Fairy-Struck

by Amy Sumida

  “I could report it?” I lifted a brow.

  “Well, we do want to be kept appraised of things,” Murdock shrugged. “The Fairy Council claims that they have assigned Count Tiernan to assist you. You will be the first Extinguisher to partner with a Lord of the Wild Hunt. It's very exciting and we've only just begun to scratch the surface of what you two could accomplish together. What do you think, Extinguisher Seren?”

  “I think you've got yourself a peace-keeping ambassador,” I grinned.

  “Excellent,” Murdock clapped his hands. “There's a few things we'd like to go over with you. Do you need to return to Fairy immediately or will you be staying awhile?”

  “I'll be here a couple of days,” I said.

  “Good, we can put you up in a suite near Amanda's if you'd like,” Murdock offered.

  “The Princess will be staying in the royal apartments,” Dylan interrupted.

  “Sorry, Sir,” I said to Murdock. “The price of nobility. My uncle is being very stubborn about propriety.”

  “Because you get into too much trouble when left to your own devices, Your Highness,” Dylan ground out.

  “Yeah, that's valid,” I grimaced.

  “I will wait here while you have your discussion,” Dylan said graciously, living up to his title.

  “Thanks,” I said with a little suspicion.

  “You're family,” he said. “I have to be sure you're safe, little niece.”

  “Are you sure your King Uisdean's brother?” I teased.

  “Yes,” he smiled gently, “but I am also King Keir's brother.”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  The entire San Francisco Human Council convened to speak with me. It was a little intimidating to be the center of their attention, especially since that attention was pretty damn intense. They had already been a meeting to discuss the possibilities of my new diplomatic status and they had made notes, lists, and even graphs of how they saw my role playing out. Graphs! Damn politicians.

  I sat through most of the political BS with what I thought was a fair amount of poise, nodding my head in acceptance of the standard expectations they had for me; keeping the peace, carrying out execution warrants, that sort of thing, but when they started in on all the diplomatic duties I'd have to perform, I began to get nervous. I hadn't thought about all the parties I'd have to attend as both an ambassador and a princess. Or all the meetings I'd have to conduct with the fairy royals. The thought of sitting down to have a nice diplomatic discussion with my Uncle Uisdean was a little terrifying.

  “We understand that meeting with King Uisdean will be stressful for you,” Murdock added when he saw my expression. “No one expects you to return there without taking proper security measures but fostering communications between us and all the courts of Fairy is part of the job of an ambassador. The Fairy Council has also requested that you perform a similar function for them, serving as a mediator between the courts.”

  “What exactly do you think proper security measures would be?” I asked them all with a slow and careful tone.

  “I'd imagine you would take a company of guards with you, Your Highness,” Rachel Forester, one of the council members recruited from outside the five great families, had flat out refused to drop the honorifics. I think she was doing it to annoy me, we'd been on bad terms ever since I'd called her the C word during my reappointment hearing... otherwise known as the hearing that got me and my father exiled to Hawaii.

  “You'd imagine that, huh?” I lifted a brow as my poise disappeared. “Could you also imagine being forced to eat dinner while an unseelie man raped a seelie woman and then beat her so badly that she should have died? Could you imagine sitting there, trying not to vomit because you know that the only reason she didn't die is because she's immortal and that immortality has doomed her to an eternity of such torment? Do you think a company of guards would make a difference in that situation?”

  The table went silent.

  “Oh but I'm sure at least a few of you have visited the Unseelie Court,” I said casually. “You must know exactly what I'm talking about. What proper security measures did you take?”

  “I fear the unseelie were a bit more free with their... displays when you were in their custody, Seren,” Murdock cleared his throat. “Perhaps you could meet at a neutral location?”

  “I'll see what I can do,” I said noncommittally. See, I could be a politician too. All that was required was an ability make vague promises.

  “This discovery of a whole court previously unknown to us, has brought up numerous questions which we hoped you could help answer, Extinguisher Seren.” Councilman Ray Teagan, the youngest council person there, had no problem dropping my title. He also had no problem laying on the charm when he had a goal in mind. He smiled at me sweetly, immediately setting off warning bells in my head.

  “What questions are those?” I asked carefully.

  “Well,” Teagan looked around the table at the other council members and then back at me. I'd been placed to the right of Murdock, who was at the head of the table, and Teagan was just a few seats down on our left. “First of all, we'd like to know more about this Twilight Court. What it looks like, what kind of fairies are a part of it, what its politics are, things of that nature.”

  “Any information I give you must be approved by King Keir first,” I narrowed my eyes on him. “I believe he's already released some sort of statement.”

  “Yes,” Teagan smiled wider, flashing obviously whitened teeth at me. “But it was very vague. Perhaps you could elaborate.”

  “Perhaps you could write down your questions and I'll take them to the Twilight King for him to review... as I would any other fairy king,” I shot a side look at Murdock but he just shrugged.

  “Extinguisher Seren,” Teagan was still using his charming voice but I could tell his patience was wearing thin. “You are firstly a human, aren't you? Your allegiance is owed to us.”

  “Hmmm,” I pretended to consider his words. “Would it be fair to say that you are predominantly of Irish descent, Councilman Teagan?”

  “Yes,” he frowned.

  “So do you owe your allegiance to Ireland?” I lifted a brow.

  “Of course not,” he chuckled. “I owe my allegiance to this council, as do you, Seren.”

  “But you cited my human blood as your reasoning for that,” I pointed out.

  “Well, we are the Human Council,” he offered and the other council members chuckled.

  “Yes, you are,” I nodded, “but you're also Irish, as we all are. So shouldn't our allegiance be to the Dublin Council House?”

  They went quiet again. The Human Council was composed of several smaller councils spread all over the world. Each region had their own house and, as was the case with most large groups which have been divided into smaller ones, the council houses had become loyal to themselves first and then to the Human Council as a whole. To suggest that a member of the San Francisco Council House should in fact be loyal to the Dublin Council House, was a sort of slap in the face.

  “I don't see the relevance, Extinguisher,” Teagan growled, all charm evaporating.

  “Yet you seem to clearly see where my loyalties should lie and to what degree,” I leaned towards him, over the table. “Let me make something very clear to all of you. I want to continue as an Extinguisher. I want to help keep the peace between the fairies and the humans. I want to help as much as I can but I will not be bullied into choosing a side. The whole point of this is that I'm neutral. I'm equally human and fairy. I can't perform the role of an ambassador for both sides if I'm secretly supporting only one... and frankly, Councilman Teagan, if I were to choose a side right now, the fairies are looking a lot more attractive to me.”

  “Alright, let's all take a breath,” Murdock held up his hand and gave Teagan a warning look when he started to speak. “We want you to be neutral, Seren but we also can't help wanting to know more about the Fairy Realm. There has obviously been a lot of information withheld f
rom us. A whole kingdom was kept secret. This is big. We're curious, it's human nature to be curious, isn't it?” He gave me a little smile.

  “Yes, curiosity is human nature and it's also what killed the cat. There are things humans don't tell the fey either. Everyone has their secrets and some secrets are best left hidden. Some secrets, if they were revealed, would give you such nightmares that you'd never be able to sleep again,” I sighed. “Look, I'll tell you what I believe my father would approve of me sharing.”

  “Which father is that, Extinguisher?” Teagan said in a low voice and sharp inhalations circled the table.

  “My biological one,” I said, without missing a beat. “Councilman, I've hunted fairies for most of my life, beings far superior to you in their magical and physical combat abilities. Your words are not going to hurt me. They may piss me off but at the end of the day, that will only hurt you. Because if you piss me off enough, I will walk away from this whole thing with a fuck you and a smile.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” Teagan growled.

  “Councilman Teagan, that is enough!” Murdock shouted as he stood and glared down at the younger man.

  “If she wants to remain an Extinguisher, she must adhere to the rules and respect this council,” Teagan transferred his ire to Murdock.

  “We all know this is a special situation, Teagan,” Murdock snapped. “You're behaving like a child and an amateur councilman. We do not insult fairy monarchs!” He shook his head. “If she wants to remain an Extinguisher? It's we who want her with us and we who need this alliance. Princess Seren has been good enough to agree to this new role... out of loyalty to us, and you are trying to demean and criticize her for it. Well let me make myself clear now that the Princess has given us clarity on her intentions. She outranks you. She outranks all of you and you will all speak to her with the respect due to both her station and the sacrifices she is offering to make for this council. She has been kind in allowing us to be informal, due to our previous relationship with her, but that ends right now. She is Princess or Your Highness or even Ambassador if you can't manage the first two, and if you have a problem with that, you are welcome to leave because not only does she outrank you but she outweighs you in her worth to this council!”

  Teagan got up and stormed out, which didn't surprise me. He had too much ego to stay after being told that I was more important than him. Murdock simply nodded, smoothed his lapels, and sat back down with a satisfied air. I guess he didn't like Teagan either but then it's hard to like a young, attractive know-it-all who thinks he's better than you.

  “Well, that trumps my fuck you and a smile speech,” I huffed and nervous laughter circled the table.

  “Princess Seren,” Murdock began again. “We will appreciate any information you're willing to share with us about Fairy and would hope that you'd show the same amount of discretion for our information when you're dealing with the Fairy Council.”

  I saw several council members flinch, wide eyes betraying the fact that they hadn't thought of it from the reverse. If I'd been willing to betray the fey, what would have stopped me from betraying the humans? There was a reason why Murdock was in charge.

  “Of course,” I gave him a secret smile. “As I said, I am equally human and fairy. I will treat both sides as fairly as possible.”

  “That's all we can ask for,” Murdock sighed. “Now, let's see if we can find some middle ground.”

  Finding that middle ground took a couple of hours. When I finally left the council chamber, I found Uncle Dylan asleep on the couch where I'd left him. He had his arms flung out to the sides, across the back of the couch, and his head was leaned so far back that his mouth dropped open a little; a prime pose for snoring. Unfortunately, my Uncle Dylan was too perfect to snore and slept peacefully without a single sound. I shook his shoulder and he even woke up peacefully, his body gracefully shifting back into an upright position as he opened his eyes and placed them unerringly on me.

  “We can go now,” I looked over his tired eyes. “Thanks for waiting for me.”

  “It's quite alright,” he gave a sleep softened smile. “You're my blood.”

  “You know, you're not half bad for a relative of mine,” I joked as we headed out to the car. I was surprised to see that there was still a bit of daylight left. It had felt like I'd been in with the council forever.

  “I'll take that as high praise,” he chuckled. “Our relatives can be... trying.”

  “Oh,” I burst into laughter. “Yeah, they can be trying alright; as in trying to kill me all the time.”

  “Ah, correction, sweet niece,” he grinned and opened the car door for me. “They used to be trying to kill you, now they only want to imprison, rape, and perhaps impregnate you.”

  “Oh that's just...” I shook my head. “Eeew, okay, eeewww. I can't even imagine having that idiot's baby.”

  “Bress is rather intolerable,” Dylan shut the door and climbed into the driver's seat.

  “He's also insane,” I added.

  “Yes but that's not so uncommon among fey royalty,” he slid a grim look my way.

  “Oh yay,” I said with thick sarcasm. “There's something I can look forward to. Insanity makes everything more fun.”

  He drove me through the city and up to a soaring, shiny apartment building, all steel and glass. We went through a secure side entrance to the garage and then used a keycard to get into the building itself. I wasn't surprised when he slid the card into a panel in the elevator and pushed the button for the penthouse but I was surprised when the elevator opened directly into the suite... suites... whatever, we had the entire top floor.

  “Nice view,” I went to the floor-to-ceiling windows which had sliding glass doors set into them, leading out to the balcony. I went out onto the pristine white stone and lifted a brow at the plethora of potted plants crowding it.

  “Fairies,” Dylan came out behind me, “we need a bit of nature to feel comfortable around all this metal and man made stone.”

  “Ah,” I nodded and looked out over the bay.

  There was a perfect view of both bay and bridge. The sun was shimmering off the Golden Gate, dropping towards the horizon. We had maybe twenty minutes till sunset... twilight. I was becoming more and more aware of the moment twilight arrived and I wondered if someday I'd be able to know the exact second it would occur.

  “How about a drink?” He asked and headed back inside.

  “Sure,” I sighed, “maybe we could order some food? I'm starving.”

  “Absolutely,” Dylan called to me from the kitchen, which shared an open space with the living room.

  The living room had wall to wall gray carpeting, kind of a modern and depressing color, but the vivid crimson furniture set out over it made the carpet fade into obscurity. I went to one of the overstuffed couches and took a seat, staring around me at all the luxury I was still getting used to. Sleeping in a fairy castle was amazing but it was also like a dream, kind of surreal. Seeing the wealth Keir had in the Human Realm was a little more tangible to me and therefore more impressive.

  The windows made it seem like the room was open to the sky and also made it feel more massive somehow. There was an elaborate chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling and directly beneath it was a large terrarium. I found myself staring at the intricate placement of all the micro plants within the glass box. Some of the taller ones grew up over the sides and hung over the edge. I followed the draping leaves down to the terrarium's base... which was a large aquarium.

  I angled my head down to see the tiny fish swimming over black pebbles and through a drapery of lacey roots. Then I leaned up and over the thing to see that the center of the terrarium was free of plants, like a miniature forest surrounding a lake. Little fish mouths broke the surface of the lake to kiss the air. I smiled at the brilliance of the thing and wondered if I could talk Keir into making me one for my room back in Fairy.

  “Here you are,” Dylan handed me a champagne flute of sparklin
g golden liquid and then took a seat beside me.

  “Thank you,” I pondered him a moment. “Why is your name Dylan?”

  “Pardon me?” He jerked.

  “Everyone I've met has unusual names,” I shrugged. “A lot of Gaelic going around the Fairy Realm. But you get Dylan? It seems odd.”

  “I changed my name when I left the Unseelie Court,” he said tonelessly.

  “Oh, I'm sorry I brought it up,” I sighed.

  “It's perfectly fine, Seren,” he gave me a strained smile.

  “This place is incredible,” I changed the subject and looked around again, noticing two doors on my left and a third to the right of the kitchen. “How many rooms are there?”

  “On this floor?” He asked and I just blinked at him. “There are two bedrooms, two baths, this social room here, and your father's office is through there,” he gestured to the door beside the kitchen. “Then there are stairs near the elevator which go down one level to a security center which includes a living space for our guards.”

  “Right, security is important,” I saluted him with my glass and took a sip.

  It was good; slightly sweet, with an aftertaste of cherries. I rubbed my tongue on the roof of my mouth to savor it and then took another sip. When I lowered the glass, I found Dylan staring at me intently. I put the glass down on a side table and stared back.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Things are about to happen that you will not understand and I'm sorry for that,” he said grimly.

  “What did you do?” I looked from my abandoned glass to his guilty face. There was a creeping lethargy seeping into my limbs. I couldn't lift my hands or focus enough to use either my psychic or magical talents. I started to slide down the back of the couch.

  “It will wear off soon, I promise,” he whispered as he caught me and laid me down gently. “You're going to be okay, Seren.”