by Terry Spear
“Aren’t you supposed to get on bended knee and propose, or don’t they do that in the faery world?”
The butler returned so quickly, Cassie thought he hadn’t bothered to see Ena at all. “Come with me. This way.” He gave Micala a dark look. “The mistress is not at all happy with you bringing the human here. Maybe Princess Alicia can take the human off her hands. One is quite enough in this household.”
Cassie gave him a dirty look. “You know, you’re only the hired help. Right? You ought to be nicer to the guests.”
“You aren’t a guest,” the butler said. “You are trouble.”
Chapter 7
Ena didn’t know how her household could be in any more of an uproar than it was now. Or…that it would be once Queen Irenis learned Micala had brought a human girl here and intended to marry her!
Not about to let go of objecting to her keeping a human prisoner, her brother said, “I cannot believe you would bring that human into your household.” Then he glanced at Alton and his frown deepened. “I thought when you had taken Ena from here you had changed her mind about the human!”
Her lips parted and she cast a quick look Alton’s way. He masked his expression. Well, if that was the only reason why he’d kissed her, it didn’t work!
She’d already sent Brett off to bed, being careful to not let on where he was sleeping, but still Halloran continued to admonish her.
Alton shook his head and folded his arms. “She knows what I will do to the human if he gives her any trouble. Or…” He gave Ena a threatening look. “…in any manner shows any interest in her.”
“Enough,” Ena said, tired of her brother and his friend dictating to her. She had other problems at the moment. She could not believe Micala had brought Alicia’s human friend here. What did they think? Her castle was home for all the humans that were royal problems?
As soon as Micala and Cassie walked into the sitting area and before Ena could even speak a word—it was her castle, after all—Ena’s brother scowled at them. “Well, this must be the new fae fad. The fae are all picking up human love slaves.” Halloran gave Cassie a once over and raised his black brows and quickly smiled, his whole demeanor changing. “Hmm, maybe you would like for me to take her off your hands?” he said to his sister, ignoring that she was so obviously with Micala. “She looks agreeable to me. Name your price.”
In a blatant show of ownership and protectiveness, Micala slipped his hand around Cassie’s arm and led her to a small couch for two. He glowered at Halloran. “She is not for sale!”
What was it with her brother tonight? Then again, maybe he only offered to buy the humans because he knew no one truly wished to sell them.
“For your information,” Cassie said, taking a seat with Micala on the love couch, “we are getting married. Isn’t that right, Micala?”
“I cannot believe your aunt has sanctioned a marriage between a fae and a human,” Halloran said, a dark smile curving his mouth.
Ena couldn’t either. She knew her brother would love to inform the Denkar fae queen of the human’s claim, but Ena also knew he wouldn’t. She and her brother, like most dragon fae, served their own king. Taking news like this into the enemy’s camp? The old warning of they kill the messenger came to mind. Especially when the ruler was Queen Irenis. She wondered about the other two humans who had taken part in imprisoning Alicia and if they were still alive or not.
Still, the veiled threat was there in her brother’s words.
“I thought you were leaving, dear brother,” Ena said, hoping to remind him to leave and hoping further that he would go along with the suggestion.
“When things are just getting interesting here? Next Queen Irenis and Princess Alicia will drop in and the princess’s grandfather also and who knows who else.”
Ena looked at Alton for his support in getting her brother out of here—now. If Alton wanted to win her favor, he had to earn it. His mouth curved up ever so slightly. He bowed his head to her and said to her brother, “Come on. Let’s go. She needs to take care of this matter. We’ve got other business to attend to.”
Halloran stared at him for a moment as if not believing his friend would disagree with him on this, but then looking as though he got the picture, he offered him a dark smile. “Of course. We’ll be on our way. But we’ll be back…” He paused and looked at Alton to see if he wanted to say when.
“Tomorrow,” Alton said. “Lunch time.”
As if she didn’t have lunch plans. Not that she had, but that was beside the point. The way things were going here, who knew what was going to happen next.
“You might be dining without me, depending on what happens tomorrow,” Ena said, quite frankly. She didn’t want them thinking they could have a regular lunch date or anything else. She could see now that she had taken a human prisoner, her brother and Alton weren’t going to stay away.
“Tomorrow then, with or without you.” Alton bowed his head again to her, and then he took off.
Halloran said, “Don’t get yourself into trouble over this, Ena. Humans aren’t worth it.” He cast Micala another scathing glower, who was matching his dark expression, smiled at Cassie as if he was trying to win her favor, then he vanished, too.
Ena turned her attention to Micala. “She knows what we are?”
“She does now.”
Ena studied Cassie, who didn’t appear to believe any of this was happening. “You don’t seem upset about being in our world. I would have expected more…concern, or disbelief or something. Unless you’re a fae seer.”
“Nope.”
“Then explain why you’re not surprised or shocked.”
“It’s all a dream.”
Ena laughed. So the human was in denial. “What would convince you that it’s not a dream?”
“I guess I’ll wake up tomorrow and find I’m not in Kansas anymore.”
“You’re from Kansas?” Most of Kansas was not a lion fae territory. She’d heard the cobra fae loved to go there, however. Ena looked at Micala, surprised that he’d gone to such a place.
“She’s from Texas,” he explained, looking a little puzzled himself.
Sometimes humans just didn’t make any sense. She really didn’t know why any fae would want to get mixed up with one permanently.
“Haven’t you ever heard of The Wizard of Oz?” Cassie asked, frowning, looking as though the story should be a fae classic.
“If it’s a human book, no,” Ena said most adamantly.
“She said she doesn’t know Brett, but if you could let her see him, maybe she would realize the truth of the matter,” Micala said. “She knew Bryan from class, but I can’t take her to see him in the Denkar dungeon. I can’t let my aunt know she’s here.”
Ena shook her head. “Before long you’ll have to let Queen Irenis know. The word will get out. Do they even wonder where you are now?”
“I’ll pop in and have dinner and let them know that I’ll be gone for a while…visiting my distant cousins at the turtle fae kingdom.”
“And leave her here with me?” Ena couldn’t believe it. She wasn’t a friend of the dark fae royals. This was above and beyond the call of duty to Princess Alicia as far as saving the one human’s neck. But Alicia was a dragon fae princess, not one of the Denkar, even if she was betrothed to the crown prince of their people. What made this worse was that Micala was going to be in hot water with Queen Irenis, and Ena didn’t want to be in the middle of it. But, she cast a quick glance at Cassie, the girl had been nice to her when she had met her at the high school, not rude like a lot of the dragon fae were to her.
“I’ll be there just for dinner. I don’t want them thinking I’ve gone to the human’s world—”
“Which you have and brought her back with you.”
“I don’t want them believing I’m seeing Cassie and getting myself into trouble,” he finished.
“Which you are! Only you’ve brought the trouble here! To my castle. Take her to your own chamber. Hide her th
ere.”
“They would discover her right away.”
“I’m not watching over her.” Ena did have some pride. She wasn’t about to babysit a human girl.
Micala frowned. “Just lock her in a guest chamber.”
Ena tilted her head to the side.
“All right. She is Princess Alicia’s best friend.”
Which reminded her that the princess would be the dragon fae ruler someday so she’d better handle this right. Ena folded her arms. “And here I was about to ask for a king’s ransom to offer her my hospitality. You would be good at playing Carnivores and Herbivores, Micala. I bow down to your game.” She gave a little curtsey.
Then she looked back at Cassie and said, “You will believe this is all true because I’m not about to play into this fantasy world you think you’ve gotten yourself into.” She turned to the doorway and called out, “Ryker!”
Her butler hurried into the room, reacting more quickly than she’d ever seen him do. She ought to have guests more often. She knew he had been standing outside the door just listening to their conversation. She usually didn’t have any guests. For her people, this must have been the most excitement they’d had since she started working for the king.
“Yes, mistress,” the butler said, bowing low.
She raised her brows. Such courtesy.
“Bring Brett here. I wish him to meet with a fellow human, Cassie, to see if they know one another.”
The butler nodded, but before he could leave the room, Ena said, “Do so in the fae way.”
Ryker glanced at Cassie, then back at Ena and got the point. She nodded.
Ryker vanished and within minutes reappeared with a naked Brett, all except for the towel around his waist, his skin wet, his hair sopping.
Cassie’s mouth gaped, her eyes went wide.
Ena’s expression matched the girl’s. She cleared her throat, tried not to stare at the human’s nice body—too much, and motioned to him, saying to Cassie, “Now do you believe?” She waved for Brett to say something to Cassie. “She’s from your school. Say something to her.”
“Yeah, I know her. She was in Bryan’s English class. Why did you bring her here?” Then Brett saw Micala. “Him! He was seeing Cassie. We knew it!”
Brett acted as though he was ready to grab Micala until it dawned on him that he was in the fae world, and he wasn’t disposing of any further fae. The notion he had forgotten that had Ena worried a little that he would even forget for an instant where he was and what his role was now.
“Then Alicia came to see Cassie and you and your fae seer friends grabbed her and were going to kill her,” Ena said, hoping that if she mentioned just how serious a situation Alicia had been in, Cassie might get the point. “Tell Cassie that.”
Brett didn’t say anything, looking a little like he might get into more hot water if he mentioned anything more about that scenario.
“We’re real, Cassie. All of this is real,” Ena warned.
“They were waiting for any fae who might show up to speak with Cassie,” Micala said to Ena. “Even Alicia might have returned for her. I had to bring Cassie here.”
Ena raised her brows.
Micala frowned. “I thought she would be safe here. You have him here.”
“Because Alicia wanted to spare his life. If I hadn’t, the king would have had him terminated.” Not that she didn’t recall that Alicia would want Cassie safe also. Ena said to Cassie, “Do you believe we’re real now?”
Cassie smiled, but she looked like all of this amused her and nothing more.
Which really annoyed Ena. She turned to Brett. “Very well. Remove the towel.”
“What?” Brett looked horrified.
Ena had been hopeful that he would do as she ordered before she lost the nerve to say such a thing. She would have to have picked up a shy male human prisoner. She shrugged. “Maybe if we shock her enough, she’ll get the point that this isn’t a dream.”
Then he got cocky, his blue eyes darkening, as if he thought Ena was interested in him! “I’ll remove my towel if they leave.” He indicated with his head that he was referring to Micala and Cassie.
She opened her mouth to speak, felt her whole face heat, and knew she was blushing furiously. He smiled a little.
“No,” she said, her voice very dark and threatening.
“Can’t you just pinch her?” Brett asked. “Isn’t that how the fae prove to themselves they’re not dreaming?”
Ena folded her arms. How droll. “I could turn you into ashes.” She gave him a sinister smile.
Micala quickly said, “And traumatize Cassie? Let her think it’s a dream. When she never wakes from it, she’ll realize just how real this all is.”
Ena shook her head. “No way are you leaving her with me while you eat dinner when she thinks none of this is real.”
Brett stalked over to the couch and pinched Cassie, hard.
Her eyes watering she cried out. Micala jumped up from the couch and slugged the human right in the jaw. He fell back several steps. Brett readied his fist, but Micala, moving like a fae would, pinned him to the floor on his back before the human could even throw a punch or react in any other way.
Which was good because she hadn’t wanted the human to hurt Micala, considering Micala was one of her kind and the human was living on borrowed time.
Ena never thought she’d have this much excitement with bringing the fae seer into her home. She was glad her brother wasn’t here though. He might have killed the human.
“Ryker!” Ena called, wondering why he hadn’t intervened already.
He quickly appeared. “Aye, mistress.”
“Take the prisoner to his chamber. Lock him in.”
The butler bowed and waited for Micala to get off the human. Then as Micala stood, looking like he wanted to hit Brett again, Ryker waited for the human to stand.
Hand clutching the towel, trying to keep it in place, his other hand rubbing jaw, his face red with anger, Brett stood and glowered at Micala.
“You ever touch Cassie again, and you won’t live to see another one of your measly human minutes. I promise you that,” Micala growled.
Ena motioned with a flick of her wrist. “Take him away, Ryker. Before Micala decides one punch wasn’t enough.”
Brett opened his mouth to speak.
Ena narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t…say…a…word.”
Ryker didn’t remove the human at once as if he wished to see what would happen if Brett said something, and Ena had to punish him. She turned her narrowed gaze on her butler. He smiled in the most sinister way, then seized Brett’s arm and vanished.
Micala and Ena turned their attention to Cassie. She was passed out on the couch.
Ena folded her arms and tilted her head to the side. “Guess she knows now we’re for real.”
Chapter 8
Micala felt terrible about having to leave Cassie behind at the dragon shifter’s keep, but Ena had told him she and her staff would take care of her when she came to. Cassie would be so upset about everything and then on top of that he had to leave her behind. He believed Ena would try to console her, but she was a stranger to Cassie. He needed to be there for her. No matter how much he wanted to keep her near, he couldn’t have taken Cassie with him here though.
He hoped he wouldn’t have to stay here long, but trying to get through the feast at the Denkar castle was going to be a nightmare. He couldn’t avoid going. He was too concerned that Deveron would send someone to check on him. When he couldn’t locate Micala, Deveron was sure to believe Micala was seeing Cassie. Deveron would send dark fae trackers to locate him in the human world, and the guards could possibly get themselves into trouble.
He was surprised to see Alicia still visiting with the dark fae, seated beside Deveron at the head table next to the queen. Micala had assumed she’d returned home by now. Her grandfather would have insisted she return sooner than this, furious that the fae seers nearly killed her. What little he kne
w of the dragon fae king, Tibero would most likely be furious with Alicia that she had visited the human world again, and would want her under his protection. Which might very well mean he’d have a retaining collar clamped around her neck just like he’d forced her mother to wear to keep her from leaving the castle.
Deveron seemed to be having just as hard a time getting over the scare. He kept Alicia tucked by his side, only glancing in Micala’s direction when he entered the great hall for the meal. Of course, he had to be late and that made him all the more noticeable.
Deveron’s eyes widened a little, most likely because he had not expected Micala to show up for the meal.
Thoughts in turmoil, Micala wanted to speak privately to Alicia and let her know that her friend was staying at Ena’s. He hated to have to sit at the head table tonight when he desperately wanted to sit unobtrusively as far away at one of the lower tables as he could manage. His aunt, Queen Irenis, who was speaking to her advisor, suddenly looked in Micala’s direction as he approached the royal table. She narrowed her eyes. From the look she gave him, he swore she had to be thinking he was up to something. Maybe not. But she had an uncanny way of knowing when he and his cousins were doing what they ought not even though she couldn’t read minds. She could read body language and as much as he tried to look like he was innocent of any wrongdoing, he couldn’t seem to ever fool her.
She motioned to him. He groaned under his breath. If she questioned him, he hoped he didn’t give away his secret.
When he reached his aunt, he bowed low.
With narrowed eyes, she said, “You have been gone for several hours. No one knew where.” Her tone was highly accusatory.
She was wearing a pale blue velvet gown, which meant she was in the mood for celebrating—blue was her favorite color for wearing to festivities, but it didn’t mean anything when she used that dark tone of voice with him.
He’d tried to come up with a reasonable explanation while he’d been at Ena’s castle, attempting to devise an excuse that would not lead his aunt to believe he had been in the human’s world, specifically seeing Cassie. And furthermore, stealing her away to the fae world.