Fae of Calaveras Trilogy Box Set

by Kristen S. Walker

  Glen frowned. “This Court will make sure that you never use magic again.” He rubbed his chin. “However, if you do show remorse and are willing to make amends, then perhaps we could give you only a minimal sentence of two years—” He looked over at me. “In our local jail.”

  I caught the look and realized the significance: he was not going to banish Mom to the Otherworld. My worst fear had just disappeared. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

  “As for Akasha,” he said, looking at my sister again, “I believe that you have been under the influence of criminals for too long, and you were not acting entirely of your own choice. But breaking into a jail is still a serious crime. For your transgression, I am sentencing you to eighty hours of community service. In addition, I would like to see you return to school.”

  Akasha looked up hopefully at the mention of school. “Y-yes, Your Grace.”

  “Moving on to Rosamunde.” His stern gaze settled on me. “I’m not even sure what I should charge you with. You’ve lied, stolen, and given classified information to the Unseelie. You refused to testify to the Court at the trial, which was part of your deal with the late Count in exchange for immunity. You retracted your oath to this court only hours before the Count’s suspicious death. And then you show up with the fugitives who have just conveniently closed the gate that caused the state of emergency with some story that all of the Unseelie have mysteriously been whisked away back to Faerie.” He spread his hands wide. “Do you have some way to explain all of this?”

  I looked over at Dandelion, who had remained silent as usual throughout the hearing. He looked back at me with his customary smile and wink.

  The door of the Hall opened then, and a tall woman with long golden hair swept into the room: Kaorinix, the guardian dragon, in her human form. With a wave of her hand, the handcuff dropped off of my wrists and Dandelion’s. “They were acting under my orders,” she said, looking up at Glen. “They’re out of your jurisdiction. You need to let them go.”

  Glen scrambled to his feet and made a hasty bow to Kaorinix. “I—I had no idea. I’m so sorry, Your Guardianship.” He looked over at me with wide eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me you were working for the guardian, Rosa? I’m so sorry that I doubted you.”

  I got to my feet, a little shaky because my knees hurt from the floor—and when I put my hand out to steady myself, Dandelion grabbed my arm and helped me up the rest of the way. I dusted off my jeans and looked up with a shrug. “I didn’t think I was allowed to say.”

  Kaorinix tossed her wavy golden hair back over her shoulders. “I actually told her not to talk at all as part of a test. I am telling you of this arrangement now as part of a courtesy for the new Count.” She held up a finger. “But be careful not to let your head get too big. Your power is limited, and you cannot control everything.”

  Glen slumped down on the steps of the dais and buried his face in his hands. “Yes, I know. I’m just trying to hold it together right now. My grandfather—” His voice choked in a sob.

  She put her hand on his shoulder gently. “I am sorry for your loss.” She looked around the hall. “Your grandmother does not seem to be up to assisting you in your new role. Perhaps we can find someone else to act as your advisor, at least until she feels up to the task.”

  He nodded and took a deep breath. “Yes, thank you.” He looked up again. “What happened to the Unseelie? Are they in the Otherworld?”

  Kaorinix smiled, flashing her sharp white teeth. “Oh, I took them to the Queen Brigitte. She’ll see to their punishment.”

  “That’s it, then.” Glen stood up and looked at us. “Rosmerta, you can take a few days with your family to sort things out before your sentence begins. Just be sure not to leave town, and don’t use any magic. Akasha, we’ll arrange the conditions of your community service later.” He waved his hands to his guards, dismissing them. “You’re all free to go.”

  The guards took the handcuffs off of Akasha and Mom, and helped them get to their feet. I hugged both of them tightly. Then, together, the three of us walked out of the castle.

  “Rosa, wait up!”

  I turned around and saw Ashleigh running after us out of the castle. “I’m going home with my family. Can we talk later?”

  She stopped short in front of me. Her eyes were wild, and at some point during the day her hair had fallen out of place, tumbling into her face. Instead of fixing it with her charm, she pushed it back impatiently with her hands, tucking it behind her ears, but one stubborn golden curl escaped again. I’d never seen her so out of sorts before.

  “It can’t wait any longer,” she insisted. “Something important just happened that I need to tell you about. We promised that we would talk when all of this was over. No more broken promises.”

  My heart softened when she said that. “No more,” I repeated. Then I let go of Akasha and Mom. “You two go on ahead. Leave me my broom, and I’ll catch up with you.”

  Mom frowned. “Your family is more important,” she said, looking suspiciously at Ashleigh.

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “You don’t have the right to talk to me like that anymore.”

  Mom’s face fell, and she looked old and frail again, like she first had when she lost her powers. She turned away with her arm around Akasha and pulled her back to the car.

  For a moment, I worried that they would disappear if I turned my back. But then I saw two of Glen’s guards getting into an unmarked black car on the far side of the driveway. He’d let her go for a few days, but he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight, either. I let out a heavy sigh, but I was too tired to protest any further.

  I looked back at Ashleigh. “Okay, let’s talk.” I had a sinking feeling that I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

  She hesitated, then grabbed my hand and pulled me back to the door. “Let’s go somewhere private. Besides, it’s cold out here.”

  I looked up at the sky. Heavy clouds were already rolling back in to block out the sun, and there was a chill in the air that said snow wasn’t far away. I followed her inside. I thought we’d go to one of the private parlors, or maybe to her personal rooms, but instead she led me all the way to the library wing.

  There was a fire already burning, and nobody had turned on the electric lights since the power came back on, so there were only a few faerie lanterns hanging along the walls for light. Ashleigh pulled me to one of the couches in front of the fireplace and sat down with me.

  She was shaking as she looked at me, and she held my hand in a tight grip, like she was afraid I was going to run away. “You said that you don’t want anything in our friendship to change,” she burst out all in a rush. “But I don’t see why. I mean, how can it stay the same after you tell me something like that?”

  My heart tightened in my chest. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “I can’t lose you as a friend,” I said softly. I was too tired to cry anymore, but I just kept staring at her. “I only told you because you asked. I won’t ever talk about it again. Let’s just pretend that it never happened.”

  “Like the time you kissed me?” Ashleigh said coldly.

  I winced and turned away. Everyone had promised not to talk about my mistake with the love potion ever again. I couldn’t believe she was bringing that up now.

  She grabbed my face with her free hand and turned it back to look at her. “No, listen to me. We never discussed how we felt about that day, and I think that was a mistake. We blamed it all on your love potion a little too easily, but what if there was more behind it? I think that day made Glen and Heather confront their true feelings about each other. I know you want to forget it, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about our kiss.”

  I kept staring at her. Had things been awkward with Ashleigh since that kiss? Had she suspected my feelings for her before I even knew what I felt? When it happened, my relationship with Kai was still working, and at the time I hadn’t wanted to think too carefully about whether I was attracted to my best friend. I swallo
wed hard. “What are you saying?”

  Ashleigh took a deep breath. “I just told Glen that our betrothal is officially over with.” She looked down at me, and I felt like I would drown in the bright green depths of her eyes. “I wanted you to hear it from me first.”

  A shiver of relief ran up my spine. She was finally free of her arranged marriage. “I said you shouldn’t rush anything,” I protested weakly. “You haven’t thought it through yet.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve actually been thinking about it for months. Since the Midwinter Solstice, when I realized that Glen was falling in love with Heather. And because I felt more in one kiss from you than I have in years with Glen.” She looked down at our hands, still linked together on her lap. “I think that I might love you too, Rosa.”

  If I thought she was beautiful before, she was a thousand times more lovely when I heard those words come out of her mouth. I stared at the way her eyelashes curled, the curve of her soft, pink lips, the rising blush in her cheeks, and I couldn’t believe that this was really happening. Ashleigh had always seemed so unattainable to me—a faeriekin so far out of my league, even if she wasn’t promised to marry someone else.

  “Do you really mean that?” I breathed. “You’re not just saying that because you don’t want to hurt my feelings?”

  She looked up at me shyly. “We promised that we would tell the truth from now on. I’ve never been in love before, but I know that I care about you deeply, more than anyone else. Now, I’m afraid of losing you as a friend, too, but I don’t want to hold back anymore just because of fear.”

  I took a deep breath, and now I was shaking, too. I couldn’t help but say what I was thinking. “I just can’t believe this is really happening.”

  Suddenly, she smiled, and her face lit up like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. “I think that I have a way of convincing you.” Then she leaned closer.

  When our lips met, all of my doubts melted away. Ashleigh was tentative at first, but I pulled her to me, and her hesitation disappeared into passion. The care and tenderness that I’d always felt from everything she did for me came through in her touch. It was like sprouting wings of my own and flying through the bluest, clearest sky.

  I knew I would never be lonely again.

  Epilogue

  Rosamunde

  There were a lot of changes to deal with over the next few days and weeks. Akasha came home with Dad and me at last. Mom offered to let us stay in the old house, but Dad refused, saying that he was going to start looking at houses for sale between Madrone and San Andreas. So Mom packed up her things and boarded up the old house, getting ready for it to be closed up during the two years of her sentence. She also started signing divorce paperwork with Dad and gave up custody for both of us girls. However, we’d still be able to visit her in jail, and they could renegotiate custody for Akasha after her sentence had been served.

  Ashleigh officially announced the end of her betrothal to Glen. She also gave up her rooms at the castle and the substantial allowance she’d been receiving from the Court. When she came back to school, she had to take the bus with the other kids, because her dad couldn’t afford a second car.

  Everyone was surprised when they found out that Ashleigh and I were dating, but we didn’t listen to what anyone else had to say. She made me happy in a way unlike anyone I’d loved before, because somehow, we just clicked. The friendship kept on going, but there was a new depth to it, a deeper understanding. We were taking it slow, because I was afraid of rushing her too quickly in her first relationship, and she didn’t want to repeat the bad experiences that I’d had. But it felt like we were building the foundation of something that could sustain both of us for a long time to come.

  Akasha also returned to Crowther, and her teacher gave her extra assignments to make up for the time she’d missed. She no longer complained about the school. She didn’t have any new friends right away, but I promised to spend more time with her, and she would make an effort to getting along with her classmates. We both rode the bus on most days, although occasionally she accepted a ride on the back of my broom. It turned out she couldn’t fly in the mortal realm. Ashleigh offered her lessons on controlling her faeriekin powers, and she accepted. I was relieved to see her coming to terms with who she truly was.

  Glen and his grandmother, Serafina, got some help from one of the other courts. They started talks with other Fae nobility about the possibility of opening up better immigration channels for magikin to come into the mortal realm from the Otherworld. It would take a lot of negotiation and red tape to work out new policies that would make everyone happy, but it was a step in the right direction.

  I testified at the new trial for Zil and the others who had been arrested for attempting to open the gate. Allen had gone missing with the other Unseelie when the gate closed, but Zil, Angelica, Marzell, Esther, and some of the dryads returned for their sentencing. In return for their oaths of loyalty, Glen didn’t exile any of them, but gave them all mild punishments. Zil and Marzell both got community service like Akasha, and the adults mostly got hit with fines or short sentences in the local jail.

  The madrone tree in the center of town never recovered and had to be cut down. The wood was donated to local artisans who promised to create a memorial for the late Count and everyone else who had been hurt by the chaos in town. Fortunately, no one other than Duncan had died. But even though the damage caused by the magic could be repaired, many of the people who had been stuck in the weird area halfway between the mortal realm and the Otherworld would never be the same.

  I couldn’t really talk to Zil again after the trial. I made a truce with Kai, but neither of us could really be close friends again. He also started dating a girl from another school, and his group of friends drifted away from me.

  Heather and Glen weren’t really my friends anymore, either. They kept to themselves in and out of school. I wasn’t sure if they were dating, because they weren’t public about their relationship. The Court was still reeling over the end of Glen’s betrothal, and it would take time before they could accept the idea of him being with someone else.

  There was only one thing that I still had to sort out, and that was my arrangement with Dandelion and Kaorinix. I met with my Fae patron a week after we closed the gate, when things had finally started to get into a normal routine again.

  “Are you ready to start your training?” he asked me with a smile. “The guardian is happy with your work, and we’d like to make you a full-fledged assistant as soon as possible.”

  “Well.” I chewed on my lip. “I actually wanted to ask you if we could postpone that for a while.”

  He cocked his head to one side. “For how long?”

  “Like, at least a few years.” I looked away. “Maybe you can still train me, on a part-time basis. But I want to finish high school, go to college, and maybe see some more of the world, before I commit to something big like being an assistant guardian or whatever. I’ve barely been out of Madrone, and I don’t want to get stuck here for the rest of my life.”

  Dandelion nodded his head slowly. “I see.” He winked. “Well, I’ve waited for a helper this long, what’s a few more years?”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “I was afraid you were going to say no. I mean, I know that a human lifetime is not that long on your scale, and every year I spend doing something else is a year that I can’t help you. But for me, I’ve only got one life, and I don’t want to get locked into something that I’m not ready for.”

  Dandelion gave me a hug. “Of course I understand. You should do whatever’s best for you.” He grinned. “You’re not my witchling anymore. You’re a full-grown witch now. Do you know what you want to do?”

  I shrugged. “Well, I guess I’d better start researching colleges. Applications are coming up soon.”

  He nodded. “Okay. I’ll see what kind of training I can fit in around your busy schedule.” He tilted his head to one side. “Is dating fitting into this schedul
e, too?”

  “Yes,” I said, looking down sheepishly. “Ash and I are still figuring things out, but we’re really happy. We might pick a school together.”

  Dandelion tapped my nose. “Don’t limit yourself just for a relationship. You’ve still got a big future ahead of you.”

  “I won’t,” I promised. “But I’ve got you to remind me, if I ever need advice, right?”

  He smiled. “Of course you do.” Then he wrapped me in a hug.

  Thank you for reading the Fae of Calaveras Trilogy! I’d appreciate it if you took a few minutes of your time to write a review online. Your feedback can help other readers decide to give the book a try. Word-of-mouth is the most important way for books to get discovered by readers.

  Read More

  It’s been quite the ride for Rosa and she finally gets a break. You may also enjoy my YA Steampunk Fantasy series, Divine Warriors. Check out the first book.

  Riwenne & the Mechanical Beasts

  A clumsy school girl with the magic of a goddess. Mechanical beasts attacking her friends. Can she become a divine warrior and save the floating city?

  Fifteen-year-old Riwenne is bad at school, chronically late, and lost in a daydream, but she has help from her best friend, Nexita—until the two of them get separated. During the mysterious test on Choosing Day, they both wanted to become priestesses, an important job in the sky city. But only Riwenne became a novice, and Nexita was chosen by the engineers. Now she’s on her own for the first time in her life.

  When a talking bird tells her that her best friend is under attack, Riwenne faces her worst fear. She must become a divine warrior and save her best friend from mechanical beasts!

  As she juggles warrior training and priestess duties, Riwenne can’t let herself get distracted. She must recruit other warriors and lead the quest to find out the mystery behind the mechanical beasts, but most of all, she must follow her heart.