by Kimbra Swain
He grinned. “You can take the Queen out of the trailer park, but she will always want to go back.”
“Damn straight,” I said.
Tabitha came down the steps with Aydan who was sitting up in her arms looking around. As she passed Levi, the baby reached out for him. Levi grinned and took Aydan from her arms.
“Well?” I asked.
“He looks great. Just growing. I’ve never seen anything like it. If your body can’t keep up with him, I suggest giving him whole milk to supplement. It won’t be long, and he will be on solid food.”
“How does this rapid growth affect his brain growth?” I asked.
“His learning functions are higher than most babies. I’d say that you should start talking to him in a normal voice. Tell him what you are doing. Challenge him to pick up things and look at new things. His mind will latch on to them and grow. He will be fine. You were,” she said.
“I don’t remember growing fast,” I said. “I don’t remember being a child at all hardly. Except for my memories of Finley. Most of them were when we were young adults.”
“Most fairy children that grow rapidly don’t remember their childhood. The memories are pushed away by the flood of knowledge that takes over your brain in such a short time. Aydan will be fine,” she said. “He loves Levi.”
“Uncle Levi,” Levi corrected.
“Does that make me Uncle Remy?” Remy asked.
“Sure. Why not?” I said.
“What’s the criteria to being an Uncle?” Tabitha asked.
“Being awesome,” Levi said.
“I thought it might be a club of men that fucked Grace,” Tabitha said.
“Damn, harsh,” I said with a snort. Tabitha’s humor tended toward the dry side most of the time, so I didn’t think much of it. When I looked at her, I realized she meant it. “Tab?”
“Seriously, Grace, I go upstairs for a few minutes. How long was I gone before you started flirting with Remy?” she asked. “It’s like you have your own little harem.”
“Honey, she didn’t flirt with me,” Remy said.
“Grace,” Levi sounded panicked. I looked at him, then back at her. Flipping that switch I saw it. The darkened haze that swirled around her head. I backed off the stool and away from her. Tabitha was a fairy queen. Her power didn’t match mine, but I had no desire to throw down with my best friend.
“Tab, there is an evil eye curse in town. It’s making you act like this,” I said.
“Really? I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I want to throat punch you right now,” she said.
“Throat punching is better than the other things you could do to me,” I said as I backed into the pool table. Thankfully, no one else was in the bar.
“Oh, that was just for starters.” She held up her hand and a ball of light appeared above it. Shit. A fireball of death. Pulling the power of Winter, I tried to hold my glamour in place, but it rushed to me flicking my hair to platinum white. My tattoo flared blue light and tendrils of silver raced up my arms and across my chest.
“Come on, Doc. You don’t want to do this,” I said.
“Tabitha, come on. I’ll take you home,” Remy offered. He kept his distance. That flaming fireball looked like it could hurt any of us. I saw Levi hand Aydan to Nestor who hurried up the stairs out of sight. Levi stood up, and I felt the power in the room shift between us. Pulling on the same source, the temperature in the room dropped.
“Cute. Your substitute dick is ready to fight me too,” she said.
“Please. Look at yourself. You should be able to see the curse,” I said.
“All I see is the whore who pretends to be my friend. Levi, you know that the moment Dylan returns she will kick you to the curb again,” Tabitha said. Levi ignored her, positioning himself so that she stood in-between us. Remy rushed to her side holding his hands out to both of us.
“Tab, you are mismatched here. Why don’t you calm down? We can work this out,” Remy coaxed.
“I knew you would take her side,” she said flinging the fireball at him. Remy blinked out of sight, then appeared across the room. The fireball hit the bar. The flames spread quickly, but Levi reacted. I felt the cold pull of power, and then a winter gale put out the flames before there was too much damage.
“My dispel didn’t work,” Levi said.
“She’s a threat to my child. I will put her down,” I said.
“Easy, Grace,” Levi said.
“You would burn this bar down with my child in it?” I asked her. My anger flared. I didn’t care what kind of spell she was under. How dare she put my child in danger?
“Grace, she’s not herself. You can’t strike out at her,” Levi said.
“The hell I can’t,” I muttered.
“Grace, don’t!” Remy screamed as I held my hand up to snap. With one click of my fingers, I could erase the woman threatening my child. Remy blinked to stand in front of her while Levi appeared in front of me.
“No,” he said, grabbing my cheeks. “Don’t you dare.”
“Get away from me,” I said.
“Grace, you won’t do it,” he said. “Look at me. Please, look at me.”
My anger seethed, and I had to force myself not to shove Levi away and finish this argument.
“Come on,” Remy said, pulling Tabitha to the door.
“This isn’t over,” she shouted at me as he forced her towards the door.
Levi put his hand over mine. “Grace, let it go,” he said, pushing power into his words. It wasn’t a command, but it was close enough. I sneered at him, but he didn’t flinch or withdraw. Fucking bard.
The door clicked shut as Remy and Tab left. The power I’d held rushed out of me, and I leaned back into the pool table. My head throbbed. “Shit,” I muttered.
“Double shit,” he said. “You weren’t under the spell, but you were going to kill her.”
“My spell is called motherhood. All I could think about was her throwing fireballs with my child upstairs,” I said. “I hope she comes to her senses.”
“She will,” Levi said. “And, so will you.”
Pressing his luck was a sign that I needed to back down.
“Thank you for stepping in,” I said.
“I’ve always got your back,” he said.
“No, I meant for stopping me,” I said.
“That’s what I meant, too,” he replied.
Astor and I pulled up in front of the Citadel Mobile Home Park. Remy thought he was being funny by naming it that. Whoever heard of a Queen’s castle in a trailer park? I told him it was an office, but he just laughed.
“So, that’s a trailer?” Astor asked as he stepped out of the truck. We had left Levi back at home with Aydan and his father. William didn’t look well this morning. I was afraid he was going to grieve himself to death in my house. There was nothing to be done about it.
“Yep. Isn’t it beautiful?” I said. It had been weeks now since the fight with Tabitha in the bar. She had called to apologize, and I decided to let it go. Once we told everyone about the curse, the Kazan talismans popped up all over town. Despite Tennyson’s absence, the trucks with supplies continued to come to replace some of the crops we had lost in with the blight that accompanied the curse. We were no closer now to finding out who had done it.
My five-week-old son now looked like a five-month-old. He could sit up and had already cut a couple of teeth. I loved him dearly. We had done as Tabitha suggested, and he was certainly developing mentally as his physical frame grew.
“No. It looks too flimsy to be a proper abode,” he said.
“It’s not an abode. It’s an office,” I said.
“But you used to live in one,” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “Let’s go look around.” The mobile home had white siding with green trim. Remy had the contractors put up a wooden deck that had a roof on it. I couldn’t wait to get a lawn chair to put on it, so I could sip orange soda. They had planted shrubs and flowers along the front. A sig
n hung from the porch that said, “Grace Ann Bryant, Queen of the Exiles.” I had my own shingle.
“That’s nifty,” Astor said, flicking the sign with his hand. He was tall enough that he could have touched it with his head if he stood on his tiptoes.
He followed me inside. It looked just like my old trailer. A large living, kitchen, and dining room. Off to my right were two doors and another door to the left which I assumed opened up to the master bedroom. The living room had a television and a couple of couches. Remy made sure to put a coffee pot and a few essentials in the kitchen. When I stepped into the master bedroom, there was a large desk. Behind it, a white crib sat against the wall with a mobile hanging over the edge.
“This is perfect,” I said. “I love it.”
Astor smiled at me. “I never understood it when they said you lived like this, but I see the smile on your face and realize that I didn’t need to understand it. It’s just part of who you are. It makes you happy.”
“You are sweet, Knight. It does make me happy,” I said taking a seat at the desk. Remy had told me that he had a computer and other things that would be delivered tomorrow.
“You belong on a throne,” Astor said.
“I’m not really the throne kind of girl,” I said.
Astor took a seat across from me in the two chairs that faced the desk. The chair creaked as his massive body rested down into it.
“You are exactly the kind of woman that belongs on a throne, Grace. If you decide to take back Winter, then you will have to sit on a throne. I’m only saying this because I’ve been watching you. You’ve decided to take it back. It’s just a matter of timing,” he said. This was what I loved about Astor. His confidence to speak the truth, plus the way he complimented me without pretention.
“I have decided, but I can’t begin to decide how to do it,” I said.
“You need a war council. The town council here is good, but you need knights as advisors. Those of us who have fought this sort of battle before,” he said.
My father had a council. A roundtable where the ideal was that every man that sat at it was equal. It was a fairy tale. It fell apart in front of his eyes as his equals warred with each other and destroyed Camelot. To me, having a leader with a trusted council wasn’t a bad thing. Someone had to bear the burden of leading and taking responsibility for the actions that were taken. I just needed to decide what was going to work for me.
“Who do you suggest?” I asked. I admitted I was curious about what the knight had in mind. I did trust him, because of his openness with me despite his feelings which hadn’t changed as far as I could tell. Astor was not the kind of man to go after another man’s woman. He was most certainly the kind of man to wait in the shadows for his chance.
“I wouldn’t suppose to suggest myself for your war council, but I would be honored if you chose me. While I don’t approve of Tennyson’s methods, he does provide a unique perspective on war. He wages it daily in a different way which seems to be what you do as you rule. I believe that Caiaphas is probably not interested. His days are long past. If we could locate Galahad, I would definitely recommend him. However, of the old knights, I wouldn’t suggest anyone else. You should include your people here, though. The ones that you trust. I’ve talked to the people here. You’ve been here for a while, but only recently accepted your role. Part of that was due to Jeremiah controlling things. But he was always that way. Levi, Troy, and Dylan when he returns, should all be on your war council,” he said.
“Where is Galahad? What’s his name now?” I asked.
“Tennyson should know where to find him. His name is Connelly Reyes. I know he distanced himself from his father’s activities. When I took the job as the First Knight, I lost contact with him,” he said dropping his head. It made him sad that he’d given up his friend for the job. A job he would have never taken had it not been for the broken betrothal our parents had designed.
“I hope you find some happiness here, Astor. I hate that you’ve been torn away from your position in Summer,” I said.
“I chose to leave it. That choice banished me. I can still go back and forth to the home of the Knights, because they will not turn me away. However, Rhiannon was very clear that I not return to her realm. It wasn’t the other way around. You need people that you can trust. It was painfully obvious that while you were in Summer that there were very few people there you could depend upon for the truth. I vowed then that I wouldn’t let you down,” he said.
Suppressing the urge to run around the desk and hug the knight to death, I simply smiled and tried to put into words what he meant to me. “Astor, you are the bee’s knees.”
“Bees have rather small knees. Mine are sturdier. I assure you,” he said.
I giggled at his innocence. “It means you are wonderful,” I said.
He blushed so hard that the freckles on his face blushed, too.
“Thank you, my Queen,” he muttered.
As we stepped out on to the porch of the trailer, I froze. Astor who was locking the door behind me, bumped into me pushing me forward. I tried to reach out and grab the jar that was sitting on the railing, but it fell to the gravel in front of the decking.
“Oh, no!” he huffed. He pushed me to the side to pick up the jar. Ash poured out of a crack that had formed in the bottom of the jar. “What is this?”
“Someone is toying with me,” I muttered.
“It’s not him?” he asked.
I looked through my sight at the jar. There was nothing magical about it. Levi had said before that he didn’t feel anything from the first one. I had to admit to myself that this one was the same way. No power. No heat. No Dylan.
“No. It’s a trick,” I said, swallowing hard, but the lump in my throat stayed.
He sat the jar down on the ground, then reached up to me offering his hand. “Come on. You get in the truck and go home. I’ll clean this up.”
“Grace,” Levi’s voice rocked through my head.
“Another jar,” I replied.
“Is Astor with you?” he asked. I could hear the panic in his voice even in my head.
“Better yet. Skip home to him,” Astor said. “I’ll drive the truck back. Can you do it?”
“I’m skipping home,” I said.
“I’m waiting,” Levi replied.
“Yes,” I said, forcing back tears.
“Go ahead. I’ll handle this,” Astor said.
“Thank you, Knight,” I replied.
“Anything for you, my Queen,” he smiled. It was a half-smile, but very warm.
Taking a deep breath to compose myself, I skipped back home to find Levi waiting on the front porch. I ran up the steps to him, planting my face in the side of his neck as his arms wrapped around me.
“This is fucked up,” he said. “Who would do such a thing? It has to be someone on the inside the ward.”
“Unless they are coming through the portal,” I suggested, trying to compose myself.
“Where is Astor?” he asked.
“He stayed behind to clean it up,” I said.
“You are going to let him drive the truck home alone?” he asked.
Levi, bless his soul, was trying to make me smile. I huffed a small laugh.
“It’s not like I haven’t wrecked a few in my day,” I said.
He leaned over to kiss me on the forehead. “Let’s go inside. I know a little boy who will be thrilled to see you,” he said, leading me into the house.
After feeding Aydan, Astor returned safely with the truck. Neither of them mentioned the jar. Astor, Levi, and I took the walk into the woods to meet with my father. I had promised Astor. Winnie stayed at the house with Nestor working on her homework from school. It was Friday night, but I didn’t want her spending her weekend having fun and forgetting her homework at the last minute. I laughed at myself being ‘the responsible adult.’
As we approached the stone circle, its effect on Astor was just like it was with anyone else that had visited it.
He stopped to take a deep breath.
“Um, Grace,” he said as Levi and I kept walking into the stones.
“Come on,” I said waving him forward.
“Grace,” he said my name again without stepping into the circle.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“You chicken, Copper Top?” Levi asked. I swatted at him.
He shook his head. “This power here, it’s sacred,” he said.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
Reaching out to touch the stone next to him, he held his head to the sky. I felt him pulling in the power from the circle. He sank to his knees. Levi ran toward him, as I held on to Aydan. The sky above us darkened. I felt my father appear behind us. Once Levi made it to Astor, they spoke softly where I couldn’t hear them.
“Come forth to me, Brother,” Oberon said.
Astor’s eyes turned to my father. They glistened with tears. “My King,” he muttered.
“Grace, bring me my grandson. Why have you waited so long to bring him to me?” he asked turning his attention from the Knight to me.
Turning to face him, he had a wide grin on his face. Beckoning me forward with his hands, I walked toward him. Aydan cooed at the glowing blue man.
“Well, I was sure you could produce a beautiful child, but I wasn’t so sure about Serafino. He is amazing despite his father,” Oberon said.
“Father, Dylan hasn’t come home,” I said.
Father sighed but kept his attention on Aydan who tried to grasp his ghostly fingers. He giggled as Father smiled at him. Levi walked up with Astor who dropped to his knees before he got to us.
“Percival, why are you bowing to me? You know, I’m not a king anymore,” Oberon said.
“You will always be my king,” Astor murmured.
“You made a blood oath to Grace,” Father said.
“I did, but I also told her everything,” Astor said.
“Everything?” Father said lifting an eyebrow.
“Yeah, Daddy, everything,” I said. “And yes, he is my knight now. I told him there would be no repercussions for telling me the truth.”
“Which one?” Father laughed as he turned back to Aydan who continued to vocalize his amazement at the ghost.
