by Amy Sumida
Things went relatively smoothly for awhile. Then I was born. Half human, half Twilight, and one hundred percent screwed up. I didn't know who I was for most of my life. It wasn't until my mother was murdered by a pack of Pukas—sent by my evil Uncle Uisdean (now a dead evil uncle)—that I learned about my Fey heritage. My life changed pretty rapidly and very drastically after that. I ended up fulfilling Danu's plan of bringing peace to the entire planet of Fairy. And it was all because I answered her call. Okay, not entirely, but it did have a lot to do with it.
Back when I was just the Princess of Twilight, I started working toward a truce between the Kingdoms, but everyone knew that a truce wouldn't last without the Kings and Queens of Fairy upholding it. In the end, I went with the traditional route of bringing truce to two warring kingdoms, except I put a Fey twist on it: I married the King of Seelie and the King of Unseelie. With all three kingdoms united through me, Fairy was practically guaranteed peace. That peace extended even further when my last husband was made King of the Fairy Undergrounds of Earth. Once that was done, Danu was done too and she withdrew her influence from my life. She hadn't abandoned me but rather gave me the freedom to follow my own path from that time forward. It's been over five years now and the peace has held. Danu's promise to lay the smackdown on any fairy who fucked with the peace—a promise Fairies were reminded of by the sacred groves of apple trees Danu had planted in every kingdom—probably helped a little too.
So, there I was with four husbands, four children, and peace across the land. Hopefully in the water as well, but I didn't have as much faith in the undersea Dragon Courts as I did with the drier kingdoms. The Sea Fey have come to respect Danu again but they can be a little wishy-washy. Anyway, I was living the good life.
“Find Lady Fiona for me,” Raza said to one of the servants.
“And tell her to bring a comb,” I added.
Shahzy made a grumbling growl.
Okay, I was living the mostly-good life.
Chapter Two
“How's my boy?” I leaned closer to the crystal ball—a tool Fairies use like phones with video chat—to see my son better.
Since I go three weeks between seeing each child and husband, I liked to supplement my visits with scries in between. “Scrying” is the term for using a crystal ball to contact someone. Crystal balls and scry phones—sheets of enchanted crystal set in leather cases to resemble cellphones—can be used to contact individuals in possession of another ball or phone. In this case, I had scried my husband, Tiernan, in Seelie and had him bring Falcas, our son, to the ball for me to visit with.
“I'm very well, Mother.” Falcas smiled softly at me and touched the crystal ball as if he were touching my face. “I miss you.”
Agh, there went my heart again. These tiny people could do a number on it so damn easily.
“I miss you too, baby.” I stroked the crystal too, as if I were brushing back his shadowy hair.
Tiernan's surname is Shadowcall and I had a feeling it would become our son's name as well. My husband is the only Seelie Sidhe who can manipulate darkness. Those born to the Court of Light usually have light-based mórs or the more common, elemental ones. All except for Tiernan (his father used to have it as well, but he's dead now). Tiernan had saved my life several times with his ability to turn shadows into tangible things. He'd even saved me from the Sluagh—the monsters of Fairy who execute anyone who tries to kill a Fey royal or anyone who the King or Queen of Unseelie deems worthy of death. The latter isn't supposed to be done unless it's in defense of the Unseelie Kingdom. Only my Uncle Uisdean had snubbed his nose at that rule and turned the Sluagh into his personal assassins. And all for little ol' me; I feel so special.
Anyway, Shadowcall is a strong, coveted mór and if Falcas's hair was any indication, it was in his blood. Tiernan has what I refer to as Fey ombré hair. My father and I have regular ombré; Keir's hair goes from dark, blackish amethyst at the roots to lavender at the ends and I have a strip of hair in the same shades at my left temple. But Tiernan's slow color shift goes the opposite way; it starts with roots so pale that they're practically white, then darkens through golds and browns until it finally turns deep black at the ends. Falcas doesn't have that, not exactly, but it's similar in a way. The base color of Fal's hair is midnight black but it's highlighted with deep grays that lighten closer to the roots, like his father's. The effect is one of shifting shadows and it suits our son just as much as his silver eyes. Now, those eyes are exact replicas of his Tiernan's, right down to the thin black ring around the irises that made the silver seem even brighter.
Cat nosed in beside me and barked.
“Cat misses you too,” I said on a laugh.
That won a grin from my solemn son. I don't mean to say that Falcas—the name means “shadows” by the way—doesn't smile or laugh or play like normal children. He does all of those things but there's always a note of intensity in his eyes and he speaks like an adult most of the time. On Earth, they'd probably call him an old soul but in Fairy, he's called Goddess-touched—a child who knows things beyond his years. All of my children are smart—thank Danu for that—but Falcas is wise. He's intuitive and very pensive.
“I miss you too, Cat,” Fal said with his precious smile.
“Look at your beautiful eyes,” I whispered. “How did you get to be so handsome?”
“Father says I get it from him.”
I burst into laughter. That's another thing I love about my son. Because of his demeanor, you'd think he wouldn't have a sense of humor, but Falcas is very funny. He usually delivered his jokes in a manner very similar to how Tiernan does—dryly or subtly. I suppose that was to be expected though—Falcas spends most of his time with Tiernan.
As Tiernan's heir, Fal got to go nearly everywhere with his father. Tiernan wanted to prepare Falcas for the possibility of running Seelie (hopefully that's a burden he'll never have to bear since Tiernan would have to die to make it happen) but he also made sure to have playmates at court for Fal—several of them were human foster children we'd brought to Fairy through my Human-Fey foster program—and that Falcas had time to be a child. Fairies live forever so Falcas would have millennia to be an adult but only a few precious years to be innocent. Tiernan and I wanted him to have that for as long as possible.
“Your father is right,” I finally said. “You get your good looks from him.”
“He also says I should thank you for my nice nose and lips,” Falcas added loyally. “Thank you, Mother.”
I chuckled. “You're welcome, baby. Is Daddy standing right beside you?”
Falcas grinned wider in answer, then looked up and nodded. He stood up so Tiernan could slide onto his chair, then move Falcas onto his lap.
“When is it our turn again?” Tiernan asked with a wicked glint in his silver eyes.
We never had to worry about Falcas interrupting us in the morning or whenever we got frisky. That was one good thing about having a Goddess-touched child.
“Soon,” I promised. “When dusk comes, I'm leaving for Twilight to drop off Rowan, then I'll wait for sunrise to head over to the Human Realm. After my week with Dax and Cael, I'll come straight to you two.”
“We can hardly wait.” Tiernan grinned.
“All's well in Seelie?”
“All's well,” he confirmed. “As usual.”
“Do I detect a note of boredom in your tone, Your Majesty?” I asked teasingly.
Tiernan chuckled. “Not at all. I don't think I could ever be bored here. But I almost wish there was something wrong so I could compel you to help me. Then I'd get to spend more time with you.”
I went sober. “Do we need to have another family meeting?” I asked. “Maybe a week is too long. We could take it back to three days.”
Tiernan considered it, then nodded. “I think that would be best. I don't like having you gone for nearly a month between visits.”
“All right, I'll talk to the others. If we need to, we can do a conference scry.”
>
A conference scry involves collecting a couple of crystal balls and a scry phone so I could get all of the men on them at the same time. It was a pain in the ass but worth it.
Tiernan grinned, knowing how much conference scries annoyed me; the guys tended to speak over each other. “Hopefully, it won't come to that. I think the others will agree with us on this.”
“I think so too, this switch hasn't been easy on any of us.”
We'd only recently changed my schedule from a three-day rotation to a week so it shouldn't be hard for us to go back. The thought behind the change was that I'd have more time in each place in case there were things I needed to handle. But I didn't want to sacrifice so much time with the people I loved.
“I would like that too,” Falcas said solemnly.
“Then I will fight for that if I have to, Fal,” I promised. “I love you both so much.”
“We love you too,” my guys said in unison.
Then Tiernan looked down at Falcas and said, “I need to speak with your mother for a moment. Wait for me outside.”
“Yes, Father,” Falcas said before leaning forward to kiss the crystal ball. “Goodbye, Mama.”
I loved it when he called me Mama. Fal tried to be proper most of the time, but he slipped up when he missed me.
I kissed my crystal ball where he had. “Goodbye, my beautiful boy. I'll see you soon.”
Falcas grinned and waved as he slid off his father's lap. Tiernan remained silent as he watched him leave, then he turned back toward me with a grin.
“He's getting his mór, Seren,” Tiernan said proudly. “We had a bit of an accident yesterday.”
“An accident?” I asked anxiously.
“No one was hurt,” he assured me. “Fal just”—he paused to laugh—“he was startled by one of my guards and a puff of shadow escaped his hands. He was so shocked, you should have seen his little face.” Tiernan laughed again. “He thought he had some kind of human bodily function.”
“Human...” I trailed off. “He thought he farted?”
Tiernan winced at my wording but nodded. “Not that exactly since it emerged from his hands, but something similar.”
I burst out laughing.
“This is why I couldn't tell you with him in the room,” Tiernan said sternly. “I knew you would laugh and Falcas would have been so embarrassed.”
“Oh, my sweet boy,” I said, still laughing. “Did you tell him that Fairies don't fart?”
“Not in those precise words.” Tiernan grimaced. “But, yes, I reminded him that Sidhe anatomy is slightly different than human.”
“Who told him about... releasing gas?” I changed my wording for my husband's delicate sensibilities.
“Who do you think?” He rolled his eyes and grimaced.
“Killian.” I snorted.
“I believe the Prince of Twilight had an episode in front of Falcas and had to explain it.”
I covered my face and laughed. “An episode?” I laughed more. “Are you trying to tell me that Kill farted in front of Fal and had to explain to him what it was?”
“Will you please stop laughing?” Tiernan ruined the request by chuckling.
“I'm sorry.” I tried my best to maintain a straight face. “That must have been shocking for Falcas.”
“I believe the words Fal used were; it was an affront to my senses,” Tiernan said with a grin.
Yes, that's how my five-year-old son talks. I blame his father and his Goddess-touched soul.
“So, when the shadows seeped from his fingers, he thought it was some kind of release of what? Toxic fumes?” I couldn't keep a straight face—it was impossible.
“Yes.”
“But Killian must have told him that only humans do that.”
“Yes, but remember, my love, we're not certain how human our son is and neither is he.”
“If anything, he'd only be a quarter. But Danu has never said whether she removed his human genes.”
“I don't see why she would have. With Shahzadi it was necessary to make her fully Dragon-Djinn and give the race a new chance but with Falcas, it wasn't important. Why remove a part of him for no reason?”
“So, you're saying that he could need to fart.” I started giggling.
“That is a horrid word,” he said dryly. “And no, I think he would have done so by now if he had such needs.”
“It would be an awfully long time to hold it.” I cackled like a Hag.
“Will you please stop laughing about our son's traumatizing experience?” Tiernan huffed, then chuckled. “He was so relieved when I told him it was his magic emerging.”
“I would be too. It would be nice not to worry about such... indignities,” I changed my tone to match Tiernan's courtly one with the last word.
“Yes, I imagine so.” His smile softened. “Our son will be a Shadowcall, Seren.”
“Just as we thought.” I stroked the image of Tiernan's cheek, right over his silver scar.
“Yes, but it's nice to know for sure.”
“I'm just glad to know that he'll never have to use his magic against the Sluagh like his father had to.”
“I as well,” Tiernan admitted. “That was the most terrifying thing I've ever done in my life, but also the most important.”
“The most important?”
“It saved your life and brought you into my life. Without the Sluagh, I don't think we would have become involved so quickly.”
“Monsters brought us together, eh?” I grinned. “Now, there's a first date story to trump all others.”
“Our story, in general, trumps all others,” Tiernan said tenderly. “Come back to Seelie soon.”
“I will,” I promised. “Kiss our son for me. Bye, baby.”
“Goodbye, little star.” With a tender look in his silver eyes, Tiernan ran a hand over the crystal and his image faded away.
Chapter Three
I huddled within the cage of Raza's dragon claws as he flew us away from our palace. Craos-Teine—pronounced Croose-Chen-ah, if you're wondering—glowed in the midday sun behind us, its citrine, amber, carnelian, and ruby walls catching the light and holding it hostage. Nestled within an enormous cavern in the side of a steep mountain, the palace seemed to be on fire, its spires became flames that licked the top of the cavern. A road descended from the ledge before the palace, sweeping down the mountainside toward the lake at the base and then twining around the lake before heading into the thick jungles of Unseelie. Above the burning palace, the mountain stretched into the clouds and the peaks that could be seen were spotted with snow even though it was still Summer in Fairy.
I'd spoken to Raza about changing our schedule and he was all for it—as long as it didn't mean cutting short the current week that we were spending together. I assured him that wouldn't be the case, that we'd finish the rotation first. Besides, I still had to get approval from two more men before we put it into effect.
The girls were with several nannies, including Fiona, who had been apologized to by my daughter and who had graciously accepted her apology, then set about untangling her hair with a little more enthusiasm than was likely necessary. Once Shahzy and Rowan were settled in the gardens alongside the palace and were off playing with glowing Kuperis in the flowers, Raza had turned to me, offered me his hand, and declared that the moment had arrived for him to make up his earlier inadequacy. His words, not mine. And yes, I giggled. He'd taken me to the edge of the massive promontory before the palace and stripped, then shifted into the form of an enormous, blood-red dragon. The talons of his left forepaw had closed around me carefully before he launched us into the Unseelie sky.
I knew exactly where Raza was taking me—somewhere no one would disturb us—and it was worth the windchill. Sure enough, within minutes, Raza started circling down toward a rocky shelf that jut out from a mountainside. He landed and released me so he could shift back into his usual form. The transformation happened in a blur but the tail end—pun intended—left Raza stretching, th
en settling a pair of wings that were now much smaller. He extended one claw-tipped hand to me and smiled, showing off his sharp fangs.
“We haven't been here in awhile,” I noted as my husband led me toward the entrance of a cave that was so lacking in definition as to be practically invisible.
“We needed to get away for a couple of hours,” Raza said as we navigated the pebbled path. “You are the most important person in my life. I need to remember to express that through my actions, not only my words.”
“Have you been reading self-help books?” I teased him.
