of his office.
I keep walking through the throne room. I walk around the tree surrounded by red velvet benches. I walk up the stairs to the balcony and push open the front door. Then I take my first real, chest expanding breath in the last twenty minutes.
Chapter 11
It’s just a moment before Isla and Kallen climb into the coach after me. I’ve barely had time to arrange my skirt so it doesn’t get stepped on. Not a word is said the entire ride home.
The coach stops in the circle drive of Isla’s house and we climb out. As soon as I step down, the coach starts moving again to get back to wherever it’s stored. We walk into the house with Isla leading the way. Kallen takes my hand when he catches up to me and squeezes gently. Once in the house, Isla keeps walking until she reaches the kitchen.
“Tabitha, will you please ready the pink room. We will be having company soon.”
Tabitha looks at her in surprise when Isla grabs the edge of the counter and takes a deep breath. “And who might this company be?”
“I expect Dagda to be here within the hour.”
“You want me to ready a room for that piece of…”
“Tabatha,” Isla warns. Her knuckles are turning white.
“Grandmother…” Kallen begins but she holds up a hand. Then she motions for the two of us to sit down.
Taking another deep breath, she stands up straight and faces me. “I am impressed that you thought this plan out more thoroughly than I imagined.” Hmm, probably a bad time to mention it was a spur of the moment thing. “But, in the future, I would appreciate it if you did not blindside me with a new plan after we leave the house.” Okay, really, really bad time to tell her that.
“I’m sorry.”
She almost smiles. “Not as sorry as you will feel when you have spent time under this roof with that loathsome man.”
“Maybe he won’t come.”
She snorts. I didn’t expect a sound like that to come from her. “Dagda is an ass, but he is not stupid.” A snort and a swear world? What did I do to her with this new plan?
Isla may be okay that I changed things, but Tabitha’s glare has my shoulders hunching and trying to make myself as invisible as possible. I’m tempted to get up and hide behind Kallen. She has that look in her eyes that she gets right before she smacks Kallen in the back of the head. And his ‘ows’ have been heartfelt enough for me to know it hurts.
“Tabitha, please,” Isla says quietly. The worried look on her face is enough for Tabitha to nod tersely and walk out of the kitchen. Presumably, to get the pink room ready for Dagda.
Turning towards us again, Isla says to Kallen, “Please call Kegan and let him know that his presence is required immediately. Also, tell him to get permission from his mother to stay here for an indefinite period of time. I would also appreciate it if he will stop by Alita’s and ask her to accompany him here.” Poor Kegan, that’s a long message. It’s going to hurt a lot.
To me, she says, “Your training will be fine-tuned to accommodate the new circumstances. It would be unwise to let Dagda know how little control you have over your magic. He will try to find a way to use that against you. I had originally hoped that you were farther along in your training. When I discovered you were not, I was intending to have you spend part of your time at the palace and part of your time here, training out of Dagda’s sight. But, that is no longer possible. Therefore, the fine tuning of your magic, and the offensive magic, will have to wait. You will need to focus on your self-defense using both magic and your body.”
She shifts towards Kallen again. “You and Tabitha will assist her with whatever she needs. You will clothe her, do her hair, anything that requires a delicacy she does not possess.”
Kallen nods his head but is frowning. “Dagda will be able to sense my magic. He will know Xandra is not doing it herself.”
“Of course, that is why we will tell him that you are so love struck with Xandra that you cannot help but doting on her. From what I have seen, you should be able to provide enough evidence to prove that is the case.” I smile. I like the sound of that.
It’s my turn for her attention again. “You will inform Dagda that you are planning to be hand-fasted with Kallen.”
“But…” I sputter trying to protest but she holds a hand up to stop me.
“That will be the only plausible excuse for me to allow Kallen to devote so much time to you. Courting is quite different here than it is in your realm. You two have already had freedoms that could be considered a promise of hand-fasting. That does not mean that you will actually be hand-fasted. Providing your behavior is appropriate under the freedom you will be given,” she gives us both hard looks, “there will be no ceremony.”
I’m not sure I like this idea. It smells like a marriage trap to me. “What if he asks why we are waiting?”
“We will inform him that we are waiting for this mess to be cleaned up. It would not b
e fair to tarnish your hand-fasting with this nasty business surrounding him.” Whew, glad she had an answer for that.
I take a calming breath. I choose to believe I’m not getting myself into something I can’t get out of. I hope I’m not wrong. “Okay.” I could probably have less enthusiasm in my voice, but it would be really hard.
“My lovely bride to be, I can hardly wait until the ceremony.” Kallen grins at me and I give him my best sour look. That just makes him laugh. “What a tortured soul you are, being forced to pretend you love me.”
What I love is the fact that when I get annoyed, I have so much better control over my magic. So, it’s nothing to rock his stool back. He scrambles to keep his balance, but he lands on the floor anyway. I peek at Isla to see if she’s mad, but I’m pretty sure I just caught her trying hard not to laugh.
I feel so much better now. Except for that worrisome gleam in Kallen’s eyes as he gets up and puts the stool where it should be. I’m really glad that Tabatha made me slippers and not high heels.
Witch Fairy book 3 Page 14