“Wow,” I whispered, and couldn’t help running my fingers over the back of Gareth’s and then Jace’s Dragons. Someone or something had captured the very essence of them to perfection and I admired first Gareth’s strong blue, with his wide sweeping wings and delicately bearded snout, even to the claws at the tips of his wings. And I could nearly trace the delicate veins on Jace’s somewhat less bulky green’s wings. All of us looked as if we could fly off the canvas at any second and glide down the hall. I don’t believe I’d ever seen anything like it and I was both amazed and awed by its beauty.
“This morning is just full of surprises,” Gareth replied, and gently tugging my hand, he pulled me down the hall. When he stopped suddenly, I bumped into his back and nearly fell off my heels. It took me a second clutching at his shirt to steady myself and when I was sure I wasn’t going to land on the floor I looked around his broad back and couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me.
This morning when we’d trundled back to bed, the room had been done in flat blues and greens and fairly shouted bachelor. Looking out at the living room I couldn’t stifle my chuckles even when Gareth turned and gave me a dirty look… it was just too funny. Touches of gold, Jace had said, and apparently someone had taken his comment to heart because it was like the room had sprouted gold, and everywhere you looked there were gold pillows and gold candlesticks, and gold vases filled with flowers. There was even a gold bowl on one of the coffee tables filled with fresh golden apples. The frames on the walls were now gold and the paintings themselves were no longer simply blues or greens but had swirls of gold running through them.
“I love what you’ve done with the place,” I told him playfully. He just grunted and shook his head before wandering toward the kitchen. I took a last look around and then followed carefully after him. Someone had definitely rolled out the welcome mat and it occurred to me that I might want to be careful about what I wished for.
Jace was standing at the sink rinsing out a pot when I stumbled through the doorway, grunted and had to grab the doorframe to stay on my feet. He turned to look at me, then Gareth, and a slow smile covered his face. “Ah, finally wore her out?” he asked Gareth with a sparkle in his eye.
Gareth actually made a scoffing noise and turned to look at me too.
I felt a little self-conscious as I wobbled across the floor, there is nothing like an audience to give you performance anxiety. “No,” I responded in some exasperation. “It’s these heels.”
Jace’s smile dimmed somewhat as a look of concern-confusion slid onto his face. “You aren’t having any difficulties?” he finally asked.
“Nothing that removing these sandals wouldn’t fix.”
“Not the slightest twinge?”
I made it to the island and grasped the counter and looked at him inquiringly. “Twinge of what?” Jace and Gareth exchanged a look that made my eyebrow rise.
Gareth took a deep breath and explained, “Jace is wondering why you aren’t staggering around.”
“What do you mean staggering? Aside from these heels, why would I be staggering? I didn’t have that much to drink last night.”
Jace looked somewhat alarmed and then covered his lower face with his hand, leaned an elbow on the counter and actually moaned softly.
“Would one of you please just tell me what’s going on?”
“Jace wants to know how you could have made love so many times over the past eight hours and still be standing. And honestly I’m a little surprised by it myself.”
I think my face went blank as I realized just what he was saying. I’d had sex with these two, vigorous sex at least six or was it seven times and I was standing there worried about my shoes. Oh yeah that explained Jace’s not walking comment this morning. Ha, the two of them were obviously wondering why I wasn’t all bowlegged, like I’d just taken my first horseback riding lesson. Come to think of it, it did seem odd. “Must be that rabbit DNA.”
“Well she’s got the screw like a bunny part down,” Jace responded. “I’ve made breakfast,” he informed us. “Obviously we men are going to need our strength if we hope to keep up.”
We wandered over to the table set with fresh fruit and bacon and eggs and hash browns. Jace reached into the oven and pulled out a plate of toast, which he set on the table. Gareth pulled out my chair for me and waited for Jace to take his seat before he casually asked, “So did you notice the new theme in the living room?”
Jace nodded and flashed a smile at me. “Solid gold,” he replied and lifted his eyebrows several times. “I’m thinking if she’d been white we’d be looking at opals or maybe diamonds? Can’t complain though, I’m Dragon enough to appreciate sparkly things. The dowry was an extra bonus though, wasn’t expecting that.”
What? He thought someone had paid them to take me off their hands? Like some old maid or something? Ha! “It’s not a dowry,” I told him crisply. “I’m not some chattel Mi offloaded on you. Besides I don’t believe this came from Mi or my Mother.”
“No?” he inquired and glanced sharply at Gareth. “I assumed…”
Gareth shook his head and said, “I believe your gnome has been busy.”
“Snick did that?”
“Who’s Snick?”
“Our resident gnome,” Jace replied, clearly confused. “That doesn’t look like Snick’s handiwork. I mean really, it’s not like he has a lot of imagination when it comes to decorating.”
“He?” Gareth demanded.
“He was definitely a she and her name is Areth not Snick,” I told him, taking a bite of my eggs and watching as the two of them exchanged puzzled looks. “Quite lovely too, about two feet tall, big black eyes, long black hair. Rode my Dragon.”
“Rode your Dragon?” Jace repeated, as if he couldn’t quite believe what I’d said.
“She was in your room when we came out of the bathroom. She’d laid out clothes for Lexi….I assumed she was your-our gnome so I had Lexi speak the binding words and she appeared. She touched Lexi’s hand and…disappeared. I’m not certain where she went, but when Lexi shifted she was perched on Goldy’s neck.”
“I assumed the dress was… ah… nevermind. Did this Areth say anything?”
I frowned as I got a flash of a pale haired woman dressed in tight leather, she looked… cold or maybe cruel. Hmmm… and Jace thought my dress had belonged to her… interesting. We’d have to come back to that later, I thought, and then shook my head. “She said she was pleased to serve me. And when she touched my hand she…came inside me. She stood in Goldy’s cave and spoke to her before she climbed on and the two of them… ah took flight.”
Jace actually dropped his fork and sat back in his chair, a shocked look on his face.
“You are looking at me like I’ve grown a third set of horns,” I told him abruptly.
“You’re just all kinds of interesting, aren’t you?” he asked in an amazed voice. “I take it you’ve never seen an Elemental before? Never called one before? Never performed a conjuring ritual?”
When I shook my head he just continued to stare at me.
“Please tell me you didn’t just wish for it and it happened.”
“I don’t recall wishing for anything…exactly. Only that I wanted clothes and couldn’t imagine what two men your sizes would have that could fit me.” I had already come to the conclusion that wishing might be dangerous, and having him confirm it was slightly disturbing.
“Have you ever… had any dealings with demons before? You do realize Elementals are demons right?”
“You mean, straight from the Everlasting, more powerful than Superman type of demons?” I asked while nibbling on a slice of fruit.
“Not even the ‘I’m a sidekick of Batman but still can kick your ass though I don’t live in the Everlasting anymore’ type of demons. More like the ‘I’m Alfred, will you be requiring the Batmobile tonight Master Wayne’ type of demon.”
“I hadn’t realized they came in different versions of Superheroes and their butlers. But to
answer your question…I may have brushed up against one or two in my childhood, though none looked anything like Areth. Mom made sure we got around.”
“Do you know who she is?” Gareth joined the discussion to ask. He seemed a little worried and I had to agree that strange demons cropping up in your home might cause concern.
Pushing his plate to one side Jace nodded, “I can find out,” he said, then relaxed back in his chair, closed his eyes and made a strange high pitched noise that grated against the inside of my eardrums.
We waited a few seconds then Jace made that awful noise again, this time before the sound stopped vibrating my eardrums, a stocky figure appeared on the table in front of him, hands on hips, miniature chest puffed out. He was dressed in a dark green one piece, sans shoes just as Areth had been. But while she had had a delicate bone structure, the small man before us was bulky with short brown hair. He stood on the table facing Jace. He didn’t bother turning around but launched into a dialog in a very high pitched voice, in a language I’d never heard before. He didn’t sound happy to be there. I suppose being summoned was irksome.
Jace suffered in silence for a moment and then they chatted. At one point Jace motioned toward me with his hand and the little man turned around and gave me a startled look. His little mouth opened in a surprised “O” and then he bowed very low. When he came back up again, he shot Jace a disgusted look and walked across the table towards me. When he reached out his hand to me, I quickly shoved my chair back from the table out of his reach.
“Nothing personal,” I told him as I got my chair between the two of us. I held on to the back of the chair and stared back at him. “I don’t think the overhead racks could handle a change.”
He tipped his head to the side and considered me for a moment, then turned back to Jace and spoke very fast. I’m not sure I could have kept up, though Jace seemed to have no problem. When the little man finally wound down, both of them looked at me. Jace had a bemused look on his face, while Snick’s face was spilt in a huge grin that made his button eyes dance. Snick tossed a comment over his shoulder, bowed very low and blew a kiss to me just before he winked out.
“Well?” Gareth finally prompted. Apparently he hadn’t followed the conversation either.
Jace took a breath. “Apparently Areth is his Mother,” he told us flatly, then looked at me and asked, “At any point, did it occur to you to mention that your Mother is The estranged Princess of Faerie?”
Oh yeah that.
Chapter 11
“Does this mean I don’t get the grand tour after breakfast?” I finally asked.
“Are you sure that stuff in the living room isn’t your dowry?” Gareth wanted to know. “I’m not sure I want to be indebted to the Elves, they have a nasty way of collecting payment.”
Just because the Elves and the Dragons didn’t always get along; one being primarily concerned with the upkeep of the earth and its inhabitants, and the other being primarily concerned with stealing gold, razing herds, and eating virgin maidens. That is no reason to belittle the Elves, even if I’d never visited Faerie or met most of my relatives.
“I’ll have you know,” Jace replied sarcastically, “that I have never razed a herd in my life! And you are the only maiden virgin I’ve ever come close to eating!”
“Ah, but you have stolen gold?”
“That, my Princess, is none of your concern. A man’s got to make a living doesn’t he?”
“Don’t call me that,” I told him flatly. “My Mother is the Princess, not me. I just work here.”
“You know,” Gareth remarked calmly, apparently ignoring our sparring. “If your Mother was banished and neither of you have ever been back… do you think they know about you?”
I grimaced and pressed my lips together. Yeah they knew about me. Knew and didn’t approve. I mean hey, if Elves and Dragons didn’t always get along theoretically… imagine how much they must love their actual offspring. Oh no, they had not been happy to find out about little me. I’d received that message loud and clear. Sometimes I got even by playing my flute, just to piss them off.
Jace looked at Gareth who looked back at him puzzled. “Why does your playing a flute piss of the Elves? Are you serious, you play the flute? I told you she was a Siren!”
I walked around from behind my chair and slumped into it. I pushed away my plate thinking, so much for breakfast. “I’m not a prodigy,” I started glaring at both of them just wanting to make that clear. “But the first time Mi handed me the flute…I just sort of…got it. Actually, it was more like the music got me. Anyway, it caused a sort of ummm… ripple.”
Gareth leaned his elbows on the table and asked, “What kind of ripple?”
I frowned back at him and continued, “The kind that royal pain in the butt, real-live Monarch type Elves step out of. And lucky for me Mom was there or I might not be sitting here now.”
“That bad, eh?” Jace asked quietly.
“Yeah, it wasn’t good.”
“Tell us,” Gareth urged.
I sighed and considered them for a moment. Dredging up history was never pleasant, but it might be important for them to understand where I stood with the Elves. Just in case. So I closed my eyes and unraveled my memory.
“I don’t remember where we were, someplace with tall trees, someplace… remote. My Mother was working I think, so Mi and I wandered outside into the shade. I suppose no one though it odd, a small child walking about with a huge cat, or if they did I don’t recall them saying anything. I remember sitting at the base of a tree watching a spider spin a web in the lower branches. I think I grabbed for it and the flute was suddenly in my hands. It was…a delicate thing, very old, and it just seemed to fit there perfectly.”
I reached back to remember the feel of the warm summer air. I could recall the pale yellow dress I’d been wearing, even down to the little yellow blue and pink rosebuds that covered it. “I remembered Mi sitting before me, watching as I raised the flute to my lips and began playing. I think, Mi….spent a lot of time in my head. I don’t think the idea to play was mine,” I told them, opening my eyes and glancing between them. “I just knew I had to play, and the sound was so pure and sweet. I couldn’t have played for more than a few moments. Apparently that was enough, because Mom came running from the building in a panic. I remember her hair streaming behind her and the look on her face. It was one of the few times I ever heard her raise her voice; she was very angry with Mi. They were arguing when the air just sort of bent and rippled, then split open and several people were simply standing there.”
“That must have been frightening,” Gareth remarked, reaching out to give my hand a squeeze where it lay on the table.
I smiled and shook my head. “Trust me my Mom is way scarier. Both she and Mi turned to face them. Mi made it seem natural; it takes a lot to rile her. I think she just sat next to me not saying anything. No one spoke at first; they just stared at Mom. I remember thinking they were so beautiful; there were four of them and only one was a woman, and she looked a lot like my Mom. Then one of the men said something and they all looked at me. Everyone started talking at once and I couldn’t understand what was happening. At some point I heard the word abomination; it was the only word I actually remember. It really angered my Mother. I think she was busy telling them off when the woman reached for me and Mi hissed at her.
That was when my Mother lifted me into her arms and walked us away from them. I watched over her shoulder and I can tell you they weren’t happy. I don’t know what she’d said, but one of the men looked like he would have slit my throat if he could. The second looked very offended, and the third…” I thought about it for a moment and realized I had recently seen that look on a man’s face. “The third had his arm around the woman, who was crying, but his face was strangely intent as he watched us walk away. I think he must have cared for, or at least, wanted my Mother.”
Odd, I had never put that together before. But then, how could I since I’d never really s
een desire on a man’s face before.
“Do you know who they were?” Gareth asked.
I shook my head. “I think the woman was my Aunt, but I don’t know who any of the men were. Sorry.”
He shrugged, “I suppose it’s not important.”
“Yeah well, it wasn’t too much later that Mom taught me to shimmer. I think I was about two at the time. Since then, it’s been Plain Jane for me.”
Both men looked like they’d lost their eyebrows in their hairlines, so surprised did they appear.
“Plain Jane?” Gareth asked when he could finally speak. “That’s not the first reference to this person you’ve made. Who is that?”
I would have loved to have shown him, but I really wanted that tour and I didn’t think on top of my lack of sleep I’d be in great shape just for the wow factor. I was going to explain but Jace beat me to it.
“You came into the club last night… we…”
“You were disappointed,” I interrupted him to add.
“And then the wolf dragged you onto the floor and you shifted,” Gareth finished.
“I shimmered.”
“An odd but somewhat appropriate term. Not unlike a chameleon,” Gareth agreed, then thought for a moment and added. “And you started this at two?”
“Somewhere around then.”
“So what happens now when you play the flute?” Jace wanted to know.
I smiled and if I’d had fangs they would have been showing. “My Mother says it echoes in their halls and can affect their moods. Sometimes I like to play in minor.”
Gareth nodded like I’d said some great wisdom, and maybe I had, after all Fairies by their very nature loved to dance and sing and their halls were supposed to be filled with lovely music. Hearing discordant notes echoing dirges through their halls might set their teeth on edge. One could certainly hope.
“Nothing like a rousing chorus of Caoineadh Airt Ui Laoghaire to help them feel poorly about banishing my Mother. Or sometimes I like to play Dies Irae.”
Dragon Lust Page 11