Precious Stones

by Brandi Bell

  “Got it,” Jade says.

  I grab her hand, she allows me to keep it. We walk into the castle and I lead the party to the throne room. Queen Thessilia is perched on her black throne, her blonde hair shining in contrast to the black she is also wearing.

  I take a knee, thankful my companions take the hint and follow suit.

  “You may rise,” Queen Thessilia commands.

  “What brings you home Antoine, and with these companions?” she asks.

  “Your Highness, some sort of fae cursed this girl’s father, and I would like to help her save him,” I reply smoothly.

  “Why would you want to do that?” she asks with a sneer.

  “She’s my mate,” I answer directly.

  The crowd gasps, it’s not often we find our mates, so it’s considered a very sacred bond.

  “Forgive me for being doubtful, do you agree to have the bond tested?” she questions us.

  “Of course, Your Highness,” I answer.

  “Very well, let’s eat and celebrate, then we will make sure it’s a true bond,” she proclaims.

  Chapter 16

  Jade

  Being in the castle was a bit scary. I want to ask Antoine what happens to test our bond, but I don’t want to show weakness. I just keep hold of his hand and smile.

  We walk from the throne room into a huge dining area. There are rows of long stone tables, enough for over a hundred seats. On the far end there is a raised platform, where there is a long table with a large chair in the middle, surrounded by seats on the right and left, looking out towards the dining area.

  We pause at the entrance to the dining room, Antoine tightens his hold on my hand, reminding me not to talk.

  “I have special guests to join us in our revelry tonight. Antoine, one of our own believes he has found his mate! Let us celebrate them,” she announces.

  She nods at us and we follow her. She’s seating us at her table, a place of honor. Name plates appear on the table, so we sit where we are assigned. I’m still in awe of how beautiful the entire palace is.

  “Tell me what you are thinking child,” the queen says to me.

  “Just how beautiful this castle is and everything in it,” I say against my will.

  I cover my hands over my mouth, surprised at what came out of my mouth without my permission.

  “Don’t worry child, it’s one of my gifts, and thank you. I find my castle quite beautiful as well,” she says while laughing.

  I smile at her, knowing better than to speak yet. Our food arrives and it’s all plant based. Apparently the fae are vegans. It makes sense given everything I’ve seen since arriving. As we eat, I look around at the fae sitting in front of us. They’re in various states of undress, performing sexual acts on each other, in groups, some in pairs.

  “Does this display of sexuality make you uncomfortable, child?” the queen asks me.

  “A little bit, since I’ve never experienced sex at all I don’t know what’s normal,” I say, again against my choice.

  “You are a breath of fresh air in a stale room,” she chuckles.“I have never met one with as innocent thoughts as yours.”

  “If she is your mate, you better not break her,” she tells Antoine darkly.

  “Yes, my Queen,” he responds.

  The queen stands and announces, “We will be witnessing a ceremony to confirm the mating bond between these two individuals in one hour.”

  The fae at the tables cheer and hoot, I’m a bit caught up in the revelry. Music begins playing, Antoine grabs my hand and asks, “Dance with me?”

  I nod my head yes, then he pulls me down to the dance floor. The fae dance differently than I’ve been taught, but I catch on quickly, before I know it, the queen is standing.

  “It’s time to go to the throne room for the ceremony,” she announces.

  We follow her into the throne room. She gestures for our group to come forward. Antoine and I stand directly in front of the queen. A tall thin man, with black hair that resembles feathers, wearing a long black robe steps out from a door behind the throne and walks towards us.

  “Our high priest will perform the ceremony now,” she explains.

  “Please stand facing each other,” the high priest says.

  We do as he says, then he starts chanting. I feel a tingling in my chest then four bright gold threads grow out of it. One connects to Antoine, one to Grady, and one to Seamus. The fourth thread continues on out of the castle to who knows where.

  The crowd gasps. I look around and everyone is looking with various states of awe.

  “Child, are you a witch?” the queen asks very pointedly.

  “Yes, Your Highness,” I answer.

  “She’s the one from the prophecy, but where is your sister?” she asks.

  “That’s kind of hard to explain,” I stammer.

  “Where’s your sister,” she asks again.

  “We share a body, she is awake during the night in our world but only at twilight so far here,” I say against my will.

  “How odd, the prophecy never spoke of this,” she muses.

  “I’ll help you on your quest to save your father, you’ll end up being very important to us in the future child. What is your name?” she asks.

  “Jade,” I reply.

  “How fitting. Get them rooms ready for the night, make sure Jade is with her mates,” the queen orders a servant.

  Chapter 17

  Elias

  The ceremony is the weirdest shit I’ve ever witnessed. When golden threads pop out of someone’s chest it’s hard to believe your own eyes. We follow a servant upstairs and down a long hallway to a group of rooms. There is a sitting room connecting several doors, we each choose a door and say goodnight.

  In my room alone, I pace, my wolf as restless as I am. I want to be with my Ruby, but she seems to have limited time in this realm.

  I lay down to try and sleep, nothing good can happen from being tired, and who knows what will happen tomorrow.

  Chapter 18

  Liam

  It’s only been a few hours since they left, but I’m having a hard time focusing, because of my worry for them. Felix is out getting a bite to eat, so I’m alone pacing the house.

  I wish I could find a way to contact them. Maybe if I call the Angel Rock Bar they can tell me…

  Chapter 19

  Jade

  I pace back and forth in my room. I have four mates, how can this be possible? I didn’t even want two. I want to know more about this prophecy, but the queen dismissed us before I could ask.

  I can feel the threads between me and the men I’m connected to. If I look I can see the threads now. The men who are close to me I can feel the tug of the thread to be closer to them.

  I’m getting tired, but I can’t ignore the pull. Suddenly there is a knock at the door. When I open it, Grady is on the other side.

  “Is everything ok?” he asks, concerned.

  “Yes, why?” I question him.

  “I could feel your restlessness. Ever since those threads came out of your chest, I’ve been able to feel what you are feeling,” he explains.

  My heart starts racing. I wonder if any of the others can feel what I’m feeling as well. My question is answered with two men barging into my room.

  “What’s wrong, lass? I can feel your anxiety,” Seamus asks.

  “I became anxious because Grady just told me he can feel my emotions,” I explained. “Then I started wondering if you all could feel them too, and you just confirmed that.”

  “My dear, it’s not a bad thing. It’s so we can protect you, although I’ve never heard of multiple mating bonds,” Antoine says to me.

  “I feel less restless now that you are here, is that a part of the bond as well?” I ask them.

  “Aye, lass. It’s a part of my mating bond at least,” Seamus confirmed.

  The other two men nodded their heads in agreement. Well, this is going to be interesting. I need to stay close to them, to feel at
ease.

  “Um, so would one of you mind staying in here tonight so I can sleep? It’s not something I’m used to doing,” I ask blushing.

  “I will,” three voices chime in unison.

  “Well, this bed isn’t big enough for all of us, so you can’t all stay!” I exclaim.

  “Sure it is, lass, we’ll all keep our hands to ourselves,” Seamus stated.

  “Fine, I’m tired, let’s go to sleep,” I reply.

  I crawl into bed, Grady on one side of me, Seamus on the other. Antoine lays across the foot of the bed. I drift off to sleep.

  Chapter 20

  Ruby

  I wake up, it’s dark, I’m in a bed surrounded by bodies. They don’t smell like my men, I scream.

  “Hush, lass, we did not know what time you’d be making an appearance,” Seamus says.

  The men all get off the bed, and stare at me.

  “Why would you all be in bed with Jade anyways?” I demand to know.

  “Well there was the ceremony and these gold threads, and …” Grady says.

  “Ok, can someone give me an answer that makes sense?” I ask.

  “She has four bonds, the gold threads connect us, and she is restless the further away we are. She couldn’t sleep so we stayed in here, not knowing when you would be back,” Antoine explains.

  “Where’s Elias?” I ask.

  “He’s in the next room,” Grady answers.

  I get up and walk out the door, and choose the door to the right. Elias is asleep in the bed, looking adorable. It makes me almost not want to wake him up, almost being the key word.

  “Elias, hey wake up,” I say shaking him.

  “Gem, is that you?” he mumbles.

  “It’s me, I don’t know how much time we’ll have,” I respond.

  “I’m betting it’s about an hour before dawn, and you’ll be with us until an hour after,” Elias suggested.

  “This fucking bites, at least I don’t have time to get hungry,” I muse.

  “This is true, since everyone is up, we should discuss our game plan so you are in the loop,” Elias tells me.

  “Fine, but I could think of more enjoyable uses of our time,” I say.

  “When we get home, I’ll give you all the time you want for pleasure,” Elias growls.

  We walk into the sitting room where the other three men are already waiting. I take a seat across from them.

  “Who wants to fill me in on what’s been happening?” I ask, looking around the room.

  “Antoine claimed Jade was his mate, the golden threads happened, then the queen placed us in these rooms to rest before we continue on,” Seamus explains.

  “I already know that much dummy, you told me that when I woke up. What’s happening to help my dad?” I demand to know.

  “We’re just getting ready to go over this list of fae that could cause that curse here in the Autumn Kingdom,” Grady says.

  Antoine pulls out a piece of paper and lays it on the coffee table. We gather round and look at the list Jerome had written. It isn’t very long. Only six types of fae on it, four types of them residing in the Autumn Kingdom.

  “So who do we ask about tracking down these different types of fae to figure out who it is?” I ask.

  “Well, not everyone of each kind of fae would be strong enough to cast a curse, and three of these we can cross off immediately since they would never cross into the human realm,” Antoine explains. “When the queen awakens, we’ll ask her who would have the power in this kingdom to do it.”

  “What about the other kingdoms?” I question him.

  “The queen is arranging our passage into them, we just have to wait a few more hours,” he answers me.

  Through the window of the sitting room, I see a faint glow on the horizon. I get up and walk to the window to see more clearly. Slowly the sky starts turning purple, then shades of pinks, fading into oranges, and finally the sun has crested. The dark sky changes into blue, it’s the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I was sad that neither Jade or I have ever taken the time to try to watch the sunrise or sunset.

  “Now that the sun is up, can we go wait for the queen?” I want to know.

  “I don’t see why not,” Antoine answers. “We can wait in the throne room, but I don’t know when she will make an appearance. She is the queen after all.”

  “Let’s go then,” I say, wanting to move.

  We make our way down the long hallways to a staircase. Antoine acts like he knows where we are going, so I follow. The staircase exits into a large hallway, we cross it and enter a large room with a black throne. I can appreciate her style. There are benches along the side of the room in various shades of reds, yellows, and oranges. We decide to sit on them to wait. We’ve barely sat down and the queen enters the throne room. The others immediately take a knee. I copy them, not wanting to do anything to jeopardize saving my dad, but it’s hard to try.

  “Rise, and come forward,” she commands.

  We stand in unison and approach the throne.

  “So you must be the hidden twin, I wonder how many bonds you have. We will test you as well. Is the wolf one of yours?” she questions me.

  “Yes ma’am,” I answer, not knowing what to call a queen.

  She starts laughing, “You are refreshing, ma’am instead of Your Highness, I think that is a first.”

  A man dressed in black joins us. “Face each other,” he says.

  Elias and I stand facing each other, while the man in black starts chanting. I feel a pressure in my chest, then silver cords shoot out of it. One goes into Elias, the other two go off into the distance. Watching them made me smile, I knew who all three of my bonds were already.

  “Three is what I expected. Do you know your other bondmates yet?” she asks.

  “Yes, Your Highness,” I reply.

  “Good, now that is out of the way, I looked into the Autumn Kingdom last night, and the one you seek is not one of mine. I have garnered you safe passage through the other three kingdoms. Take this seal and present it if anyone gives you trouble. I also have a letter for the ruler of each of those courts I wish you to deliver. Now get going.” she commands.

  As we stand to walk out of the throne room everything goes black.

  Chapter 21

  Antoine

  We stand to exit, I look over at Ruby and her eyes are bleeding green. I pause to give Jade a chance to catch up before we move.

  “What’ve I missed?” Jade asks.

  “The queen confirmed it wasn’t a fae from her kingdom and gained us passage to the others. We are leaving now,” I explain.

  “Please follow me,” a fae with his head under his arm told us.

  “Wha…” Jade starts to ask. I shake my head at her and she stops.

  I keep forgetting that this world is new to her. I feel like I’ve known her forever. Ever since I laid eyes on her the first time. I’m glad the bond ceremony showed her that I wasn’t just telling stories.

  We follow the dullahan, the fae holding his head under his arm, out the front of the castle to a group of pookas in horse form.

  “I’ve never ridden before,” Grady says.

  “Me either, horses are skittish around me,” Elias admits.

  “These aren’t normal horses gentlemen. Let me introduce you to the pookas. Their normal form is a large dog, but they also hold this shape.

  “This is so amazing!”Jade exclaims, walking up to them.

  A beautiful sable makes its way through the others to nudge her. It’s gorgeous light tan body is contrasted by its chocolate brown hair. I was curious to see what it would look like in dog form.

  “It looks like your pooka chose you, my dear,” I tell her.

  “He’s so lovely. Thank you for choosing me,” she says, then he nuzzles her.

  Elias is approached by a black and white pooka, while Grady is approached by a solid black one. I’ve never seen so many pookas choose their riders. Just as I think that a yellow pooka approaches Seamus,
and a white one approaches me.

  “Looks like you are the group from the prophecy,” the dullahan says.

  “What is this prophecy?” I ask him.

  “Better not say, don’t want to mess with fate and all,” he replies as he walks back in the castle.

  A sixth pooka loaded up with supplies, joins us.

  Chapter 22

  Felix

  I’m at a club I’ve frequently come to with Ruby. It hurts to know they left, even if I understand why I can’t be with her. My hunger is hard to control. I survey the crowd looking for the easiest meal. There’s a drunk redhead hitting on every man that walks by her, bingo! I approach her with a lopsided grin.

  “What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this,” I ask her.

  She smiles, and reaches for my hand. “Looking for a man like you.”

  I grab her hand and lead her out the back door. I gently but firmly push her into the wall and kiss down her neck. She moans, I lick her neck then sink my fangs in, releasing venom that sends her into an instant orgasm. She screams, and writhes into me. I stop myself from draining her further, lick her neck to heal the wound, then speed off before she sees me leave.

  I go back to Liam’s for the night, to wait for Ruby to get back from wherever she went.

  Chapter 23

  Jade

  Riding a pooka is not as fun as I thought it would be. Although it’s much faster than walking. My beautiful pooka makes riding easy though. His trot is smooth, allowing me to take in the scenery. We’ve been riding for a few hours when Antoine stops his pooka.

  “This is a good time to stop for lunch,” Antoine says.