Fae MisFortunes

by T K Eldridge

  “Oh, good. Well, I need a day’s notice at least so I can bring something to contribute. A dessert or something.”

  “You don’t need to bring anything, just you and Ethan.”

  “I know, but it’s something I do.”

  We ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, then she looked up at me and said, “Ethan and I had a chat, and he wants to know why you don’t live with us all the time. I told him that it was because you had another house and he said that we should be in your house then, because this one was too small for three people and a dog.”

  I chuckled at the boy’s logic and quirked a brow at Mira. “What did you say to that?”

  “I told him that it wasn’t too small here for three people, but that he was right, we didn’t have enough yard for a dog. He started packing his favorite toys in his suitcase before he went to bed, so, as he informed me, he wouldn’t leave them behind when we moved.”

  “I see. So, I guess he’s fine with moving. How about you?” I reached out and took her hand, thumb rubbing her fingers lightly.

  “We have a lot to talk about and work out first, but knowing he’s okay with the idea does help. How about Sid? How is she about all of this?”

  “Oh, Sid’s fine. She’s already in the process of moving into an in-law apartment at my Grandma’s place. She’s excited to have her own space at last. And no, I didn’t talk to her about it beforehand. She approached me about the whole living situation and wanted to make sure she was out of the space so you could put your own touches on it.”

  “Well, I guess you two are connected,” Mira teased, then sobered. “Let her know I appreciate it. Tomorrow, Ethan is going on a day trip with Leah and Timmy to the zoo, then staying overnight. I had Timmy a couple of days ago to give Leah a break. Bring me to the farm and show me around?”

  I smiled and lifted her hand to kiss her fingers. “Sounds like a plan. I have to work the evening shift, so we can head over in the morning after Ethan is picked up?”

  Mira nodded and leaned over and gave me a kiss. “You going to mind me being there that night?”

  “No, why should I?” I said. “There’s a gaming console, a bunch of DVDs, two streaming services and WiFi. You’ll have plenty to keep you busy.”

  “I have class work and a paper to finish, so don’t forget to leave the WiFi password,” Mira said. “I’m looking forward to it, to be honest. Being at someone else’s place means I won’t feel guilty if I’m not doing housework and I can focus on the paper.”

  “Look at you, kicking ass and taking names. I’m so proud of what you’re accomplishing,” I said. And I really was proud of her. A single parent, going to school, managing her own household, and raising a healthy, well-adjusted son. That was not easy for anyone.

  “Don’t patronize me, Sin,” Mira said.

  “Oh, my love, I’m not. I’m in awe. When I was at university, I lived at home. I didn’t have to do anything except study. Hell, my mom did my laundry half the time. You’re raising a son, taking care of your own household, and kicking it at the grades. You’re my hero.”

  Mira dropped her fork onto her plate and slid out of her seat onto my lap, arms wrapped around my neck. She sniffled once and then curled against me as my arms wrapped around her. “I really needed to hear that, Sinclair. Thank you. I have felt so alone for so long.”

  I gently rubbed her back and kissed her temple. “Mira, you will never have to feel alone again. I’m here to help.” I shifted her back so I could see her face. “I know we have things to talk about, Mira, but we’ve bonded. We’re Chosen. We work well together. We can talk about whatever you need, Mira, but I can see what you need right now. You need me, in your life. You need someone to encourage and support you in whatever you’re doing. Mira, you don’t need to do it all by yourself. Not anymore.”

  I watched her face and saw the fear in her eyes start to fade, just a little.

  “I’m so scared,” Mira said. “Scared that I’ll start to really need you, more than I already do, and scared that Ethan will call you Daddy and then you’ll disappear. Everyone always leaves me, Sin. I can’t bear it if you do, too.”

  I cupped Mira’s face in my hands and brushed a light kiss over her lips, while my thumbs swiped gently on her cheeks to erase the tears. “Sweet love, I will not disappear. I will not leave you unless you ask me to go and never return. And even then, I’d fight to show you how much we need each other in this life.” I kissed her again and pressed my forehead to hers. “I vow, Mirabella, to love you, respect you, cherish you, and support you in this life we share. I will protect you when you need protecting, and stand beside you when you launch yourself at some goal. Don’t let your fears cheat us.”

  Mira kissed me back and the food needed a reheat by the time we got back to it. I felt like I got through to her, though. She seemed to sleep more peacefully through the night than she had before. I kept waking to check on her, check on Ethan, walk around and check the house. That unsettled feeling just wouldn’t let me sleep more than a couple of hours at a time.

  It was somewhere around three in the morning when something woke me. I sat up and listened, but I couldn’t hear a sound out of place. Silently, I made my way out of the bedroom. The moon was bright outside and gave me just enough light to see a shadow as it moved in Ethan’s room. It was too large to be Ethan and I had left Mira in bed behind me, so I whispered a word of power and threw a ball of energy at the shadow. A grunt of pain and the shuffling of feet told me I had not missed. I dove at the figure and we crashed into Ethan’s bed, then to the floor. Ethan didn’t stir, which meant the intruder had spelled him or something. Mira woke with the crash and raced into Ethan’s room, towards us. “Mira! Stay back and call SPD,” I yelled, then jerked back to avoid a fist. I grabbed the flailing arm and flipped the intruder onto their stomach, one arm pushed up to force them to lie still or risk a broken bone.

  “Let me go,” the man hissed and I laughed.

  “No fucking way. You tried to harm my family,” I said. “You’re not going anywhere except to Galliol.”

  Mira came back into the room with the phone in her hand and hurried to Ethan. “He’s still asleep and not waking.” She then turned to my captive and kicked him in the side before I could stop her. “What did you do to my son?”

  I held out a hand to keep her from kicking him again as the man spoke. “Spelled him to sleep. He’s fine.”

  Mira picked up Ethan and carried him into her room, then came back to me. “What can I do to help?”

  “Get the cuffs off my belt in the bedroom?”

  It only took her a moment to return with the cuffs and I restrained our intruder, then got to my feet. I pulled him up to his feet and pushed him out of Ethan’s room and down the hall to the kitchen, where I shoved him into a chair.

  “Who are you?” I asked, wishing I was wearing more than my sleep shorts right now. The man was dusky skinned with dark curls and bright blue eyes.

  Mira came into the kitchen, carrying my jeans and t-shirt, and gasped when she saw his face. “Finn!”

  I pulled on my jeans, then the shirt, before I took another chair and sat right in front of the man. “So, you’re the one who’s been fathering children all over.”

  The man laughed. “No, I’m not Finn. I’m his half-brother, Eoghan. And you’re going to let me go,” Eoghan said, eyes flaring with light.

  I watched his expression as the little flare of power he tried to use didn’t work on me. Mira, however, turned and walked to the back door to open it.

  “Mira, stop,” I said. “He’s enchanting you. Why don’t you go sit with Ethan and I’ll deal with Eoghan here?”

  My words broke the enchantment and Mira flushed with fury. She moved towards Eoghan, hand raised, and I got to my feet and gripped her shoulders. “Mira, love. Go be with Ethan. I’ll deal with this, okay? He can’t enchant me.”

  She hissed at Eoghan, but nodded to me and left the room.

  “Thanks for that, I
don’t need her hitting me again.”

  “Shut up. I wanted her to hit you, but I uphold the law. Why were you trying to take Ethan – again?”

  “We didn’t take him and Daren the first time, you know that.”

  “Still doesn’t answer my question. Why were you trying to take him?”

  “He belongs in Faery.”

  “He belongs with his mother and I,” I countered. “Why do you think he belongs on the other side of the Veil?”

  “Because his father is there. His mother could return too, but being who she is, it wouldn’t be advisable. There’s a reason she was sent over here.”

  “Well, wouldn’t that also apply to Ethan? She’s his mother, so he’s of her bloodline.”

  “Yes, but his paternal bloodline will keep him safe.”

  “How?”

  “His great-great-grandfather is the King. Fionn MacCumhaill, may his reign continue.”

  I blinked at that and then smirked. “Doesn’t matter. He’s staying here.” I heard a vehicle pull into the gravel drive and stepped through the archway to answer the front door, keeping Eoghan in my line of sight.

  Two SPD officers were at the door. “Officer Boudreau? We received a call to come assist you with an intruder? I’m Jeffries and this is Callaghan.”

  I shook their hands and welcomed them inside. “This man, goes by the name Eoghan, confessed to trying to kidnap Ethan Langlois from his bed. I caught him in the boy’s room.”

  The one thing all officers agree on is that crimes against children are especially disgusting. The looks on Jeffries’ and Callaghan’s faces told me that Eoghan was about to have a very bad morning.

  “Please book him and put him in a cell? I’ll notify the Commander and he’ll want to speak to him personally. Oh, and hood him. He tried enchanting Ms. Langlois to let him go,” I said.

  Callaghan pulled a magic-nullifying hood out of the pouch on his belt and got behind Eoghan. I smirked at Eoghan as the hood was drawn down with a snap and the cord pulled tight.

  “Have fun, Eoghan. My grandfather is going to enjoy chatting with you later,” I said.

  Callaghan pulled Eoghan to his feet and started to guide him out while Jeffries chuckled. “Better him than me. The Commander doesn’t play nice.”

  I shook Jeffries’ hand and thanked him for answering the call, then locked the door behind them when they left. A tired hand pushed through my hair and I made my way towards the bedroom and Mira.

  I got confused when I looked in and saw Ethan tucked into her bed, but no Mira. Then I heard the thud of drawers from Ethan’s room, and headed there. “What are you doing, Mira?”

  “Packing Ethan’s things,” she said. There were tote bins and boxes and two suitcases laid out.

  “That’s kind of a lot for a sleep over at Timmy’s, isn’t it?”

  Mira stopped and looked up at me, face pale, eyes bright. “You said the cottage was on land with centuries old wards, right?”

  I must’ve been really tired because it suddenly clicked. I moved to wrap my arms around her and held her trembling body close. “Come, love. Come lie beside your boy and I’ll watch over you both. We’ll take care of all of this in the morning.”

  Mira shook her head. “It’s already after five. I won’t sleep any more right now. Let me do this so I feel like I’m doing something and you go lie with him? You need more sleep, if those shadows under your eyes are any clue.”

  I sighed and kissed her forehead. “Wake me if you need me, but you’re right. I’m dead on my feet. At least the feeling of unease is gone.”

  Mira kissed me gently and turned me to face the door. “Contact your grandfather and get some sleep. I’ll wake you if I need you.”

  I stumbled into the hall and towards her bedroom. My phone sat on the charger and I picked it up and texted my grandfather about Eoghan, then set the phone back and crawled into bed. Ethan sighed and burrowed deeper into the pillow as I pulled him to my chest. He smelled of baby shampoo, soap, and sleeping little boy. I kissed the top of his head and dropped into sleep, knowing he was safe here with me.

  A couple of hours more sleep helped a lot as I woke when Ethan squirmed out of bed. I listened as he went to find Mira to remind her that he was going to the zoo with Timmy today. Part of me wanted to keep him with us, where we could watch him, and the other part knew that he’d be better off with Leah, her husband Tom, and Timmy than being suffocated by us and our worry. Mira got Ethan cleaned up and dressed while I took a shower. We all met in the kitchen while I poured a cup of coffee. Mira greeted me with a kiss, then settled Ethan at the table with a couple of waffles and a banana.

  “You want some waffles, too?” Mira asked me.

  “Did you eat yet?” I asked her back.

  “Yes, when I made the waffles. I made them all at once so all it would take was a little toaster oven time to heat them up again. I’ve got your favorite blueberry preserves to put on them.”

  “Sold. I’ll take three.” I sat beside Ethan at the table and grinned at the boy as he played and ate. “So, Ethan, what’s your favorite thing at the zoo?”

  “I dunno. I was really little the last time I went,” Ethan said. “I’ll tell you tomorrow when I get home, what I liked best, okay?”

  “That works for me, little man,” I said as Mira handed me a plate of waffles. I spread blueberry preserves on my waffles and started to eat. Ethan laughed at me for having blueberry on my face and I laughed at him for having banana on his. We teased each other until Ethan was done eating and Mira came to wipe his face and hands.

  “Okay, Ethan. Go get your shoes and your overnight bag. Leah, Tom, and Timmy will be here soon,” Mira said.

  I watched him run to find his shoes and finished the last bite of my breakfast. “These were excellent, love. Thank you.” I finished my coffee and then took care of my dishes, rinsing them off and putting them in the dishwasher.

  I listened while Leah came to get Ethan, and Mira asked her to keep a good eye on the boys, but didn’t mention the intrusion last night. Once the door was shut, I handed Mira a cup of coffee and sipped my second of the morning.

  “Okay, so what do you want to do today?” I asked Mira.

  Mira sipped her coffee, then put the cup down and turned to me. “I want to move to the cottage. I don’t want Ethan to spend another night in this house where the wards I’m capable of cannot keep him safe.”

  “Don’t you want to see it first?”

  “It could be a shed with an outhouse, I don’t care. As long as no one can climb in Ethan’s window and take my son or spell him or anything, ever again.”

  I pulled Mira into my arms and hugged her. “I could just have Grandma come help put wards here if you want?”

  “No, they already know we’re here. Unless we can get a century or two of wards down, I don’t know what else will keep fae royals from bypassing them and taking my son.”

  “Wait, explain that?”

  “Fae royals have an aspect to their power that allows them to bypass fae wards. It keeps them from being trapped by someone seeking to harm them.”

  “Aren’t you a member of the royal court, though?”

  “I was born into the Court of Light, yes, but I’m only minor nobility. I am not of the royal bloodline.”

  “But Ethan is – as is Eoghan, and that’s why he got past the wards.”

  “And he could have taken Ethan through them and I would never have known the wards were disturbed.”

  “So why would coming to the farm help if royals can just walk through wards?”

  “Fae wards. Not witch wards. Particularly old witch wards. They are almost impenetrable. Nothing could be more safe for Ethan.”

  “I can make this happen, and I can make it happen today, Mira. I just want to make sure this is what you want and you’re not just reacting because of last night.”

  “Of course I’m reacting to last night. However it’s not being stupid, it’s being smart. I can’t protect my boy here �
� but we can protect him there.”

  “Okay, love. I’m going to ask this one more time, just to be perfectly clear. Do you want to move to the farm or not?”

  “I want to move to the farm and be with you. It’s faster than I wanted it to happen, but I’m not sad that it is happening now.”

  I pulled her close once more and kissed her. “Pack a bag for yourself and anything you don’t want strangers handling. I’ll make a few calls and we can load up my SUV and your car and head over there. Do you have boxes or bags? I can run out and get some.”

  “I have a few things, but we’ll need more. Could you go get some more? I’ll get started here.”

  “I’ll be back shortly. Love you, hon. Make sure it’s all locked up behind me.”

  I got my shoes on and grabbed my keys, phone already ringing in my hand. “Hey Sid? Yeah, we had a little excitement last night. Mira and Ethan are moving in today. Well, Mira is. Ethan is at a friend’s house until tomorrow morning. You got some time to give us a hand?”

  Once I got Sid’s help secured, I let Grandma know, then called a friend who ran a moving company. He said he could be out to the house in two hours and would pack, load, and deliver by tonight. I swung by his place to handle the payments and pick up some packing materials, then started back to Mira’s. Only then did I call the Commander.

  “Hello, sir. Is there any update on that Eoghan fellow?”

  “I spent some time chatting with him last night, and again today,” the Commander said. “We had to put him in the supermax cell.”

  “I just learned that fae royalty cannot be bound by fae wards, but witch wards will work if they’re extreme. Mira and I are moving her and the boy to the farm.”

  “Sounds like the best idea all around, Sin. Tell Mira this guy isn’t getting out anytime soon and I’ve got Ian following her friends and her son around at a distance to keep Ethan and Timmy safe.”

  I hadn’t wanted to ask, but I had hoped. “Thank you, Grampa,” I sighed in relief. “I wanted to ask but didn’t think I could presume. I’m too close to this. That asshole made it personal last night.”

  “Keep your wits about you, Sin. You can’t let your feelings influence your perspective. You’ve got this, my boy. Just get your family safely settled and call if you need anything.”